Restarts with XFX 7900GS

[schumi_thelegend]

Hi,

I have been having weird problems with my old XFX 7900GS (600M). I heard that XFX makes reliable cards but this one has let me down after a year and a half only.

The problem is that the computer restarts automatically when the card is being used. Sometimes after an hour after start-up, but recently only a minute or 2 after start-up. Removing the card gets rid of the problem. Is there a problem with the card or any other device???

 

[einstein4pres]

It could be an issue with power; what power supply are you using?

It could also be an issue with the card overheating.

 

[schumi_thelegend]

About overheating, i asked XFX and they say that it has quite a high threshold for overheating.

As for the power supply, i have an Asus 350W power supply with a 25W 12V rail.

1 thing i forgot to mention was that whenever the comp restarts the fan on the graphic card starts whirring at full speed but there is no display.

Actually it doesnt restart now, but the display is lost and i have to restart it myself

 

[pshrk]

Sounds to me like your power supply is going bad or just getting old.

What are your system specs?

You said: "Removing the card gets rid of the problem." Explain further, specifically what video card are you using instead?

 

[schumi_thelegend]

Instead , im using the onboard video adapter for the time being. My setup is a bit old but still capable of easily running Vista:
1. Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (No Overclocking)
2. Kingston DDR2 2.5GB RAM @667Mhz
3. Intel DG965RY MB
4.XFX GF 7900 GS (OC to 600M)

 

[pshrk]

Ok, i think it's your power supply and here's my reasoning:

you said that you have a 350W power supply with 25A on the 12V rail

Either this is a typo or your adding together two or more 12V rails into one which is not always accurate. In this case it's just plain impossible (assuming i did my math correctly). Assuming a 75% efficient power supply, which is generous since I would bet that yours it is closer to 65%:

350W*0.75-2=262.5W of available power

Assuming that you could use all of that power at 12V (which you can't) that would give you:

262.5W/12V=21.875A total amps to spread across the 12V rails.


I seriously doubt your getting the required 20A across your 12V rails, you were probably running your PSU at near 100% load for over a year and a half and i think it just can't keep up anymore. This recently happened to me, i had an old 400W power supply and eventually after several years it couldn't keep up with the 6600GT i had in that system and would cause the whole system to just lock up.



No sense in spending more money on a new power supply until you're sure though. You might try to disable Aero, this may cause the graphics chip to use less power when not gaming causing vista to be more stable. Check your graphics card temps using Speedfan ( http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php3 ) or if that doesn't work for you then try the "NVIDIA System Tools" ( http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools_6.03.html )

Just to make sure you could try a different power supply if you have one available or alternatively try your card in another system.

 

[cjl]

pshrk: 350W is almost always rated output, not rated input. Therefore, it should have 350W of available power, assuming a quality PSU.

 

[pshrk]

That's true, guess i just got carried away with the math... However I was under the impression that this was only true of very high quality manufacturers such as PC Power and Cooling? or was i mistaken? I guess the best way to know is to look at the label... So in retrospect i suppose it is possible to get 25A on a 12V rail from a 350W power supply but that still doesn't mean you can always add the amps together fully from seperate rails.

Regardless it still sounds overwhelmingly likely to me that this is a power supply problem do you agree? However It could still be a bad graphics card (or even a bad motherboard i suppose) so try to verify the problem before spending more money.

 

[pshrk]

Hmmm... did some googleing (or is it googling?) and i found http://www.trustedreviews.com/peripherals/review/2005/02/08/ATX-Power-Supply-Group-Test/p25 and it seems that you are right, at 100% load most reasonable quality PSUs provide an output close to their ratings so i would imagine Antec would be similar.

 

[V3NOM]

either the psu or grpahics card probably has a blown capacitor or stuffed mosfets..

 

[schumi_thelegend]

OK thanks everyone, especially pshrk. Really appreciate it!

Will try to test the card on another system before spending money.

Thanks once again!