4850 supplemental power/problems

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
beardcombover

beardcombover

Distinguished
Dec 22, 2009
48
0
18,530
I'm having some issues with my xfx hd 4850, which is more than likely directly because of how it's being powered. Due to not having a spare 6 pin, I'm using the (6pin to 2 4pin) adapter that came with the box. However, my BFG 550w psu, and how its supplemental power is distributed, only has the 4pins on a supplemental power circuit, which is the HDD hookup, a 4pin, and another 4pin on a single power line. I have each of these 4 pins in that series hooked up to the (6pin to 2 4pin) adapter. So to sum that up, I have a single supplemental power cord (all others are used) attached to 1. hard drive, 2. a 4pin from the 4850 adapter, 3. a 4pin from the 4850 adapter. Yell at me and tell me what I'm doing wrong here....I'm a bit tied with my PSU's adapter availability, but is this thing getting enough power (another thing is that I have no clue how to crossfire, are both these 4pins supposed to be used as I am using them, or will one suffice for power?).

My symptoms are pixellating and crashing my system, requiring removal of power to restart than having to mess with resolution. This happens during Heroes IV and google earth....so I'm thinking I'm not exactly taxing it.
I'm packing a i5-750 with 8gb 1333 ram. 550w psu.
 
Solution
nforce4max
Hmm that is odd, one thing I do when researching cards I look up the VRM spec or board power. Also looking up charts for power consumption (actual), also look into your bios for the volt readings but if you feel that you are not getting real results get a cheap volt meter.
Sort by date Sort by votes
K

Kewlx25

Distinguished
Oct 23, 2009
2,275
0
20,160
My understanding is that the vid cards just pull 12v from the 4/6pin connectors. As long as your "supplemental" power rail can supply enough 12v amps for the card, it should be fine.

The 4850 is rated for around 150watts, so that's 12.5amps at 12v. The card will get a max of 75watts from the PCIe. So really, you only need a few amps on that rail to be fine. You'd have to look up your PSU specs. Best way would be to test a new PSU to see if the problems go away.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
nforce4max

nforce4max

Splendid
Sep 9, 2009
8,337
0
31,460
Hmm that is odd, one thing I do when researching cards I look up the VRM spec or board power. Also looking up charts for power consumption (actual), also look into your bios for the volt readings but if you feel that you are not getting real results get a cheap volt meter.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
nforce4max

nforce4max

Splendid
Sep 9, 2009
8,337
0
31,460


? The card should only have one 6pin connector while the 4870 has two and if you have mistaken your card for a lower end one and has 2 then yes you must have both 6pin sockets in use for the card to work properly.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
beardcombover

beardcombover

Distinguished
Dec 22, 2009
48
0
18,530
Sorry if I was unclear...I have one 6pin, you are correct, however I don't have a 6 pin free from my PSU. Inside the GPU box, there was a 6pin adapter to make it into 2 4pins. Each 4 pin is currently plugged into a male end from my psu on the same overall supplemental power cord. Thanks for all the support so far.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
nforce4max

nforce4max

Splendid
Sep 9, 2009
8,337
0
31,460



It should work unless you have something else in there that is loading the psu. If not then perhaps the psu is full of dust and failing. I once ran a 8800gtx of two such adapters off a 5 year old Enermax psu that wasn't even ATX 2.0 spec. (it was 1.7).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
nforce4max

nforce4max

Splendid
Sep 9, 2009
8,337
0
31,460



Is possible that you can test the card in another pc to rule it out as faulty?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom