Exus

Let me first thank all those who read these threads with intent to help those with problems, however trivial they maybe. You have saved me alot of time, frustration, and money and I am truly grateful. I hope that you maybe able to point me in the right direction with my current problem. I recently installed an ATI Radeon 9800Pro 128 on me KT400 Chipset Board. For some reason or another, the card keeps overheating, but only when I'm playing games that take alot of graphic power. In the middle of games, the computer will shutdown and I get the CMOS signal for video card error (which is two long beeps right?) Anyway, I really have no clue as to how to solve this problem. I have already taken my PC to a computer technician and he confirmed that all voltages were running fine, so it likely isn't a power or motherboard problem. I also installed and extra fan and leave the case open for more air flow. The only thing I can think of is that the games are overclacking the card, and that it might have something to do with the chipset drivers, but I am unsure. What possible reasons could there be and how would I deal with them? Please take into account that I have no knowledge of how to set the clockspeed for the video card or whereh to find the appropriate drivers.

AMD Athlon XP +2500 @ 1.9ghz
512 MB RAM
440 Vlt Power Supply
MSI KT4V Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128Mb

MD_Willington

Whats the true capacity of your power supply? What I mean by that is not whats written on the side like "400W" I mean what are the amperage (A) specs for each voltage on the side of the power supply for:
3.3V = ?A
+5V =?A
+12V =?A
+5VSB =?A

I assume you mean 440 WATTS...but as most of us know watt's don't count for jack...it's the current capacity that counts...

Exus

Sorry I haven't responded in a while, I've been busy with work problems. As for the Amperage as you've requested:

3.3V = 20A
+5V =20A
+12V =10A
+5VSB =2.0A

It has occurred to me that this may actually be a cpu related problem, not a video card. Even though two long beeps means a V card error, I check my CPU temp and it was around 60C! Now I know I am not overclocking my AMD Athlon XP +2500 at only 1.5Ghz, so what could be the problem?

Exus

I think I was wrong about those numbers. I have SpeedFan on my computer and according to it the numbers are actually around:

VCORE = 1.66V
3.3V = 3.25V
+5V = 4.87V
+12V = 12.40V
-12V = -12.28V
-5V = -5.20V
+5VSB =5.54V
VBAT = 3.42V

Ofcourse I've no idea what any of that means, but if its what you wanted then there it is.

Sarkast

Unfortunalety sometimes stabil looking voltages dont mean its not a PSU issue.
10 Amps is hardly enough for your systems specs - and i'd say you need at least 15 to run it stabil.
If you can borrow a stronger PSU from a friend or buy one from a company with decent return policy - incase its not your problem you can bring it back.
(but it more than likely is the problem).

If you suspect the CPU is overheating then take the side panel off - and have a big house or desk fan blow in the case - and see how much that lowers your CPU temp. If it brings it down considerably and the crashes still happen then i'd defenitely check out the PSU.

Exus

Are you sure about it probably being the PSU b/c I hope your wrong. I just bought a new 440V PSU for $40. And if the amp is going off the wire now, then I've probably got a more serious problem. Oh, I forgot to mention that the PSU I had before it blew out after I got my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. And I got that new card b/c my old one was burning out, or at least I think it was because I was getting that two long beep signal.

Sarkast

Well i cant be 100% sure - i am not sitting on your side of the internet - having the machine in front of me.
The information provided points strongly into that direction though.

Like i said - give your CPU some extra "air" - try to cool it down more to see if it might be the problem or not.

40$ is also a lot of money for a generic PSU. I dont know if 440 is the advertised wattage - but any quality PSU with 400W+ output has at least 18 Amps on the 12V rail (where it counts). 40$ would buy you the one i am using - a TT 420W.

Of course you should wait to hear at least one more opinion from one of our other techs before you do anything.

Exus

Sorry about before, i mispoke. It was a 480W PSU and it was for about $30, not $40

You said I probably require a more powerful one and that I should borrow a friends, which I could possibly do. And if it is the powersupply as you believe, then what specs should I look for in another one? Would you recommend the one you have? I think I can check my outputs with a multimeter a friend of mine has to check for sure?

You're probably right that it has to do with the PSU. As I said, my last one blew out after I installed the 9800 Pro. Yet what other problems could cause overheating in the vid card and CPU, neither of which are being overclocked? Perhaps a short in the mortherboard? If so, how would I check such?

Sarkast

I cant even believe they would sell a PSU as 480W model with such low ampere outputs on each rail.

A good 480W would have at least 30-40Amps on 3.3 and 5V plus 20+ on the 12V.

And that is basically what you are looking for - strong output on each rail - as it is obvious the wattage is in most cases misleading and inaccurate.

Here is an example of a very nice PSU - maybe a little "overkill" for your system but it would give you plenty of headroom for future upgrades:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103937

It has 2 seperate 12V rails - one can power your CPU the other the video card and everything else that draws power from the +12V rail.

Now about the one i am using. TT is not as recognised as Antec or Enermax when it comes to quality power supplies - nothing beats them. I am however exceptionally pleased with it - and it is made of very good quality components and has rock solid voltages - 3.34, 5.04 and 11.92V idle and load - they never fluctuate.
But like i said - it would somewhat limit your ability to upgrade to an even more power hungry video card (or other components) in the future - as it more than likely wouldnt be powerful enough to run a 3.8Ghz P4 and a 6800 series video card - which the Antec could handle without a problem.

Money spent on a quality PSU is money well spent.

Now to the possibility of something overheating. As the word says - it has to do with heat. Usually overheating occours because heat isnt removed efficiently or fast enough. Reasons for that could be - inadequate heatsink, fan isnt powerful enough or dying (not spinning fast enough anymore), heat transfer paste between heatsink and CPU is of low quality (often the case with heatsinks that come with the CPUs) or the heat isnt removed efficiently enough from your computer case - heating up the air in it so much that the components overheat.