Graphics Card Low Power Warning Message

[Scream]

I guy rang me this morning about a constant warning message that comes up when he boots into Windows regarding his 6600 having to reduce speed because there isn't enough power, low voltage or something.

He has the molex connector connected to the card and its being reporting the low power now for a month or so but its started to appear everyday.

What voltage rails should I be monitoring and what reading should it be above?

Would it indicate the AGP voltage needs increased by a notch? He's states his PSU is 350w which I thought would be idle but he is running a lot of hardware which my be a strain on the power.

Any advice would be great.

 

[Dutch Guy]

Increasing AGP voltage might help but I don't think so.

The videocard draws power from the 12V rail.

Maybe he can try to use a different molex or check that it is still connected?

 

[andyportess]

Disconnect some of the other devices, e,g, optical drives etc that are not essential for booting up. If the problem goes away then it looks like the PSU is not up to the job.

Andy

 

[andyportess]

Disconnect some of the other devices, e,g, optical drives etc that are not essential for booting up. If the problem goes away then it looks like the PSU is not up to the job.

Andy

 

[Scream]

Cheers for that folk.

I'll take a multimeter with me to get a more acurate reading.

 

[Scream]

+12v = +12.19
-12v = -4.81 or there abouts.

The -12v is not right at all.

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Make sure that the gfx card is the only thing on that molex lead mate.

e.g - no splitters or anything psu>gfx

 

[Scream]

That's the problem, he has a PSU which has two lines of power coming out with several molex's on each. So with the number of HD's + CDROM's, everything is shared.

If the +12v is fine, how come the -12v is so low? If the voltage was low then you'd think the +12v would be affected.

He has a dual P4 system with 4 HD's, 2-CDROMS, internal zip drive and floppy on a 350w PSU.

Do you think thats too much of a load?

 

[basmic]

The -12v line is not important. You'll find -xv lines on most PSUs are somewhat erratic.

I'd try to measure the +12v at the card, and not somewhere along the molex. Get the +5v measured too, and the CPU if possible.

 

[mmj_uk]

The reading for the 12V line is mostly irrelevant these days, it is more important to have a PSU which is capable of around 20amp on the 12V line for a mid-range PC.

 

[Dutch Guy]

The reading for the 12V line is mostly irrelevant these days, it is more important to have a PSU which is capable of around 20amp on the 12V line for a mid-range PC.

Excactly, the voltage isn't important, the power delivery is and a P4 with four drives might make the system be low on power at boot as all the devices are initialised

 

[Sir Random]

Disconnect the cd drives, Zip drive, & 3 of the HDs. Then use one rail for the main HD & Fans and use the other rail for the gfx card (on it's own). If that works, then get a new PSU (I'd suggest 480w at least, but not Q-Tec)