8800gt giving me insufficent power error with a 850watt powersupply

[embowe]

In my ongoing effort to get a new video card...I contacted Nvidia about my previous problem (getting a Insufficent power" message with an Antec TPQ 850watt powersupply with 18amps on the 12v rails) and Nvidia responded with this:
Hello Eric,

Thank you for contacting NVIDIA Customer Care.

I understand from your email, that you are facing "insufficient power" issues with GeForce 8800 GT graphics card.

I am sorry however; the issue you were facing could be with the particular GeForce 8800 GT graphics card as you have connected the PCI-e power connector on the back of the graphics card. I can assure you that you will not get any insufficient power issues with our GeForce 8800 series of graphics cards. Therefore, I suggest you to use the new GeForce 8800 GT with 450-Watts power supply that supports 12V and 28 Amps. ....

Am I to assume that my powersupply isnt providing the required power to the card....I figured that a 850watt powersupply would be enough to power anything that I would ever need...OR did I just end up with a bad card?

I want to get a videocard this weekend but dont want to buy another 8800gt OC only to get the same message and have to return it to my local store that I bought it from (they wont give a cash refund...I had to wait for a refund check in the mail.)

I really dont know what to do in this situation..buying a new powersupply is out of the question...but I dont want to go through the headache of buying this card and it not working again.....

 

[darkstar782]

Its entirely possible you do not have enough power.

You have a quad rail PSU, kind of like 4 different PSUs in one box, with a max rating of 18A per 12v rail.

Now, this is all well and good, but the issue comes with balancing the rails....

One will almost certainly be reserved for the CPU and motherboard. The other 3 will be split between PCIe connectors and drives.

It could be that you are unlucky and your PCIe connector is on the same rail as all your drives, and that one rail is overloaded.

It could be that you have blown one 12v rail by overloading it, and that one is no longer powering the card.

I'd suggest trying the other PCIe connectors. You have two 6+2pin connectors and two 6pin connectors, so just juggle them around.

Failing that, buy a decent single rail PSU such as a PC Power and Cooling one. My 1kW PSU has a single 72A rail

 

[badge]

In my ongoing effort to get a new video card...I contacted Nvidia about my previous problem (getting a Insufficent power" message with an Antec TPQ 850watt powersupply with 18amps on the 12v rails) and Nvidia responded with this:
Hello Eric,

Thank you for contacting NVIDIA Customer Care.

I understand from your email, that you are facing "insufficient power" issues with GeForce 8800 GT graphics card.

I am sorry however; the issue you were facing could be with the particular GeForce 8800 GT graphics card as you have connected the PCI-e power connector on the back of the graphics card. I can assure you that you will not get any insufficient power issues with our GeForce 8800 series of graphics cards. Therefore, I suggest you to use the new GeForce 8800 GT with 450-Watts power supply that supports 12V and 28 Amps. ....

Am I to assume that my powersupply isnt providing the required power to the card....I figured that a 850watt powersupply would be enough to power anything that I would ever need...OR did I just end up with a bad card?

I want to get a videocard this weekend but dont want to buy another 8800gt OC only to get the same message and have to return it to my local store that I bought it from (they wont give a cash refund...I had to wait for a refund check in the mail.)

I really dont know what to do in this situation..buying a new powersupply is out of the question...but I dont want to go through the headache of buying this card and it not working again.....

From your power suppy, there is a 6 pin PCIE 12v power lead. Connect this lead from the PSU to the video card. If you still get the insufficient power message, you might try disconnecting extra fans, drives, optical drive, etc. that might draw power from the PSU and are not immediately needed. If you have done all this, your only option is to try a different PSU.

 

[badge]

Just checking, but did you plug in the 6 pin power connector from the psu to the video card? Just wasn't clear on reading your post.

http://www.directron.com/6pinpcie.html

 

[honolululu]

Sounds like you bought a first revision Quattro.

Same thing happened to me with the 850W and my GTX with the power sentry warnings.
It's a known bug, and my guess is that you've got it.

I'd call Antec for an RMA. I returned mine for the Antec Trio 650W and everything has been working perfect.

Check these links for mentions.

Antec review

Another mention

 

[embowe]

Is there anyway to check what revision of the PSU I have through the serial number...and IF I do get a rma from Antec...whats the turn around time...how long would my system be down from the time I send the PSU in until I get the new one in the mail

 

[Conumdrum]

Don't matter how long it takes. You gotta do it or buy a new PSU.

You find out by going to the Antec page and read and send in a trouble ticket or whatever you need to do.