Does household voltage affect my OC?

[LHookins 3,118]

Excellent!  Thanks, Ryan.  I don't have any experience with overclocking, so I wasn't aware of any potential issues there.  You've added to the sum of my knowledge.

 

Hook

[ryanbatc 13,136]

It rebooted again this morning.  I was listening to YT vids and that's about it.

 

I called the power company and they said if it drops any lower than 106v to call them back.  The tech made it sound like 106 is barely within tolerance.  I told him average is around 112-114 with our furnace on.  And it's -25F air temp today lovely.

 

Anyway after the reboot I looked at my UPS software to see the battery at 0 and other values in error/red/0.  I turned the whole rig off and switched the PSU power cord over to my regular power strip.  I'm going to try that for a few days.  (And wait for my PSU tester to arrive)

[Guest MyPC8MYBrain]

Ryan, reading through the comments i cant help but thinking its not your UPS or PSU

id say its some sort of hardware malfunctioning on your board

 

even if you have an old UPS that barely holds a 30 sec charge

you shouldn't see any fluctuation at you PSU!

 

unless its your UPS unit itself causing this!

did you try working without it, plugging in directly to the wall?

 

did you go through your crash logs?

my money is on your board has some bad conductor or some sort

 

any other devices gets rebooted when your SimPC does?, or is it only this PC?

 

 

Chris

[Guest]

I would tend to agree that looking at your OC would be the place to start.  Is the motherboard vertical or horizontal?  What I've seen over time is that various cooling solutions will stress the motherboard (physically - more so with a vertical mount) as you go thru many power on/off heat cycles ... cooler tension on the CPU will change also ... heat expands, cooling contracts ... do this a lot and it's like bending thin metal back and forth until it eventually breaks.  (I've discussed the vertical/horizontal mounting issues before, many are skeptical, but this comes from 30 years of building PCs for myself and others).

 

But something else to consider, if you've done some pretty extensive OCing, your components will fail sooner ... it's pretty good to get 3 years out of an heavily OC'd CPU/Motherboard.  Not sure if this is your case, just letting you know.

 

It would also be helpful to know the brand/model UPS and PSU.  Some UPS use a sine wave approximation rather than true sine wave for output.  Also, some UPS don't including power conditioning (sounds like yours does include it).  Most PSU have line conditioning also ... quality varies here based on cost/brand.  My UPS displays INPUT and OUTPUT voltage - INPUT is around 118v-120v, OUTPUT is always 119-120v (it's a dual battery design, true sine wave).  But 106v does seem very low especially if it's consistantly that low.

[Guest MyPC8MYBrain]

i think another good question to ask is,

what else is connected directly to your UPS other than you main PC PSU?

[ryanbatc 13,136]

Vertical mount mobo

 

I just unplugged my PSU from the ups today. More testing required.

 

Other than the PSU I had the modem and router on it. (Fairly light load).

 

For the voltage avg is 112-116 with our furnace on

 

Brand is Ultra 600w / 1000VA. I looked into that true sine wave stuff. Is it for real? I'm pretty sure my ups is stepped.

 

Reference the OC - this reboot happened with and without the OC. So far no more BSOD.

[Guest]

 

 

I looked into that true sine wave stuff. Is it for real?

 

I'm not sure what you mean by the "for real" part ... some PSU are sensitive to true vs. approximated sine wave output from the UPS ... but if you've been using that setup for a while it's an unlikely cause.  112-116 is acceptable, 106 is not ... but need to know more about your UPS.  APC Smart UPS are good units, more expensive, but well worth the cost ... APC smart line is True sine wave output.

 

But again, not saying this is your problem, just too many variables to determine cause right now.  If you have any tools for monitoring (logging to file) CPU/RAM/GPU voltages that might be a good place to state.

[ryanbatc 13,136]

I don't know any more about my UPS than what I wrote above. I actually got it as a gift from a guy who works for the FAA tech center.

 

The "for real" part means I'm skeptical about a quality PSU being affected by the lower quality UPS with stepped sine wave. I just need some more research and I can't seem to find anything about it. I do know my PSU has Active PFC so it could possibly be affected by my stepped sine ups.

[Noel 4,581]

 

 

APC Smart UPS are good units

 

This is what I'm using.  I looked for one that offered conditioned power so in Ryan's case, if he has fluctuating power to the UPS wouldn't a good UPS 'buffer' this so that it can accommodate those sorts of supply issues?

[Guest]

The "for real" part means I'm skeptical about a quality PSU being affected by the lower quality UPS with stepped sine wave.

 

To be clear Ryan, I'm not make any claim this IS your issue of reboots and/or BSOD -- I'm just passing information along fort you to consider -- not trying to sell you on anything.  Like I said, if you can find a tool to monitor to file your voltages (CPU, RAM, etc.) that would be a good first step.

 

Just tossing out suggestions:

1.  Lay the case flat so the motherboard is horizontal

2.  Open case up and make sure everything is secure (cooler, cables, etc.) and fans are operating (including PSU fan if equipped)

3.  If the case is dusty inside, blow it out with air

4.  Monitor voltages to file so you can review entire sessions

5.  If hardware looks good, try pulling memory sets out (if possible) and test with less RAM

 

FYI, I've had random reboots in one of my older PC builds (several years ago) ... but it was very specific and I could reproduce it by loading up a game that was heavy on CPU/GPU usage.  This is when I pulled out the Oscilloscope and discovered my PSU was just not up to the task even though rated for 1000 Watts and cost me $500 ... replaced it with another different brand after some research and that solved the problem. 

 

But it really could be any number of things from capacitors going bad to fan stopped ... best approach is to monitor voltages.

 

A quality UPS should condition the line ... like Noel suggests, a quality UPS will be able to manage a consistent level of output (within it's rated range) regardless of input.

[Guest MyPC8MYBrain]

long time ago i had an issue with a Dell PC

i plugged it to UPS than to the outlet alone

but every time i turned it on it started beeping

nothing was apparent, i replaced the unit

to my surprise the same symptoms appeared

even when directly plugged in to the wall

 

at this point i realized it cant be the PC

started investigating, first step

i run an extension cord from another room

and what do you know, everything worked

 

it turned out the outlet i had the PC plugged into

shared a breaker with my girls room

 

and the added load actually came from their room

 

 

Chris

[ryanbatc 13,136]

Ironically these problems seemed to have started when I relocated my PC out to the family room. It could be the outlet but there's not a great way to test.

 

I do have a Kill-A-Watt unit if someone has an idea for outlet testing. (All my outlets downstairs run at the 112-116voltage).

 

Edit: looks like the PC just shut down with PSU plugged into just the surge and not the UPS - nooo theory killed!

[Guest RWFeldman]

PSU

[cva1077 68]

Not sure if this will help, but I think its worth a shot. Grab HWMonitor and check what the voltages are under the mobo section. This will allow you to check if the PSU is supplying the correct voltages to the mobo and components.

 

Also check if your PSU fan is working, as it may shutdown and stop supplying power if its too hot.

[Guest MyPC8MYBrain]

this is actually a good thing

as you now know the issue is rooted in your PC hardware somewhere

be it burned capacitor on board or PSU unit is going

 

 

Chris