New PSUs with an old GPU cause issues; (Old PSU works fine)
New PSUs with an old GPU cause issues; (Old PSU works fine)
Hi everyone, how are you all?
I wanted to share a concern I’ve been facing lately. About a month back, I replaced my old power supply with a Cooler Master G800 80 Plus Gold ATX. It was functioning well at the time, but now I’m considering an upgrade for my GPU—currently a GTX 1060, and planning to get a RTX 3080ti.
The PSU I chose turned out to be problematic right from the start. When I played more demanding games or ran benchmarks, the screen would freeze and the GPU fans would spin at full speed. This completely halted my PC’s operation, forcing me to perform a hard reset to restore functionality.
Initially, I suspected either incorrect cable connections or static electricity from assembling the PC barehanded. But after repeatedly reassembling and disassembling components, tightening all parts, and still facing the same issue, I realized the problem might be with the power supply itself. Running benchmarks like Heaven Benchmark caused the screen to go black and fans to overwork.
Eventually, I swapped it back for the original Sentey ERP700-SS, and everything worked perfectly again. Games ran smoothly, and benchmarks performed flawlessly.
I was worried the new PSU might be faulty from the factory, so I tried it again—but the same issues resurfaced when I moved the case. I suspected a defective unit, so I requested a refund. After 20 days, the refund arrived, and I decided to upgrade to a Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 850w Gold Modular. It cost more upfront, but I felt justified.
After installing it and testing with Heaven Benchmark, everything was fine. But after a few days of use while watching a YouTube video, the screen went black again—this time requiring another hard reset.
I tested underclocking the GPU to rule out hardware issues, but the problem persisted. I’m still trying to figure out what’s causing this recurring issue.
Anyone have insights or suggestions?
Here are the technical details of my setup:
- PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower Gf1 850w Gold Modular
- Motherboard: A320 PRO-VH (MS - 7C52)
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- RAM: 1 x 16GB DDR4
- Storage: 1x SSD 1TB, 1x HDD 1TB
- Extra: Old PSU – Sentey ERP700-SS (10 years old, no issues)
Looking forward to your feedback.
I would begin by checking Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, or informational events recorded just before or at the time the issue occurred.
Reliability History offers a timeline view that could highlight patterns in when problems arise and disappear.
Event Viewer demands more time and effort to explore, but there’s no rush—feel free to spend time examining details as needed.
A quick question: did you always use only the cables included with any specific PSU?
It seems something might be loose or damaged, leading to a short circuit. More information is required.
Hi. Thank you for your response!
Yes, this is my first modular PSU and I'm using the cables that came with it (they are not meshed).
In the Reliability History I found nothing significant except a banner at the same time as the issue stating "Windows did not shut down properly," with no further details.
On the other hand, I just checked as you mentioned, and in the Event Viewer I found these two errors:
https://imgur.com/YIJLNVT
Do they have any meaning?
PS: I believe I didn't clarify something important, which I'm not sure is relevant... I'm using an old monitor with low resolution (around 1366x756). I don't know if that matters, but the last time the problem occurred I was watching a 1440p video.
Edit: I had uploaded the incorrect image of the error.
Black screen and fans at maximum speed usually point to a power issue. It seems very unlikely the problem lies with the power supplies you've received. The only times this happened was when the 2-pin part of the 6+2 connector wasn't installed correctly, causing power disruptions when the case was bumped. Could the video card connector be warped?
Today the issue resurfaced while I was using Opera. At that time I wasn’t interacting with or moving the computer case. The GPU was running at a lower speed, and I had just completed a Deep Rock Galactic session (no issues there). This isn’t a random occurrence; it seems unresolvable, though I don’t think the power supply unit is the cause.
I observed the following events in the event viewer:
https://imgur.com/QCEtbcW
XML view:
And this is the descriptive view:
Another XML view with the same event but labeled as "information":
And this is the descriptive view:
I’m hoping this additional information helps with diagnosing the problem. I’m certain more of you reading this will have encountered the same issue and won’t be able to fix it. Let’s try together to identify a solution, so we can provide a reference for others in the future.