• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

GFX or PSU

Associate
Joined
7 Sep 2011
Posts
24
Hey guys!

I've got 2 nvidia gtx 280s PNY versions and a Corsair 1000w psu. Everything was fine, i could run anything at decent settings. I had a friend come over and he installed a gadget thingy which reads temps. It was a bit dodgy to begin with, broke wires which he tapped up. Sorry to say but i let him install it anyways. He installed it while the computer was on also.

Since then any decent game i try and play my gfx card would hit 115c and the pc would shut down. If SLI is on, the second card would hit 115c and if SLI was off the first card would hit 115c. I can just about play games if the settings are all on low although even then my cards cook. Even football manager.. my cards hit 85-95.

I've cleaned them, removed the dust although taking the case off the gfx cards is very tricky and i havent managed to do it yet. Whats the chance its my gfx cards that are broke? Or could it be my power supply? I dont have tons of cash but i could replace the broken part(s) if i needed to. I dont wanna waste 200-300 on a card and then find out its my power supply. Is there any testing i can do?

Any suggestions / advice is welcome!!

thanks!
 
'broke wires which he tapped up'

that doesnt sound good. would really need to know what component he cut the wire for?
i think 2 280's will make some seriosu heat, and so possible he cut a case fan (or two) which could lead to very high temps.

Can you take off pc cover and confirm if ALL fans are actually working?
 
Hey!

The gadget he installed to read temps had broken wires which he tapped up. All the fans seem to be going fine, although pc does seem a lot noiser(if thats spelt right)

Im going to take it to a shop tomorrow and see what they say. My friend told me something might of short-circuited but he isnt sure, he also said too much voltage could be geting sent along the rail? No idea about this computer talk :)

thanks for the reply!
 
Quick update, it appears to be both my cards that are knackered. What upgrade would you guys recommend? specs are:

Corsair 1000W Power Supply Unit
ASUS P5N-D
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9550 Quad Core 4x2.83GHz
Coolermaster Hyper TX2 Fan
Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz

Willing to spend 300-400 but im no longer interested in SLI... unless you guys strongly recommend it :x

thanks again!
 
Hey guys!

I've got 2 nvidia gtx 280s PNY versions and a Corsair 1000w psu. Everything was fine, i could run anything at decent settings. I had a friend come over and he installed a gadget thingy which reads temps. It was a bit dodgy to begin with, broke wires which he tapped up. Sorry to say but i let him install it anyways. He installed it while the computer was on also.

Now let me get this straight, you let a friend loose on your PC, then afterwards when he finished you had issues with your graphics cards.
Does that not tell you something ? :rolleyes:
Apart from the fact you dont know exactly what he did, and he did it whilst the PC was on, involving connecting up broken wires.
Your friend should be the one buying you new GPU's. Also where are you getting the temps from ? The dodgy gadget thing ?

Then you take your PC to a PC shop and they tell you the GPU's are knackered ? did they happen to try and sell you new ones by any chance ?
first off I would get some decent software that will read your temps to see if its correct, ie MSI Afterburner or GPU-Z.
Then I would just use one GTX280 in your PC to see what happens. Then take that out and try the other.

I would find out exactly first yourself whether they are faulty or not then if they are get your friend to buy you a new one.
 
Last edited:
I know i was dumb, when my "friend" was talking to me before he done anything he sounded like he was a pc pro :p im getting the temps from afterburner. I spoke to him and he told me it wasnt his fault and the cards was too old. I know his talking rubbish :o

The pc shop didnt offer me new cards, but im sure they was aiming to do so. I have tryed running 1 card and that burns up, although i have not tryed the second card on its own, will do tonight. Im guessing 1 card on its own will not run the newer games now at decent settings? med/high So if i had to replace my cards what would you suggest?

Thanks again
 
Thats very bad news and thats not a very good friend tbh.

If i were you i would get a 6950 2gb card. It should be the same performance you had with dx11 and more ram. The 2 links below is what i would go for.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-036-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-273-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

With the sapphire you may also be able to get a 6970 with the flick of a switch on the card.

With the single card you should feel your games being smoother also.

Both these cards come with really good coolers so noise and heat should be very good.
 
Last edited:
Hi again, i've removed the 1st card and everything seems ok. Im managing to play top games on decent settings! Im even able to get past the intro on Deus Ex :P
 
Seems quite a lot of dust on the first card, but i have no idea how to pull it apart, is it as simple as removing some screws and the case will pop off?
 
Back
Top Bottom