I bought an Antec "Earthwatts 500" being told that Antec was a good brand, and not knowing that earthwatts wasn't such a good idea... My fans are starting up so slow like they're missing power at the beginning when they need to gain inertia. So, a few hours ago my PowerColor x1950pro 512mb started putting out some random blue squares on my monitor (even though the specs for the PSU meet the requirements of the card, i don't know if the card craped out, or if the PSU caused it to...)

So, I'm looking at this OCZ that seems pretty decent... Anyone have any suggestions?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817341002

Your opinion is appreciated.

I'd try either updating your windows service pack or the video card driver. It may not be a power supply issue. I wish some of my fans would run slower. I hate noise.

Well, it sort of comes up in the boot screen as well... and I already tried updating the gpu driver... no luck. I'm going to try it on my buddy's comp tomorrow just to make sure, but it's pretty obvious the cards screwed at this point.

It seems as the video memory on the card is gone. The PSU should be fine, but if it was me I'd prefer the OCZ. Checking the card on an another pc is a good idea.

Ok, i've been reading a little bit on this topic with the multiple rails... and people seem to be a little confused about it... So if anyone knows for sure, would you please answer this for me:

My Antec PS has 2 +12V rails with 17A each. It states that one's contributed to the processor, so would any unused current be available for the other rail?? Or would it leave just one rail with 17A available for the rest of the system? (which would be horribly bad)

Unfortunatelly, i'm not sure on this one, but here's my experiance. My 1950pro run just fine( for everything but the most challenging games, which i didn't have the guts to play on max settings) on a 400w power supply with ONE 12v rail , with i think 20A. Now I have Cooler Master true power 520w, overclocked everything to max and it runs great. To cut the long story short, thoese 2 12v rails with 17A should be just fine. Just don't put too many things on one line( my PS is modular and I tried to put two optical units and a floppy on one line to minimize the wireing and it stalled on start up. As soon as i aded one more line and separated the opticals everything was great. Hope this helps.

IF you ever decide to get a new power supply, I would suggest the Corsair 520 HX. It's well built and it's modular. Based on my experience, it's never a good thing to get a power supply that has the minimum requirement or near it for your system. Without going over board, it's good to have some leeway in case you want to had some more stuff and have a safety margin. I have recently blown a PSU and a motherboard when I added a 1950 XT. Even though I had some margin it was too close a call and damage ensued.

Since my PS has one for the processor, is there really a way to manage the rest of the wires? (I mean when you say don't put too many things on one line, isn't that really the only line available, or is there a way to tell? Because I have 2 input plugs for my PCIe... so are they on the same rail?)

I just looked at that PS and it's got some pretty nice reviews, however it's still a multiple 12v rail, and after what just happened, I'm a little scared to get another one like that.

btw, thanks to everyone for the responses.

Somebody correct me if i'm wrong, but the rails are distributed on several lines( meaning one rail has at least two lines out). So probablu the rail that feeds power to the cpu probably has also another line to feed.
But judging from your questions, you are not sure if you are better off with a PSU thet has one or multiple 12v rails. The answer is simple, better to have more rails as the power is distributed better( not to mention you have more power, typically approx. 17-20A on a rail. My previous PSU had 1 rail with only 1 12v rail with 20A, this one has 3 with 19A each).

By a line I mean the group of wires that come out of the PSU and are linked together and typically have 3 conectors being for the optical, hdd, sata, floppy or other devices. How are the lines attached to the rails in the inside of the PSU i have no idea

that's PSU is plenty enough for your needs

Even though the fans wont power up right when the video card is plugged in, you still think it's enough?

Could you tell me how to figure out which line comes from what rail? And since the PSU states that one of the rails is for the processor only, knowing that the processor has only one line for powering it, wouldn't this mean that the rest of the lines are bound to that second rail? (btw, i'm not trying to be a smart ass here, even though it might sound like it... I would really like to understand what's going on so I don't screw it up.)

This is your card (not exact brand but same specs)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] CatId=2349
This is the power requirement:
Connection to the system power supply is required
450-Watt power supply or greater, 30 AMPS, 12 volt rail recommended
This is your psu:
Antec EarthWatts EA 500 34amps
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=205763

The Amp figure is the combined wattage on the 12v divided by 12 = Amp rating of the psu
This would lead to this question:
Connection to the system power supply is required
Did you do this?

Your PSU has plenty of power. One can run an OC'd e6600 w/a 8800gtx on an EarthWatts 380w PSU. I don't have the link on this computer, but I know this for a fact from reading the review. So to say a 500w EarthWatts PSU would be fine for a x1950pro would be an understatement. I believe you might either have not hooked up the power connector on your video card, or you have some problems with your video card.

http://www.overclockers.com/articles1452/