I recently assembled a new computer for my sister, but it keeps shutting down unexpectedly.
I recently assembled a new computer for my sister, but it keeps shutting down unexpectedly.
Your power supply voltage chart shows a maximum 12-volt rail output of 750 watts, which appears to be the primary source for your loads. Without spinning rust or an optical drive, it seems you're drawing most power from this point. Adding the wattage figures for other voltages suggests they collectively reach over 30%, as mentioned in the article. It looks like you may not have much extra capacity left. Consider disabling unused motherboard features such as USB ports and audio interfaces. I'm uncertain if turning them off will save watts on the 12V rail either. For testing, make sure to disable auto-locking CPU features like "multi-core enhancement." Some manufacturers keep these enabled by default, which might mean you're already overclocking. This could explain why your power consumption is higher than what the PSU calculators predict.
I believe you've resolved it. I just reviewed the section on your PCI-E connectors. I actually have only two connected to the card, and they have a second daisy chain connector. So one connector is plugged into two of the card's eight pins, while the other is connected to the third. This means the card is designed to draw 400 watts, but it’s only receiving 75 from the board and 150 from each cable—totaling 375 watts instead of the required 400. That seems like a mistake I should have noticed.
I confirmed on hardware monitor that the card was drawing around 390 watts, and it ran smoothly in AIDA64 Stable for about 30 minutes. However, it might still be contributing to crashes if the card experiences power spikes, such as those you mentioned.
I’ll keep the system running lightly until the new 1000-watt PSU arrives. We’re definitely using a power supply that’s operating near its limit, and another issue linked to it gives me hope that switching to a 1000-watt unit could fix the problem.
I’m concerned about potential damage to the motherboard, power supply, cables, or even the RTX 3080 itself if I plug it in this way. Could supplying only 375 watts from the two cables cause a fire hazard? If so, I’ll just unplug everything right away.
I’m unsure about the long-term impact, but it seems the safeguards in power supplies are meant to prevent harm. There’s a risk if protection is triggered repeatedly, possibly disabling it. Sudden restarts might also mess up the installation process. You could monitor the power settings in an app for your graphics card to see if voltage drops affect reboots. Temporarily diverting the budget might lower the voltage, but likely won’t help if spikes are too strong. Since damage could cost money, I’d wait until the new supply arrives. You might use the spare 560 temporarily to test if reboots persist—though performance in games may suffer. The GTX 560 generally uses less power than the 3090, which is noted for handling high transients.