Saphire Radeon HD 4850

[Poika]

Hey guys!

I recently purchased a Saphire Raden HD 4850 (1gb), from my local swap meet. My previous NVidia card poop'd itself and I needed something that wasn't going to burn a nasty hole in my wallet. =P

So. I got home, excitedly plugged it all up ...and zilch. Yes, I'd plugged in the external 6pin connecter.

The PC boots up, gives me a successful POST beep, but the screen stays blank! When I plug the VGA cable into the onboard video, it works without a problem! The fan on the video card is spinning, and BIOS is set to use a PCI-E device before resorting to onboard.

Now, after looking on the box it states I need a 550watt powersupply (I've only got 500watt).

I guess what my question is, whether or not this is standard behaviour for an ATI card with insufficient power? If I go out tomorrow morning and purchase a new power supply, will this be the answer to my problems? ...or have I got a dud ?

I'll jot down my system specs here:

In the box:
CPU: q6600 @ 2.4ghz
RAM: 4gb @ (I forget )
VGA: Radeon HD 4850 (when I get it working)
HDD: 2 Satas, 1 IDE
DVD: 1 Sata DVD/RW
M/B: P5N-MX
Sound: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Elite Pro

Other shite!
Wacom Intuos4 - medium
Generic Logitech keyboard
Generic Microsoft Mouse
Creative 2.1 speakers
Xbox 360 controller
BENQ 21.5inch screen


If you'd like/need any other information, please don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks in advance,
-Poika!

 

[belial2k]

Did you disable your MB drivers first? I would guess, if everything is installed correctly, you found out why they were selling the card at a swap meet. Your power supply should be plenty for it unless it is defective, but the more likely case is that the card is defective.

 

[Poika]

Hey mate, I don't think the drivers hold any relevance, as everything I've mentioned above is pre windows. Yeah, your answer is what I was dreading >.< This'd be the first dodge job I've had at the swap meet. So there's no chance in hell it's the PSU?

 

[swifty_morgan]

I don't know what that other guy is talking about but........... go into the bios and disable the on board video or set it to auto. That way it will find your new video card. Secondly, I see you're running an after market sound card........... when you install the graphics driver don't do an auto install but do an ADVANCED install. That way you can only install the video driver and NOT the ATI sound driver as that will cause you unwanted problems.

 

[belial2k]

the 4850 doesn't use much power...that 550w is way exaggerated. I've put them in systems with cheap 400w Psu without issue. Even then it should still boot, and then crash under load if it was the psu. I would double check all the connections, but all signs point to a bad card.

 

[Poika]

howdy, cheers for the response.

I've gone through my Bios and the only option I've got is to give the PCI-E device priority (which I already had enabled). I unfortunately cannot completely cut off the onboard. This setting has worked with all previous video cards. so unfortunately it's not that.

Cheers for the advice in regards to the drivers, I will be vigilant... when ever I can get the card to be recognized by windows =P

 

[belial2k]

I don't know what that other guy is talking about but........... go into the bios and disable the on board video or set it to auto. That way it will find your new video card. Secondly, I see you're running an after market sound card........... when you install the graphics driver don't do an auto install but do an ADVANCED install. That way you can only install the video driver and NOT the ATI sound driver as that will cause you unwanted problems.

he stated he was already running a card in that slot, so the MB should be detecting it. It also means that the slot could be bad if the old card fried it on its way out.

 

[Poika]

The pci-e slot should be fine. The previous card didn't actually fry, it just cuts out every 0 - 20 minutes. When I put the old card in, it recognises the card.

 

[leon2006]

What brand & model of PS do you have?

 

[Poika]

What brand & model of PS do you have?

I'm actually not too sure. It's just a generic one (same as the case).
I think it's Golden-something