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I have a CAD rendering workstation that barely ever draws more than 200 WATT (and then only when under extreme CPU load from doing multiple simultaneous CAD renders), but it frequently crashes when powered by a 750 WATT PSU. I've tested it with a 1000 WATT power supply and it runs rock stable.

I don't think it's simply a wattage issue, because it's not using even close to the power supply's rated wattage, and I've seen nearly identical rendering workstations with lower-rated power supplies use the same Ryzen 9 3900X CPU and run without stability issues.

Wattage isn't the only difference between the power supplies. The 750 WATT PSU was inexpensive and the 1000 WATT PSU is fairly high-end.

Namely, a Thermaltake Litepower GEN2 750W PSU, vs. Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1000W PSU (Thortech is a subsidiary of GeIL).

Other specs that may be of importance:

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X CPU
MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX
Crucial P1 NVMe M.2 1TB SSD
Nvidia Quadro P400
HyperX Fury DDR4 3200MHZ RAM 32GB

When it crashes, it hard resets (powers off and reboots, without a blue screen or crashdump). I have confirmed that crash dumps do work correctly, but there are none written in this instance because power just resets not allowing a crash dump to be written. Crash dumps are kind of a moot point now that I've managed to isolate the issue down to PSU anyway.

Unfortunately, the PSU that powers the workstation without crashes can't stay in the machine. I need to purchase a replacement PSU for it, so I'm trying to determine what is the difference, what exactly do I need to look for in a replacement without just buying the most expensive PSU if I don't need to.

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  • @MichaelHarvey, Thermaltake is the brand of the one that crashes. It's a brand new PSU too.
    – Alxs
    Commented Nov 20, 2020 at 14:38
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    "750W" is a total power output. It is possible that is is not supplying enough power on a specific rail, or is simply defective.
    – Mokubai ♦
    Commented Nov 20, 2020 at 14:40

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So the difference I see here aside from the massive difference in 12v supply is that the combined 3.3v and 5v are 20A vs 24 which could make the difference.

The since the 3.3 and 5v are combined the 3.3v is simply the 5v rail lowered to 3.3v. Therefore between the need for 3.3v and 5v you could go over the limit. Also note the actual limit could be lower due to many factors.

Chances are that the far better Thortech 1000w is actually true to its promises. However, many factors including excessive heat not just in the room, but from your case and the area surrounding your case. The cheaper supply is probably more affected by this.

Oh and you have 2 rails instead of 1 so you could be overloading 1 of the 2 rails.

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  • I would agree with your assessment. There is a nearly 300 W difference in the efficiency between those two PSU. Quadro has 105 Watt TDP. I am guessing it's a combination of the Ryzen 9 3900X CPU and the Quadro. To really determine what is going on, we would need to record and measure the wattage at the time of the crash, it could be as simply as the 1000 W PSU is just cleaner power at the higher values.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Nov 20, 2020 at 16:29
  • My apologies @cybernard, it's the GEN2. I've updated the question and added the manufacturer's info page on the unit.
    – Alxs
    Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 5:52
  • @Ramhound, the Quadro GPU doesn't do any work on this machine. This type of CAD machine is all CPU. I've never seen the GPU above 20% load.
    – Alxs
    Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 5:55
  • Isn’t CAD work typically GPU intensive? Only the GPU would be drawing that type of voltage that is tripping the PSU
    – Ramhound
    Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 6:10
  • @Ramhound, The GPU is drawing about 20W max under my observation. ArtiCAD: "ArtiCAD’s rendering performance relies upon processor quality, rather than graphics card capacity, so standard current graphics cards should be more than sufficient." - articad.com/recommended-system-requirements
    – Alxs
    Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 7:58

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