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TL;DR: It was the Power Supply

D

dijon

Member
I've been pulling my hair out for a month over occasional 'take down the machine and reboot' crashes in Windows 11. The Reaper crashes were especially alarming since I've been using it for years and it maybe crashed half a dozen times due to a misbehaving plugin.

This is a relatively new machine (2 years) with 64 GB RAM and all SSDs. I experienced crashes in Reaper, and also in games (shh) and video editing software. The game crashing was the one constant. It started happening with greater regularity until any 3D game would crash on startup.

This type of crash is hard to diagnose as Windows (I'd presume MacOS as well) never gets a message about it to display in the event logs. All I got was something like 'Your machine did not shut down correctly'. It was like someone pulled the plug.

So finally I decided it could be the power supply (Corsair 850 watt). I purchased the same one so I could slide it in and reconnect all the existing power cables. I'm now 2 weeks in and it's running perfectly again. It has a 10-year warranty, but honestly, I replaced it for under $150 and I'm just glad to be back up and running so I probably won't send in the old one.

No idea what happened, probably just unlucky as I've never had a power supply go south. But, if you're scratching your head about weird crashes, it could well be the power supply.

Hope this helps someone!
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What's the model on the Corsair?
I've learnt my lesson and only buy Platinum rated power supplies. The power savings and reliability in the long run are worth it.
 
timbit2006 said:
only buy Platinum rated power supplies. The power savings and reliability in the long run are worth it.
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Curious on the other question as well as I picked up a Corsair due to constant high praise on this forum and in general.

For the Platinum, which manufacturers and models are those you’d suggest?
 
I've had PSUs fail a few times, but it's always been just a complete failure - turns off and won't power back up. I built a new PC in July and used a Corsair RM850X. So far I've had no problems. Hopefully it will keep ticking for a long while.
 
ip20 said:
Curious on the other question as well as I picked up a Corsair due to constant high praise on this forum and in general.

For the Platinum, which manufacturers and models are those you’d suggest?
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I don't necessarily prefer any manufacturer over another, I'm mainly motivated by what's on sale at the time but I always just make sure to go with Gold or Platinum and spend a little bit checking out reviews. It's shocking just how much you can remove from a power supply all in the name of Muntzing out a bit more profit and have it still "work" and that's what those ratings are all about aside from power efficiency.
I've replaced a perfectly functioning bronze PSU in a PC case my younger brother gave me just for peace of mind, after they've been used for a few years you never know when the inferior caps will fail.
 
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timbit2006 said:
What's the model on the Corsair?
I've learnt my lesson and only buy Platinum rated power supplies. The power savings and reliability in the long run are worth it.
Click to expand...
CORSAIR - RMx Series RM850x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply - Black
 
dijon said:
CORSAIR - RMx Series RM850x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply - Black
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I had the RM750x in my new build in late December - and it was completely unstable AND super noisy.

Seasonic got the job here now.

Corsair used to be my go-to for PSUs for years - but I am reading more and more stories like this one popping up all over the place.

Sounds like quality control is being challenged where they build these things - but I won't be buying another.

S
 
Pier said:
Probably a bad unit.

I've used Corsair PSUs for years now and they've been silent unless I was really pushing the machine.
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I was squarely in their camp for years (like circa 2008)- but this one really annoyed me - espeically since it was a local purchase with a 2 week return window - and it took me about 11 days to find out what was really going on.

Then I started reading about others - with this specific unit having the same issues. I do not think this was just my unit - more like a really bad batch that went out there sometime in the past.

Once I dumped that - and got the Seasonic in here - it was all good at first boot. Haven't actually looked at it since the new machine has been up. Just like a good PSU should be.

S
 
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