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[duggs]

NOT sure if there are any PC orientated members here but i have a question, seeking opinions before I go out and waste MORE money.

I've just got the GTX 480 Nvidia card and am getting several BSOD's or lockups whilst playing games.

The card requires both a 6 and 8 pin PCI-E power connector BUT my current PSU only has 2 x 6's RUNNING OFF THE SAME CABLE.

So I've used an adapter to change one of the 6 pin's to an 8 pin, BUT as I say, I get  BSOD's or lockups whilst playing games only.

IS that fact that I've got effectively 14 wires running from the initial 6 wires coming from the PSU, the route of the problem.

[Kevin Wood]

More likely to be down to the power supply not being up to the job, or a driver issue than using adaptors to power it, but the lack of suitable connectors might be a clue that the power supply is not big enough.

What is the output of the power supply rated at?

Is it a reasonably modern one? Newer PCs draw most of their power from the 12v rail whereas on older power supplies this was split more evenly. IF it has PCI-E power at all I guess it is reasonably up to date, though.

Finally, is the graphics card the only thing that you changed? Does it still run stable with the old one? All cards and memory modules firmly inserted?

Kevin

[duggs]

It's this one basically Kevin.

http://www.internetct.co.uk/winpowerplus850wpsupowersupplyunitdual80mmfan-p-430.html

It is said that the GTX480 can draw upto 300watts on it's own, possibly more under certain loads.

The previous card, a GTX260 used 2 x 6 pin and she seemed stable but not the GTX480, although in fairness it's a way more powerfull card. For a short while I had a GTX470 in her, using 2 x 6 pin also and she seemed ok but as soon as I went up to the 480 with 14 pins now working from the 6 wires on the same cable, few games run without a crash of one form or the other.

I read a review AFTER getting the power supply and it said that as it's cheap, under load the 850w supply acts more like a 600.

[Martian]

850W for £40 eh, I doubt it very much.
As for the blue screen, I'd go with getting the latest drivers from the nVidia website and selecting the option for a clean install (after removing the existing drivers).

nVidia cards will work with an underated PSU, but you lose performance as the card drops back on itself because it can't get the power it needs.
The nVidia control panel will also notify you if there is a power issue, unless for some strange reason that feature has been removed from the drivers since v266.58

[Plomien]

I am running the 460GTX on an 850watt PSU with no issues, I would be inclined to test it in a friends PC and ensure the latest drivers are on the PC.

I am thinking the card maybe faulty all it takes is a duff memory chip

btw Martian you can pick up 850W PSUs for £40
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191844

[Martian]

btw Martian you can pick up 850W PSUs for £40
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191844

I know you can Plomien, however the OP has already ascertained their £40 PSU barely makes 75% of what is claimed.
The same applies to the PSU you have linked to, I'll be amazed if it makes anywhere near what it claims when under load without the voltage rails fluctuating up & down like a Kings Cross prostitutes draws.

[TheBoy]

Were full ESP precautions taken when fitting the card? This is the no1 cause of these sorts of issues, once the drivers have been fulled out, when fitted to high quality PCs with high quality components.

Next up is inadequate PSU, if cheapo PSU, as others have stated.  As Martian rightly points out, any high power PSU will cost an awful lot more than £40

Lastly, if homebuilt, does the case meet the thermal requirements. Sadly, cheapo cases don't state this, but easily tested with side off, and a bloody great 18" desk fan at full bore pointed right at it from close range

[Plomien]

btw Martian you can pick up 850W PSUs for £40
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191844

I know you can Plomien, however the OP has already ascertained their £40 PSU barely makes 75% of what is claimed.
The same applies to the PSU you have linked to, I'll be amazed if it makes anywhere near what it claims when under load without the voltage rails fluctuating up & down like a Kings Cross prostitutes draws.

indeed I missed that part

[Shimmy]

Don't look at the wattage of the psu, these days most are over 500W which should be enough anyway.

You need to buy PSUs from proven manufacturers and they cost more than £40, closer to £100 at least.  My PSU has a lower power rating at 500W but is stable and powers my E8600@4Ghz GTX460OC 4GB ram and 3 HDDs.

[cem_devecioglu]

I'm afraid you will have a tedious trial and error period :-/

bsods can be caused by many things, faulty rams, incompatable cards, incorrect timing on mobo, voltage drop (psu) , faulty device drivers, IRQ conflicts..

check those links, try testing the hardware first

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=179294

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/296014-official-nvidia-480-gtx-blue-screen-of-death-fix/

and minimize all cards by physically removing them. if on board disable all. re install operating system and try games.. also without any extra cards try changing timings for mobo and GPU..

and check your event viewer frequently..

[TheBoy]

PSU quality is more important than 'mine is bigger than yours' type power outputs.

Its fairly easy to work out PSU size, for a cheap PSU, I'd never run at more than 50%, a quality one can be run much higher.  Modern components are much lower power than the awful days of Athlons and P4s.

Even blade chassis' have fairly modest PSUs, considering they are powering a number of powerful servers (admittedly, rarely with high perfromance GPUs)

[duggs]

An update !  Changed the PSU to the G7 780w and just ran Crysis 2 without any crashes whatsoever for about an hour. Touch wood I may have sussed it.

Thank you for all your replies to date.