I'm not sure if this is the right board, but then again I'm not sure what exactly my problem is, so bear with me.
I just bought a 3850 for Folding@home purposes (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131090). I only wanted to update the graphics card in my desktop at home, not build myself a whole new computer (don't really have the money for that). This computer is fairly old- it's a Dell Dimension 4600 with a 478 CPU socket and AGP slot.
Since it's probably necessary information, the board is apparently a Dell 0F4491, I have 1.5 gigs of RAM installed, I'm running XP Home SP2, and the processor is a P4 Prescott 3.0 GHz.
I did do some of my homework on the PSU that would be necessary, and also purchased a 500 Watt power supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182016) to replace the 250 watter that came with it. Supposedly this card only needs 450 watts, and I've heard that that's with a large safety margin.
The problem is that my computer keeps black-screening me somewhat randomly. It occasionally has run for extended periods of time (I was once able to install both the normal drivers and the AGP hotfix without it black-screening), but usually is unable to make it to the desktop without failing.
I tried to Google the problem, but had only some luck. I did see that it could still be an issue with the PSU; the one I got supplies a combined 34A across 2 rails. I tried unplugging everything except the video card, processor, and HDD (just one), and was able to attain the aforementioned bout of success, but when I shut down the computer to close it up (I'd been running it with the cover off for troubleshooting purposes) it went back to the same-old same-old of black-screening when i started it up again (I knew doing something as positive as putting the cover on would cause it to fail
)
So I don't know where the problem lies. I find it somewhat hard to believe that the PSU is to blame. It's almost certainly not faulty, as I put the 6800GT that I was using previously back in, and it ran fine for a while. In looking at the system requirements for the Sapphire 3850 AGP, this card needs 30A. I would have thought that 34A would be enough, especially without the CD and floppy drives, but maybe I'm wrong. I don't know how many amps the average HDD uses.
Another thought is that my motherboard is simply too old to handle the 3850 for whatever reason.
Lastly, I think it may be that the card is just bad in some way. Newegg reviews indicate that many people have had issues getting this to work (although usually farther down the line).
In any case, I'd appreciate any suggestions from people more knowledgeable about this sort of thing than me.
I just bought a 3850 for Folding@home purposes (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131090). I only wanted to update the graphics card in my desktop at home, not build myself a whole new computer (don't really have the money for that). This computer is fairly old- it's a Dell Dimension 4600 with a 478 CPU socket and AGP slot.
Since it's probably necessary information, the board is apparently a Dell 0F4491, I have 1.5 gigs of RAM installed, I'm running XP Home SP2, and the processor is a P4 Prescott 3.0 GHz.
I did do some of my homework on the PSU that would be necessary, and also purchased a 500 Watt power supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182016) to replace the 250 watter that came with it. Supposedly this card only needs 450 watts, and I've heard that that's with a large safety margin.
The problem is that my computer keeps black-screening me somewhat randomly. It occasionally has run for extended periods of time (I was once able to install both the normal drivers and the AGP hotfix without it black-screening), but usually is unable to make it to the desktop without failing.
I tried to Google the problem, but had only some luck. I did see that it could still be an issue with the PSU; the one I got supplies a combined 34A across 2 rails. I tried unplugging everything except the video card, processor, and HDD (just one), and was able to attain the aforementioned bout of success, but when I shut down the computer to close it up (I'd been running it with the cover off for troubleshooting purposes) it went back to the same-old same-old of black-screening when i started it up again (I knew doing something as positive as putting the cover on would cause it to fail
)So I don't know where the problem lies. I find it somewhat hard to believe that the PSU is to blame. It's almost certainly not faulty, as I put the 6800GT that I was using previously back in, and it ran fine for a while. In looking at the system requirements for the Sapphire 3850 AGP, this card needs 30A. I would have thought that 34A would be enough, especially without the CD and floppy drives, but maybe I'm wrong. I don't know how many amps the average HDD uses.
Another thought is that my motherboard is simply too old to handle the 3850 for whatever reason.
Lastly, I think it may be that the card is just bad in some way. Newegg reviews indicate that many people have had issues getting this to work (although usually farther down the line).
In any case, I'd appreciate any suggestions from people more knowledgeable about this sort of thing than me.
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