Can a graphics card function at all without the proper electricity?

[jcpbandb]

I have been using my old rig for a while with the Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB, but I recently upgraded to XFX Radeon HD 6950 2GB.

All I was wondering is if a video card can actually power on and run (just not at full capacity) or does the the computer not start up at all?
Thanks

 

[simon12]

It depends how short on power it is but beware it could kill the power supply and take other components with it so don't try it.

 

[Banana_Joe]

If your PSU is pushed over its limits and it got proper protection it will turn the PC off otherwise the PSU will explode and your whole home may be on fire.

 

[jcpbandb]

So I guess that's not my problem... Haha. So why is it that my graphics card cant run as well as it should?

 

[jcpbandb]

AMD Phenom II x4 965 (3.4Ghz)
Antec truepower 550w
XFX Radeon HD 6950 2GB
6GB DDR2 RAM (kingston I think)
Windows 7 Home premium 64bit
Acer 23inch 1920x1080

 

[jcpbandb]

I was over at my friend's house a few days back and he had just gotten his new rig (Same specs except he has the HD 6970). We installed a couple of his steam games and started to play. The first thing I booted up was Skyrim. I chose Ultra just to test it out, and to my surprise, he ran it PERFECTLY. No dip in performance at all. When I try the game, however, I can't even run It on medium like he can on ultra. Also, since I have upgraded GCards, I have noticed little to no performance increase. One of my friends has a computer with the HD 5770 and a 2.3 or 2.4 Ghz processor and can run it better than I can. I have ran 2 different virus scans, and have closed any unnecessary Processes. I don't understand what is happening, but by no means am I an expert on the stuff. Here's hoping you can help me

 

[jcpbandb]

PSU is about 5 months old, and I have updated every driver I could. Any other suggestions?

 

[Banana_Joe]

Check if VSync off in the driver. VSync is usually a performance killer.

Check your gpu temperature.

 

[jcpbandb]

I set my Vsync to "always off" but hardly anything changed
And while running Skyrim at max my GPU temperature is hovering around 57degrees and my CPU is around 52degrees.
But for the benchmark do you mean use something like FurMark? Or what?

 

[Banana_Joe]

Try updating drivers of the mobo and gpu. If it is not overheating, cpu bottleneck or psu and it is not i can only think the card is defective or you bought a non reference card with low specs. You may try your card in a similar computer to make sure.

 

[unksol]

Check if VSync off in the driver. VSync is usually a performance killer.

Check your gpu temperature.

Vsync should always be on. It has zero affect unless you're over 60FPS which he is clearly not, and besides skyrim is limited to 60FPS by the games code.

shouldn't really matter but what's you're motherboard. little odd to be using 6GB of DDR2 with that CPU.

Confirm your CPU and gpu clocks and monitor percent load while in game

 

[unksol]

Try updating drivers of the mobo and gpu. If it is not overheating, cpu bottleneck or psu and it is not i can only think the card is defective or you bought a non reference card with low specs. You may try your card in a similar computer to make sure.

He updated his drivers. There are non"non reference cards with low specs" as that would not be a 6950

 

[jcpbandb]

When I run my benchmarks, they say that the hardware is running at its advertised speeds (840Mhz on the 6950) with safe temperatures.