Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > Did my Graphics Cards overload my PSU?
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netguess   01-21-2009 at 10:48:37 PM

First of all my specs are

PCChips A13G Motherboard
2Gigs of DDR2 Ram
Athlon 64 X2 6000+ at 3.0Ghz
500Gig SATA Hard drive
HP DVD-RW

When I originally built this system I had no intentions of gaming on it but then I recently began playing COD4. Decided to get a GeForce 8800GTS. Upon installation I found that my power supply lacked a pci-e connector and had to get a molex to pci-e adapter.

The power supply is 500W but I think it is of very weak quality. After installing and powering the 8800GTS my computer would boot but nothing would show up on the screen. I tried connecting to the mobo's onboard video with the same results.

I then installed a GeForce 9500GT I had laying around (needs no pci-e power) and tried to reinstall windows (wanted to start fresh). Halfway through my whole system shut off. I took the video card out and switched to onboard again and tried to boot up. What happens is the LEDs flash on for a second and you can hear a sign of life but it immediately shuts off.

My suspicions are that trying to run the 8800gts overloaded my power supply and caused it to fail later on. Has anyone had a similar problem and what are your suspicions. I have a thermaltake purpower 500W on the way but before it arrive I'd like to know that I'm on the right track.

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veesofnaught   01-22-2009 at 01:18:44 AM
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I have a 585 Watt PSU powering two hard drives, a DVD/CD burner, mobo, processor, three fans, a 9800 GTX, and various external devices. I have never had any problems with power so I am guessing that it was your PSU unless there is something else going haywire within your configuration.

I would imagine you have already taken a look at this but Tom's wrote a great article on actual GPU power supply usage. If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth checking out.

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2122.html

Also, please post back after you've tried your new PSU. I'm interested to know if that fixes it. ;)

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simo1000rr   01-22-2009 at 05:19:30 AM
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i had the same problem with a 550 psu but with a poor quality . i went got one that is 450 w but with better quality( bfg) and its fine .

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netguess   01-22-2009 at 05:33:19 AM
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thanks, great responses that gives me more confidence. i'll know for sure tomorrow when the new psu arrives.

There is a lot of info on graphics card power supply requirments but they are so scattered all over the web and the manufacturers don't make it clear that quality and specific power supply specs matter not just wattage.

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netguess   01-24-2009 at 04:00:07 AM
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the problem was both my power supply and my pc chips motherboard.

apparently pc chips motherboard aren't stable enough to handle such power, not to mention that my power supply couldn't either.

I've replaced both the power supply and the motherboard with an asus motherboard, everything is working great.

thanks for all your help.

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Bobby Bubblehead   01-24-2009 at 04:11:56 AM
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its more the ampage as apposed to wattage.
I bought a new 650W psu for GTX280 then on reading it only deliverd 38amp peak so I run it passed the GTX280 manufacturer and they described what happend to you amongst other possable outcomes.
I swaped it for a 700W that could just deliver the required ampage and no problems.

the whole system only draws 280 - 290 watt flat out but it still needed the amps

Message quoted 1 times
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veesofnaught   01-24-2009 at 06:30:46 AM
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Quote :

I've replaced both the power supply and the motherboard with an asus motherboard, everything is working great.



I'm glad to hear that everything checked out and that it wasn't too expensive to fix. It's a lot easier to replace the PSU and mobo than the GPU (most of the time :))

Reply to veesofnaught
netguess   01-24-2009 at 07:06:09 AM
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Bobby Bubblehead wrote :

its more the ampage as apposed to wattage.
I bought a new 650W psu for GTX280 then on reading it only deliverd 38amp peak so I run it passed the GTX280 manufacturer and they described what happend to you amongst other possable outcomes.
I swaped it for a 700W that could just deliver the required ampage and no problems.

the whole system only draws 280 - 290 watt flat out but it still needed the amps



thats right the old psu had a total of 16a at the 12v rail.

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V3NOM   01-24-2009 at 07:38:53 AM
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yep, watts are very misleading. amps are the msot important bit. most of the amps are on the 3.3 and 5 v rails, which makes up the majority of the watts. pay attention to the 12v rail(s) amperages.

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