New PSU, maybe.

[Jophess]

Hello, the past few days I've noticed my screen going completely black for a few seconds and then going back to normal, mainly while playing games such as Halo PC and WoW, which are not even graphically intensive ones either.

At first I thought it may be my drivers, but everything has been working fine until I added a 1TB WD Black HDD for file storage. (The hard drive is working fine)

My current PSU is a corsair HX520 and my computer consists of:
Gigabyte P35-DS3R
Intel Q6600 @ 2.4ghz
Sapphire HD 5850
1 x 320GB HDD
1 X 1TB HDD
4gb of Patriot Extreme RAM
5 x 120mm fans.

I'm wondering if this may be pushing it for the 520HX and if it's time to upgrade to a more powerful PSU.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Slam'n Systems]

I personally think your current PSU is basically at its limit .. if your problem that is occuring is indeed a PSU problem, that I do not know.

 

[Fat.Clown]

I think it's either your video card or PSU that's faulty
520W is plenty of power

 

[Slaymate]

It could very well be your psu.

It could also be your video driver. I've seen the screen go black for a second or 2 and then flash back on, numerous times in the past few years. A new driver will come out and it will work fine. Then another crappy driver comes out, you never know when, and the problem surfaces again.

 

[Slam'n Systems]

It could also be your video driver. I've seen the screen go black for a second or 2 and then flash back on, numerous times in the past few years. A new driver will come out and it will work fine. Then another crappy driver comes out, you never know when, and the problem surfaces again.

Mhm. I've had similar experiences. If it only happens in games that aren't very system-strenuous .. could be your card, or drivers as Slaymate said.

I'd try rolling back, or getting the newest drivers (Depending which ones you are currently running.)

 

[Jophess]

I'll try updating the drivers to see if that helps.

Any recommendations on a more powerful power supply anyway? I've been thinking of upgrading my computer over the next few months.

 

[Slam'n Systems]

I'll try updating the drivers to see if that helps.

Any recommendations on a more powerful power supply anyway? I've been thinking of upgrading my computer over the next few months.

I looked quickly and came up with this:
Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Power Supplies

Probably over powering, but it's better to have too much, than too little. I say that one because with the rebate, it is an amazing price for a 700W Modular, and with a higher power supply, it means the ability to support SLi/Crossfire if you ever go that route.

This is the one I have...
Newegg.com - Rosewill BRONZE series RBR1000-M 1000W Continuous@40°C, 80Plus Bronze Certified,Modular Cable Design,ATX12V v2.3/ EPS12V,SLI Ready,CrossFire Ready,Active PFC"Compatible with Core i7, i5" Power Supply - Power Supplies
Very overpowering, but I jumped on it as I found it on sale for $89 last December.

 

[orihS ‪‪‪Shiro]

The 5XXX ATI cards have known driver issues.
I'd be faster to judge your graphics card than to judge any of the rest of that setup.



Check the AMD forums, see if anyone is having similar issues with their 5850.