help with 9800 pro! power supply issue?

dead_skin_maskdead_skin_mask tn.
edited April 2005 in Hardware
Hi, Someone please help.I got a radeon 9800 pro like 5 months ago.all was well and all of the sudden i was getting corrupt graphics,(lines,dots,converging,) in games and in windows. I RMA'd the card and got the new one back and same problem. and sometimes when i reboot, red banner comes up ans says i have not connected my card to my power supply right and most times i doesnt do that at all, I have tried rolling back drivers, reseating the card,leaving side off and putting fan on it, and i was thinking maybe it is an insufficiant psu. what do you guys think, my specs are:

amd 64 3500 winchester
asus a8v deluxe
1024 corsair twin xms duall channel
radeon 9800 pro 128 mb
tsunami dream (plenty of fans)
74 gig 10,000 rpm raptor
120 gig 72,00 samsung
heres the kicker 400 watt COMP USA psu (you can smack me later)

but would the psu be causing the corruption, wouldnt it like crash or reboot randomly or something? any input would help before i RMA my second card.

Comments

  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited April 2005
    Psu is insufcient replace it with a antec 400W or greater
  • dead_skin_maskdead_skin_mask tn.
    edited April 2005
    so you think this kindof graphics corruption can be caused by a weak psu? I had thought that was only the case if you were getting random reboots and freezes? and thanks for replying nobody seems to want to reply to this but i apreciate it.oh and i just ordered a antec true550. is that too much?
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited April 2005
    Its more then enough :)

    That psu should last you a long time

    Ive seen artifacts caused on 9800pros sevral times by not enough power.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Actually CompUSA makes pretty good power supplies.... ask thrax.. He's a big fan ;)
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited April 2005
    dead_skin_mask wrote:
    ... and sometimes when i reboot, red banner comes up ans says i have not connected my card to my power supply right and most times i doesnt do that at all

    The 'card not connected to powersupply' message leads me to believe it is a PSU issue as well. The Antec 550 is a nice PSU, hopefully it'll correct your issues. What are your voltage readings btw? If you are spiking or sagging a lot, this can be a cause. You should be able to see your voltages in the bios. If the voltages are indeed off by any large margin, I would advise keeping the PC turned off unless absolutely necessary to prevent any damage.
  • dead_skin_maskdead_skin_mask tn.
    edited April 2005
    what would you consider a large margin for voltage fluxuation? and I dont know of any other issues to weed out, i have tried what seems like everything fresh xp install,drivers,etc. what other problems could possibly be the culprate for my graphics corruption aside from the power issue, ant other diagnostics anyone could suggest? ........thanks for the input by the way.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2005
    dead_skin_mask wrote:
    what would you consider a large margin for voltage fluxuation?...
    From Upgrading & Repairing PCs (Eighth Edition):
  • dead_skin_maskdead_skin_mask tn.
    edited April 2005
    ok, according to asus probe here are my voltages:

    +12v=12.096~12.16
    +5v=4.972~4.99
    +3.3v=3.296~3.312
    vcore=1.422~1.406

    this is after watching for about 5 minutes,do i need to watch longer,under load,and how do i check it under full load?
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited April 2005
    You can try a program called prime95 to load your CPU. It's quite intensive. Those idle voltages look good btw, nothing to worry about there. That is not to say that your PSU is not up to the job however, when running games, your CPU and GPU are running very heavily, and chew up quite a bit of power. Give the Antec a try, certainly a worthwhile upgrade whether it fixes the issue or not.

    You can find prime 95 here.

    There is still the possibility that you have another bad radeon. Do you have another PC or a friend's machine you can try the card out in?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2005
    There's more to a power supply than just voltage, otherwise you could run the whole computer off a pair of 6V batteries.

    Amperage (current draw) is equally (if not more) important than voltage. Your PSU could be supplying the right voltage, but if the amp draw is more than it can handle you are sunk.

    Shut the computer down, open the case, then look on the PSU for a label listing the amperage of each rail.
  • dead_skin_maskdead_skin_mask tn.
    edited April 2005
    yes i have my old hp machine i gave my wife, i will try to put it in there if the psu doesnt do the trick. and i tried that on the first card i RMA'd and it did it on that machine too. im going to be pissed if it is my card because i had a nvidia 5600 before and had no troubles but was lacking in horsepower, then i heard all these good things about the 9800 pro and decided to 'upgrade' (i thought). and have been having nothing but troubles with the friggin thing. last time i called ati tech support they said they could pre-ship me a replacement for a wopping $400 deposit.....ppffff i paid $250 for the damn thing why is the deposit for $150 more than the damn price i paid for it.....needless to say i am dissapointed with ATI right now. thanks for the advice
  • dead_skin_maskdead_skin_mask tn.
    edited April 2005
    how much amperage for each rail should i have?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2005
    For a 400W PSU these numbers would be fairly decent:

    5V+ = ~40A
    12V+ = ~18A
    3.3V+ - ~20A
  • dead_skin_maskdead_skin_mask tn.
    edited April 2005
    well my +5v and my +3.3v are somewhat close but looks like my 12v rail is lacking

    +12v=18.0A
    +5v=36.0A
    +3.3v=22.0A

    is this bad or does that sound like that could be my problem? or is this decent?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2005
    My bad. I plugged in the wrong number for the 12V+ rail. I edited my other post to be more accurate.

    Your numbers don't look too bad, but one thing to keep in mind is that some manufacturers are notorious for being wildly optimistic about what their PSU's can actually produce.

    More on that can be found here.

    What is the brand of your PSU? The reason you'll see so many members stressing the importance of getting a good name brand is explained by the link above. The brands that get recommended are the ones who are known for delivering what they promise.

    Do you have a friend with a spare PSU who would let you borrow it to test things out?

    Finally, dumb question time, but you did plug in a power lead to the card, right? The error message you're getting is what makes me ask. It can be an easy thing to overlook, even for an old pro.
  • dead_skin_maskdead_skin_mask tn.
    edited April 2005
    yes i hooked my lead on the card to the hard drive power and also bypassed it altogether by hoking straight into a spare connector on my psu. i have a antec true550 coming i just snagged off of newegg. wont hurt to upgrade that thing anyway, right. even though it is a little pricey.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2005
    Hopefully that will solve your immediate problem. Even if it doesn't, in the long run you'll avoid a lot of grief by having a decent PSU.

    Be sure and let us know. :)
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