Re: Is this PSU compatible with this GPU??
Hello!
This is my first post here so I didn't want to make a new thread before using the search function. This thread seems related to my problem so... here goes:
I7 920 @2666 MHz - no OC, stock cooler
6GB DDR3 triple-channel Kingston Memory 666.7MHz(PC3-10600) - 6 x 1GB
WesternDigital 500GB SATA2
Maxtor 300GB IDE (kind of old)
ASUS P6T Deluxe (Motherboard)
Creative Audigy SE
Win 7 Ultimate x64
Brandless 500W PSU
LG DVD-ROM - old, not really using it any more
These are my specs, along with an Asus EN9800GT 1GB - no problems here.
Yesterday I received my brand-new Sapphire HD6950 2GB. At idle its temps are @60 Celsius and in full load it goes up to 85-90 degrees, with no overclocking or flashing or any changes of the sort at all. All my drivers are up to date. CCC never takes the card's cooler higher than 30-35% fan speed but I can manually get the speed up (really loud though) to 100% and that only drops the temps in high load to @70-80 degrees. I have no extra ventilation besides the CPU's cooler, the video card's cooler and the fan in the PSU itself.
Now for the problem: I haven't done extensive testing but with high-res consuming games, after 5 or so mins of playing ( graphics cranked up, ofc, although only at 1680x1050 ) the game just freezes for up to a minute, half of that time the screen goes black. Sometimes it takes less than 5 min. After that 1 (maybe a few seconds less ) min the game continues like nothing happened... for another few minutes and then it happens again. After 3-4 of these occurrences my LCD stops receiving a signal from the video card and the PC freezes with the HDD light stuck in full "on" mode. I tried this with Crysis 2, AvP, Battlefield Bad Company 2, same result. Video card cooler speed seems not to affect this outcome. The thing is, less resource-intensive games like CS 1.6 or Eve Online seem to run just fine. 11.2 and 11.3 Catalyst drivers produce the same result.
From what I've read around the internet :grin: and a quick use of an online power supply calculator it seems my PSU is nowhere near as powerful as it should be in order to run my system at high load and since I've had to manually reset my PC 5-6 times now I'm starting to fear some kind of permanent damage.
Before I start spending money I don't even have on a new PSU I was wondering if that is indeed my problem and if so, what would you guys recommend I buy. I was kind of leaning towards a Corsair Gaming Series GS600W (if this is indeed my problem). The thing is, I'll only be able to get enough money for a new PSU in about a week or so and not much more than to be barely able to afford it. Should I switch back to my old 9800GT in the meantime?
Sorry for the long post but I felt I needed to clarify my situation and... English is not my first language so please ask if there was something you didn't understand.
Just to summarize my questions: Is my PSU really the problem? If not, what could it be? If it is the PSU, is the one I mentioned good enough or could you pls recommend one in the same price range?
ray:
