Circuit Breaker Issues with Elden Ring

[what_year_is_it]

I've been having an issue with Elden Ring where my circuit breaker will trip, mostly when sitting at a site of grace or loading a new area. Has anyone else been having this issue? I have tried the following fixes but am still having the problem:

- Replaced my PSU and all power cables in my PC
- Had an electrician out to inspect wiring in my office and they even replaced the breaker that was tripping
- Replaced my old surge protector with a new one
- I've ensured that nothing else is plugged into this same circuit besides my PC
- I've tried limiting power usage using MSI Afterburner
- I've run both Furmark and Intelburner to stress test my GPU and CPU respectively, and they both make it through these stress tests just fine

I am at a loss trying to figure out any other solutions to this. I've had this custom built PC for almost 5 years now and this is the first time I've experienced something like this, and it's ONLY Elden Ring that is doing it. The only other thing I can think to do is drop some money on a new CPU and GPU but that is very pricey and want to avoid that if I can.

[SadPlatty©]

I am curious - if you try to "stress test" the circuit by throwing some extra devices on the same line. So like, I ended up finding out I was at capacity when I got a second monitor and it tripped as my AC kicked on in the summer, but without the monitor I was A-OK.

Thinking - as it loads that new area, the GPU would spin up, and demand more power from your Power Supply, and maybe that is causing the draw to exceed the circuit's capacity. This would be more like - you get the platinum tier supply that can pull down 1k watts, but if you cannot supply that much it would trip.

Otherwise - I guess we can go back to the 60s or whatever, and you can just jam a couple of pennies in there to stop it LOL (don't do this though)

[LongParsnip]

Hi there I am a qualified electrician, have you inspected the cabling from the outlet to your PC? Also what happens if you plug your PC into a different circuit?

What sort of breaker is it tripping, is it a simple circuit breaker or it an RCD, or an arc fault breaker?

[Phoenix]

for one thing, don't put too much emphasis on the fact that Elden Ring causes it and individual stress tests don't. stress tests (no matter how "stressful" they are supposed to be) are never 100% applicable to real world, i.e. gaming, scenarios. no doubt Elden Ring is just placing a lot of load on both your CPU and your GPU (different areas in the game hit either or both and sometimes neither.)

other than that, there's got to be something else on the circuit you're not thinking of that's drawing enough power to make your PC send it over the edge. otherwise you've got a short circuit or something making a poor connection somewhere, creating a lot of heat. i've seen stuff like extremely loose bulbs in light fixtures (depending on the type) cause stuff like this for example.

[LongParsnip]

Originally posted by Phoenix:

for one thing, don't put too much emphasis on the fact that Elden Ring causes it and individual stress tests don't. stress tests (no matter how "stressful" they are supposed to be) are never 100% applicable to real world, i.e. gaming, scenarios. no doubt Elden Ring is just placing a lot of load on both your CPU and your GPU (different areas in the game hit either or both and sometimes neither.)

other than that, there's got to be something else on the circuit you're not thinking of that's drawing enough power to make your PC send it over the edge. otherwise you've got a short circuit or something making a poor connection somewhere, creating a lot of heat. i've seen stuff like extremely loose bulbs in light fixtures (depending on the type) cause stuff like this for example.

If you have an arc fault breaker loose connections can definitely cause nuisance tripping.... which is good because they stop fires being started accidentally.

[what_year_is_it]

Originally posted by SadPlatty©:

Thinking - as it loads that new area, the GPU would spin up, and demand more power from your Power Supply, and maybe that is causing the draw to exceed the circuit's capacity. This would be more like - you get the platinum tier supply that can pull down 1k watts, but if you cannot supply that much it would trip.

I have had other devices plugged in to this same circuit (speakers, phone chargers, etc.) when playing other games and had no issues. I'm sure I've played more graphically intensive games than this (like Red Dead 2), and had no issues with that one. Isn't it the power supply's job to regulate this kind of stuff? I find it hard to believe that a brand new PSU would be pulling more amps than a standard 15 amp home circuit is designed for. Like if my CPU or my GPU are malfunctioning and saying "I want more power than I'm allowed", I feel like the power supply would act as a shield between them and my house breaker, but I'm not sure how it works.

[Phoenix]

Originally posted by what_year_is_it:

Originally posted by SadPlatty©:

Thinking - as it loads that new area, the GPU would spin up, and demand more power from your Power Supply, and maybe that is causing the draw to exceed the circuit's capacity. This would be more like - you get the platinum tier supply that can pull down 1k watts, but if you cannot supply that much it would trip.

I have had other devices plugged in to this same circuit (speakers, phone chargers, etc.) when playing other games and had no issues. I'm sure I've played more graphically intensive games than this (like Red Dead 2), and had no issues with that one. Isn't it the power supply's job to regulate this kind of stuff? I find it hard to believe that a brand new PSU would be pulling more amps than a standard 15 amp home circuit is designed for. Like if my CPU or my GPU are malfunctioning and saying "I want more power than I'm allowed", I feel like the power supply would act as a shield between them and my house breaker, but I'm not sure how it works.

you are making the assumption that your PC is the problem here. it could be anything else on the circuit (as well as other problems with the circuit itself.)

[what_year_is_it]

Originally posted by LongParsnip:

Hi there I am a qualified electrician, have you inspected the cabling from the outlet to your PC? Also what happens if you plug your PC into a different circuit?

What sort of breaker is it tripping, is it a simple circuit breaker or it an RCD, or an arc fault breaker?

This problem also happens when I plug into a different circuit in my home. I have 15 amp, AFCI Arc Fault breakers. The electrician even replaced the 2 breakers that I had tested but that still didn't fix the issue.

[Linyos Torvoltos]

Originally posted by Phoenix:

for one thing, don't put too much emphasis on the fact that Elden Ring causes it and individual stress tests don't. stress tests (no matter how "stressful" they are supposed to be) are never 100% applicable to real world, i.e. gaming, scenarios. no doubt Elden Ring is just placing a lot of load on both your CPU and your GPU (different areas in the game hit either or both and sometimes neither.)

+1 to this.

Stress tests put way more stress and cause more power draw than any realistic scenario would ever do.

OP could use something like HWINFO to monitor the power draw on his system when he's booting up and playing Elden Ring when compared to other games.

But I wouldn't blame the game itself. Not yet anyway.

You can get power draw monitors as well that you plug into a socket, then plug your device into. That could diagnose whether its the computer or not.

I'm far from an electrical expert though.

[what_year_is_it]

Originally posted by Phoenix:

you are making the assumption that your PC is the problem here. it could be anything else on the circuit (as well as other problems with the circuit itself.)

The thing is, I've made sure that my PC is the only thing on the circuit when this happens. When the breaker trips, nothing else in my house is without power, just my office outlets and one light switch that I always leave off. I even tried plugging my PC in to another circuit (that I made sure also just had my PC on it) and it still happened. I feel like it's unlikely to have faulty wiring on two separate circuits in my house but I guess it's a possibility

[what_year_is_it]

Originally posted by John Linux:

+1 to this.

Stress tests put way more stress and cause more power draw than any realistic scenario would ever do.

OP could use something like HWINFO to monitor the power draw on his system when he's booting up and playing Elden Ring when compared to other games.

But I wouldn't blame the game itself. Not yet anyway.

You can get power draw monitors as well that you plug into a socket, then plug your device into. That could diagnose whether its the computer or not.

I'm far from an expert though

I do use MSI Afterburner to monitor my PC when playing ER, I have noticed that the CPU usage spikes up to 100% occasionally. Unfortunately it's impossible to tell exactly what happened when the issue occurs since I lose all power.

I guess I could try a UPS instead of my surge protector as a bandaid fix. I would still have to go down and reset the breaker every time it trips but at least my computer wouldn't shut off.

[LongParsnip]

I don't have much experience with diagnosing arc fault breakers as they are not mandated in my country, however I believe that depending on the quality of the PSU and what filtering it has it could very well generate a signature that looks like an arc fault.

In my mind there are 5 scenarios which I would eliminate in order:
1. You have an overloaded circuit, try plugging a heater or electric jug in and see if the circuit trips (as close to the maximum wattage of the circuit as possible).
2. Something else on the circuit is causing the fault, make 100% sure only your PC is plugged in, even get your monitor to a different circuit just for testing.
3. Something is loose, check all your cable connections to your PC.
4. Faulty wiring / loose connections somewhere in the circuit.
5. Your PSU is generating the fault by switching the supply power, this is really hard to test without changing to a different brand PSU or having a double converting UPS on hand.

[Requimatic]

It stands to reason that lighting effects such as the effects of a Site of Grace will ramp up the power needed by your GPU. The increased demand from it will ramp up your PSU's output accordingly.

Everything on that end of the equation is working fine, and you've even replaced the PSU.

To me, it sounds like an electrical issue. Find another circuit and try your PC there, see what happens. As others have stated, it could be more than just the circuit, though I am no electrician.

[Linyos Torvoltos]

Originally posted by what_year_is_it:

Originally posted by John Linux:

+1 to this.

Stress tests put way more stress and cause more power draw than any realistic scenario would ever do.

OP could use something like HWINFO to monitor the power draw on his system when he's booting up and playing Elden Ring when compared to other games.

But I wouldn't blame the game itself. Not yet anyway.

You can get power draw monitors as well that you plug into a socket, then plug your device into. That could diagnose whether its the computer or not.

I'm far from an expert though

I do use MSI Afterburner to monitor my PC when playing ER, I have noticed that the CPU usage spikes up to 100% occasionally. Unfortunately it's impossible to tell exactly what happened when the issue occurs since I lose all power.

I guess I could try a UPS instead of my surge protector as a bandaid fix. I would still have to go down and reset the breaker every time it trips but at least my computer wouldn't shut off.

HWINFO gives you more information about the voltages and wattage that the components are drawing. It's way more in depth than Afterburner.

I would say it's definitely worth checking it out, make use of the graph feature as well so you can monitor how the power draw changes as well. It might help to rule some things out.

[Phoenix]

Originally posted by what_year_is_it:

Originally posted by Phoenix:

you are making the assumption that your PC is the problem here. it could be anything else on the circuit (as well as other problems with the circuit itself.)

The thing is, I've made sure that my PC is the only thing on the circuit when this happens. When the breaker trips, nothing else in my house is without power, just my office outlets and one light switch that I always leave off. I even tried plugging my PC in to another circuit (that I made sure also just had my PC on it) and it still happened. I feel like it's unlikely to have faulty wiring on two separate circuits in my house but I guess it's a possibility

if that's true than there's something in your PC, likely a poor connection or shorting happening somewhere. it's not necessarily a connection as in "reseat all your power cables", it could be an issue with something shorting or failing caps or what have you.

you're gonna have to start swapping or removing parts until you find out what it is, there's no easy way around it. or if money's tight, take your PC apart (every last connector and screw) and start over, pay attention to each part as you go (look at caps, look at traces, look at all visible wiring, look at connectors, double check your mobo standoffs). you could very well find an issue.

[LongParsnip]

Originally posted by Phoenix:

Originally posted by what_year_is_it:

The thing is, I've made sure that my PC is the only thing on the circuit when this happens. When the breaker trips, nothing else in my house is without power, just my office outlets and one light switch that I always leave off. I even tried plugging my PC in to another circuit (that I made sure also just had my PC on it) and it still happened. I feel like it's unlikely to have faulty wiring on two separate circuits in my house but I guess it's a possibility

if that's true than there's something in your PC, likely a poor connection or shorting happening somewhere. it's not necessarily a connection as in "reseat all your power cables", it could be an issue with something shorting or failing caps or what have you.

you're gonna have to start swapping or removing parts until you find out what it is, there's no easy way around it. or if money's tight, take your PC apart (every last connector and screw) and start over, pay attention to each part as you go (look at caps, look at traces, look at all visible wiring, look at connectors, double check your mobo standoffs). you could very well find an issue.

Yeah I wouldn't go that far, the PSU is not going to short circuit the line side because a load is shorted out.... unless it is of absurdly low quality.