Board 8 > PC Power Supply Question

(+) Yeah! (+)

So lately my PC has really not been working. The best way I can describe it is, is that the PC never "fully" turns on. Like, the lights inside the case will glow and a couple of the fans will turn on, but nothing else happens. My monitors, things plugged into USB like my keyboard, nothing else turns on. If I play around with the PC and turn it on and off enough times, eventually I can get it to turn "all the way" on. But even then, if I put it to sleep and try to start it up it will often crash necessitating a restart and we're back to where we were.

At this point I think the problem is the Power Supply. Now most of the parts in my PC are like, nearly 10 years old now besides the GPU and SSD. So I'm not really SURPRISED, and I have wanted to build a new PC and this is a great excuse. But I'm not sure if I'm ready to spend all the money needed right now on a new PC (I'd LIKE to build a new PC under a grand that could play Cyberpunk as a general benchmark, but I don't know if that's feasible). So my options, I think, are:

1. Wait until I buy all the parts for this new PC and build a new one
2. Just buy the new PSU NOW, replace my old one in my current PC. Then when the time comes to buy parts for my new PC, I already have the Power Supply.

Now I feel like replacing the Power Supply is never recommended. I don't see a lot of people talk about it. So... I guess my question is, IS it feasible to replace a PSU? And should I even bother, and is it even worth the effort over waiting and just building a new PC?


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When you say play cyberpunk, do you mean play it 60fps at full resolution? If not you can definitely build something for 700ish that will run it

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What are the specs of your current PC?

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I've had 2 power supplies die on me before. The first one would randomly boost up the PC after enough clicks and the other just flat out died.

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I mean we're a few weeks from black Friday sales so take that into consideration on building a new PC. Would just keep an eye out on PSUs for now.

Tech wise...
Motherboard, RAM, and CPU would likely all be scrapped. PSU is upgradable just fine and a good first step honestly.

RAM is ending DDR4 life soon now and DDR5 is starting to hit late next year. Even if you buy early 2021, expect it to be DDR4. You said your parts are 10 years old, I'm assuming it's running DDR3 then. That's a notable difference maker.

Same goes for CPU. Intel would definitely need changes, AMD is more questionable. On this front, main upgrade proof thing is that thing that AM4 is good for the upcoming line as long as there's the right chipset in it (X570 or B550).

I'd just do PSU for now. You could technically catch either the end of a generation chips and designs or enter the start of a new one in 2021.


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I guess when I mean Run Cyberpunk I suppose I mean run it at at least High settings at 60fps at 1080p . Still really good but not Ultra settings at 4K good

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Installing a power supply is a bit of a pain, but I think newer power supplies are a lot easier to imply. Should be less work than replacing a motherboard at least.
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Here are the specs of my current PC:

Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Motherboard: MSI P67A-G45 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge Quad-Core 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W
BX80623I52500K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000

GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 WINDFORCE OC 6G (GV-N1060WF2OC-6GD)

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL

Hard Drive: Samsung 1TB SSD (Can't get exact model number right now)

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Definitely feel free to replace that PSU - old PSUs freak me out, I don't like to use them past warranty. Plus, yours isn't that great to begin with.

Here's a helpful link for PSU info: https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1116640-psucultists-psu-tier-list/

As other people have pointed out, when you do get around to a rebuild, you're likely looking at replacing everything except for the hard drive (although newer NVMe M.2's are nice for fewer cables and faster transfer speeds) and the GPU (yours is probably fine if you're sticking with 1080p60).

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OK then, maybe I'll look into just a power supply after all!

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One thing that should be mentioned with regard to replacing a PSU: Never mix and match cables. When you pull put the old PSU, make sure you pull out all of the cables associated with it if it's a modular PSU.

Cables are apparently not standardized between PSUs, so if you use old cables with a new PSU, you run the risk of frying components.

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So I went ahead and got a new PSU. This one to be exact:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/corsair-cx-m-series-650w-atx12v-2-4-eps12v-2-92-80-plus-bronze-modular-power-supply-matte-black/5845214.p?skuId=5845214

I pulled out the old PSU, wires and all, and replaced it with the new one. Everything plugged in, I tried it out and.... still the same. Well, it's a tiny bit different, now when I turn it on, the fans and lights run for a few seconds, then it turns off and then after a few seconds it tries to turn on again. This isn't NEW, but it is happening more consistently now.

Sooo what does this mean? Is this a CPU / Motherboard issue or something?

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Try replacing the CMOS battery in the motherboard. Or at least use the CMOS jumper to reset it.

Twice in the last 18 months my computer wouldn't turn on after a power outage, pressing the power button yielded no response. Thought my power supply could be dead, but tried those first and it worked. Second time was a couple of months ago, and just resetting it worked, and I bought batteries to replace it the next time.

Also, I have a Sandy Bridge i3, so my computer is the same age as yours.

CMOS battery is good idea, so I went out and got a new one. Unfortunately, there was not change. The PC tries to turn on over and over but never gets beyond that

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I would just get a new PSU now. They are relatively cheap and you can just transplant it to the a new PC down the line.

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Bump

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oh i didnt see the above post that you bought a new PSU

yeah now it sounds like a mobo issue. I got a PC here at my house that does the same thing. I know the mobo is borked but its an older PC so getting a replacment mobo is impossible.


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This may sound basic, and you may have done it, but have you tried another outlet?

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Yeah I tried different outlets, no luck.

At this point I'm basically resigned to the idea of needing to build a new PC. And hey, now I got the Power Supply so that's one part down. SSD too. Actually, I do have a question. So if I build a PC, and I want to use my current SSD that Windows and everything in there, will I be able to just.... plug the SSD into my PC and it will just work? Or is it more involved than that?

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It should work. Obviously you'll need a bunch of driver updates, but parts swapping is so common there's not a good reason for it to not work.

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Try pulling your RAM sticks out and putting them back in. If you have multiple sticks, try booting up with each stick by itself as well.

Doesn't cost anything, so it can't hurt to try.

Since your computer is already 10 years old, if that doesn't work, you might as well build a new one.

GANON1025 posted...

Yeah I tried different outlets, no luck.

At this point I'm basically resigned to the idea of needing to build a new PC. And hey, now I got the Power Supply so that's one part down. SSD too. Actually, I do have a question. So if I build a PC, and I want to use my current SSD that Windows and everything in there, will I be able to just.... plug the SSD into my PC and it will just work? Or is it more involved than that?

if its windows 10 then you can just move the HDD from one mobo to the other.

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OK, I think I know what I'm going to do. I'll build a new PC, with this power supply, SSD AND GPU I have now. The plan is to build the PC as IF I have a 3070, but just use my current GPU until a later date when I will upgrade it.

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Alright, SO, after experimenting a bunch with reseating the RAM, I've found I am able to consistently get the PC to turn on if I take out one of the RAM sticks. If I put that stick back in, the PC consistently fails to start. Sooo I think this might just be a RAM problem. So here's my question. if I'm going to get some new RAM sticks I'd like to get some good ones that I could transplant into brand new PC whenever I get it. Considering how old my CPU and motherboard are, should I be concerned at all with getting newer RAM? Like they won't fit, or they'll be too "strong" or something?

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they literally won't work.
you're using DDR3 RAM, if you get new RAM it has to be that.
when you build a new machine it'll be DDR4 or DDR5. whatever you buy now won't matter on the next PC you build.

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Yeah you might want to see if you can get some used RAM if you're going to be upgrading soon.
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OK so I am better off getting cheaper DDR3 RAM, probably the same GB size I have now, and just buy better RAM whenever I get around to upgrading.

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