Problem with Graphics Card

[Hepperfitz]

Hey guys, was just wondering if anyone could help me? Recently I decided to purchase myself a new graphics card, more specifically, the Nvidia GeForce 560 Ti after numerous recommendations. I also bought another 4gb RAM card and got them both installed with seemingly no issues. However, I noticed little to no difference between cards. After scouring the internet on and off for the past few weeks, I seem to be falling short each time. I noticed this site from a number of threads I was looking through and decided to give forums a shot before calling someone in to have a look at my computer properly.

More importantly, here are my specs both before and after my upgrade:

Old Specs
550W HEC Desktop Power Supply
Asus M5A88-M Motherboard
AMD FX 4100 Quad Core Processor
4GB 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM
AMD Radeon HD6450 Graphics Card

New Specs
Replaced Graphics Card with Nvidia GeForce 560Ti
Additional RAM Card: Kingston 4GB DDR3 1333MHz

I don't know if these mean anything, but here are a couple of pictures of my computer wiring I took, as well as the finer details of my PSU.

http://imgur.com/Xqjno
* Note: Third Image shows spare cable coming from my CD-Rom Drive.

I've installed drivers and reinstalled them all numerous times. The drivers for my old graphics card have all been uninstalled. I did a couple of benchmark tests using 3DMark and it appears that my results are a lot lower than what they should be. Here is a link to the results I got:

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3805723

It also appears that looking at my core usage via the Task Manager, the 4th core seems to be considerably less active than the other 3, mainly when I'm playing games. I've heard a number theories pop up. Mainly, that my PSU isn't sufficient (or God forbid my Motherboard). My PSU could be bottlenecking, etc. I don't have a clue.

That's pretty much everything I could think of putting... Please note that this is the first time I've ever installed new parts for a PC myself. Apologies if I fail to understand any lingo etc.

Thanks for your time,
Hepperfitz

 

[Sunius]

You didn't take a picture of your graphics card ;P. Can't tell whether you correctly connected that part.

Graphics score seems to be fine if you got your card at stock. No idea why the physics score is so low though.

 

[rattman169]

actually if you look at the power supply, your pushing 18Amps on the +12V rail, this could be a strain on the system, second you have 2 different speed memory chips from 2 different companies, which in turn affects voltage on the memory, third is when running the test it says 2 cores testing out of 4. these can all factor in to lower performance. I would definately get a better PSU (Antec, Corsair, OCZ V2...) 80+ certified to be on safe side, get driver sweeper to ensure all driver are removed after uninstalling Nvidia drivers, then reboot machine and reinstall video drivers, then go into driver settings and increase most 3d settings and gaming settings to performance over quality, this should help get some better results, ram may still be an issue, remove the new Kingston when testing, and make sure you are running 64bit Windows with that amount of ram.

 

[Hepperfitz]

Hehe no I didn't... Pretty stupid of me eh? Next time I'm able to open up my PC I might have another look and take some more. I can only presume that my card is installed correctly due to the results I got.

Yeah I noticed that with the 2 cores things too. I check results of other users with the same processor and graphics card as me. One with fairly average results, still better than mine, only ran 2 cores, whilst another ran 4 cores and have an amazing score. I dunno. Here's the link to the 'Awesome Guy's' results, although he's probably overclocking and all that jazz.

I'd been told prior by friends that the make and speed of the RAM cards shouldn't matter so I just bought that one. Every single part I ordered I asked the opinion of at least 3 others, so I hope I didn't mess up still. xD A friend of mine runs the same graphics card on a lower performance power supply than me and has no problems, so I'm completely confused. Windows version is 64 Bit. I'll try using the Driver option and reinstall them when I can.

 

[rattman169]

it's not wattage so much as amperage, a 500 watt with 2 +12v rails @16 amps each is better then a 600watt with 1 +12v rail @ 20 amps, the memory will not affect to much as the faster memory usually downclocks to the slower memory speed, but lets say the kingston requires 1.65volts @ 1333mhz and the corsair requires 1.5v @ 1333mhz, then you are going to have stability issues and can potentially cause damage to 1 of the memory sticks. everything else seems in check other then the low physics scores, but do the complete driver clean out and then the little tweak and see if you get better score, also with the basic version of 3dMark11 you are @ 1280 x 720 resolution, which is more on the CPU side then GPU side of the test, you would probably see a different score if you were running the advanced version @ higher resolution so the GPU is doing more of the work.

 

[simon12]

I don't like the look of the power supply it looks like one I used to have that came with a cheap case, I suggest getting a decent one even if its not the the cause of the current problem.

 

[undercovernerd6]

hello there first thing is

1. The ram are different timings and different voltages. That's a problem for stability and your new 1333 ram just lowered the old ram which was faster to that speed, and possibly affected it with higher voltages to run the Kingston if it was in fact 1.65 v
2. After the installation of the new and different make of graphics card you have to uninstal catalist control center and go to nvidia 's website and instal the lastest driver suite.
3. Make sure the graphics card has both power pins connected.
4. Your CPU and gpu combo can draw close to 500w AMD has a much higher draw on fx processors for power when overclocked. You might want invest in a corsair power supply.

you should be up and running now. Enjoy

 

[Hepperfitz]

I tried the Driver program several times and still no use. All drivers are correct, previous drivers have been removed and my graphics card appears to be corrected properly via the 2 Six Pin Plugs to my PSU. (Image 1 of my Imgur link shows this)

Also did the tweak emphasising performance over quality. Ran another set of tests resulting slightly lower than previously, again with terrible Physics scores. I'm considering comparing results to that of my old graphics card which did not require any power and also complete removal and insertion of my 560Ti just in case on the off chance I did something wrong there.

I'm fairly sure it's my PSU, which is a real shame. Being told that my computer should run this card no problem then to find out that it can't after spending £200+ is a real kick in the balls. However I'm not going to blow away any more money unless I'm 100% sure it is actually the cause of the problem. Until then, I'm going to keep trying and just wanted to thank you all for the help and advice you've given so far. :]