An interesting dilemma I'm having... how to test?

[Shyatic]

So since I got the new COD Black Ops -- my PC decides to randomly shut off when at load. I've played games before but I'd say the vast majority were not as demanding, and given my PSU is a 660W 80+ Platinum from Seasonic (though a few years old) I felt I was fine with the usage.

I currently run a Ryzen 7 1800x, 16GB RAM, 1080Ti, and Corsair Liquid Cooler. No overclocking, nothing crazy, all SSD (an M.2 and a regular SSD, both Samsungs).

Is this normal? I did the PSU usage calculator (https://outervision.com/b/RbAeeh) and found I'm well under the threshold, and that my PSU should be perfectly capable to handle my usage. Is there a way to test the 100% load of the PSU thru software or something else? There aren't any errors on the event log, in Windows, or in the application logs -- I've watched the CPU cycles and video cycles and RAM usage to rule all those out. But it literally looks like midgame, somebody came and flipped the circuit breaker on my PC. I have to manually power off the PSU, then power it back on, and it will boot without a problem.

Any thoughts on remedies etc, I would appreciate. I'm assuming that I'm not getting the advertised wattage out of my PSU and it warrants an RMA, but would be grateful to have some information to make a more educated guess at it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

What does Reliability Monitor say? It keeps track of things like that.

 

[VirtualLarry]

And yes, on my ASRock AB350M Pro4 boards, in certain configurations, with certain video cards, with certain UEFI BIOSes (most of their newer ones), and with my Ryzen R5 1600 CPU, the machine would... sometimes, but rarely, spontaneously reboot. Not due to Windows Updates. Even at stock speeds.

I suspect, but have not tested, that my CPUs, which were purchased early-on, have the "Ryzen bug" (search for "kernel compile Ryzen bug" for more info).

If your 1800X was purchased early on in the days of Ryzen, then it too might have that bug, and might need to be RMAed.

 

[Shyatic]

What does Reliability Monitor say? It keeps track of things like that.

Got this:

Description
A problem with your hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
Code: ab
Parameter 1: 1
Parameter 2: 20
Parameter 3: 0
Parameter 4: 1
OS version: 10_0_17134
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1
OS Version: 10.0.17134.2.0.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033

 

[Shyatic]

Mind you, this isn't a spontaneous reboot -- the PC just simply shuts down cold. I have to flip the switch on my PSU to get it back to boot again, I can't even power on without doing that.

 

[UsandThem]

You can run a program like Unigine's Heaven or Superposition, and it will put a heavy load on your system, and will use more power than just about any game you will ever play. That way you can rule out COD being the issue. However, if it shuts down again, you'll have to figure out if it's your PSU or GPU causing the problem (by testing known good ones in their place).

 

[Lordhumungus]

Possible that this is some kind of thermal shutdown event to prevent damage to the CPU? Do you know for sure that your cooler is working correctly and/or have you checked your temps?

 

[Shyatic]

So I went ahead and bought a new PSU -- EVGA 1000w. No issues thus far so it seems to be PSU related. I'll be RMAing the old one and then at least I'll have a spare

 

[UsandThem]

So I went ahead and bought a new PSU -- EVGA 1000w. No issues thus far so it seems to be PSU related. I'll be RMAing the old one and then at least I'll have a spare

Holy moly, a 1000w unit for just one GTX 1080ti?

I guess at least you will have plenty of room to add parts (like additional GPUs) later on.

 

[Lordhumungus]

So I went ahead and bought a new PSU -- EVGA 1000w. No issues thus far so it seems to be PSU related. I'll be RMAing the old one and then at least I'll have a spare

Did you check to see if the Seasonic was still under warranty? I feel like Platinum PSUs have barely existed long enough for it to exceed the length of a Seasonic Warranty (which if I am not mistaken is usually 7 years).

 

[Shyatic]

Holy moly, a 1000w unit for just one GTX 1080ti?

I guess at least you will have plenty of room to add parts (like additional GPUs) later on.

The cost differential between a 750 or 800w and a 1000w was pretty minimal, so I just went with the largest option.

As for the Seasonic being under warranty -- it is, and I'll be submitting an RMA today