I recently built a computer (last 2 weeks) for online gaming. Everything appeared to be running accordily at first. Keep in mind this was my first build. During the first couple of weeks I encountered some problems. While playing a racing game online the screen shot suddenly froze and I had to manually shut down the computer using the power button on the front of the machine. I also had had problems that made the computer shut down and when restarted stated that the nvidia graphics card had an error. I downloaded the latest drivers for the card which is a geForce GTX 260. This problem happened twice. While playing the game the computer suddenly lost power. I attempted to start the computer back up buy pressing the power button and heard a loud "pop". Needles to say the computer did not start. I opened the case and felt the power unit which was extremley hot. The graphics card was also very hot. I allowed the unit to cool down and still had success getting power restored. I checked the outlet and it was functioning properly. The power supply unit was a Cool Max 750w. Obviously dust was not an issue here. I removed the PSU and noticed something that alomost looked like a small amount of insulating foam on some of the fan blades for the PSU. I sent the PSU back to the online store I purchased it from. My question is that could this be a bigger problem than just a defective PSU? When i set the computer up in BIOS I really did not change any settings than the motherboard already had defaulted to. Any help would be appreciated.

 

I'm guessing here, but moden video cards are natorious power hogs. Notice anything unusual (such as bulging caps or burned resistors) on the board. Check the mother board too, while your about it.

 

Agree with Bill's comments. It's a bit hard to know more until you get the PSU back. It is possible the PSU fan was just not working. I recently did a build with the same graphics card, ASUS P5QC MoBo and 750W PSU (OCZ Silencer). Nothing gets very hot. I would describe the graphics card as warm, but not hot. By that I mean, something 55 to 60 °C would be quite hot; warm would be 35 to 40°C maybe.

Did you have the accessory power cable attached to the card? I would also check to be sure the fan on the card is also working.

John

 

My PC power supply unit exploded the other day!!... found a blown resistor, that's it!! but what could be the reason??

 

I would say the graphics card was warm. I mean it wasn't as hot as the power supply unit. Is it possible that the PSU was causing the nVidia errors I was receiving or is the graphics card flawed as well.

 

Maybe this is completely out on a limb, but I suspect once you get a good PSU installed everything will be fine. Under-powering and unreliable powering can cause all sort of errors. Just be sure all the accessory power plugs are installed. My mobo had one too, as well as temperature regulating sockets for the fan plugs.

My PSU barely gets warm.

John