[tenebrousabyss]

Cross-posting this here because maybe you guys have a better understanding of the situation.

I'm on the verge of going totally bonkers. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and I still cannot understand why this is happening nor can I prevent it.

I live in a house that was built within the last 10 years. As mandated by federal law, it has AFCI aka Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter breaker system. It's rated for 15 amps on every wall outlet circuit.

My computer will run just fine when not doing anything graphically intensive. When either I try to play a game or do GPU rendering for the filmmaking that I do, it will trip the breaker without fault either immediately or within 15 minutes. Initially I went around this by using EVGA Precision to lower the "power target" on my GPU. That seemed to work but as time went on, I had to lower the power target more and more. Now if I boot up Black Ops 3 or Red Orchestra 2 or anything really, the breaker will trip within a few seconds.

I've done a lot of research and after contacting several electricians, they recommended I purchase an Isolating Transformer to cut down on the line noise that is causing all the "nuisance trips" in the AFCI breaker. Today I got myself a Topaz Line2 1000W/8.3A power conditioner to see if that would help. Unfortunately it seems to not have the mettle necessary to even power my monitor, as both my monitor and PC run momentarily under its power before the device resets.

I had built the PC only a few months prior to moving here and there we no issues before. Everything is no more than 7 months old. The PSU and GPU are brand-new. I thought replacing them would stop the breaker trips, I was wrong. I am convinced there is nothing wrong with my hardware as it works flawlessly away from home.

Now I am at an impasse: either sink more money (well over $250) into a more modern Isolation Transformer in hopes that it will be able to power my PC under full load, or effing move because I am AT MY WITS END RIGHT NOW. This has caused a considerable amount of problems in both my studies and my gaming. I am desperate for a solution. PLEASE help me.

MY SYSTEM:
Corsair CX-750M PSU
EVGA GTX 970 FTW
12 GB DDR3 RAM, mixed PNY and Patriot in dual-channel
Asrock Z97 Killer mobo
i7-4790k @ stock clocks
PNY 120GB SSD
NZXT S340 Case
LG 1440p 21:9 monitor

 

[bradleyshome]

You don't need to run your monitors on the power conditioner, only your computer. But as you said you tried every fix apart from a Isolating Transformer. Have you tried plugging it in and using it on different sockets around your home?

 

[joed]

duplicate post also found in electrical forum.

No need to post twice.

 

[clawlan]

Have you tried a pure sine wave UPS instead of just a power conditioner? It is also possible that there is an issue with your PSU that is causing the breaker to trip?

 

[twisted-brew]

I've been building PCs since the 1990s. Have you tested the PSU? It could be going out and causing your power interruption. Failing PSUs cause all sorts of weird anomalies. You might be overloading the PSU as well. Just a thought...

 

[tenebrousabyss]

So to update, I bought a Cyberpower UPS like someone in here said (except I got the 1350 and not the 1500). That thing works pretty well, unfortunately it only stops the nuisance tripping at 1080p. If I run anything at 1440p it snaps off again. I'm 100% sure the breaker does not like video cards for some reason. More video card work = bigger chance of tripping breaker.

I don't know what about the UPS is keeping it running but I guess I need more of it.

 

[clawlan]

So to update, I bought a Cyberpower UPS like someone in here said (except I got the 1350 and not the 1500). That thing works pretty well, unfortunately it only stops the nuisance tripping at 1080p. If I run anything at 1440p it snaps off again. I'm 100% sure the breaker does not like video cards for some reason. More video card work = bigger chance of tripping breaker.

I don't know what about the UPS is keeping it running but I guess I need more of it.

Really sounds like a power supply issue. Higher resolution means more gpu work which means pulling more juice from the power supply. Which power supply does your machine have? If it is a low quality supply, that could be the issue, regardless, I would replace it with a high quality one. Also, ensure that your receptacle is wired properly using one of these testers:

 

[GrayHair]

Sounds like the AFCI breaker is identifying your computer's switching power supply as an arc when it's heavily loaded. Try moving the computer to another circuit. If that breaker doesn't trip and you feel comfortable doing so, swap the breakers between the two circuits.

Otherwise, buy a new breaker. Also contact the breaker manufacturer, they should still be improving them with revised arc signatures. The other route would be a bigger or at least different power supply. Least expensive first, since none of the proposed solutions are guaranteed to work.

 

[motoriderx7x]

Also worth noting you have a single 970 card that is factory overclocked. The 900 series gtx models use less power than the predecessors thanks to advances in GPU chipsets. A 750 watt PSU is a bit above what you need based on the specs I'm seeing in your post (which is fine BTW). Your GPU has a max draw of 170w GPU's are the largest consumer of power in any modern PC. Also corsair makes some of the most reliable PSU's around IMO, but the model you have looks like a bronze certified model. It's not nearly as efficient as it could be. I would swap it out for a gold certified with active PFC at a minimum keeping the single volt rail as well. You could even drop the peak wattage a bit as well. At peak load I'm estimating your system only uses about 500-550 watts. You could also get an exact number by placing a meter in between the wall and your psu plug. Also take into consideration your machine at peak load combined with the other devices you have on the circuit as well you may be exceeding the normal limit anyway.