Can't OC my E6600 at all since installing 8800GT...

[jasonspeed]

I used to run an ATI 2900XT and could get my E6600 to run stable at 3.4Ghz. I upgraded to an Nvidia 8800GT and ever since have to run my CPU at stock clock. I've tried increasing voltage on the CPU and PCI-E. I've tried increasing the PCI-E bus speed. I can't think of anything else to try. I know its not the CPU because I put my old ATI card in to see if I could still hit that speed and it did no problem. When I inserted the 8800GT I couldn't get past POST. I use a Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 motherboard. I'm new to Nvidia so I wasn't sure if this is a common problem for their video cards or maybe I just got an unlucky card. Any idea's or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jsc]

Full system spec - including PSU?

 

[uguv]

Yeah it sounds like the PSU might be the culprit.

 

[MrCommunistGen]

+1 PSU... although heat could be a small contributing factor too it's not your main problem.

-mcg

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Did you completely remove the old ATI drivers before putting in the 8800GT and installing the drivers for it?

 

[evongugg]

Power requirements:

A minimum recommended 400W system power supply (with 12V current rating of 26A). A +12V 4-pin supplementary power connector

 

[lameness]

Didnt the 2900xt drink more than a scottish priest? I woulda thought that the 8800gt would consume less power??

 

[evongugg]

lameness is right. The power requirements for the 2900 XT are:

Connection to 550 Watt (750 for CrossFire) or greater power supply with two 2x3-pin PCIe power connectors is required.

It could be either the video card or the power supply. I would start by RMAing the video card.

 

[jasonspeed]

The PSU is an Antec 650W. I don't think power is the problem. I really don't want to RMA the card because it works. I just can't OC the CPU when using the card. I can live with it for now just wondering if anyone had heard of this problem before? Didn't know certain components could lead to poor overclocking results. I completely removed the old Catalyst drivers before installing the new card. Thanks for the responses everyone.

 

[shadowthor]

how are you overclocking the gpu? Are you using rivatuner? You mention you increase the pcie bus speed, and if you increase that, it can cause errors and data loss.

 

[evongugg]

There is not much difference in performance between a 2900 XT and an 8800 GT.
Did you use Driver cleaner to remove the old drivers?
A while back there was a problem with the 8800GT and power supply.
A lot of cards got RMA'd and power supplies changed.

 

[jasonspeed]

I use RivaTuner to clock the GPU but I was pushing the PCI-E voltage and the bus speed a small amount in BIOS. I figured more power and speed to the bus might make it stable but no luck.

There is a huge difference in the 2900XT and 8800GT in the games I play. (LOTRO and Crysis mainly) I used driver cleaner.net to remove the ATI drivers. I have one of the early 8800GT's meaning I bought it overpriced before they were in steady supply.