MattW

New 8800GTS seems to have tipped the PSU over the top, fuse in wall plug blown and no action from the mobo. ****, ah well!

D16GER

What PSU were you using? Make and wattage?

MattW

Turbolink 420W, just over the minimum recommended

mart360

Chances are youve just cremulated the psu

a new 600W one should be no more than £30

Mart

MattW

Swapped out Mart and no posting going on.

Could be mobo or CPU, although the CPU looks fine, but if I get a new mobo may as well get a new CPU.

D16GER

I know you say it's over the recommended, but what are the specs like? Especially 12v amps? It needs to be 28a.

Also, after you swap out, be sure to try a barebones setup (GFX, CPU, 1 Stick RAM, 1 HDD, 1 Optical) and see what happens.

EDIT: A quick Google and it's easy to see that the Turbolink PSU you were using is an awful power supply. It's a wonder your system lasted as long as it did TBH. I just hope it hasn't taken anything else out with it.

Take a look at this, says it all really...AnandTech: 2003 Power Supply Roundup Part II: Better Faster Cheaper

Apparently the actual combined wattage of that Turbolink PSU is 185W!!

Your new 8800GTS uses almost that at load on it's own!!! It cannot be stressed how important a quality PSU is. Unfortunately I think you may have found out the hard way. If you are replacing it, do yourself a favour and spend around £60-90. Don't be fooled by mere wattage, amps are way more important. For example my Tagan 480W PSU is more powerful than a lot of cheap 600W units.

Look for Tagan, OCZ, PC Power & Cooling, Fortron etc for a new unit.

Daz34

A quick google tells you all you need to know.

MattW

Had that PSU absolutely ages, something gave off a nasty smell when it went bang

Ordered an OCZ StealthXStream 600W seems to have decent reviews. Added a new SLi Mobo, went with a Gigabyte mobo M57SLI-S4, matched pair of 1gb Corsair DDr2 Ram and a 6000+ AM2 CPU

With any luck the on board Audio will replace my Creative card, I won't need an Ethernet or Firewire card as the mobo carries both. Should be able to strip the system back a bit.

Anyone want a spare Turbolink PSU

D16GER

Why oh why didn't you go for Intel Dual, or in fact Quad core? It is currently wiping the floor with the AMD systems? Was cost a factor? Can you change the order?

Oh and you know where you can put that PSU!

MattW

£285 of unexpected cost is why I went with the 6000, TBH I considered the 5200 at £15 less but that was splitting hairs.

Also, I've only ever built AMD stuff so I'm more comfortable with what matches what in that regard.

mart360

AMD do dual core too my mobo will take both, so i have my next upgrade ready when the prices drop

Mart

hux309

True but intel currently trounces amd.

I used to love amd, but now using a q6600 pro and loving it.

gazza-uk

this is more than cabable for your graphics card.

D16GER

That is total utter nonsense! You clearly do not have any clue what you are talking about!

You are obviously not very clued up on PSU's and fall into the whole 'Wattage' trap, where just because it has enough watts means its a good PSU. Fact is wattage doesn't mean jack if it can't sustain enough power. Amps are more important, especially how many amps the 12v rail has.

The Turbolink PSU has 18a on the 12v rail. Now that just is not up to the job at all. The recommended amount for an 8800 based system is 28!!!

I have seen so many people fall into that trap and end up with an unstable system because they bought a PSU costing £15 to run a system costing £100's .

That PSU is in NO WAY capable of running that GFX card in ANY system. The max voltage that thing is capable of outputting is 185w. The damn 8800 can use 145 on it's own!!! No way 185 total is gonna cut it.

gazza-uk

can you point out where I made a point about wattage and price ?????


The original PSU will run his graphics cards, you can spend 100+ on a PSU and it could still go bang at any time.

you have been reading far too many review sites

granted it a **** psu, thats worth about 50p but it will still work.

yes I do reliase that it prob fluctuates to death, but that was not my point...

RTFT

PeteBrant

It always amazes me when people will spend hundreds if not thousands of pounds on a PC, only to scrimp and save and spend £15 on a PSU. It is one of the most important components in the system, and therefore deserves as much considerations as any other part. Personally I wouldn't spend anything less that £50-£60 on a PSU, probably more.

MJW

Re-set the CMOS using the jumper cap on the mobo and try again. Mate of mine got a 8800GTX and I think it crashed the board by dragging too much power and his machine wouldnt POST. I put the jumper cap on the reset CMOS pins, pulled out the power connectors from the board, left it for 5 mins connected it back up and it posted ok.
[edit] also as mentioned above invest in a decent consistent power supply like a Tagan, these new VGA cards suck a hell of a lot of power from the system

D16GER

Did you read my post??? How on earth will a 420W PSU that only outputs 18a on the 12v rail run a system that requires anything up to 28a??? It's got damn all to do with review sites. Running a PSU like that or advising people that it's okay to do so is just madness.

MattW

D16Ger, remember 18A on each of the two rails. Even decent OCZ PSU's have just 18amps, granted they have 4 rails though.

MJW - Tried that, no worky

gazza-uk

just just don't get it do you....

The psu will run his PC thats the end of the argument.

I never at any point said that I would recommend or advise him to use it... I am aware that the PSU is a pile of **** but at the end of the day - it will work.

put you dummie back it.

D16GER

I didn't think that 420W of yours had 2 12v rails though??

D16GER

Oh and clearly that PSU wouldn't run his PC, if it had've then he wouldn't be buying new kit. End of.

gazza-uk

Matt,

does you psu run ?

if so take your pc to minimum configuration (remove mem / vid card etc)

do you get any post beeps?

gazza-uk

Do you know why his pc has broke?

are you sure the PSU has gone?

Could the burniong smell be from the video card / mobo ???

D16GER

I would be in no doubt that the PSU has gone, and probably taken at least the mobo with it. Like I said, it just wouldn't cut it with the 8800. Once the 8800 gets to full tilt, that PSU would be under a hell of a strain, which it seems that it couldn't cope with.

hux309

Digger is well within his rights to have a go.

As he said the amperage on the rails as well as the stability are vital for a high end pc, you can't slap hundreds of pounds into a pc and run it off a £15 psu, it'll run sure for a few weeks then bang your pc is either on fire or you've nicely killed half the components.

And before you ask i have a 1000w enermax galaxy, ott yes but it has the same efficiency from a 20% load onwards so the electricity bill would be no different to a lesser psu.

Antec,tagan,seasonic and enermax are all top psu brands

MattW

Yes it has two rails.

The mobo is definitely fried, the CPU looks fine though. All I get is a squeek when it tries to post, with a barebone.

mart360

Only 1000w psu... tsk, i have a sellafield thermo nuclear PSu, in my pc

1,000000000 billion gigawats of amperage and watts

can fry any card i want

Why the ding dong about whats right and wrong, MY mobo eats bits..

to date 2 psu,s 3 vid cards and many strips of dram

and it wiped out some regrecs on the board too along with the usb ports at the front


Mart

jfrf

well my £12 ebuyer 500watt power supply has been going strong for over 2 years now.
Only has 17amp on the 12v rail.
But seems to run my 8800 gts fine. Had this card for about 8 months now and had a 7800gtx before that

gazza-uk

some people get very emotional about little things..