Andarthiel on 10/1/2009 at 01:09
I just noticed something on my video card requirements. It says I need a power supply that does 400W(+12V with 26am) and my power supply is only capable of doing 18am with +12V(according to the box anyway). Does that matter at all? Can it be fixed up in some way?
Or do I need a new Power Supply?
Also, is it worth upgrading to SP3? The Koch Media Tech Support Member I emailed advised to me to do it but I've heard it has a lot of bugs.
242 on 10/1/2009 at 10:53
Quote Posted by Andarthiel
I just noticed something on my video card requirements. It says I need a power supply that does 400W(+12V with 26am) and my power supply is only capable of doing 18am with +12V(according to the box anyway). Does that matter at all? Can it be fixed up in some way?
Or do I need a new Power Supply?
It could be the power supply unit, the only way to fix it is to buy a new, appropriate one. Your current PSU is obviously of obsolete standard for newer graphics cards.
However, it could be some other reason too. But if you're sure it's not overheating, the chances are very high that your PSU's overloading causes the freezing eventually. I would buy a new one anyway.
Papy on 10/1/2009 at 11:35
Quote Posted by 242
Your current PSU is obviously of obsolete standard for newer graphics cards.
18A for each 12V rails is pretty much current standard. You won't find a lot of power supply with more than that (the best ones will have 4 rails instead of 2 or 3, but most rails are still at 18A). I find it strange that Andarthiel 8800GT asks for so much power. I have an old 485W Enermax power supply with only two rails (18A each rails, 25A combined) and I have no problem with my 8800GT.
Of course, it all depends if the numbers advertise by the power supply are real or simply the kind that could be achieve as peak load for a few seconds. Andarthiel, what is the brand and model of your power supply?
BTW, most of the time, if your power supply is failing then the computer will either reset or shut down itself under heavy load (and no name power supplies will make a "pop" noise with a bit of smoke).
Andarthiel on 10/1/2009 at 13:18
Quote Posted by Papy
18A for each 12V rails is pretty much current standard. You won't find a lot of power supply with more than that (the best ones will have 4 rails instead of 2 or 3, but most rails are still at 18A). I find it strange that Andarthiel 8800GT asks for so much power. I have an old 485W Enermax power supply with only two rails (18A each rails, 25A combined) and I have no problem with my 8800GT.
Of course, it all depends if the numbers advertise by the power supply are real or simply the kind that could be achieve as peak load for a few seconds. Andarthiel, what is the brand and model of your power supply?
BTW, most of the time, if your power supply is failing then the computer will either reset or shut down itself under heavy load (and no name power supplies will make a "pop" noise with a bit of smoke).
Yea I just realized(after reading Wikipedia) that my PSU has enough amps on the 12v rails combined to power the card(both PCI-e connector cables are plugged into the card)
My PSU is a 650W CoolerMaster eXtreme Power Duo.
Well I've had no smoke or popping happening and usually it doesn't reset itself, it just freezes and I either a)forcefully terminate the game process in task manager or b)if the system is unresponsive I reboot.
But I'm not absolutely certain that it's the graphics card or the PSU, it could very well be either the RAM or the CPU.
242 on 10/1/2009 at 13:28
Quote Posted by Papy
18A for each 12V rails is pretty much current standard. You won't find a lot of power supply with more than that (the best ones will have 4 rails instead of 2 or 3, but most rails are still at 18A). I find it strange that Andarthiel 8800GT asks for so much power. I have an old 485W Enermax power supply with only two rails (18A each rails, 25A combined) and I have no problem with my 8800GT.
I was wrong about PSU then, thought it was of older standard.
Now I remember I had a similar problem with my old motherboard. Computer kept to lock or reset itself after some time. But it was rather random, could be 5 minutes, or an hour. I tried everything: different memory, switched off HDs, CDs, sound card, etc. etc., nothing helped. Apparently it was faulting motherboard. Andarthiel's case may be different. Perhaps faulting videocard?
Andarthiel, you should borrow any other PCI-E videocard and test the games with it.
Andarthiel on 11/1/2009 at 12:53
Truth is I don't think I know anyone who has a spare PCi-e card that I can borrow. I highly doubt that it's the card though since whenever this crash happens the temperature for the card is pretty normal whilst playing a game(70 degrees celsius) However it's usually the CPU that overheats and the CPU usage goes up to 100% when the crash happens.
