is my graphics card bust?

[webbhost]

Hi all,

For ages I have occasionally got a message on screen stating that my computer cannot give sufficient power to a graphics card and that it has lowered the power to prevent damage etc etc... I have also had problems playing games, such as very jumpy or in some cases, I just get noise on screen.

Anyway, I found the problem today - I disabled SLI and all my games work perfectly... Can anyone tell me if this is either a broken graphics card, or a power issue?

I didn't always get this power message, not for the first few months (purchased july last year), so hoping if I act quickly warranty should cover any damages?

The graphics cards were 2 x 9800 GTX KO's

Power supply is 600W and CPU is Q6600

Someone please help!!

 

[NightmareXX]

I'd go with what the nVidia software is telling you. Your PSU can't provide enough power to both of the 9800GTX's and so it's throttling their performance.

Turning SLi off is pretty much the same as removing a second card, it doesn't do anything and so all the power is available for the first card.

What brand is your PSU and how many amps can it provide across all the 12V rails that it has available?

 

[webbhost]

not sure on the brandname...

I bought the system from OcUK last july.... with 2 x 8800 GTS's

1 of them was faulty, however the 8800's went discontinued around the same time that I purchaed the computer, so when they sent a replacement card they sent me a 9800 GTX KO instead.

Then they sent me another 9800 GTX KO to replace the other 8800 GTS in my system.

I'm guessing that because my system was built for 2 x 8800's, there was just enough power for these, however because of the free "upgrade" as to say to a 9800 GTX KO, it has sent my system under strain for power?

Do you think this is something that OCUK should (and would) sort out? Its not my fault that the PSU is only 600W..... but then again OCUK sold it to me with 8800's.


What kind of watt output do I need for this system? May be worth me getting a new PSU before contacting OCUK, but I need to act quickly as my warranty expires in 2 weeks (should a card actually be faulty)

 

[thehitmen]

Man, i have been reading allot but the weather is casing cards to OH, as it is adding an extra 10c to the card.

 

[baked188]

What kind of watt output do I need for this system? May be worth me getting a new PSU before contacting OCUK, but I need to act quickly as my warranty expires in 2 weeks (should a card actually be faulty)

Its not just about the PSU wattage, the amps on the 12v rail are what you need to watch. for 2x 8800 gts's id purchase a Corsair 650w/750w or maybe even 850w to future proof your system. I recently purchased a Corsair tx750 and it runs 2x hd4890's perfect.

 

[webbhost]

hmm im starting to think I might have a bust card again...

When I switched SLI off, ALL of the lag stopped... but now its come back again, and SLI is not enabled.

I have checked my GPU temps and they are 67 / 70 (ran these before at this temp without problems).

Would I be correct in saying that the only way to know for sure is to take one out and switch them over etc (try cards individually).

OR...

Can I disable each one in turn in device manager to see if the remaining card that is enabled works nicely?

 

[AMG]

could be your power supply is struggling....heres somethng interesting http://www.antec.outervision.com/

its actruly looks about right

 

[Mr Goat]

I'd go down the route of using one card at a time on it's own, totally removing the other. Do testing for a few hours/days and see what happens. This should soon tell you if you have a problem with an individual card.

 

[dietlard]

Here is another power supply calculator for Asus MB's....

http://support.asus.com/PowerSupplyCalculator/PSCalculator.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

This one gave me 800 watts, the Antec one gave me 649 watts. My own PSU with 6 hard drives (one is a 10,000rpm Velociraptor) and 2x NVidia GT 9600 graphic cards is an OCZ GameXstream 1010w silent SLi ready ATX2 PSU which I purchased from OcUK in June 2008 for £127.18 all in. Got the PSU because after installing the 2 GT 9600's whenever I played Crysis the screen went black after about 2 minutes. When the graphics got intensive my previous 550w PSU couldn't hack it.