Faulty Graphics Card or PSU? Please help!

[Dogpitt]

[PrairieDawg]

Re: Faulty Graphics Card or PSU? Please help!

Your PSU may or may not be the problem now but I'd certainly look at changeing it as soon as possible anyway. A cheap no-name PSU powering a good system is always a high risk situation. When PSUs do die sometimes they take a few other parts with them.

[Dogpitt]

Re: Faulty Graphics Card or PSU? Please help!

Your PSU may or may not be the problem now but I'd certainly look at changeing it as soon as possible anyway. A cheap no-name PSU powering a good system is always a high risk situation. When PSUs do die sometimes they take a few other parts with them.

I concede that it is a "value" PSU, yet the reviews from other purchasers were rather reassuring.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=26937786212&product_uid=102994&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&filter_display=reviews&filter_order=rating_desc&filter_category=&filter_string=&offset=0

Although with that said - I'm still not certain it is a power issue, but how can I be sure?
One thing I can say with certainty is this: the only time I'm getting problems is when the system is under increased strain playing a PC game. From that I've concluded its either a faulty card, or the PSU is unable to provide the card with the juice it needs during demanding 3d games. Other than that theres the Hard-disk, but I've not had any bad sectors etc as yet. I dunno...

ps. I've updated my sig with my specs now

[Dogpitt]

Re: Faulty Graphics Card or PSU? Please help!

Also one thing I forgot to mention: the graphics card I'm using is regarded as greatly over-clock'able. On a few occasions I have used nTune to find the optimal clock speeds; it takes them from 450/1320 -> 600/1602. Now this results in the issues I've described above, although they tend to happen more immediately.

[Aguiluz]

Re: Faulty Graphics Card or PSU? Please help!

I could say that the PSU *could* be nuked. If you look at my signature, you could see the "Blown" actually stands for my Main Rig was blown. A Sunbird Generic PSU at 325W in an O/C'd system? Ack... I pushed my luck.]

P.S: I am using my old lappy. Cant play games....

[Aguiluz]

Re: Faulty Graphics Card or PSU? Please help!

Oh, and I forgot, after 1 Hour of NFS: Most Wanted, the whole rig starts to "shake," the passive heatsink on the O/C'd radeon becomes hot enough to burn fingers. That's why its "blasted forced" air cooled.

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Faulty Graphics Card or PSU? Please help!

PSU is almost surely the cause. A 500W no-name won't handle the strain on its 12v rail. Go get a 550W+ brand name and you should be good for this system and any future upgrades. Make sure it's got at least a combined 30A on the 12v rail(s).

[Dogpitt]

Re: Faulty Graphics Card or PSU? Please help!

PSU is almost surely the cause. A 500W no-name won't handle the strain on its 12v rail. Go get a 550W+ brand name and you should be good for this system and any future upgrades. Make sure it's got at least a combined 30A on the 12v rail(s).

Ah, but this cheap 550w PSU has 30a on the 12v rail! By the by, I have now ordered a Hiper 580w R-series Modular PSU. It looks and sounds the shizzle. I surely hope this sorts it...