Graphics card not getting power

csimon91

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Jun 16, 2010
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Hello, I have a Ati Radeon 3450 HD graphics card. It doesn't have a 4-Pin Molex Connector on it. While im playing games my monitor randomly shuts off and i believe its because of this. Where is my graphics card getting its power if it doesnt have this connector?
 

thestrangebrew

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Does your monitor actually power down or does it just lose it's signal? Big difference there. If there's no place for a connector, then the card draws power from the mobo which is supplied by the power supply. If you're losing a signal when playing games it may be a heat issue. What are your specs? What resolution are you playing? What games are you playing when this happens?
 

csimon91

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The light from the Monitor is still on when it happens. I bought a new PSU b/c i thought that was the issue and it wasnt. resolution is 1280x768. I usually only play Wow and Warcraft 3. Which arent very demanding games, but the problem still persists. It could be a heat issue but i applied new thermal paste properly about a week ago. AMD Phenom Quad Core Processor 2.20 Ghz. 6GB of DDR2Ram. 640GB of hard drive space
 

csimon91

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Yeh all my drivers are up to date. Windows does all that automatically. I guess ill try a crappy card from my old computer and see if itll run fine. You recommend that?
 

thestrangebrew

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Have you updated your drivers? I'd try that first and then if possible, take out the card and try it on another pc. See if the problem persists on the other rig. If it does, then most likely it's the card itself, in which case you may need to get a new one.
 

csimon91

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The computer itself is still running when this happens. All the fans are running fine, its just my monitor that goes off. The light on the monitor is still on also. Its all really weird.
 

thestrangebrew

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That is weird. I've had a similar issue with my 5770 not putting a signal out to the monitor, but I think that happened because I OC'ed my card. I don't know how I fixed it, except for completely removing drivers, taking the card out, and putting it back in. After a few attempts at that, I gave up and went to bed. The next morning, it started working again. Totally random.

Try a different card in your system, and if you can, put the card you're having problems with in another pc and see if the same symptoms occur.