Good replacement for Silverstone Strider ST1000 1000W

[Skell]

Power supply noob here. After trying to do research on my own, it just left me even more lost and confused from when I started. With so many options to choose from, I prefer to get others' opinions.

I'm replacing my power supply because it seems to have gone bad. This has been going on for a while, but it first started when I would play games. My computer would just shut off randomly. At first, sometimes 30mins after playing games, other times several hours later.

I don't play games on my PC anymore, and it has gotten much worse since then. Sometimes if there is Flash media on a Web page running too long, it will shut off. Or, if I have Dreamweaver (which I use for work) running too long, it shuts off.

Here are my computer specs:

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (2.66 GHz) Quad Core
eVGA Nvidia nForce 680i SLI ATX
2 x Corsair's Dominator 2GB
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 7,200 RPM
2 x eVGA GeForce 8800 GTX 768 MB
Silverstone Strider ST1000 1000W

Is it possible that my power supply wasn't enough? If so, I would like to get one with a slightly higher voltage (maybe up to 1250ish?)

Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated as I'm trying to get an idea of how much I would need to spend for a good quality PSU.

[yojo2]

The power is definitely not an issue, especially if you aren't overclocking. A good 500W PSU would be enough for your rig.
Before replacing the PSU, it'd be advisable to borrow a PSU from a friend and check if the problem persists. PC might be unstable for various reasons, like temperatures for example.

If you want to replace your PSU anyway - what country do you live in and what's your budget?

[-The_Mask-]

Your power supply is really overkill, power consumption is under the 500W.

[McSteel]

1000W is a huge overkill for that machine. Even half that would've been enough. Although the shutdowns you described are usually due to a bad power supply, here it might not be the case. It could be that your CPU is overheating, shutting down to prevent damage. Can you rule that out? You could use any number of programs that can read out the temperature sensor(s), just google some.

[Skell]

My PSU is really overkill? Wow, I had this computer built and I had selected a smaller PSU to begin with (I think it was 750W originally). They emailed me saying that during testing, my computer burned out the PSU and they upgraded me to the Silverstone 1000W for free.

I live in the US. I don't have a set budget really, as long as it isn't a $400-$500 PSU, like the ones I saw while browsing. I'd say at the most $200-$300ish would be my max. If my budget needs to be more, then I will definitely save up for it, as I use this computer for work too.

EDIT: Ok McSteel. I'll look into a program to rule out that problem. Any suggestions on which is the best to use, or does it not really matter?

[McSteel]

It could be that you simply had a defective PSU before, or it may have been a dodgy brand... Try using CoreTemp, or AIDA32 or OpenHardwareMonitor, anything along those lines, to keep an eye on your CPU temperature. You can use Prime95, for example, to put your CPU under load, while keeping an eye on the temps. If it goes over 90°C / ~194°F, then shuts down, you need to do something about your cooling system.

[jonnyGURU]

Originally Posted by Skell

They emailed me saying that during testing, my computer burned out the PSU and they upgraded me to the Silverstone 1000W for free.

They're either liars, the PSU was defective or it was a crappy brand.

When you overload a (properly engineered) PSU, it doesn't "burn out". It shuts down. If it really did "burn out", then something else was wrong.

[Skell]

Yea, you are probably right. They didn't seem very reliable when they started testing. I took the advice of a friend of mine who had used them before. They kept calling me with issues they ran into. They just didn't seem to be able to get it stable. I think it took them nearly a month to finally ship it to me. This was around when Vista Ultimate 64 had just came out (which is my OS), so I'm not sure if that was one of the issues that was making matters worse.

@McSteel - no luck on the Prime95. I tried both "Small FFTs" and "In-place large FFTs" test, and my computer shut off about a minute into both tests. I even have my side panel completely off.

[McSteel]

Then it must be overheating, because your GPUs are doing nothing, and the computer shuts down. In games, the CPU is less loaded, so it lasts longer. Probably the CPU heatsink is full of dust, and doesn't do it's job properly anymore... See if you can clean it.

[Skell]

Originally Posted by McSteel

Then it must be overheating, because your GPUs are doing nothing, and the computer shuts down. In games, the CPU is less loaded, so it lasts longer. Probably the CPU heatsink is full of dust, and doesn't do it's job properly anymore... See if you can clean it.

Ok thanks, I'll give it a try. I've done the whole thorough cleaning of every part in my computer before, and it did help reduce the frequency of my computer shut downs. I'll give it another go and focus more on the CPU area.