My hardware issues.

[lars573]

So my 4 yearold desktop PC is having problems. I'm not sure exactly what the problem is. But it's either my power supply (Enermax 535 watt) or my video card (Sapphire ATI X1900 XT). Earlier this summer we had some damp days and when I went to turn on my PC it wouldn't. I pushed the button, the lights blinked and then it was dead. This had happened once before, but the lack of burned silicon smell and fire works made me think it would be fine. It was. Now when it happened again I was determined to see if anything was dead. I disconnected the second HDD. And it turned on. The next week it happened again. And this time I had to swap video cards and disconnect both HDD's to get it to boot. Now the video card has been acting up. It keeps over heating and crashing when I use any game that require any kind of 3d Acceleration.

My main question is this: Is it only a power supply problem? Or are both dieing and need to be replaced?

Note: I don't have the money for a whole new PC at this time.

[Xiahou]

I want to say it's just a power supply problem- but there's no way for me to be 100% certain. The fact that disconnecting hard drives helps the system boot seems to be a strong indicator. Also, depending on how bad the power is that it's putting out, it could possibly damage other hardware in the system.

If you get a new power supply, try to get a good brand that's sized well enough to leave room for growth. At the very least, if you ever do build another PC, you should be able to transfer over the new supply.

[Geezer57]

Power supplies are the most common replacement component I find when fixing computers - they fail more frequently than any other part, and can damage other parts in the system while they're going out.

Borrow or buy a replacement PSU, install it and run some low-level diagnostics - not Windows programs. If things check out at that point, you can move up to Windows utilities and wring out the video card, processor, etc.

[lars573]

Well for now I've switched to an older less power hungry video card. But as Xiahou mentioned "higher quality" ( implying that enermax is lower qualty) what brand(s) would that be?

[jabarto]

Corsair is my personal favorite. Antec Earthwatts is good too.

[Tellos Athenaios]

You'd be looking for a 80%+ efficiency percentile (there'll be a nice 80 sticker/logo on the box). The more efficient the thing is the longer it should live.