I've just bought a GTX 260 - I installed it then started playing L4D and TF2. A minute or so into the game (as soon as the real action starts essentially), the machine just reboots. It *could* be problem with the new card, but it could also be a PSU issue. I currently have a QTechnology (quiet) 560W PSU and it's served me well. Prior to the GTX 260 I had the following inside my PC: Q6600 G0 (mild o/c to 2.7GHz) P5B Deluxo mobo 8800GTS 512 2 x DVDRW 5 x SATA HDD Half a dozen USB devices Nuctua NF-P12 CPU fan + 2 x 120mm case fan According to some, I only need < 400W PSU; according to others I need 600W+. The GTX 260 needs 2 x PCIe connectors and is reputed to consume upto 200W at load, I can imagine that it could tip my system over the edge. Any thoughts?
I had exactly the same problem. Any sort of GPU activity would cause the PC to reboot. Mine got worse however and I couldn't even get the PC to boot next day (all lights were on but no power to the CPU/GPU) 95% sure its going to be a PSU issue, may be enough watts but it could be a lower quality PSU. Try a 600/700w (slight overkill) corsair or something similar.
Take off the overclock on your CPU!!!! That might work Or just get a new PSU If your HDD are constantly running then it could drain your PSU.
I'm fairly sure of the quality of the QTechnology PSU, but it could be starting to wobble (its about 2.5yrs old). It's hard to gauge how much juice this rig needs and PSU wattage is only an indication. It could be that I'm struggling for current perhaps, or perhaps I'm falling short on one particular rail.... I was looking at a modular replacement. Apart from sufficient power, it needs to be quiet and I reckon my budget is £120. I considered a Corsair HX620W - it's quiet, high quality and modular, but I'm not sure if it will be a big enough jump up from my 560W PSU. The HX1000W is well out of my price range. There is the TX range of course, but they aren't modular. So I'm currently toying with the idea of the Be Quiet Dark Power 750W. @£126 it's just about in my range and appears to tick all the boxes. I just hope that it solves a problem and that there isn't any other problem with my bargain-tastic £170 GTX260!
Because of a few changes, I'm actually only running with 3 HDDs and with 1 optical drive so I'm actually running lower than I usually do. However, I ran out of time to test w/o the overclock, but it's first thing on the list tonight. Hopefully I might be able to limp along until I get a replacement PSU.
Having read a few reviews, I've settled on the Be Quiet pro 750W. Cost £126 in the end which is higher than most reviews reckon... it seems like many components are up in price compared to 4-6mths ago - one assumes because of the current financial climate...
It's not so much the wattage, but the amps of the various rails. Have a look at how the power is distributed to the rails. If there's more than one 12V rail, then perhaps the one you're using for the graphics card is underpowered. It could also be that the combined power draw of the 12V rail is too high. Most hardware these days is run off the 12V rail, whereas a couple of years ago the 5V rail was more/equally important. EDIT: And of course I reply *after* you've bought a new PSU (which btw looks a bit oversized )
OCZ StealXtreme seruies is recommended (i have one) they're basically same as Zalman ones, same manufacturer at least, very quiet, and nice high power on each rail. got mine for £55 too, for a decent 600W thats not too bad. There are the GameXtreme versions, but they are the SAME PSU's but modular and thus more expensive (add £15-20)
Did you ever look at the amperage on your old psu? Just interested as I'm running my main rig on a 400W enermax liberty, you do have significantly more hd's, a quad core and an extra optical drive over me though.
The *are* shiny but it's the positive reviews that's attracting me. shiny is just a bonus. Oversized? I'm not sure. The CPU & GFX will use 300W+ at full tilt. Add in 5 HDDs, 2 ODDs etc and it soon adds up. Assuming that my PSU truly does deliver 560W, at 85% efficiency (optimistic) that means I have 476W to realistically play with. This may very well be the case. If I'm approaching the limits of my old PSU, even though I might technically be using a little less power, I could be drawing too much off one of the rails. I think the Be Quiet PSU not only have more power but also better/more reliable distribution across the rails. I hope... otherwise I've bought and admittedly cool but necessary PSU and there is something wrong with the Gfx! I'm afraid my knowledge of such issues is theoretical at best. I don't have any means (or knowledge) to measure how much current I'm drawing. And yes I do have a bit more in my box. I've got a P180 - which is hardly a small box, and it's jam-packed with bits and bobs that require power. If I'm being honest, I'm surprised that I have survived so long - I spec'd the machine for half as much kit.
The efficiency number tells you how much power is lost during the transformation of mains electricity to lower voltages your computer needs. And the 560W number tells how much it can put out of those low voltages your computer uses. So basically you can calculate the power draw from the wall socket using the efficiency and power numbers, 560W/0,85=660W. So it should draw ~660W of power from the wall at 100% load. On the other hand, you should have 560W of power to play with.
Well the PSU arrive Saturday.... I obviously had to gut half of the innards of the case to fit it. The PSU is slightly longer so the fan in the bottom section of my P180 had to come out, and the GTX260 is very long as well so the upper, 2-disk HDD compartment really had to come out also. It didn't seem like the best of starts, BUT... the lower fan probably wasn't that necessary; drive temps haven't really increased much - since the mass of cables has been reduced by a modular PSU, the airflow has been improved. And now I don't need to route the drive power cables into the upper chamber and back down into the lower chamber - less aggro messing with HDDs and less clutter in the upper section. Also, since I can survive with just 4 HDDs in the lower chamber, the loss of the upper HDD tray means more space and even less clutter. With 4 possible PCIe cables, I now have the luxury of using two separate rails for the 2 PCIe cables required for the 260, but I suspect using the one rail would have been fine. But either way, the GTX 260 is working great. It's hardly noisy, but it's definitely the noisiest component (excepting the DVD drives going at full tilt). What surprised me most was the drop in temps; all the improved airflow knocked 5C-10C off the CPU temp and 5C off the MB temp! With this in mind, I re-enabled the front in-take fan and tried O/cing beyond the modest 12% that I was already running at. Without much tweaking, my Q6600 is now running at 3GHz without breaking a sweat; With Orthos running across 4 cores, my CPU and MB temps are still comfortably below 50C. I suspect I'll get a decent sum back for my 8800GTS, but less for my PSU, so I reckon I've spent £70-£100 more than I intended, neverthless it's certainly been worth it. Thanks to you all for your input.
glad you got it all sorted. I had the same problem with the upper drive rack and a gtx260. On the lower chamber fan front, you could use a thinner 120mm fan. I run the power cables for my hd's round the side of the divider in the lower chamber, there's a small slot at the bottom of it where you can just pass a standard thickness psu cable through. There's just enough room for 3 cables when in place sitting in the slot next to the divider. It should get you really cool drive temps without having to resort for cabling through the upper chamber.
I had this same issue, but it was ram related. However I changed out the bad chip + fan at the same time, I think temperatures can cause these ram failures to manifest. Thanks for the info on the PSU
Did you ever get around to checking how your old PSU was rated for the different rails? I'm glad you solved your issues, though.
Temps are OK at the moment but I'll keep an eye on them. Bah, the RAM was MEMTESTed for ages; it's fine. It didn't actually say on the case, but according to the website, there are 2 rails at 18A... which in theory is enough for the card (36A I think) but obviously not everything else.
