Okay so i assembled my new pc about a month ago and everything seemed to work fine until one day i downloaded the game Tribes Ascend and started playing it then it began to randomly shutdown for 3 days. Through the course of 3 days anything that puts any stress on my system would cause it to shutdown randomly. For example i can surf the internet fine but when i play videos in 720p or play any games it'll automatically shutdown after a while. After shutting down it would be impossible to turn my pc back on unless i reconnected the cables and waited for about 5 minutes. Even weirder is that after 3 days since the first random shutdown, my pc is working perfectly fine, with no shutdowns no nothing. Only problem is that there's this weird toxic smell coming from my pc. I've monitored the temperature of my graphics card, motherboard and processor with HW monitor and all the temperatures never go above 60 degrees celcius so i'm sure it's not overheating. Which leads me to a bad psu. My question is how come my psu suddenly revived itself without me doing anything? And is it safe to continue using my psu? Should i replace it? My current psu is an EXPLOIT brand (no idea what it is, it came with the casing) 500 watts. According to my computers specs my graphics card needs 400 watts and my processor needs 100 watts. Is 500 watts enough? And if i need to get a new psu where can i find a 600 watts psu preferably under 150 ringgit around lowyat? oh and here are my specs

Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. F1A55-M LX PLUS
Processor: AMD A6-3670
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT

Information about the pricing range of a new, reliable and relatively cheap PSU would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for any help in advance!!

absolutely not enough since the 500 watt PSU cannot supply FULL 500W power actually,if your PSU is "cap ayam" brand the REAL SUPPLIED POWER should be FAR LESS than 500W.
Since the smell came out edi, i think your PSU is burned due to overload.
Gaming did consume more power than normal usage, therefore your PSU is overloaded when he cannot supply more power.

better change your PSU to newer one, if got enough budget better go for 550W PSU.

your hardisk, your usb devices, and other thing also use power. Not much but those tiny bits is important also.

Get from some other branded psu such as coolermaster etc etc. U can find alot a garage sales.

Sounds like lack of power. As for the smell, most likely your cap ayam PSU is being overworked (should be burnt smell)..

Its a fake 500W cap ayam brand PSU.


600W for under RM150? I don't think so (unless you're talking about more cap ayam PSUs). For around RM150 you can get a real 500W PSU such as GigaByte PowerRock 500W or FSP Hexa 500W.

No wonder you're having problem with games, that 9600GT requires at least a real 400W PSU. Additionally the +12V rail should be at least 26A...

This post has been edited by lex: May 7 2012, 10:08 PM

Thanks for all the helpful feedback people! Since i'm now sure it's my psu, what wattage would you guys recommend for my system? Is 550 the bare minimum? or should i play safe and get a 600 watt psu? And how much is the cheapest i can get for a 600watt branded psu? I've asked around kajang and they said the minimum is 300 ringgit. Was he trying to rip me off or is that the standard price? Kinda on a tight budget here as Diablo 3 is coming out soon (still a student ) so the maximum i'd be willing to spend is 200 unless i'm forced to then i guess i'd fork out more than that :'(

The minimum for your system is 400W (in terms of real 400W PSU). Why not get a 500W PSU (such as those mentioned earlier like FSP Hexa 500W and GigaByte PowerRock 500W), which should be within your budget.

The cheapest branded 600W PSU is around RM270 based on Low Yat Plaza (Kuala Lumpur) prices. Of course prices at places far away from Low Yat Plaza will definitely be slightly higher, or much higher...

Okay will do! Thank you so much for the help!!! Finally can get my computer working right again

EDIT: Just to reconfirm, the minimum really is 400 watts right for my system? Would hate to buy a new psu just to find that it wasn't enough Thanks again!!

This post has been edited by Cussen: May 7 2012, 10:46 PM

Yups, 400W is minimum (not talking about fake 400W cap ayam standard). Make sure the +12V rails has at least 26A or 312W combined power (notice your old cap ayam PSU +12V rail has 20A or 240W only, not sure if those cap ayam ratings can be trusted or not). That means look for a good branded 400W, 450W, 500W or higher PSU.

Do beware that some PSU brands/manufacturers do not put proper wattage on their labels (if you thought cap ayam only have fake wattage labels). A good example would be Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 460W model, which its actual continuous power is 420W. In fact for most of the Cooler Master Extreme Power series, their actual wattage is 50W less than labeled wattage. Same goes for lower end AcBel PSUs (do note that AcBel is one of the OEMs for Cooler Master). Brands like FSP usually have the correct wattage on their labels (e.g. FSP Hexa 500W continuous power is 500W).

TS may try Cosair or Seasonic if want a really good branded PSU.
But the price range is exceed RM250++ for 600W PSU series.

Alright thank you so much for the help! Will stop by lowyat to grab a new psu asap! Thanks again