New PSU or Video Card?

[kevalin]

Hi, Folks,

Built this about three months ago. Here are my specs:

CPU Intel Core i5-3450 3.1GHz Quad-Core

Motherboard MSI Z77A-G43 ATX LGA1155

Memory G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333

Storage Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM
Corsair Force Series 60GB 2.5" SSD
Intel 320 Series 120GB 2.5" SSD

Video Card Asus Radeon HD 7750 1GB

Case Azza Helios 910 ATX Mid Tower

Power Supply Corsair 500W ATX12V

Optical Drive Asus DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS DVD/CD Writer


Re. the Video card: my first mistake was assuming I would never use more than one monitor. So much for that idea. Unfortunately, 7750 only has one DVI port, so I had to improvise to add the second screen.

But real issue has been with the fact that certain programs (Camtasia, Teamviewer) absolutely kill Aero--and in the case of Teamviewer, it blacks out the desktop background all together. The good news: the screen comes back once TV is disconnected, but I've read of complaints about screens having problems with not going back to their blissfully decorative selves, without some tweaking.

Strictly speaking, I suppose I should consider these problems strictly aesthetic... but I'm not sure they aren't indicative of a deeper problem with the video card's ability to handle a load. And even aesthetically speaking, they're annoying enough to me that I'm seriously looking at trading out this video card for something a bit more robust--and with three DVI ports, since I can already see my future.

That is, if the issue really IS the video card, and not a PSU issue. Could it be that 500W isn't quite enough to handle two (and eventually three) displays? If so, what are the recommendations? Should I look at replacing both the PSU and the video card--and if so, which one first? And with what?

Any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tiny voices]

500w is way more than enough. It won't use any additional power to run more monitors.

 

[maestro0428]

Cards with mulitple DVI ports will not solve the issue. I run three screens (two off of a 570gtx and one of off the Intel chip) and have done so with no issues for some time. I have run them on a FirePro v5900 and HD7850 too. Sure these are more powerful cards, but I have always used adapters, as cards of which you speak are rare. I have not used Camtasia or Teamviewer though, so I am guessing it has more to do with how Windows is handling that software or the software itself. All that said, I think your hardware is fine. You may just need to tweak the OS/software/drivers to do what you need.

Does that software tax the GPU? You may want to consider an upgrade, only if it does.

 

[kevalin]

The message (or part of it) I get when I run Camtasia is that "the color scheme has exceeded its allowed memory..." at which point Aero goes away, and the computer's speakers make very brief, but unhappy "I'm being interfered with" sound.

I also just noticed that with Camtasia, I actually have to go into Personalization to reset everything back the way I prefer it. TeamViewer at least returns it to "normal" as soon as I get out of the program.

I'm more concerned about the effects of TeamViewer, since it will be getting use on a fairly regular basis.

 

[kevalin]

Best answer selected by kevalin.