>>>No problem, NewfieEK. We appreciate the clarification back, and will advise further on your PSU size for your hardware. Glad this information proved helpful to you.<<<Hey guys, sorry for the delay. Yes sorry for the misunderstanding this was a CUSTOM-BUILT PC that i got at a shop several years back. I got the tower all unhooked to take to the shop tomorrow. Thanks for the help and the info that you guys were giving me and explaining it out. Not being that knowledgeable on this this. I did have someone pop the side off to look i think they said it was 450W if thats what you were looking for.
I May take my laptop in with me and show them this post so they can have an better idea of what was happening. I will update you when repairs done. Thanks again
Very good information there. Unless Power Supplies have changed a lot in the last 20-30 years; I think you're a little off on your answer. I used to build and test Power Supplies for several companies in both the Server PC business as well as Biomedical equipment (Heart Monitors, specifically). Both of these industries are notorious for business-critical and life-support-critical applications--they can't afford to fool around with poor quality Power Supplies in their equipment. Back in the 70s, & 80s Switcher power supply technology was just coming out. In the Lab, we had special variable Power Generators, and we were able to adjust rails with a rheostat type knob switch on each and every power rail being output out of the PSU; +12Vdc, -12Vdc, +5Vdc, -5Vdc, and some other oddball ones like +/- 14Vdc; +/-18Vdc, etc., and then observe the results. With the testing we did, we were also able to put Microprocessor Chip Emulators from Intel and AMD directly into the Mobo sockets, and see the results on a computer screen in agonizing detail; and simultaneously on an Oscilloscope *might be before your time!*, that included every single I/O line into and out of that CPU socket; both signal voltages, ground lines, and all data buss lines. We certainly did see things like undervoltage on 1 or more rails damage the CPU chips. We specifically tested for this to eliminate the problem. In well-made PSUs, there are circuit design compensations that provide protection to the CPU chip itself from this particular problem. However, as I've posted in detail elsewhere on our forum, the detailed PSU design guide put together buy a bunch of engineers who also know their way around Power Supply technology as it pertains to building custom-rig gaming systems. Based on my direct experience with inexpensive PSUs made over the years, I believe this to be the case more often than you would think.
On failed PSUs that test with 1 or more low voltage rails, as tested with a Multimeter, probably 1-2 in 10 CPU chips are damaged and must be replaced. Of course this varies, and doesn't happen all that much with OEM built PSUs; but it does happen. You're last line of your last paragraph states:
>>>Well, Rich having been a PSU designer decades ago (as I just posted back to Mike's response), I'm not certain that's true the way you worded it.
I think it's more of a Guideline.
But, PC and laptop engineers can and do add up all the component wattages and then add the old "fudge-factor" or overcompensation rule of thumb all engineers are taught in school to use. If what you are saying was strictly true, I could buy a Seasonic or Corsair 150W PSU, and because it's a good brand it would power this OP's custom-built PC just fine?? I don't believe that's true.
One has to look at the standard rules for computing a PSU's total power output to the Mobo and internal as well as externally connected devices it must power. I know what your are meaning to say, and that's "given an adequate computed total power output measured in wattage for a specific list of components, that a calculated wattage value of say 450W is determined, quality will vary widely by the PSU brand chosen by the system builder. This in turn can cause multiple failures including premature component failure due to temperature, heat, or altitude stresses, as well as undervoltage and overvoltage issues in the Motheboard and other connected components. Therefore it's more important to choose a PSU brand that has excellent reputation for using quality components and design, at an equivalent wattage (i.e. 450W in this example), than a low-quality brand". I'm posting this for others reading this thread including the Tech at the repair shop where the OP is planning on taking his PC.
On my Dell Studio540 desktop PC I was getting BSODs, and random hangs for years, until I did some more research on PSUs. Turns out that Dell uses around a 350W PSU for this machine I bought in 2008 *gonna be 8 years old this summer*. I bumped that up to a SEASONIC SS-750KM3 750W 80 GOLD CERTIFIED psu, and it's made a tremendous difference in how my system performs! It cost me like $150+, but it's been well worth it. I do not run a high-end Gaming GPU card, as I don't do online gaming; but I do have multiple HDDs in there; 2 internal mechanical drives, and now 3-4 USB external drives. These perform WAY better with a high-performance power supply, and I only get an occasional hangup post Tuesday MS weekly updates push. But, I think that's because my Mobo developed a weird problem and it's getting old.
I'm probably going to replace the whole PC in the next year or so to get USB3.0 capability which I really need for my work. I tried one of those add-in PCI-1x internal usb3.0 cards, but it doesn't work on my Mobo apparently it needs a full UEFI BIOS to work; I have AHCI, but that's not enough for the add-in card FW. Since I do lots of Image Backups now for my customers and daily full image backups of my C: drive, that takes up more space and I had to get more usb drives to manage this. So I am regularly copying and transferring 130GB+ file sizes between drives. This high-performance PSU has really rejuvenated my system. I was actually thinking of replacing it earlier this year in Jan. prior to upgrading the PSU to the Seasonic.
<<<BBJ>>> 
Agreed..Kudos on picking a 750W Seasonic you can't really do any better than that for quality
I have one too!
>>>Yes BIGBEAR I have been building since about 1999 or so. When you hear about nagging issues with unexplainable FPS drops in gaming, lockups and or reboots, and various other issues, more often than not a new high quality power supply will get rid of most if not all the little nagging issues provided the rest of the hardware/driver configuration/BIOS setup is good. Kudos on picking a 750W Seasonic you can't really do any better than that for quality
Looks like I'm not the only one either.
Last home system I built from scratch was like 1997; I usually take old OEM boxes and rebuild them with better components than they came with, except the Mobo's; and refurbish to sell or donate. I've been doing that now since 1993. For the last few years I've been promising to build my son a Gaming rig from scratch, but I didn't have the money. Now that I have access to my retirement funds, I'm going to start buying components 1 at a time, using recommendations from here, and put together a really nice system for him for Christmas or Birthday gift. I don't do online Gaming, but he's been doing it since he was knee-high to a Mid-tower!! <<<
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