Author |
Message |
jaylach
|
Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 11:47 pm |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
This thread may seem to have a strange start but I split it from another thread as the following went WAY off topic as to the original thread.Sigh... Timing is everything! It now seems likely that the whole issue DOES involve my power supply. Thirty minutes after ordering a stronger supply my current power supply self destructed with a pop and the smell of burnt wires. I don't think that it was having a situation of being over stressed but rather was just failing. Here is what I ordered. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817371050I would rather modular but can tuck wires. It is 900 watt 9 SATA connectors 4 x 6+2-Pin connectors Now I just have to hope that the power supply blowing up didn't blow up anything else. LOL! To be honest I have suffered zero drop in usability. Threw my laptop to my main monitor and sent the HDMI from my cable box to the second monitor. Bottom line is that I'm still watching the NFL channel on one screen and doing computer on the other.
|
|
|
|
|
Doddie
|
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 4:48 pm |
|
|
welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 4:13 pm Posts: 1723 Location: Dunedin, Alba.
|
jaylach wrote: Sigh... Timing is everything! It now seems likely that the whole issue DOES involve my power supply. Thirty minutes after ordering a stronger supply my current power supply self destructed with a pop and the smell of burnt wires. I don't think that it was having a situation of being over stressed but rather was just failing. I don't know how long you've used the failed PSU but it seems to me like they don't make them like they used to, that said, your new replacement comes with what I believe is becoming a very rare beast indeed... a 5 year parts and labour warranty! Quote: The HCG-900 is backed with AQ5 - Antec Quality5 year parts and labor warranty, and you get unlimited access to Antec's incomparable technical support and customer service. cf: http://store.antec.com/highcurrentgamer/hcg-900.html#
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 4:55 pm |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
The old PSU went for ~4 years.
Hmmm, from the link you posted I guess I did OK on price. Your Antic link shows a price of $169.95 plus shipping. I paid $146.98 including shipping.
|
|
|
|
|
MacDuffie
|
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 6:54 pm |
|
|
Fearless Leader |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:42 am Posts: 2819
|
Remember PC Power & Cooling? Sigh... LOL the good old days!
_________________ Patty MacDuffie Computer Haven Administrator
Live Long and Prosper Mr. Spock
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 7:08 pm |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
I can't say that I remember them Patty. The name sort of rings a bell but I can't place. LOL! As Acadia always says backup, backup, backup. I guess I go to the extreme; unplug one system and plug in another. I wasn't down 10 minutes. Unplugged the HDMI cable from my tower and connected to my laptop. Connected my external backup of all my media and was good to go. My concern is that the blown power supply caused other damage. I would not have expected the slight burnt smell if it just blew the fuse. Also there was a system image being done when it blew. You know what can happen to a drive when a write is being done... I'll see what I see. I haven't even opened the case yet to see if there is anything obvious. To be honest my biggest concern is that the video card survived. Even if not it is under warranty as is my SSD and media drive. Sadly the drive to which the image was going is my last Hitachi 1 TB Deskstar.
|
|
|
|
|
chasbox
|
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 7:14 pm |
|
|
welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:37 am Posts: 465
|
MacDuffie wrote: Remember PC Power & Cooling? Sigh... LOL the good old days! I used one in my old Vista desktop.
_________________ To all current duty personnel and veterans of the American armed forces. Thank You
|
|
|
|
|
bbarry
|
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 8:24 pm |
|
|
welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am Posts: 2399 Location: North Central Arkansas
|
jaylach wrote: Sigh... Timing is everything! Thirty minutes after ordering a stronger supply my current power supply self destructed with a pop and the smell of burnt wires. I don't think that it was having a situation of being over stressed but rather was just failing. She heard what you said, Jay, so she responded: "Replace me? I'll show him, in a puff of smoke."
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 8:34 pm |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
bbarry wrote: She heard what you said, Jay, so she responded: "Replace me? I'll show him, in a puff of smoke." You just HAD to say that, didn't you? Now my laptop will develop an attitude! The day the new power supply arrives the thing will probably go up in a mushroom cloud!
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 10:09 pm |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
jaylach wrote: bbarry wrote: She heard what you said, Jay, so she responded: "Replace me? I'll show him, in a puff of smoke." You just HAD to say that, didn't you? Now my laptop will develop an attitude! The day the new power supply arrives the thing will probably go up in a mushroom cloud! Sigh, the power supply showed up today and immediately my laptop powered down... Oh wait! I shut it off! I have a LOT of wire tucking to do but all seems well. Everything seems to have survived including the image backup drive that was doing an image when the old power supply blew up. When the old power supply blew I connected my laptop to my main monitor and switched the cable input to the second monitor so I am on a single monitor at the moment but don't expect any issue switching things back. I DO see one issue. I've never used this large of a power supply. There are a BUNCH of cables! Shoot, just considering SATA there are 9. Then there are the 4 6+2 cables and can't forget the 2 4+4 cables. Plus each cable is heavier than what I'm used to seeing. Tucking cables is going to be a royal pain. Between my video card, and this power supply being larger, I'm flat out running out of room in the case. BTW, the video card is the sort of flat black unit with the diagonal lines that is the full width of the mother board in the included photo. Also, after I post this, I'll be ordering a new CPU cooler. It is so faint that I could not hear with the case closed but, with it open, I can hear a little sound from the current cooler. Just best to avoid potential issues and replace. Here is what I was talking about as to it being a problem tucking cables. If you notice the two cables going off picture at the bottom they contain 6 Molex plugs I have to find room to tuck. Still, as I said, everything survived. In fact I posting this using the system. Attachment:
New PS-small.jpg [ 200.09 KiB | Viewed 21368 times ]
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 12:06 am |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
It would, once again, seem that timing is everything. When I brought the system back up there was an update for both my video and Diablo III. Diablo III seems to now be working fine.
|
|
|
|
|
Doddie
|
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 5:17 pm |
|
|
welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 4:13 pm Posts: 1723 Location: Dunedin, Alba.
|
jaylach wrote: Here is what I was talking about as to it being a problem tucking cables. If you notice the two cables going off picture at the bottom they contain 6 Molex plugs I have to find room to tuck. Good luck tucking that lot in there! If it were mine I'd run the unused cables out one of the unused expansion slots on the back of the case, roll them up and cable tie them to the back of the case... might not be the prettiest of solutions but it'll help maintain the internal case airflow, and who sees the back of the case anyway? BTW, I've never seen feet quite like that before on a PC tower, normally they come with little rubber disc shaped ones...
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 6:51 pm |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
I was thinking about running some of the cables out the back. If you notice there is already a SATA set going out the back. I use those to connect a bare drive I use for doing external image backups. Works well and gives me the same speed as an internal while still keeping the image drive external. They would not be big enough but the case has two rubber grommets in the back for running wires from internal to external. It is through one of these that the SATA cables are run. I did just see a minor issue with the new video card I got a while back. It is a two slot card and my only PCI slot is too close to the PCIe to use. Not much use for PCI anymore anyway but I could have used my PCI TV tuner instead of the USB tuner I'm currently using. I MAY see if the ancient OptiPlex system in my bedroom can handle the PCI tuner. We are talking ancient as in only having an 80 GB drive. Still it does actually run well and I only dropped ~$50.00 on the thing. I actually traded a cheap drone that I can't handle for the thing. I think that I only paid ~$90.00 for the drone and was looking to sell for $50.00. I'm blind in one eye so don't have true depth perception. I just can't judge where the thing is accurately enough. When I finally get around to throwing together a more current bedroom system I'll do what I can with the OptiPlex and donate to a family with kids that can't afford a system. LOL! As far as the feet that is a new case style. Didn't notice until I was re-sizing and had already removed the lens from my camera. Figured it wasn't worth re-doing.
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 12:57 am |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
Well the system is still on its side and open but everything is connected and working including the USB TV tuner and dual monitors. I just need to run the extra cables out the back and close it up. The only reason that it isn't already closed up is that I want to replace the fan for my CPU cooler. No sense in closing and opening again. I'll be calling a local shop in the morning for a fan and am sure that they will probably have. Of course this could have already ben done except that I want to replace the fan. The local shop was closed when I got off work Saturday and isn't open on Sundays. I probably don't even need to replace the CPU fan but feel safer doing. It is just a slight intermittent noise that I can only hear if the case is open. I just feel safer doing a replacment. I figure that any fan that makes any noise is probably on the verge of losing a bearing. At least I won't need to actually remove the cooler as the heatsink will remain in place. 4 screws remove the old fan from the heatsink and the same 4 screws mount the new fan. I will say that some aspects of the system seem quicker with the new power supply. I will also, happily, say that the new power supply is as silent as advertized. Sitting ~6 feet from the open system it is absolutely silent. I have to be right on top of the thing to hear the slight 'rumble' from the CPU fan. Silent is good for a system designed to do media. Bottom line is that I doubt that I'll ever need to worry about the power supply regardless of anything added. In this aspect I DO have to wonder if the old supply was faulty from the start. It always struck me as curious that the old power supply fan vevy seldom spun up. The new one has the fan constantly running even if, sometimes, slow. I think it possible that the old supply had a thermal sensor issue from the start that I didn't have the knowledge to recognize.
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:49 pm |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
Just as a note it turns out that the issue was not a faulty power supply... The poor thing gave its all. The problem was me; I think I'm getting senile or something. The original 650 watt power supply was not. I just actually looked at it and it is only 550 watt. Sigh, I could have sworn that it was a 650 but I didn't double check so the fault was mine. When I worked as a machinest we had a standard policy; "Measure twice, cut once.". When I put in my new video card, which requires a minimum of a 500 watt supply, the 550 sufficed under normal situations. Now consider that I have three internal hard drives and a TV tuner along with a 120 mm exaust fan with LED lights and intake fans and, of course, the poor little 550 watt supply was stressed. I'm probably lucky that I didn't mess up my new video card. When I installed the thing I was impressed that the dual fans almost never turned on. With the new 900 watt supply I have not seen them turn off and I'm in the third day of monitoring the fans while the system is open and on its side. Here is what I'm sure happened. As long as I was just doing normal browsing and such the system was able to work due the high volume of air flow that I have in my case. Now enter Diablo III! As soon as it tried to launch it put a load on my video card and the temperature spiked. There was not enough 'juice' to spin up the fans so it shut down the system to avoid self destruction. Eventually the stress put on the 550 watt supply added up and it just caved in. Again, in this case, there was no device failure. It was a user failure. On the plus side this experience allowed me to hear an intermittant 'buzzing' sound from my CPU cooler. This is the reason that my case is still on its side and open; I'm replacing the cooler. I figure that, if I'm hearing sounds from my CPU cooler, it should be replaced. Since the current cooler has a fan that is screw mounted I started by just looking at the fan. It turned out that a 65 mm 4-pin fan with holes for a screw-on mount is not easy to find. I decided to replace the entire cooler. Yes, I found fans but was not happy with what I found. Here is the cooler I ordered. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6J332N5216LOL! At least, this time, I double checked and also ordered Artic Silver 5 thermal paste. This cooler has a sort of unusual CPU interface. The copper heat pipes are flattened to be in direct contact with the CPU. As a cooler it seems to get get VERY good reviews as long as you don't over-clock which I do not. LOL! I DID look for other reviews than the two on NewEgg.
|
|
|
|
|
MacDuffie
|
Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:57 pm |
|
|
Fearless Leader |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:42 am Posts: 2819
|
Cooler Master is a good brand, from what I recall.
_________________ Patty MacDuffie Computer Haven Administrator
Live Long and Prosper Mr. Spock
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 7:16 pm |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
MacDuffie wrote: Cooler Master is a good brand, from what I recall. They still have the same excellent reputation. Hey Patty... This thread started out as a warning about an update issue that turned out to a user issue. Do you think that it might be worth while to split the posts at the point that I found that it was a PS issue, not Updates, and put it as a warning to ALWAYS double check? Or, more likely, just rename the thread to "Jay got stupid!". Actually I said the above to pick on myself but there just MIGHT be some sense in there. Would it be possible that a thread, as to what to look for when upgrading a system, just might not be a good idea? A novice makes the mistake of buying a game, or other software/hardware, that demands more than their system can supply. They do as did I and upgrade without doing all the homework. Probably not but MIGHT prevent someone from killing their system.
|
|
|
|
|
MacDuffie
|
Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 7:24 pm |
|
|
Fearless Leader |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:42 am Posts: 2819
|
Splitting the thread wouldn't be a bad idea, but make the title something that is indicative of the subject matter.
_________________ Patty MacDuffie Computer Haven Administrator
Live Long and Prosper Mr. Spock
|
|
|
|
|
bbarry
|
Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 8:15 pm |
|
|
welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am Posts: 2399 Location: North Central Arkansas
|
jaylach wrote: The problem was me; I think I'm getting senile or something. Jay, nothing wrong with being senile......some of my best friends are senile
|
|
|
|
|
MacDuffie
|
Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:56 am |
|
|
Fearless Leader |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:42 am Posts: 2819
|
I resemble that remark.
_________________ Patty MacDuffie Computer Haven Administrator
Live Long and Prosper Mr. Spock
|
|
|
|
|
Doddie
|
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 4:40 pm |
|
|
welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 4:13 pm Posts: 1723 Location: Dunedin, Alba.
|
jaylach wrote: On the plus side this experience allowed me to hear an intermittant 'buzzing' sound from my CPU cooler. This is the reason that my case is still on its side and open; I'm replacing the cooler. I figure that, if I'm hearing sounds from my CPU cooler, it should be replaced. Since the current cooler has a fan that is screw mounted I started by just looking at the fan. It turned out that a 65 mm 4-pin fan with holes for a screw-on mount is not easy to find. I decided to replace the entire cooler. Yes, I found fans but was not happy with what I found. Here is the cooler I ordered. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6J332N5216LOL! At least, this time, I double checked and also ordered Artic Silver 5 thermal paste. This cooler has a sort of unusual CPU interface. The copper heat pipes are flattened to be in direct contact with the CPU. As a cooler it seems to get get VERY good reviews as long as you don't over-clock which I do not. LOL! I DID look for other reviews than the two on NewEgg. I'd be very interested to see/know how you fit this new cooler to your motherboard. Afaict from the picture of your PC, your existing heat sink and fan use a completely different fixing method, i.e. on your existing setup a clip attaches to one side of a bracket (around the CPU) and spans the heat sink to a clip on the other side. This clearly won't be possible with the new cooler so I presume you'll need to use the universal bracket that appears to come with the cooler? Looking at the pics on the Cooler Master website, it appears that you'll need to remove the existing bracket that the heat sink clips onto on the motherboard and replace it with the universal bracket that you then screw down into the original fixing points for the old bracket, the universal bracket now pulling the heat sink down onto the CPU rather that the old clip and bracket. I'm probably missing something blindingly obvious here, not least because Cooler Master claim the cooler has a "Tool-free Mounting System", but also because if my suspicions are correct about how this will be retrofitted it is fraught with danger... an uneven load on screwing down the universal bracket risks cracking the CPU. I have an AM3+ socket motherboard that Cooler Master claim your new cooler will support, but I've always shied away from anything that won't fit the supplied bracket for fear of damaging my CPU, once bitten and all that
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 7:04 pm |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
I thought about your thought about the uneven pressure on the CPU and would not bought this cooler if I didn't have access to a torque screwdriver. The 'tool less' part is that the mounting screws are thumbscrews but they do have slots. According to what I researched on this cooler I doubt that I'll even need the torque screwdriver but best to be prepared. I checked on a couple of review sites and all I saw was that the install was clean and simple. Say the word and I'll post photos of each step. It will be a bit over a week before I get the cooler as the free shipping is a bit slow as Thermal Take is not based in the U.S.. If I had known that Thermal Take was based in China I may have had second thoughts. Still there is no denying that their coolers are good. One plus is that it seems that I won't have to pull the mother board. The 'right hand side' of the case offers all the access I should need. Not that this isn't common but it seems to me that this case gives better access than many that I've seen. Attachment:
IMG_1640.JPG [ 150.28 KiB | Viewed 21301 times ]
As an unrelated note: I have said several times that a higher intake airflow than that of the exhaust will keep a system fairly dust free. This is the first time I've had this side of the case open in over three years. Looks pretty danged clean to me. The thought on this is that if the intake airflow is higher than the exhaust it causes a high pressure situation within the case preventing dust being 'sucked in' through cracks and crevasses.
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2016 2:51 am |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
BTW, If anyone is wondering why I bought this CPU cooler when I could have easily bought one that whould fit the present mounts the answer is simple. I've never done this and I enjoy doing things I've never done.
|
|
|
|
|
chasbox
|
Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2016 8:07 am |
|
|
welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:37 am Posts: 465
|
Go for it Jay. Good Luck
_________________ To all current duty personnel and veterans of the American armed forces. Thank You
|
|
|
|
|
Doddie
|
Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:03 pm |
|
|
welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 4:13 pm Posts: 1723 Location: Dunedin, Alba.
|
Jay, no need for step by step pics I was just curious how it would work given that in the past I'd looked at similar coolers and shied away for fear of damaging my CPU. As an aside, I didn't know you could buy torque screwdrivers but it makes perfect sense now you mention them... I've got a torque wrench that I used to use on my bikes but I guess starting at 8Nm that would be a very bad idea
|
|
|
|
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 7:50 pm |
|
|
Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9438 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
Doddie wrote: As an aside, I didn't know you could buy torque screwdrivers but it makes perfect sense now you mention them... I've got a torque wrench that I used to use on my bikes but I guess starting at 8Nm that would be a very bad idea Yep they are available. He used to be a watch maker MANY years ago. Remember that I live in an 'old folks' apartment building. They measure in inch/pounds, not foot/pounds. Here is a visual example. Attachment:
torque screwdriver.jpg [ 79.98 KiB | Viewed 21267 times ]
|
|
|
|
|
|