Alacres

Well, I just got my new system yesterday and much to my great disappointment, it came with a cheap Xion 700watt PSU installed, instead of the one I picked originally (although, in all fairness, the one I picked probably wasn't too much better). To be honest, I'm pretty novice when it comes to computers and because of this I underestimated how important a good PSU is. I'm paying the price for that now.

At first I just assumed that it would work alright, it just wouldn't be very efficient; unfortunately, it seems to be much worse than that. After starting Warhammer Online last night to test it for the first time, my PC shut off completely after only about a minute into the game. After that, I gave the Furmark stability test a try and noticed that my temperature was reaching up to 93 degrees Celsius and then as soon as I went to the "Fur rendering" my computer shut off again. I'm not really educated on temperatures or anything, but isn't 93 degrees a bit high?

I can't say with 100% certainty that it's the PSU, but it's the only thing that really seems to make sense. Everything else in my case feels relatively cool, even under more intensive situations. The PSU, on the other hand, feels considerably more hot, so I'm guessing it's defective.

I was going to call Ibuypower (the guys I ordered it from, but likely, never again) and see if they will send me a better one. I'm going to see if I can pay the difference and get a decent thermaltake 750watt (this one, to be exact, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153110.) What worries me though is that I've never replaced a PSU before so I'm a little nervous about doing it myself. But it's either that or sending the PC back to them and I really don't want to go through that mess.

Here are my specs incase any of you are wondering:

Case Nzxt Alpha Gaming Tower Case - Black
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8600 (2x 3.33GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB)
Motherboard [SLI] Asus P5N-D -- Nvidia nForce 750i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, Dual PCI-E MB - EPU Technology
Memory 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR2-1066 PC2 8500 Corsair Dominator Memory
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 - 1.7GB - Single Card
Case Lighting None
Power Supply 700 Watt -- Xion Power Supply - SLI Ready
Processor Cooling Coolermaster V8
Video Card Brand === High Performance === EVGA Brand Video Card Powered by NVIDIA
Primary Hard Drive 500 GB HARD DRIVE - [16M Cache, 7200 RPM, 3.0Gb/s]
Optical Drive 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black
Sound Card 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Network Card Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Operating System Windows 7 RC
Flash Media Reader/Writer 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer - Black

If you guys have any suggestions of something I can do to find out if it's REALLY the PSU, please let me know. It's definitely the prime suspect at this point, but I'd like to make sure 100%. Also, is it even safe to have this thing on at all (I'm writing this post using the new PC), or is it potentially dangerous to my other hardware? I'm afraid to try anymore gaming on it for that very reason.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Phædrus2401

Rather than getting that Thermaltake PSU, I'd recommend this Corsair TX750W:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=corsair%20750
The only Thermaltake PSUs we recommend are the Toughpower series. That one might be decent, but none of us have tested it out so it's hard to say. The Corsair is proven quality, and a bit cheaper. You could also get the Corsair TX850W for the same price as that Thermaltake.

Replacing a power supply is fairly simple. You unscrew the PSU from the case (don't unplug anything) and set it aside. Screw in the new one. Now follow the cables on the old psu, find the corresponding cable on the new one, unplug the old one and plug in the new one. These are all the cables you should attach:
24-pin motherboard connector.
4-pin motherboard connector (cable may be 8-pin, it breaks apart into two 4-pin)
6/8-pin PCIe connector (for graphics card, one or two)
SATA connectors (the skinny L-shaped ones, for hard drives and DVD drives)
Molex connectors (for old drives and fans)

And that should be it.

Alacres

Well, I took your advise and opted for the Cosair 750watt. I'm a little ticked though about the fact that he charged me the full price for the thing and said that I'd get half of it back when I return the other. I feel like after all the crap I've dealt with from this company in the last month that I should have been entitled to a discount at least, but such is life. One thing's for sure though, they won't be getting my money again.

I just hope that it really is merely a PSU issue. I guess if it still shuts off on me after I install the new PSU then it might be a mobo issue? I really have no idea of all the things that can cause a system shutdown like that so the PSU is the only suspect I have right now. The IBP tech seemed to feel the same way though so I guess we'll see.

Just to play it safe, I'm using my old computer for the time being since I don't want to cause any damage to any of my new hardware. Looks like I'll be playing the waiting game again.

Thanks for the information, btw :)

Phædrus2401

The PSU is by far the most likely culprit, but if the problem persists then the motherboard would be the next thing to suspect.

Hope it works for you!

Alacres

Just an update for anyone that may be wondering: I got the new Corsair 750 in earlier today, got it installed (amazingly), and my new PC has been running great ever since! I put this thing through all the same tests as when I had the old PSU installed and it hasn't turned off once! I noticed that this PSU runs MUCH cooler than the other, so I'm guessing it might have been an overheating problem of the old PSU. Regardless, so far so good, and hopefully it will stay that way.

Thanks again for the help Phaedrus :).

Phædrus2401

Great to hear it worked for you! The PSU is one of the most underrated parts in a computer for all its importance, and there are a lot of shady manufacturers out there. Xion is one. Now that you've got a quality component you should be set.

Glad to help.

Alacres

Yeah, I'm glad I at least learned a lesson from this ordeal - never cheap out on the PSU! I'll certainly never make that mistake again .