Could my PSU have killed my CPU?? (maybe GPU too?)

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Kabbo

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#245231 24-Jan-2019 15:11

Hey,

Sorry a bit of a long one but details matter, right?

So just before Christmas my PC began to randomly turn off.

Initially it was days between power offs to once a day to more regularly.

My pc was fairly power hungry and overclocked as far as I could go within reason.

3930k @ 4.4ghz

gtx780 @ 1200mhz

Corsair AX760i PSU

Custom loop watercooled for the last 6 months or so

Once the shutting down begun more often I lowered my clocks back to almost stock to see if that helped.

Came home from work one day, turned pc on and it turned off just after getting into windows.

Turned on again and the same thing but a little faster this time.

Then the pc seemed to get caught in some reboot loop where it would turn off seconds after being turned on, turn itself back on again and loop like that without ever reaching windows.

Eventually I just got no power to the pc.

Thinking PSU had died I contacted Corsair as it's still under warranty and they gave me a few things to try.

PSU self test, worked! Jumping the pins on the motherboard power cable allowed me to turn the PSU on!

After seeing the PSU was working from what I could tell I plugged the pc back together again and it booted, except the CPU LED stayed on.

Managed to borrow another PSU a few days later and same result, CPU LED stayed on and PC wouldn't post.

Being Christmas and that my PC was 6 years old and I couldn't source replacement parts to test I decided to rebuild.

Went for a Ryzen 2700x, ROG Crosshair 7 and 16bg of vengeance RAM and thought that'll do.

Setup new machine and it won't boot. Motherboard LED's reporting an issue with my GPU (back in original air cooler).

Found a GTX1060 locally and it works.

So today I received a cheapo Xeon that I grabbed off trademe, it works in my old motherboard. So looks like my 3930k is dead.

Weirdly I managed to get the GTX780 to post on my old motherboard but new motherboard still reports a GPU issue with the GPU LED.

I'm sending my PSU back anyway as the fan is clicking and that's enough for them to take it back under RMA but should I be asking Corsair more questions?

Can I test the PSU in anyway to see if it's faulty to a degree that it killed my old system.

Loads of text but appreciate anyone's input on this.

Lias

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#2167080 24-Jan-2019 18:12

Never say never, but VERY unlikely it would/could kill the CPU without damaging the motherboard. In 20+ years of working in IT, I've only once encountered a power supply which damaged other components and that blew the motherboards, not the CPU's. Your PSU provides voltage to the motherboard, and the motherboard regulates the voltage going to the CPU. I'd say the far more likely cause is the fact you were overclocking your CPU, it puts much higher stress on the CPU, over time that can cause damage.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

Kabbo

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2167166 24-Jan-2019 19:45

Thanks for the reply.

That's pretty much what I came back to, the CPU did well and finally gave up.

What I think threw me is the GPU not working when I put it in my new build.

So following up from that.

Any thoughts why my GTX 780 works on my old hardware but not on my new hardware?

I'm currently using the cheapo xeon, my old motherboard, ram and that gtx780 all workings fine.

I've tried it in my new rig, changing PSU and nothing I do will get the PC to post with the 780.

Thanks again guys

timmmay

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#2167169 24-Jan-2019 20:08

I wonder if the overclocking had anything to do with it.

Kabbo

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2167173 24-Jan-2019 20:26

Scratch that.

Decided to sink some solid hours into it and turns out there's an issue with the 780s and Ryzen.

Only found one post about it but seems very specific to the GK110 chips.

The solution is to change PCI to Gen1. Apparently leaving on Auto didn't work.

Thanks for the input. Seems one broken CPU is the only real damage here.

Cheers