ATI Card update issues.

[d0xics]

I'm trying to help my brother who lives on the East Coast upgrade his graphics card. I live on the West Coast, so it's a bit challenging as he isn't the most tech savvy individual out there. Anyway, he was using an ATI Radeon x1900GT which suited his purposes for awhile and ran fine. He decided he wanted just a little more out of his GPU, went to Best Buy, and bought some cheap card with marginal improvements, which turns out to be the ATI Radeon HD 5450. Guiding him via phone, I instructed him to remove all drivers and subsequent software before shutting down his comp to remove the x1900GT. He managed well enough and upon inserting the newer 5450, checking all connections once more and turning on his computer, he was presented with a 'screaming' computer with zero video feedback. To clarify, the 'screaming' was his fans (CPU, PSU) running at high, sustained, speeds... no beeping or anything along those lines. It seems that the HDs may not be engaging either, but I'm still uncertain about that. So I had him replace the older x1900GT, recheck connections, and proceed to try his comp again - everything worked fine. In other words, the computer doesn't seem to be 'accepting' the newer card for lack of a better word. I'd like to be more specific, but all the info I have regarding his system specs at the moment are as follows:

Intel 2.8 Dual Core
2 Gigs of RAM
300W PSU
Generic mobo from a stock HP computer

The x1900GT required a power supply connection, where as the newer model does not. I'm inclined to believe that wouldn't make a difference, but I don't know. Any suggestions/input/advice/solutions would be very welcome. I'd be happy to answer any questions that I can, thanks in advance.

- J

 

[mindistortionz]

looking at the AMD website i see that a AMD 5450 recommends a 400 watt psu or higher. Not having enough power to run the graphics card could cause this type of problem. Can he get the card tested in a diffeerent pc set up with a differnt psu. That could verify the psu is at fault .

 

[d0xics]

I appreciate the quick response, but to clarify, his model is the VisionTek 5450 whose box states that a 250 Watt PSU is sufficient... he went and replaced the card earlier at Best Buy to make sure it wasn't the card itself being faulty and still, no dice. Any other thoughts?

 

[mindistortionz]

Well I did a little searching around online and I find that card model VisionTek 5450 recommending 350 watts. here on amazon you can look at the box pic. http://www.amazon.com/VisionTek-Radeon-Express-Graphics-900315/dp/B003ICX0A4 . If you zoom on up on the picture with the box on it said 350 watts recommended . I'm not sure what memory size that card has. 512 MB, 1GB, 2GB? I know you said it was 250 watts, but are you sure he didn't see it wrong. If im wrong then im not sure what else it could be.

 

[d0xics]

Best answer selected by d0xics.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey