Graphics Card Stuck at Loading

[CuriousAmateur]

I just bought a new GTX 560, and plugged it into the computer. When I turned it on, there was a flash of text which showed that it recognized my card and then the Dell XPS 8300 loading screen came up. It's been over 20 mins and it's still here: I'm doubtful that this is natural. Is it because of my PSU or some other problem?

The PSU says 12V: 18A but the card says it needs 12V: 24A

But I read around and apparently Dell PSU's are underrated so I thought I'd give it a shot since the card says it needs 450W and I have a 460W one.
And now I'm stuck. Any advice? The screen looks like this:

F2 and F12 don't do anything ._.

I also cracked open my case and it had a weird orange light.

And if I do need a new PSU, what's the most efficient, cheap one? I've already spent wayy too much on this card.

thanks!

 

[scout_03]

specs for this card http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-560/specifications

 

[paddys09]

Yea I wouldn't trust that card with that PSU. not 100% sure its causing the load problem? but its likely.

Looks like your 6pins are just looped back around not sure if that might cause any issues.

Don't know where your from so can't tell which would be the cheapest but the Corsair CX500 is usually cheap anywhere and is decent for that setup.

 

[CuriousAmateur]

I'm in Toronto right now. About the 6-pins, the card said it needs 2 and in an earlier post, someone posted that those two heads off the same wire counts as 2. Is this true?

 

[paddys09]

It probably does. Its all coming off the 12v rail anyway, just not what im used to.... looks a bit sketchy.

I misread the label last night you've actually got 3 12v rails with a combined total of 42A which sounds fairly high. I would still want to go with a different PSU but it should definitely be getting enough power to run it.

Can you boot up using the onboard graphics?

 

[dudewitbow]

I'm in Toronto right now. About the 6-pins, the card said it needs 2 and in an earlier post, someone posted that those two heads off the same wire counts as 2. Is this true?

the 2 molex to single 6 pin counts only as 1. you NEED both 6 pin slots on the card to be filled in order to safely run it.

 

[CuriousAmateur]

So that double headed wire:

that only counts as 1? I need an identical one which I can plug in? when I was trying to install it, I plugged both heads in.

 

[dudewitbow]

thaats an odd connector plug, looking at it, i would think it is 2, but im not sure if it can fully supply the normal 75w a normal 6 pin would supply

 

[thor220]

Your computer works fine with the igp right? The only new hardware you introduced was the new grahpics cards so it narrows it down to either a faulty card or a poor psu. Any chance you could get your hands on a more beefy temp psu?

 

[CuriousAmateur]

So to check for that, would I have to boot up without any graphics card? Right now, I'm using my old 5450.

 

[CuriousAmateur]

I'd have to buy it, none of my friends are very tech savvy/have desktops.

 

[CuriousAmateur]

For the PSU, do you add up all the Amps on the 12VA, B and C rails? Then I'd have 44A on the 12V as compared to what the card needs (24A min on 12 v rail)

 

[thor220]

I think your psu might be shutting itself off. If you try to draw too much power from one rail it will shut down. If only you could test the card out in another machine just to make sure.

 

[CuriousAmateur]

I don't have a different machine but I have an identical XPS 8300 with the same specs. Should I see if that works?

 

[paddys09]

If it was me heres the list of things I would be doing:

You should have a VGA port coming out of the motherboard. (you might not, but should do) Either use that or your old card load up windows and remove all your display drivers and install the nvidia ones (get latest from your card manufacturers website)

Refit your card and test.

Obviously tesing on a same spec machine is a good idea. If your having the same problem we know its the hardware configuration so go ahead and do that.

Drawing 2 75w down the same wires doesn't seem like a good idea to me, if anything looks like a bit of a fire hazard. You could try using the molex to pci e on 1 of the feeds and see if that makes a difference.

Finally, if you are feeling confident enough you could use the power supply of of your other machine just to power the graphics alone.

If the latter 2 work then its a PSU issue and recommend you buy a new one.

 

[paddys09]

Also something we all should have done from the start.... Googled it!

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/329824-15-dell-8300-460w-geforce

Seems like this chap got his running straight away with no issues. A few people rated his PSU as suitable.... I have no experience with dells. I would still prefer something a bit more gaming oriented with a decent single rail but seems like its got the ok from a few others.

So just reinstall the drivers, if that doesnt work.... test in your other machine then get back to us.

 

[CuriousAmateur]

I will follow your steps, thanks.

 

[CuriousAmateur]

I read it!
He's so lucky, exact same specs as me but his works.
This gives me hope that my card has a problem.

 

[CuriousAmateur]

Nothing works; another forum suggested I downgrade my expectations and buy a Radeon 7770 since it's guaranteed it'll work with my PSU. What do you guys think?

 

[Kari]

about the amperage, it says the max power from those 12v rails is 385W, that would mean 32amps in total. The 2 six pin plugs are rated for 75W each so 150W (12.5A) through that wire. Though the card shouldn't draw that much at boot since there isn't really any load on it...
You could try to run it with just one of the six pins connected from that double headed wire and use a molex-to-pcie adapter for the other one (prob came with the card). With any luck the molexs are connected to different rail on the psu so it might spread the load around a bit.
IMO the psu should have enough oomph to run the card properly, if it is not faulty somehow...

 

[CuriousAmateur]

All right so I finally sorted this out with a visit to a local Tigerdirect. Advice to anyone with a failing GPU/computer setup, do not be wary of spending however much you can to reach your goal. Also, if you're NOT a pro hardcore engineer (welcome to my world) please make sure you get someone very tech savvy to look at it. I was lucky that I got an extremely dedicated worker at the store to help me.

For those with Dell XPS 8300's, forget all the rumours about Dell having a great PSU that's underrated. It's actually overrated. A good tip to remember that if the PSU is silver, it's overrated, black is always the better one.
It was to no wonder that my PSU couldn't handle the GTX 560; it was probably only 300W instead of the 460W it was advertised as.

So all in all, I had to buy a new 600W CoolerMaster PSU, one 120 mm fan (control air flow) and settle for a lesser GPU (BiOS kept crashing with the GTX 560; Damn Dell motherboards aren't compatible apparently.)
But I got an EVGA GTX 550Ti with 2 gigs of memory which after some benchmark tests, turned out to be as good as the 560.

So I'm happy! Thanks for the help guys.