8800gts 320 / PSU's / and Baldness...

StoneHenge, welcome to THG.
Antec does make quality products, although the 1 you linked is the lower end of their PS line. I feel that the PS is no place to try and save a buck, as problems are usually devastating + expensive (ie... going up in smoke and taking everything else with it). I prefer the single rail solution taking any guess work out of the equation for power to the 12v connection~Video Card.

Now to address baldness.
If you're going bald on the top-back of your head ~ you are a Lover
If the front of your head is going bald ~ you are a Thinker
If you happen to be going bald all over ~ you Think you're a Lover.
Hence the Avitar. LOL

That PSU will do fine.

The 26A recommendation is for the whole system, not just the video card.

If your PSU can actually deliver 18A on the 12V rail, you should be fine unless you have a lot of hard drives.

I would strongly recommend a new PSU if possible.

The Basiq is much better than a low-end PSU, but what other options do you have (400W+)?

  Thanks ! Long time googlelurker, first time poster !!  



I agree, it is just my budget is limited to very small number and it was chance that I found the 8800gts on ebay for $90 - I compared it to prices still valid in Australia and that was just something I grabbed at. I never even anticipated my psu would not have the grunt to power it, which I put down to a hastily made decision. Only after did I discover the power socket (again by chance) and instantly clumps of hair fell out.  

I did try and jerry rig a 2xmolex/pinned cable with the intent of just making sure the card did operate (Ebay for me is not where I usually purchase things over $20, and things under $20 never last more than 6 months - as I said Hastily made decis *hic* ions..)

No go in that area, apart from the confusing pinout config (4xground, 2x12v to fit into 3x12v and 3xground? meh). and the fear of doing actual damage, the fan would not kick in, and that's enough of that for my liking.

I'm going to assume there just is not enough juice from this psu to even tickle the card in 2d operation. and if it turns out the guy on Ebay diddled me, well I was aware of that aspect of the transaction all along. I wont lose a lot of sleep over it. Hair, yes. Sleep, no.

Trying with no power at all (Again hoping 2d post bios just to ascertain that the card indeed powers, my old 6600gt would operate but cry about low power back in the old days) only resulted in a constant beep, which Im assuming is something on the card? I've never heard the PC mobo make a squeal (Wasn't a bios beep)..

Oh well, seems I'll be upgrading the psu as well. Heck, I'll have an 8500gt and a psu, all I'll need is a new cheap mobo/CPU and I can get my ubuntu off dual boot...

Silver linings... silver linings.... oO  




My baldness results in gags and wheezing from people walking behind me. If Im unfortunate enough to catch glimpse of myself in a mirror, it's almost as if someone glued a ducks bum to the back of my head.  


Cheers for the help !!

Hrmmm.. Brings me back to the problem of the PCI-e power cable/socket. My psu has no feature. The one I just attempted to rig up may well have been wrong, and Im not willing to risk heading down that route any further.. brings back memories of rigging up my own kvm switch and... well, haha no need to wonder why I have such a low spec machine at the moment  

And the cheapest (closest - Id have to walk) pci-e/molex adapter i can get is $15 whereas this psu I can get that very modestly upgrades the system, is $80. Rather than get the cable and find it inadequate and be out $15 and left with an item I'll never use I think I will take the new PSU route, which I can still use if the card ends up being trash. I don't believe it will be, but what you've said worries me a bit here.

I won't get too concerned until Friday when I get the psu, I suppose.

Oh and when I tried the card, I had no drives connected, no dvd-rom, no additional devices except thsoe connected via usb.

hence the worry.  

nil desperandum. yet..

Thanks for the help mate!!

Ahh cheers, seems to be the consensus.  

yup, a 8800gts320 dont PUMP 26amp ... your fine with this one. just une the 2molex--­­1pcie6pin connector and you should be fine.

ANd just one thing, You buyed the 320mb already ? if not, go for the 512 version, or even a 8800GT is better ... (newer ... )

I dont know wich res you use ... so here are some bench

Sum of FPS Benchmarks 1680x1050
NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GTS 512 MB : 523.30
NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GT 512 MB : 488.40
NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GTS 320 MB : 401.20

The PSU is fine.
The card is fine.
Anything faster would be wasted because the rest of your system could n`t keep up.
And anyway, not THAT long ago the 8800GTS was just slightly below king of the hill!

The problem with the PSU is not whether or not it can power the rig, it is the quality (or lack thereof). You don't want to have to replace parts in your system because the PSU died and decided to take other components down with it. A good quality PSU will have protection circuitry built in, and will also deliver cleaner, more stable power.

not the 320-640 version, the 512 is a NEWER one.
If he already buyed his 320 . maybe the 512 is the SAME price .. that my point

(edited, good lawd my spelling)

Well the saga deepens... to my utter disgust and dismay..

boulard83: yes, unfortunately I did buy the 320, but it was not so much the choice more the opportunity.. SO I THOUGHT!!  

coozie7: I was so thinking of that, hoping no one would say it, because I know it's true. But indeed.. Still, I know my old 8500gt was capable of pushing more at a price so this was a chance I was willing to take - and well, life can be a trauma at times.

theAnimal: Now this is where I might have to really think harder.. is it that 2x12v@18amp will ruin things, or just underperform ? I just cannot get this concept as yet because so many times I see so much conflict in opinion. At the end of the day, I couldnt get the psu I looked at, and opted for a 460watt coolermaster (Shhhh i hear the cries of disgust!!!11) but where I am Im so limited to under $100 and availability.

(edit: anyone wanna check http://www.austin.net.au/ProductList/tabid/103/Default.... and tell me what would be a good psu there? That is all I can opt for these days, trinix took their webstore offline and the rest is unreliable in WA)

I couldn't afford at this time even a $110 gigabyte 550watt thingo, I say and that was given reasonable reviews on some forum somewhere sometimes somehow... <-- point being, the brand was known to the guys who said it was ok!!

The main thing I kept seeing was that as long as the 12v rail can take the total amperage required, all would fit the power needed, and since I'm not pushing in any way at all the other components. -2 hdds and 1 dvd-burner and a webcam; Nothing extreme - I did put my faith in my stupidity once more.. Aye yi yi...

boulard83: the card I got was off eBay. $90 USD. cannot get that here at anywhere near the same price. But you know what??

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN WHY!!!

damn thing.. its running overclocked, or it's faulty. I boot up and the screen is faint lines all parallel. then as soon as text appears, I can read it, but there is a lot of ascii flashing text.

Now I had this on other cards i'd overclocked too far. I just had to re-flash the cards bios down back to defaults to fix.

I've tied all manner of bios versions on this, mostly resulting in invalid flashing errors or something I cant really see.. its still smack bang chock full of pixel/lines. IE; nothing changed no matter what I did that way. I was hoping it was a case of resetting the bios for maximum victory..  

But running NiBiTor and taking a bios save, checking it, its an 8800gts and setting it to even 500/1000/500 (just to flash a very safe set, or here I may be again wrong all over - advice is nice!) has no change. Here is where I'm at an entire loss.

Either the previous owner had this beasty running in his pc (well specced no doubt) at an oc'd rate IT could handle, and I just cannot. OR it's junk.

So.. just for funnies, what would you guys say I should try to see if I can get this thing going?

PSU is a 460watt coolermaster 2x12v@18a rails (I put them lower, the total calculates to about 16 I think - but still that does not mean funky gfx from the get go, no?) and there is 2 hdd's in here, 1 sata, 2 ide. all other devices are out at the moment.

Who's up for a bios hack to get this going !!   Kill it.. bleh, who cares so far. ebay guy obviously doesnt.

Yeah this *IS* going back to the twat that sold it to me, either from the snad or when I throw it from australia and aim for miami.. either way, that guy is copping a heatsink in the face..  

 

(ps, damn, 60hz refresh rate is horrible, i hate onboard video)

(sorry for editing)

OHHH or, as .. haha as I meant to ask.. Is this just purely a task in trying to make the dead arise? This I fear is the truth.

It's buggered, right? hrmm

450W "Corsair" VX-450 ATX Power Supply

Under 100$ and a really better one. Clear power. good regulation.

Seasonic Energy plus 550+, 80plus
(lots of psu have SEASONIC parts ... )

this one is 130$   psu are quite expensive where you live ! )


For the GPU. Its a good one. the 512 is better, but for the price you paid its ok. But it seems to be a dead one  
GPU too are REALLY expensive ...