Rocky Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Got a frustrating issue here. After only about 30 minutes of GRAW I am now getting a pop up message interupting the game, from Nivida Sentinal, saying that the graphics card (a 7800GS), is getting insufficient power and Nvidia is lowering the settings to prevent damage. After that, games run at about 3 FPS. I can't for the life of me find the settings that have been lowered either which is strange. So anyway, I used asus probe to watch the voltage, and when I last got the message, the 3.3v dropped out of tolernace to 3.0v, it usually sites at 3.168. I have done a tonne of googling, found lots of people with the same issue, on a variety of cards and PSUs, but no definitive answer, very frustrating. I phoned Hiper and they agreed I could RMA it, but like I said to the guy on the phone, this isn't a HD, returning a PSU is a heap of work, and downtime too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa6 Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 I usually NEVER assume ANYTHING but here it goes rocky. if your tolerance has dropped I'd say you should get a new PSU. one that has way more then anough juice to run your card. most suggest 550watt or higher mate. that should fix the issue. I hate to suggest to anyone to spend quid but my first impression is always to look at the PSU first when it comes to electricity issues. Cheers! Papa6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 I should have said, this is a good PSU, 580Watts modular Type R Hiper PSU. I've a photo install in the forums here somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa6 Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 maybe it's a bad videocard? that would be my next guess. GOOD PSU + not enough power to card = bad Vidoecard . do you have a volt tester mate? maybe you can test the power coming out of the cable that goes to your videocard. maybe everything else gets juice correctly and that cable doesn't? just trying to elp ya mate.. Cheers! Papa6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 Yeh, I can get a volt meter, and I found a website detailing exactly how to test PSU volatges, so I might have to do that, even though the software clearly shows the voltage dropping a bit low. It could be the card though, like you said. I'll remove the card, give it a clean, and clean the power connectors too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa6 Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 I truly hope it's something simple and that nothing is wrong. maybe just a piece of dust..let's hope! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROCO*AFZ* Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 is it a PCIE power connector from the powersupply or a molex (like used on your cdrom) If it's a molex try one from a different strand as it maybe on a rail that is sharing with your hard drive or cpu and such within the power supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 is it a PCIE power connector from the powersupply or a molex (like used on your cdrom) If it's a molex try one from a different strand as it maybe on a rail that is sharing with your hard drive or cpu and such within the power supply. Molex, I'll check out the routing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROCO*AFZ* Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 is it a PCIE power connector from the powersupply or a molex (like used on your cdrom) If it's a molex try one from a different strand as it maybe on a rail that is sharing with your hard drive or cpu and such within the power supply. Molex, I'll check out the routing. the bad thing is internally the PSU maybe sharing that molex's strand with the CPU. even if nothing is hooked to it, try moving it to another strand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CR6 Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 I've had a friend with bad luck with his modular PSU (Antec Neopower) - after that I've seen on around forums there seem to be more probs with modular PSUs than ones with fixed connections. Check if anything went loose? I liked the idea of customizing which cables you use, and was set to buy a modular PSU for my next system, but I'm thinking twice about a modular PSU in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 Asus monitor has led me to believe my problem is with the 3.3v, which is continually dropping outwith it's 5% tolerance, so I guess I'll need to send it back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiles4 Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 I had the same problem with an Nvidia 6600GT in a rig with a Thermaltake 420W PSU. The problem somehow borked my OS install as after it occurred, I would get spontaneous reboots soon after booting up even if was using other video cards with tiny power reqts. (Radeon 7000, GF3 Ti 250). I ended up having to lay down the original ghost image I made and then put in a Radeon 9550. After that, no problems at all. It's not a gaming rig. What's interesting is that in my gaming rig where I have a 550W Rosewill PSU, I have an X1950XT (overclocked to 682/954) which requires 30A on the 12v rail and I have no problems at all! Is it possible that Nvidia hits harder on the 3V rail than ATI??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted May 4, 2007 Author Share Posted May 4, 2007 I dunno mate, but I got hit with a new twist today. So far the only game this happens with, for me, is GRAW/GRAW2, but yesterday Relic released a new patch for CoH. Since the patch installed I (and many other gamers) are reporting a huge hit on FPS for some reason. For me, this also means that CoH is now also crashing to desktop due to insufficient power to the PSU. I really need to start swapping out some hardware to track the issue down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROCO*AFZ* Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 List your system specs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted June 13, 2007 Author Share Posted June 13, 2007 ISSUE RESOLVED!!! A quick recap - During intense processor intensive gaming my PC would crash to desktop with an error message from Nvidia Sentinal saying that there was "insufficient power to graphics card" and that settings had been lowered to prevent damage. If I tried gaming after that, games ran at less than 5 FPS until a reboot. Googling that error message returned many many forums posts around the web from people with the same issue, with various cards, and also both AGP and PCI-e. Not once did I read a definitive answer, most threads died without resolution. So the other day I was chatting with Sleepdoc on XFire and explaining the issue when I decided that as one last attempt to narrow down the problem, I would remove the card and try it in my brothers PC and see if the error still occurred. So, here's where I found the issue, at least for me, and I suspect probably a fair number of the many many people who had or have the same problem. As soon as I removed the card (7800GS 512Mb) I noticed right away that the black moulded airduct was TOTALLY blocked with dust. There's a grill at the front and the vertical slats were totally blocked with dust - i.e. there was absolutely NO airflow over the card from the onboard fan. Rather than cool the card, that air space was acting like an oven. As soon as I had hoovered out that dust and replaced the card - GRAW 2 and all my other heavy duty games ran without a hicccup! I also noticed that the top end temp. had reduced by over 20 degrees celcius! So the issue was not power supply, it was temperature. I can only assume that Nvidia Sentinal makes an assumption that if the card is overheating, it is because the onboard fan is not recieving enough juice, hence the not enough power error message. I'll try and blog this info and get it high up on google, and post it in the Nvidia forums, hopefully it will help other gamers, I know it has saved my £550, because I was on the verge of a rebuild. Now I can wait for the CPU price drop CR6 was on about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Ledanek Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 made just for this special occasion: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CR6 Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 ISSUE RESOLVED!!! ... As soon as I had hoovered out that dust and replaced the card - GRAW 2 and all my other heavy duty games ran without a hicccup! I also noticed that the top end temp. had reduced by over 20 degrees celcius! ... Now I can wait for the CPU price drop CR6 was on about Yo Rocky, congratulations on pinpointing the problem! First you solved the Mystery of the Multi-colored ClearType, now you solved the Mystery of the Power-challenged Video Card. Perhaps you should change your name to Sherlock? LOL, just kidding - seriously though, I am truly impressed by your investigative tenacity Glad you had better luck with the hoover this time Do you have pets or smokers at home? If so, perhaps put a filter over your intake fan like the one WK mentions in his PC building guide Funny thing is I wasn't going to build a new system this year, but I've decided I'm going ahead since the prices are so good, and the technology is very stable right now (Intel 965 chipset/very overclockable Core 2/DDR2 with v. low latencies). Funny thing is I just ordered an ASUS EAX1650PRO SILENT GE/HTD/256MB PCI-E 16X, HDTV out, 2nd VGA as I am a big fan of quiet computers and passive cooling these days ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted June 14, 2007 Author Share Posted June 14, 2007 Do you have pets or smokers at home? If so, perhaps put a filter over your intake fan like the one WK mentions in his PC building guide Neither, and the Antex case has a large mesh filter at the front for air intake. However, I've been running with the side panel off for a while, so I guess that kind of negates the side panel I'll put the panel back on now that the temp problem should be solved. I wish I had taken a photo of the dust, a big grey block it was, wierd. Funny thing is I wasn't going to build a new system this year, but I've decided I'm going ahead since the prices are so good, and the technology is very stable right now (Intel 965 chipset/very overclockable Core 2/DDR2 with v. low latencies). Funny thing is I just ordered an ASUS EAX1650PRO SILENT GE/HTD/256MB PCI-E 16X, HDTV out, 2nd VGA as I am a big fan of quiet computers and passive cooling these days ... Nice! Good luck with that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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