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Is my psu on its way out?

1416 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  mcorton, 
T
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Hello! My name is Richard, I live in England and have quite a limited amount of experience with a PC.

I have recently been having problems with my pc overheating. My initial thought when I heard my fans working super hard / being very noisy and was making a strange pulsing sound that is was dust in the fans. After cleaning the fans with compressed air I tried again with no luck. However when cleaning I noticed that my cpu fan had a loose part so I replaced it with a slightly better one. Sadly it has done no good. The reasoning behind me thinking it is a psu problem is that the fans, whether they be loud or quiet seem to have a pulsing sound to them. Think of it as 1 second of full power followed by 1 second of half power in a rotation.

Now am I far from an expert but I did a little research and found that monitor programs for monitoring heat and power outputs can be very wrong when it comes to the voltage outputs and not to be taken too seriously but I was wondering if this snapshot helped at all.
[URL=http://img7.imageshack.us/i/tempsu.jpg/] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/URL]

If left running for too long (around three hours) the pc will cut out altogether. So my question, is this a PSU problem? and if so any suggestions for a replacement? I have a 750w PSU at the moment.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
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Tyree
Fans running at higher than normal RPM's generally indicates a heat problem but your Temps as seen in above appear to be OK.
PC Specs?
Pre-Built Brand & Model Number
Custom Built-Brand & Model of Mobo-CPU-RAM-Graphics-PSU.
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gcavan
I've found HWMonitor to generally be the most accurate software monitor for temps and voltages, but it can be wrong, and I have to assume this is case with the 12 volt reading above. The PC should not even power up at 9 volts.

Access your CMOS setup (BIOS) and look for the Hardware Monitor section (possibly under the Power menu). Post the voltages and temps you find there; these should be the most accurate and will allow you to roughly calibrate HWMonitor

edit: I usually completely ignore -5 and -12 volt readings as they are seldom used other than by some sound cards.
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T
Thanks for the replies guys :). I have pulled this from a cpuid software I have I hope it gives you all the information you need (see attached document).

I sadly could not find the appropriate menu to bring up the HWmonitor in Bios. Never had to access Bios in Vista before and it was quite diffirent from XP and previous windows. Ill have a look around for how to access it and post my findings here when I do. Thanks again :).

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gcavan
To access BIOS:
Repetitively tap the <Delete> key while your computer is starting. If Windows begins to load it is too late.
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Tyree
The Bios is not in the OS. Follow gcavan's instructions to enter the Bios.
You need to post the Temps & Voltages as seen in the Bios. I, as well as others, do not open attachments.
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T
sorry, did not think with the link, i apologise.

ok, after getting in to CMOS, i have logged the following:-

at start:

CPU 48 oC after 10 mins 56 oC
MB 28 oC after 10 mins 48 oC

CPU FAN 1192 RPM
CHASIS FAN 777PRM (Goes anywhere between 7000 and 700)
PSU FAN 1157 RPM

VCORE 1.42V
3.3 V 3.36V
5V 4.94V
12V 12.019V (After 10 minutes it was sitting between 11.98 and 12.019v)

It is a MESH built PC, i don't think it has a model per se.
motherboard: Asus m4A78 PRO
CPU AMD Phenom II x4 940
8 gig DDR2 RAM (400mhz)
Graphics card: Radeon HD 4870
PSU 750w (not sure of brand)

heres a snap after gaming.
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Tyree
Your temps are acceptable and the Voltage is OK. 1192 RPM for the CPU fan is far from high RPM.
Look at the label on the PSU for the Brand name & Model Number.
What are the Brand/specs of the RAM? Try removing two of the RAM sticks and see if there are any changes. Filing all the RAM slots can cause Voltage problems and 4GB is more than enough.
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M
Do the fans seem to stay running most of the time? I'm seeing just a 10C between min and max temps. If the temps are low because the fan is running all the time the temp sensor may be bad.
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