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Is my GPU working at 100%?

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  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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June 19, 2013 11:44:58 AM

Hi I posted here the other day a question asking if my PSU was enough for my system and the answer I got from one guy was no, so to try and fix the issues I was getting on my games I removed my PCI Wi-Fi card and now Im not experiencing any problems, however I want to know if my GPU is working at 100% or if Im just damaging it with my low-end PSU, here are my PC specs and what things I have connected to the PSU:

PSU: Thermaltake TR2 - 430 ATX 12V 2.3
Intel DP55KG Extreme Series Motherboard
Intel Core i7 870 (with Turboboost enabled)
4 DDR3 RAM sticks (2 GB each for a total of 8 GB RAM)
MSI Twin Frozr III Boost Edition ATI HD 7950
WDC WD3200AAKS 7200 RPM Hard Drive
ATAPI iHAS124 DVD Drive
Case: Thermaltake Armor MX

So what I have connected are those things, motherboard CPU GPU and RAM, appart from that it is connected the Fancooler of the case that is quite big and uses a blue light, and a small one that came with the case too.

The issue I was experiencing was that when playing some games (Crysis 3, Grid 2, etc.) AMD Catalyst stopped after 2 or 3 minutes of gameplay and got a black screen, also my PC rebooted two times when this erros happened.

I really want to know if my PSU is enough and if my PC is working at 100% because I removed the PCI card and I have no issues anymore but I don't think that a fairly small Wi-Fi PCI card uses so much wattage that my PSU can't supply enough power for my GPU it doesn't make sense.

Oh and another thing I used the thermaltake PSU calculator and got a score of 398W but to get a such low power score I must have done it wrong, so if anyone here can help me do the test I'll be very grateful.

Thanks

More about : gpu working 100

June 19, 2013 11:52:04 AM

You need a new PSU, the recommendation of wattage for that card I found is 500w, and Thermaltake is not a great brand.

From Guru3d: Above, a chart of relative power consumption. Again the Wattage shown is the card with the GPU(s) stressed 100%, showing only the peak GPU power draw, not the power consumption of the entire PC and not the average gaming power consumption.

Here is Guru3D's power supply recommendation:

Radeon HD 7950 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit.
Radeon HD 7950 Crossfire - On your average system the cards require you to have a 700 Watt power supply unit as minimum.
If you are going to overclock the GPU or processor, then we do recommend you purchase something with some more stamina.

There are many good PSUs out there, please do have a look at our many PSU reviews as we have loads of recommended PSUs for you to check out in there. What could happen if your PSU can't cope with the load:

bad 3D performance
crashing games
spontaneous reset or imminent shutdown of the PC
freezing during gameplay
PSU overload can cause it to break down
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June 19, 2013 12:00:44 PM

Your WiFi card doesn't draw a significant amount of power so you can ignore that. My guess is that the WiFi card was block airflow and it caused something (GPU or something else) to overheat. You should get a better PSU. Thermaltakes tend not to be the greatest and I'm sure yours is causing the instability.
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June 19, 2013 1:12:33 PM

To me the wireless card is essentially "the straw that broke the camels back", it may seem like it has minor draw, but when you are cutting it so close on your wattage anyways (in fact you are below recommendation), even that small addition can set it off. Basically, even if it only drew 2w (just throwing out numbers), if the rest of your system is running at 429w, that's going to start causing issues.
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June 19, 2013 9:12:53 PM

Thanks for the responses, I thought the same thing that you said chugot9218 but now this is my question, will my GPU suffer any damage? I also wanted to add that even whith my GPU overclocked I have no issues but I don't if Im running the game like it is supposed to run, the game Im using to test is Crysis 3 with 1366x768 resolution and SMAA X1 antialiasing evrything else maxed out and I get around 40 to 50 fps normally sometimes I get 35 fps.
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June 20, 2013 6:07:47 AM

It shouldn't hurt your GPU, but if the PSU were to outright fail there is no guarantee it wouldn't damage something else. The system is simply trying to draw more power than is available, and when it hits the limit/wall, the system shuts itself down. Especially if you are OCing your GPU you need a new PSU asap.
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