PSU & Video Card issues

[rhuber]

Hi all,

I am hoping someone can shed some light on a recent problem I started having with my ~2 year old system.

About 3-4 weeks ago, while playing a video game at high settings (1600x1200, everything set to max), my computer started to shut down. No BSOD, just a black screen and total shutdown. This would require a hard reset to get back up and running.

This has slowly gotten worse over the days and weeks to where I will sometimes, not always, get 30-40 system crashes a night while playing a game. Rarely, instead of crashing the whole system, I will get a warning that the video card (6800GT) is not seeing enough current from the 12V rail.

My PSU is rated at 520W with a PCI-E supply current around 15A. (Don't know exactly as I am at work atm, but I will try to get exact details on this when I get home)

For reference my system consists of:
AMD x2 4400 CPU (939)
MSI 6800GT
1x 74GB Raptor HD
1x 200GB WD HD
DVD_RW drive
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
ASUS A8N-Premium MB

My thought is to either replace the video card, the PSU, or both. My problem is, I really have no easy way to debug which is the true culprit.

Has my PSU gone south and just can't supply the power anymore ( I would think this would manifest itself in other ways, such as the whole system sufering rather than just high-end graphics), or is it just the card.

The card seems more likely, yet I would also expect the card to show more issues and show them more consistently. I will see crashes 30-40 times one night, and nothing for 2 days, or only one or 2 crashes. The circumstances vary as well, at times the card seems to be doing near to nothing, standing still in a game and most of the screen is taken up by text or static items and it will crash, or have a night like last night were I spent the entire time (6 hours) in constant movement with high end rendering and shading and had no trouble at all.

Also if it was the card going south I would expect to see the video quality degrade as well, yet, other than the crashes, the card performs as if new.

So if anyone has seen similar behavior to this, or has suggestions on how to debug this, I would appreciate the help.

Also, could heat overload cause the above issue? Something as easy as replacing the thermal paste and cooling system on the card? That seems unlikely to me due to the low current warnings, but I'm willing to try anything.

Thanks!
RH

PS. I apologize if this is in the wrong forum!

 

[apt403]

There are only two things I can think of that might cause whats happening to you. 1. Something is overheating in your system, probably the gfx card since this happens when your gaming. or 2. Your psu has gone south like you said. Since you get a warning that theres not enough power for your card im leaning towards the latter idea.

I would replace the psu first, this is an awesome unit, and its only $50.

 

[lostandwandering]

It most likely is the PSU, IMO. It is recommended to have 18 Amps on the +12V rail, so yours is a little low. The reason is, the PSU has enough power to give to the system during idle, but when you put a load on the system the power draw is just too much. This means that your system has the power to boot up but not enough run loads.

Easiest thing to do is buy a new PSU and test it. If that doesn't work, return it and use the money to buy a new graphics card. The PSU apt linked is excellent in quality and will easily power your system.

 

[rhuber]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the input!

It is sort of irritating to think the PSU was only good for slightly less than 2 years before crapping out. This system ran great playing more intense games than I run now for that whole time...

Just another quick question, is that FSP PSU capable of handling any upgrades to the system?

I can see the upgrade to a DX10 card sometime in my future and want to make sure the system can handle it. Or, is the mobo/cpu/psu not going to be up to running Vista & DX10 in say 6-8 months?

Thanks again for the help and the PSU suggestion!
RH

 

[lostandwandering]

That specific PSU will probably not handle too many upgrades. Maybe a midrange 8 series from NV. It was recommended because it is good quality and dirt cheap. Other FSP or other PSUs will be fine though, I'll link you a few.

FSP FX600 600W

Antec Trio 650W

OCZ GameXtreme 700W

All of the above are good quality and will handle any future upgrade.

As far as your system, the GPU should be the only thing that will need an upgrade and only then because nothing other than NV 8 series and ATi's upcoming R600 can run DX10.

 

[rhuber]

Sorry to ressurect this, but I was able to find some time to work on the computer this week and found that my PSU is actually an NSpire.

Model No: NSP-550P4LF12
550W
Dual 12V rails with 19A on each rail.

Never really heard of them, so I have no clue what the true specs of the PSU actually are.

Considering I am seeing an error message for lack of current on one video card, I am inclined to think the specs on the sticker may not be true...

Thanks again for any suggestions,
RH

 

[rhuber]

Thanks for the reply mpilchfamily.

I have been reading through your posts and the links you have listed for the last couple-three days.

I ended up buying a Corsair HX620.

I think it's going to have enough guts for this computer's future as the only change I have planned for it is a single DX10 card someday.

Thanks again for everyone's help, and thanks mpilchfamily for the great guides. They helped a lot!

RH

 

[apt403]

Nice buy! Thats a great psu!

 

[apt403]

Thanks, it only took me 78 days this time. My first 1000 took 80. June 1st here I come!

 

[lostandwandering]

apt you posting fiend! It took me 90 days to get to 250!

Anyway, good choice on the PSU.