I believe the power supply unit is malfunctioning, but I need certainty.
I believe the power supply unit is malfunctioning, but I need certainty.
Hello. My PC has been acting up these past few months, I'm not sure if any of these issues are related, but I think my power supply is going out. So for over the past 2 years on bootup my PC makes this noise which I can only describe as a fan getting going, it stops after a while and everything has been fine after that. This whole "fan" issue has come to a head the past few days. So I've been playing a game a lot and my graphics card software was set to everything off, nothing fancy. I enabled some higher graphics settings and in a hour or so my whole system crashed. This wasn't a blue screen or anything, everything just lost power, keyboard mouse etc. I am sure this is a power supply issue but is there something else I should try before I buy a new PSU? It seems to be doing this on high load times. I really don't look forward to plugging in all those cords for it to still have a problem. I have tried putting the settings back to low and it has just "went black" (crashed) again.
I'm not sure how to check the temperatures at the time it shut down, speccy seems to be saying my normal temps are fine.
I also have "whocrashed" and it's not reporting any crashes.
So additionally, my system is getting kinda old and it's been noticeably slower about the past month or so. For some reason it is also shutting down much slower these past few days as well. I don't think a PSU would cause that, but what do I know?
So do I just buy a new PSU and call it a day?
Thank you!
My PC is seven years old and I don't have the original parts list, which was a mistake. However, I opened it up and it's a Thermaltake model, likely the one you found: https://thermaltakeusa.com/products/toug...50fpcgus-r - it's gold RGB and 650 watts.
If you opened the power supply, that was stupid. Not knowing what you're doing and proper care could kill you from residual charges. If you mean opened the case, then there's nothing wrong with that.
You mentioned the fans and then ADD'd and switched topics. Where is the fan sound coming from. That could be significant and an indicator.
Next issue, you said you went into the graphics software meaning either Nvidia/GeForce+Control Panel, AMD Adrenaline or if your card has its own suite-that, and "turned everything off". Pending the definition of everything off, I SAS hope you didn't turn the GPU fans off.
Not sure what "whocrashed" is, maybe it's reputable but sounds like a Netflix Murder Documentary. HWInfo64 to monitor your temps. AMD generally 95 is the absolute max it can take but should never be close to that. Intel it's 100 or 105C, again, should never be close to this. GPU, depends on your GPU.
Lastly nobody can say what it is because you don't have your full system specs posted and if you changed any components from when you got it at any point. Start with posting your full components list or if it's a pre built, the EXACT make and model and if you changed anything ever. You posted too many things while not giving much info about any of them and are jumping too quickly to the cause.
Certainly I didn't connect the power supply unit.
I'm not sure where the noise is coming from, but as I mentioned earlier, it probably comes from the PSU.
I have an AMD GPU, so in their software it has always been left at the default settings, with all options turned off. By options I mean features such as AMD super resolution, anti lag, speed boost, etc. – I haven't disabled fans or anything significant, just experimenting with the settings since I haven't encountered many issues with this system.
The device that failed is the one I used previously for analyzing crash reports, like a BSoD would usually appear there. I think it didn't show up because the power to everything stopped and it didn't have a chance to generate a crash report.
My computer is a custom build from iBuyPower. I've upgraded the RAM, added an NVMe 1 TB drive, and replaced my GPU over the years. This is really the first hardware issue I've experienced.
CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K
Cooler: Liquid cooled
RAM: DDR4 3600 mhz G-Skill Ripjaws 32 Gigs
Storage: MSI Z370-A PRO (MS-7B48)
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB
EDIT: A few days ago I installed a Bluetooth dongle to connect an Xbox controller to my PC. I haven't used it since then, but unplugging the dongle caused the "safely remove media" icon to appear on my taskbar. That's when the slowdown during shutdown began. I still can't get it to disappear.
Additionally, after cleaning the PC with the duster, I believe the noise has ceased.
A BT dongle crashing the system could indicate serious corruption. I’m not sure that’s the main issue.
For the fan, you’ll need to check it carefully—put your head in or against the case to confirm. If it’s the PSU fan, that alone would make sense for removal (especially since it’s seven years old). Some experts will probably say, “CPUs can run quietly, they don’t need perfect performance,” so I’ll address that now. These fans are built to handle higher temperatures and will activate if things get too hot. In the future, the fan might stop working entirely and could even cause a fire if it fails completely.
Begin with that. Then download HWInfo64 and run the most demanding game for an hour or two, noting the maximum and average temperatures (screenshots would help).
Testing the CPU directly will be more expensive than replacing it. People will still suggest temporary fixes using jumper wires, but those only test if it works at all—not its true performance.
There are other steps to consider, but start by figuring out the fan and monitoring temperatures.
If none of those apply, move on to RAM and GPU. A CPU failure is unlikely unless you pushed it too far with overclocking. Or if the water cooling was recently installed and accidentally damaged the pins. But we’ll handle all of that later.
Sorry for the delayed response. I’m not sure if the sound is coming from the PSU. Just a minor point: the noise appears only during startup, after which the fan operates normally.
I believe my PC is still functioning well with my current usage, perhaps upgrading in a few years or if the motherboard fails.
The only game I play is Diablo 4, and the GPU does start working hard, though it doesn’t cause any crashes.
The startup fan sound remains, so I should have stopped worrying earlier.
I reset all GPU settings back to defaults—no advanced features like super resolution—and it hasn’t shut down again. Even a few hours of playing D4 at medium settings worked without issues.
For now, I’ll let it be unless it behaves unusually again.
Thank you for your assistance—I’ll keep monitoring it.
Thanks!