Cpu meltdown transcoding with ffmpeg

[oduodui]

Good day

Some bad news

Transcoded h264 to prores HQ with ffmpeg 64 bit(zeranoe static 64 bit) on windows 7 64bit. Core I 3 processor with 16g ram and 2TB HDD drive. The h264 file was 2hours 33 minutes long and was shot in 50 fps interlaced standard quality on a sony hdr 540pj.

The output file was going to be about 220gb of size.

After about an hour of transcoding the computer the computer was emitting smoke and everything was dead inside. Everything smelled burned and the computer was dead inside.

Was this due to poor ventilation inside the pc or was the computer simply not designed for such a workload ?

Thanks

[jagabo]

Any desktop computer should be able to withstand 100 percent CPU load indefinitely. That requires sufficient cooling of everything inside and sufficient air flow through the case. CPUs are pretty well protected today. They will slow down, even halt, when they overheat. I suspect your power supply burned out, taking the rest of the computer with it. Cheap power supplies often can't put out half the power they claim.

[oduodui]

So even if the cpu was hot(let's say from poor ventilation) it should have shut down automatically?

How is it possible that a cpu can destroy a psu? Aren't they designed for such things? Can cpu draw that much power?

Thanks for your replies.

Is there a brand of psu that is considered good in terms of being able to deliver what it says it can and can this be tested in advance before connecting to your compuiter?

[aedipuss]

corsair, seasonic and evga brands are all i use. never had a problem with those. get a psu with plenty of spare wattage for the cpu/gpu combo you have. you can google "psu ratings" and find the best of 2016

[oduodui]

Thnks you sir

I appreciate it

[redwudz]

Most any name brand PS of 500 W or so should be OK. But even name brand PS's can have a flaw.

It's likely that the CPU had nothing to do with the PS failure, if that is what happened.
And that does seem likely. Not many components in a PC can emit smoke except a PS.

In no particular order, name brand PSs, Thermaltake, Power and Computing, Antec, Corsiar, Coolermaster, Seasonic and many more.

Occasionally, a PS failure doesn't destroy all of the PC components. If you have another PS available for replacement, you might be lucky and just the PS died.

You would want to take a close look at the motherboard, both sides, and internal components and look for signs of burn marks or overheating. Good luck.

[oduodui]

Thank you

[jagabo]

With a Core i3 you probably don't need anywhere near a 500 watt PSU. Unless you have a power hungry GPU. My i5 2500K has been running on a 430 watt Corsair PSU for years.

[oduodui]

Just checked the pc:

Psu TT-350NL1NK thermaltake

350 watt max

Graphics card

gt 730

2 hard drives not sure if they were in raid configuration

[ackboo]

A common reason for a psu failure is that the psu's fan stops working, noboby notices and and the psu overheats. If it is a noname psu with no built in safeties it can take out the motherboard. On top of that if the psu's fan is the only air extracting fan in the case it can damage components before the complete failure.

[oduodui]

http://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/tool/psucalc/index.html?name=Power-Supply-Wattage-Calculator

518 watts recommended

For the pc

Shite

[oduodui]

Why would the fan of the psu stop working ?

[oduodui]

Thanks for replying

[oduodui]

One final question: does ups's do voltage regulation? We have as a common problem in south africa over voltage supply sometimes going as high as 260 volts.

[ackboo]

Why would the fan of the psu stop working ?

Mechanical parts fail for a number of reasons, poor quality, dust, overuse, manufacturing defect .....
Can you give the full specs of your pc?

[ackboo]

One final question: does ups's do voltage regulation? We have as a common problem in south africa over voltage supply sometimes going as high as 260 volts.

Usually not, depends on the type of ups. They should all have a surge protection. In this situation I would use a dedicated voltage regulator though.

edit for clarification : you can read on the different types of ups here. The cheapest and most common standby ups don't do voltage regulation, if you want that feature you need a Line Interactive UPS or better.
http://www.apc.com/support/index?page=content&country=ITB&lang=en&locale=en_US&id=FA157448

[oduodui]

Processor

Core I 3

Motherboard

Gigabye

H81M-S2PH

Ram

2 x 8gb crucial GX64

Graphics card

GV-,N730 gigabyte

Chassis

Yama midi atx

Psu

Thermaltake TT-350NL1NK

Harddrive

Seagate baracuda 7200 rpm

2000 gb

There is a second seagate baracuda 80 gb 7200 rpm I don't know if it was used though its powe connector was badly burned. This drive never showed in windows only the 2TB one.

Optical drive

Dvd writer and blue ray rom its rarely used

Super multi dvd writer

Model gh24db8

[jagabo]

Why would the fan of the psu stop working ?

Fans fail all the time. Mechanical devices are among the most likely to fail.

does ups's do voltage regulation?

Yes.

We have as a common problem in south africa over voltage supply sometimes going as high as 260 volts.

I don't know what the tolerances are. The label on the PSU may say.