X1950 Pro - Possible PSU Problem?

Eddie

Eddie

Eddie

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Hi there,

I’m having a few problems with my Sapphire X1950Pro 512MB AGP gfx card and thought I’d ask for a little advice. My PC spec is as follows…

Asus A8V Deluxe (Rev 2)
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ @ stock
Corsair 3200XLPro 512MB x 2
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS
1 x WD Raptor 36GB SATA HDD
1 x WD Caviar 160GB SATA HDD
Sapphire X1950Pro 512MB AGP
Hiper Type-R Modular 580W PSU link

All my drivers are up to date and I’ve tried using various versions of the CCC drivers but still have the same problems. What’s happening is that during game play, whilst the card is set to stock speeds, I get a constant stuttering every 2 or 3 seconds. No matter what settings I put the game at I still experience the same thing. Also, if I overclock the card using CCC and try to play any game it will manage a maximum of 10 seconds before crashing with a looping sound resulting in me having to hard reset.

I’ve read around the Sapphire forums and, while I’m certainly no PSU expert, I am led to believe my PSU may not be powerful enough for the gfx card. My PSU spec is as follows…

+5V = 36A | +12V1 = 20A | +12V2 = 18A | -12V = 0.8 | +5VSB = 2.5A | +3.3V = 30A

What I want to know is, are the problems I’m experiencing likely to point towards my +12V rails not being powerful enough, or is it possible the problem could lie elsewhere?

I purchased the X1950 Pro to replace an aging X800XTPE which ran my games fine, so I don’t think the issues I’m experiencing lie anywhere other than with either an underpowered PSU or a fault with the card itself.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
You'll be glad to know that the +12V rails are adequate. RailS I hear you say? Yes, you have 2: +12V1 & +12V2. Making total Amps 38 (though that's not always exact).

Bad news is Hiper PSU's have been very naughty in the last year or so. Lots of failures!

What I'd suggest you do is try borrow a PSU from a mate/etc to test with. Or bite the bullet & buy this since either way its advisable to change your current PSU :)
 
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Thanks for the reply.

I read (on the Sapphire forums) conflicting opinions regarding dual rails, one side of the argument says that a dual rail PSU would be fine as long as both rails added together were more than 30A, with the other side stating that dual rail PSUs were a bad idea for this gfx card as it requires so much power - something to do with 'load' and one of the rails possibly dropping too much???

So I'm a bit reluctant to splash out for a new PSU at the moment only to find that mine is working fine and the problem lies with the card itself or elsewhere.

I've read a few negative things about the Hiper PSUs over the last few weeks, when I bought mine it was considered to be one of the best available, but I suppose time is one of the things that sorts out the good from the bad.
 
Hello Shoot1st, I am using the same card as you mine is AGP, my PSU is a Hiper 520w about 2 years old and it runs fine.
I suspect your Card is duff.
Good luck with your problem mate.
 
The Hiper PSU you have is easily powerfull enough for the x1950pro as they are Crossfire certified for 2x x1950 XTX's in Crossfire, so if they can power 2x of those, then a single x1950pro wont make it break a sweat, but as said above try another PSU just to rule it out as there have been a shedload of Hiper failures as of late.
 
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Thanks a lot for the replies.

Glad to hear my PSU should be capable of powering this card, I'm going to test in another machine today so hopefully I'll know then where the problem lies.

lutterworth43, how long have you ran the card on the 520W Hiper?

The reason I ask is that my card actually ran fine for a week or so when I first got it. I was running it OC'ed (via CCC) with it suddenly crashing and it hasn't been right since. I can't OC it at all now without it crashing in game, and running at stock speeds just gives stuttering.

On the Sapphire forums they say that this can be caused when the card is underpowered from the start, with it only being a matter of time before it develops a fault as a result.
 
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