[RESOLVED] Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!!

IDriveTuscani · 04-21-2007, 09:31 AM

Ok guys, Im brand new to the site, as you can tell with only one post. Im a car guy and know a lot about that, but not so much when building a new computer. I bought all the components (you can see in signiture) and recieved about three weeks ago from Newegg.com to make a sick-a$$ gaming PC. However, my buddy that helped me is even stumped himself with the problem. After about a week with it put together it randomly shut off on me. However, never when I played games for like two hours straight nothing happed, but when it just sat there idle or when I was on the internet it would happen. It started to happen more frequently after a few days. With my frind busy, my father thought maybe some of the wires were touching the board, and sure enough it did after we opended up the case (my friend did a sloppy job). That solved the problem... for three days. I was struck with the issue again. I went to the power supply and set the fan on A for auto rather than the H for High or L for Low it was set on and that fixed the problem for another several days, but Im still plagued. I did some researand they say that I may be drawing too much power from the power supply or I have a faulty motherboard. It makes this clicking sound before it shuts off and the sound is from the power supply. Any ideas? I really need some help for a newbie. Thanks in advance.

**pharoah** · 04-21-2007, 12:24 PM

welcome to tsf.first off that 450w power supply isnt enough to run that system.take a look at the power supply selection link in my sig.

**koala** · 04-21-2007, 12:29 PM

Post back with the details from the PSU label (make/model, total watts, +3.3V, +5V, +12V). Enter your full system specs into this power calculator and add 30% to the total to allow for PSU inefficiency.

IDriveTuscani · 04-22-2007, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koala

Post back with the details from the PSU label (make/model, total watts, +3.3V, +5V, +12V). Enter your full system specs into this power calculator and add 30% to the total to allow for PSU inefficiency.

Thanks for the response:

COOLMAX-CXI -Series 450W
+3.3v =30a
+5v=45A
+12V1=17A
+12V2=16A
-12V=1A
+5VSB=2.5A
+3.3v & +5V MAX =250W
-12V1 & +12V2 MAX =360W

**koala** · 04-22-2007, 08:31 AM

Power calculator results?

IDriveTuscani · 04-22-2007, 01:18 PM

This what it said. Not sure what to have done with the CPU Utilization though. At first I had it at 85% with gave me a recommended 342 watts. Any conclusions with the following test?

System Type: Single Processor
Motherboard: High End - Desktop
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ EE 2600 MHz AM2 Windsor
CPU Utilization (TDP): 95% TDP

RAM: 2 Sticks DDR2 SDRAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB
Video Type: Single Card

SATA HDD: 1 HDD

DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive: 2 Drives
Floppy Drive: 1 Drive

PCI Network Interface Card: Yes
Sound Blaster - All Models: Yes

USB: 2 Devices
Fan Controller: Yes

Fans
Regular: 2 Fans 80mm;

Keyboard and mouse: Yes

System Load: 100 %

Recommended Wattage: 349 Watts

**koala** · 04-22-2007, 01:58 PM

Your dual +12V rails (17A, 16A) look too low for an 8800 card. This, along with the PSU being only 450W, means that when you push the computer to its limits with 3D games it doesn't have the power to cope.

Going by the calculator's results, the total Watts required by your system is 349. Add 30% to that total and you get just over 450W. Upgrading to a good quality 550W PSU will give more power to the 8800 card and prevent the crashes.

Have you installed the chipset drivers and AMD software from the motherboard CD?

IDriveTuscani · 04-22-2007, 03:04 PM

Yea, I updated all the drivers. But what brand or particular PSU do you recommend? I might plan to SLI and get one that can support two 8800 GTSs for the future. What is the best bang for the buck? With a really powerful SLI PSU, will I be dramactically using more electicity? Or will the system only use what is needed?

**koala** · 04-22-2007, 05:48 PM

Either of these 2 PSU will be fine for dual 8800s and your current system specs
Thermaltake Toughpower 850W, $260
Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W, $330
(thanks to TheMatt for these suggestions)

If you want to stay with the single 8800, you can go for something lower like a 550-650W.

IDriveTuscani · 04-25-2007, 05:21 PM

Thanks for the help. I ordered the suggested Antec Toughpower 550W and it should arrive tommorow or the day after. Ill post up what happens. I decided that SLI with a 8800 GTS would be a long time from now to justify me spending $250 on PSU.

IDriveTuscani · 05-14-2007, 04:11 PM

Koala, I intalled power supply 10 days ago and system has been working just fine , no more crashes thank you it worked.

**koala** · 05-14-2007, 05:30 PM

Thanks for the update. Glad you got it working.

You've made a good choice for your new PSU. See this review of the Antec TruePower 550W.

04-21-2007, 09:31 AM	#1 (permalink)
IDriveTuscani Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 9 OS: WinXP	[RESOLVED] Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! Ok guys, Im brand new to the site, as you can tell with only one post. Im a car guy and know a lot about that, but not so much when building a new computer. I bought all the components (you can see in signiture) and recieved about three weeks ago from Newegg.com to make a sick-a$$ gaming PC. However, my buddy that helped me is even stumped himself with the problem. After about a week with it put together it randomly shut off on me. However, never when I played games for like two hours straight nothing happed, but when it just sat there idle or when I was on the internet it would happen. It started to happen more frequently after a few days. With my frind busy, my father thought maybe some of the wires were touching the board, and sure enough it did after we opended up the case (my friend did a sloppy job). That solved the problem... for three days. I was struck with the issue again. I went to the power supply and set the fan on A for auto rather than the H for High or L for Low it was set on and that fixed the problem for another several days, but Im still plagued. I did some researand they say that I may be drawing too much power from the power supply or I have a faulty motherboard. It makes this clicking sound before it shuts off and the sound is from the power supply. Any ideas? I really need some help for a newbie. Thanks in advance. __________________ AMD X2 5200@2.6 gtz, EVGA 8800 GTS 640MB Superclocked,ASUS M2N-Plus SLI Vista Edition , 2GB of Cosair DDR2 XMS2 RAM, Maxtor SATA II 200GB (Vista Ultamite), 80GB Seagte SATA II (XP Home SP2), 120mm Antec 550W , Creative Labs Xtreme Music Sound Card, 22" ViewSonic DiamanDuo LCD, Creative Labs 5.1

04-21-2007, 12:24 PM	#2 (permalink)
pharoah Super Gaming Mod Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 4,778 OS: vista business edition My System	Re: Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! welcome to tsf.first off that 450w power supply isnt enough to run that system.take a look at the power supply selection link in my sig. __________________ Follow These Steps First Power Supply Selection Posting System Specs Oblivion Tweak Guide Video Drivers& Information TSF folding at home team 85015

04-21-2007, 12:29 PM	#3 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 8,794 OS: XP/UBUNTU My System	Re: Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! Post back with the details from the PSU label (make/model, total watts, +3.3V, +5V, +12V). Enter your full system specs into this power calculator and add 30% to the total to allow for PSU inefficiency. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

04-22-2007, 08:31 AM	#5 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 8,794 OS: XP/UBUNTU My System	Re: Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! Power calculator results? __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

04-22-2007, 01:18 PM	#6 (permalink)
IDriveTuscani Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 9 OS: WinXP	Re: Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! This what it said. Not sure what to have done with the CPU Utilization though. At first I had it at 85% with gave me a recommended 342 watts. Any conclusions with the following test? System Type: Single Processor Motherboard: High End - Desktop CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ EE 2600 MHz AM2 Windsor CPU Utilization (TDP): 95% TDP RAM: 2 Sticks DDR2 SDRAM Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB Video Type: Single Card SATA HDD: 1 HDD DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive: 2 Drives Floppy Drive: 1 Drive PCI Network Interface Card: Yes Sound Blaster - All Models: Yes USB: 2 Devices Fan Controller: Yes Fans Regular: 2 Fans 80mm; Keyboard and mouse: Yes System Load: 100 % Recommended Wattage: 349 Watts __________________ AMD X2 5200@2.6 gtz, EVGA 8800 GTS 640MB Superclocked,ASUS M2N-Plus SLI Vista Edition , 2GB of Cosair DDR2 XMS2 RAM, Maxtor SATA II 200GB (Vista Ultamite), 80GB Seagte SATA II (XP Home SP2), 120mm Antec 550W , Creative Labs Xtreme Music Sound Card, 22" ViewSonic DiamanDuo LCD, Creative Labs 5.1

04-22-2007, 01:58 PM	#7 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 8,794 OS: XP/UBUNTU My System	Re: Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! Your dual +12V rails (17A, 16A) look too low for an 8800 card. This, along with the PSU being only 450W, means that when you push the computer to its limits with 3D games it doesn't have the power to cope. Going by the calculator's results, the total Watts required by your system is 349. Add 30% to that total and you get just over 450W. Upgrading to a good quality 550W PSU will give more power to the 8800 card and prevent the crashes. Have you installed the chipset drivers and AMD software from the motherboard CD? __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

04-22-2007, 03:04 PM	#8 (permalink)
IDriveTuscani Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 9 OS: WinXP	Re: Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! Yea, I updated all the drivers. But what brand or particular PSU do you recommend? I might plan to SLI and get one that can support two 8800 GTSs for the future. What is the best bang for the buck? With a really powerful SLI PSU, will I be dramactically using more electicity? Or will the system only use what is needed? __________________ AMD X2 5200@2.6 gtz, EVGA 8800 GTS 640MB Superclocked,ASUS M2N-Plus SLI Vista Edition , 2GB of Cosair DDR2 XMS2 RAM, Maxtor SATA II 200GB (Vista Ultamite), 80GB Seagte SATA II (XP Home SP2), 120mm Antec 550W , Creative Labs Xtreme Music Sound Card, 22" ViewSonic DiamanDuo LCD, Creative Labs 5.1

04-22-2007, 05:48 PM	#9 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 8,794 OS: XP/UBUNTU My System	Re: Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! Either of these 2 PSU will be fine for dual 8800s and your current system specs Thermaltake Toughpower 850W, $260 Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W, $330 (thanks to TheMatt for these suggestions) If you want to stay with the single 8800, you can go for something lower like a 550-650W. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

04-25-2007, 05:21 PM	#10 (permalink)
IDriveTuscani Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 9 OS: WinXP	Re: Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! Thanks for the help. I ordered the suggested Antec Toughpower 550W and it should arrive tommorow or the day after. Ill post up what happens. I decided that SLI with a 8800 GTS would be a long time from now to justify me spending $250 on PSU. __________________ AMD X2 5200@2.6 gtz, EVGA 8800 GTS 640MB Superclocked,ASUS M2N-Plus SLI Vista Edition , 2GB of Cosair DDR2 XMS2 RAM, Maxtor SATA II 200GB (Vista Ultamite), 80GB Seagte SATA II (XP Home SP2), 120mm Antec 550W , Creative Labs Xtreme Music Sound Card, 22" ViewSonic DiamanDuo LCD, Creative Labs 5.1

05-14-2007, 04:11 PM	#11 (permalink)
IDriveTuscani Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 9 OS: WinXP	Re: Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! Koala, I intalled power supply 10 days ago and system has been working just fine , no more crashes thank you it worked. __________________ AMD X2 5200@2.6 gtz, EVGA 8800 GTS 640MB Superclocked,ASUS M2N-Plus SLI Vista Edition , 2GB of Cosair DDR2 XMS2 RAM, Maxtor SATA II 200GB (Vista Ultamite), 80GB Seagte SATA II (XP Home SP2), 120mm Antec 550W , Creative Labs Xtreme Music Sound Card, 22" ViewSonic DiamanDuo LCD, Creative Labs 5.1

05-14-2007, 05:30 PM	#12 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 8,794 OS: XP/UBUNTU My System	Re: Maybe You Can Help My Everlasting Problem!!! Thanks for the update. Glad you got it working. You've made a good choice for your new PSU. See this review of the Antec TruePower 550W. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here Last edited by koala : 05-14-2007 at 05:39 PM.