Haven't updated this in a long while, and although this is now my backup/secondary system (see story about the new Windows 11 Alder Lake system that replaced it
HERE if you want) it still deserves a description of what I did to it:
After replacing the original 2080 TI with an Asus Strix 3090 OC (I managed to get my hands on one when they first came out thanks to my usual hardware dealer) I noticed that the PC would randomly reset from time to time when playing a demanding game.
Despite my original Seasonic 850W Prime Titanium being more than powerful enough in terms of wattage to run an overclocked 9900K plus a 3090, the Seasonic Titanium series of PSUs manufactured before the arrival of the new 3000 series cards had a serious problem with overcurrent protection kicking in due to how the 30xx GPUs sometimes demanded power.
Basically the PSU would detect a SUDDEN transient power spike, assume that meant there was a short circuit somewhere, and instantly shutdown to protect itself and the system.
I thus decided to replace the Seasonic 850W with a ROG THOR 1200W Platinum PSU (which is actually Seasonic OEM but does not suffer from the same over-current protection issue). One of the key features of this PSU (besides the so important RGB eheh) is that it displays total system power consumption on a small OLED screen on the side panel.
The problem was that the PSU shroud of the C700M case was completely closed (unlike the ROG Helios case and some of the newer cases that have a 'window' on the side panel allowing you to see the PSU).
I watched some DIY videos on Youtube that showed a C700M case being used with a THOR PSU where they would cut a hole in the shroud, so I decided to do the same via a metal cutting company here.
This was the whole process:
The C700M without the PSU shroud.
The shroud's side panel had a rectangular portion cut from it at the proper position using a laser so the PSU could be seen through it. The PSU tray also had to have one of the sides removed (although this had to be done with a saw) as it would otherwise partially obscure the OLED display on the PSU.
A piece of acrylic was also cut to cover the new hole in the side panel, using a shape that allowed it to be glued via double sided tape to the inside of the shroud.
And here is the final result: was pretty pleased with it!
Alas, this is not yet the end of this story: a few months after doing this, I return home to a dark PC (the system is on 24/7). Turning it on and off did nothing.
I immediately suspected a dead PSU, so I replaced the THOR with my old 850W Seasonic I had in storage to see if the system would turn on and boot with it. With my heart pounding (PSUs have been known to take entire systems with them when they fail and go to PSU heaven) I pressed the power button and, with the 850W installed, everything worked! Huge sigh of relief.
Tested the dead THOR with a Thermaltake PSU tester I had here which confirmed it as dead dead (although rarely used, these PSU testers can be life saviors, not only to diagnose power problems as well as to make sure you are not accidentally using cables that belong to another PSU model - which normally results in an explosion plus lots of tears and dead components -
NEVER re-use cables from another PSU, they might not be compatible!!!)
Anyway, luckily my hardware dealer had more units of the ROG THOR 1200W in stock, I returned my dead PSU (which was obviously still under warranty) and at the end of the same day I was running again with a brand new THOR.
This one has (knock on wood) not given me any problems so far.
When the new Windows 11 system arrived (the one with an Helios case) the THOR was moved to the new system and the C700M is now running again with my old Seasonic 850W.