PSU - just bought but wondering...

icecold2974

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Hello,

Before I start I would just like to say hello, I just joined up.

Two days ago I bought an Antec Basiq 500Watt Dual Rail PSU. It has 18 amps on both 12v rails and I was wondering if it was enough to run a 8600 gts or 8600 gt. I have a typical hard drive, cpu motherboard. Nothin else so far. (building a new computer).

Oh and i tried to run an x1900 gt and had some problems with artifacts on boot up - computer hits windows xp logo screen where it starts to load for a fraction of a second before it shuts down.

I was wondering if this may be a problem with the psu or the graphics card itself.

I have been searching the forums to find nothing that is directly relevant to my question

Thank you in advance
 

ausch30

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Usually when the power isn't connected to the card there is a loud steady beep telling you there is something wrong. Artifacts during boot up are a sign of a problem with the video card, I recently had to RMA one of my 8800GT's due to a similar problem.
 

zipz0p

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That PSU will easily handle any 8600 series card. Make sure to connect any extra power cables (the x1900 series have at least an extra 6-pin, right?).
 

raider37

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Agreed, without attaching the auxillary connector a pc will not boot and the error is displayed on screen. Artifacts means that either your card is faulty or its not getting enough power. As always, testing your power supply out by putting in another power hungry card like the 8800gt and seeing if the artifacts are still occuring is a good way to check if its your card or the supply.
 
Well thats more power then i have in my X1900XT e6600 2 x 120gig drive system.

Power should not be an issue. A psu can die or be dieing and cause this so it can not be ruled out yet.

My bet is the card is toast, take it to a friends and try it.
 

icecold2974

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I did connect all extra cables eg. the 6 pin pcie power cable directly from the psu. And there are no beeps coming from anything on boot up.

I will take the 1900 to a friends house to try it out to test for a faulty card.

The problem about the gts card is that on the specifications, the card requires 22A on the 12v rail on a 400 w psu. I am not sure whether my psu could run it though. I do have more wattage, but does that really matter?
 
You have more then 22A on the combined 12 volt lines. That is also for a fully loaded system, you should be ok as long as your not overclocking some quad core cpu to the max.

While basiq is a budget psu it should run cards like the 1900GT and even the 8800GT without any issues(i would even hazard a guess that a 8800GTX would run if the rest of the system is not too power hungry, check my systems specs for my reason why :)).

Keep us posted.
 

icecold2974

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I understand I have more than 22A on both rails combined, yet how can I be sure that the video card is connected to both rails at same time, or I am not sure how that works. Does one rail draw power from the other rail to get more amperage? Or do i have to connect my video card to both rails. And if so how do I know whether or not one rail is specificallly used for the cpu and motherboard. I read all of this in this forum.

I dont question whether i can run a 8600 or 1900 gt now but this is just for enlightenment

Thanks again xD Sorry for all these dumb questions.
 
The rails are only to make the psu meet the atx specs. There is a safety stating that NO single rail can output more then 20 amps(or something near 20). Because of this they just put over current(think of it like a self resetting breaker or fuse, you draw over 18 the rail shuts down to prevent the chance of burning the wires.) protection to make the rails not deliver over that(Antec and many others use 18 because it is "safer".)

Both of the rails get there power from 1 larger rail. so as long as both rails together to not draw more then the main rail can deliver you have no issue.

You also can not add up the rails. so you do not have 36(18 x 2) amps. Antec specs the 5 and 3.3 lines at a max of 152(its on the side of your psu) watts so with some math you can estimate(i say estimate because if you use less 5 and 3.3volt power you may have access to more 12volt power due to the design of a power supply) the 12 volt total

500 - 152 = 348
348 / 12 = 29 (wattage divided by voltage = amperage)
so you should have access to at least 29 amp on the 12 volt rails

Many PSU's actually list there max 12 volt amperage so this is not needed, but in this case thats the best i can come up with

Basiq 500 - No listed 12 volt max
basiq500nj0.gif

Image from newegg.com

Earthwatts 500 - Max listed(it's a fluke that its max is the same as the 2 12 volt rails, honest)
ea500fd9.gif

Image from newegg.com

OCZ GameXtreme 700
ocz700ll0.gif

Image from ocztechnology.com

Now back to your video card.
A X1900GT only consumes 75(6.25 amps) watts at full load not overclocked(Technically they should not even need a 6 pin connector, but i am sure they had a reason).

There is some info you may find interesting here. Look in the yellow box at the bottom
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article260-page1.html

The 22Amps takes the rest of the system into account along with some extra for good overestimation.

Hope this helps
 

icecold2974

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Yes this helps alot, Thank you

According to what you stated about my video card only needing 6.25 amps, then my problem should and most likely is that the video card is faulty - most likely the reason why i recieve artifacts on boot up and restarts everytime the windows logo first appears for a split-second?