[Sponge3838]

I've been making a lot of recent updates to my computer, I recently bought a GPU, CPU and Motherboard as well as a new Case. PS.... Essentially I bought an entire new computer not including peripherals and HDD.

My problem is, whenever I run a game on mid to high intensity, a crackling noise comes from the PC... I'm having trouble discerning just where the noise is coming from but a friend suggested it might be the fans of the GPU or something along those lines. Aside from the noise, I've been having a few instances of my computer just flat out turning off and the little 'Your graphics card suddenly stopped working' messages following a blank out of everything for a few seconds.

Does this seem like more of a Video Card issue, or a Power Supply issue? Could this actually be a driver issue? I'm afraid to mess with anything at the moment but these problems seem very similar to an old Power Supply issue I had.

Motherboard:
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514]GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AMD Motherboard - Newegg.com[/url]
CPU:
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284]AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8350FRHKBOX - Newegg.com[/url]
GPU:
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127708]MSI N660TI TF 3GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 3GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com[/url]
PS:
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159089]COOLMAX CU-700B 700W ATX 12V v2.2 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Ready / CrossFire Ready Modular and Compatible with Core i3/i5/i7 Power Supply - Newegg.com[/url]
Ram:
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220694]Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model PV316G186C0K - Newegg.com[/url]
Case:
[url=http://www.enermaxusa.com/case_eca3253.php]ENERMAX - Case - Ostrog - MODEL ECA3253 - The fortress for your hardware[/url]

 

[joeten]

Hi please post the make and model of your power supply

 

[Sponge3838]

Hi please post the make and model of your power supply

I did, its in the code in the first post

PS:
COOLMAX CU-700B 700W ATX 12V v2.2 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Ready / CrossFire Ready Modular and Compatible with Core i3/i5/i7 Power Supply - Newegg.com

 

[joeten]

OOps my apologies missed it can you listen around the Psu when you game my suspicion is that would be the likely place for crackling

 

[Sponge3838]

I tried, but I'm having trouble telling where the crackling is coming from... Its a bottom mounted PS so its quite close to the GPU, but its definitely coming from one of those two. The weird thing about that though is that I was using this GPU+PS for about a month with no issue until I got the new Motherboard/CPU. I can try again to figure out where the crackle is coming from, but its extremely difficult. A note though, I ran DCUO/Tera/Guild Wars 2(All at maximum graphics) all at once to produce the sound faster, and while it was very evident... nothing crashed or anything in the 15 minutes I let all 3 run.

I should add, even though I was using it for a month with no issue, it was not IMMEDIATELY when I put in the new MB and Chip, it was about another week or so after.

 

[joeten]

Ok use this to monitor your temps and voltages etc HWMonitor - CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

 

[Sponge3838]

Ok use this to monitor your temps and voltages etc HWMonitor - CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Not entirely sure if this is what you need, but I stressed it a bit and saved the monitoring data. Am I supposed to save at a particular time? or am I doing everything wrong...

 

[joeten]

Ok If I read that correctly your voltages are off let me ask for a second opinion here

 

[joeten]

Hi can you check the voltages and temps in the bios it may be under system health those voltages where wildly off so either the monitor misread or there is something seriously wrong

 

[Sponge3838]

I've gotta say, this MB's bios are awesome, full mouse support... anyway here's the voltages. I just took a picture with my phone, if its difficult to see I can write them down.

 

[joeten]

It is not giving the 12v,5v,and 3v

 

[Sponge3838]

So what does that mean? I'm still a bit shaky on how things work in this department. Is there a better approach than my usual "Loks brouk... me go bi new won"

 

[joeten]

Can you run Cpuid Hardware monitor again but take a screen shot and in the bios see if you can find the voltages I mentioned 3,5,12 volt I will say unstable readings tend to point to a poor performing PSU and the crackling is usually another indicator.

 

[Sponge3838]

BIOS:
3.344
5.160
11.952

Fluctuating slightly
(taking a picture was looking funky as crap, so just wrote the values.)

 

[Tyree]

The HW Monitor shows +12V at 8.160 and that is unacceptable.
But, the Bios shows +12V at 11.952 which is acceptable and probably the most accurate.
However, you PSU is poor quality so replacing it with a good quality unit would be a win/win deal regardless.
520W minimum SeaSonic or XFX.

 

[Sponge3838]

I'm not against getting another PSU, I just want to make sure that's the problem before I spend money on anything. I've had nothing but trouble with PSUs so I'm not surprised if it is the problem, I just want to be sure.

 

[joeten]

I would stick my neck out here and say it was and look at Tyree's recommendation

 

[Sponge3838]

So then something along these lines?

[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151121]SeaSonic SS-660XP 660W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com[/url]

[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088]SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold ((SS-650KM Active PFC F3)) 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com[/url]

[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151118]SeaSonic SSR-650RM 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com[/url]

Will I actually notice any real difference between Gold/Platinum standard? or even bronze, for that matter?

I should also mention, I have this raidmax 1200w I got about a year ago or so from Frys, I think someone mis-labled it because I picked it up for $85 brand new. It worked fine for a while until one day I woke up and it was dead as a doornail. Should I bother with the RMA or just get a new one? Link below for it.

RAIDMAX RX-1200AE 1200W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

 

[joeten]

Honestly I would sell the Raidmax it is overkill and either of the gold should be good enough lets see what Tyree has to say this is more his type of thing

 

[Sponge3838]

Honestly I would sell the Raidmax it is overkill and either of the gold should be good enough lets see what Tyree has to say this is more his type of thing

Originally I had bought the 1200w for running Crossfire with my old radeon cards... but trying to do that was a nightmare from the start, so I'm avoiding all dual GPU things from now on... not really worth the money/hassle, not to mention lower performance on games that weren't even optimized for it.

I'd just like to get the best PSU for the money that will actually last me. Those 3 I posted looked to be pretty decent, and I'm reading about what the efficiency means...

I've also got this PSU here that was working good for an older card of mine, but the PCIE cable was unable to produce any/enough power so I assumed it was broken/needed RMA'd... but now that I see its efficiency was estimated at only 70% that it was barely a 480w psu, regardless of it saying 680w.

APEVIA ATX-AS680W-BL 680W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready Power Supply - Newegg.com