BFG PSU/ JonGerow

[PezzyDude]

Hello.

I came across this forum while doing a search on the 'Net.

I have/ had a BFG Tech 650 watt PSU. I also have the BFG GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card. After much troubleshooting, e-mails, and phone calls since the month of May, 2008, to many places (not just BFG Tech), it was finally decided by BFG tech support that my PSU was insufficient for my graphics card plus everything else in my system (Quad processor Q9450, etc.).

An RMA was set up to kind of "upgrade" me to a better more powerful PSU, an 800 watt. From looking at BFG's web site, I saw that there was a new series, and that there was an 800 watt "ES" series. I told the tech I was speaking to to make a note of that, and he said he did. But when the 800 watt PSU arrived, it was the "old" model, and it seemed to be DOA on arrival. So another was sent, and when I hooked it up and finally got it working, my system started to experience random crashes.

At first I thought it was just during graphic-intensive applications, such as a demanding 3D game, but no; it also would crash out during "average" applications, like typing a word document or browsing the web.

So while doing a search on the web on this particular model of a BFG 800 watt PSU, I came across others who had experienced similar problems. One of these results from my search brought me to this web site/ forum. This post wasn't too long ago, back in April of this year, 2008. The person in this post happened to be having trouble with an 800 watt power supply; not the exact same problem as me, but, trouble none-the-less, and trouble in-particular with BFG tech and their RMA department and procedures.

The link for this post is here:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1032386865

In this post, I saw a name mentioned - JonGerow - and that he was a person from BFG, and the "PSU guy". The home page of Jon's is http://www.bfgpower.com/ , and on that home page is an icon to click on that says "? What Power Supply Do You Need". For the GX2 card that I have, it actually recommends the 800 ES series.

JonGerow: If you're reading this, I have already gone through two RMA's, and I'm leery of the 800 PSU that's in my system now (it's the "old" model"). If I give you all my information (past history/ story with BFG tech support, RMA numbers, etc.), would you be able to help me?

One of the computer games I've been wanting to enjoy to its fullest is the popular game that many have probably heard of called "Crysis". But even though I have the muscle in my machine that should be able to run this game smoothly and flawlessly, I have had poor frame rates since May 2008 after installing it; I get in the teens (16, 17, 18 FPS), and sometimes it even dips down into the single digits (7, 8, 9 FPS). I've got the Quad Q9450 with 2.66GHz per core, the GX2 graphics card with 1GB video RAM, and 4GB system RAM. My system needs a quality power supply that can meet the demands.

My original that I mentioned above? The 650 watt? Before I purchased it I wrote to BFG Tech and asked if it would be sufficient to run my system that included the GX2, Q9450, and so on, and I received the reply of "yes". But now I thinking, ........I don't think so.

So JonGerow, if you're reading this, can you help me out? I can give you all the particulars that you need.

Thanks,
Pez

 

[JonGerow]

Hello.

I came across this forum while doing a search on the 'Net.

I have/ had a BFG Tech 650 watt PSU. I also have the BFG GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card. After much troubleshooting, e-mails, and phone calls since the month of May, 2008, to many places (not just BFG Tech), it was finally decided by BFG tech support that my PSU was insufficient for my graphics card plus everything else in my system (Quad processor Q9450, etc.).

What was your old graphics card or cards? With the 650W not working and now the 800W not working, I would be more inclined to think there may be a problem with the graphics card. If you only have one GX2, I would have thought the 650W was enough. In fact, your symptoms... to me.. don't sound like power supply problems. If the PC hard locked, shut down, reboot, etc. I would think maybe a PSU problem. But poor frame rates don't come from inadquate power.

In this post, I saw a name mentioned - JonGerow - and that he was a person from BFG, and the "PSU guy". The home page of Jon's is http://www.bfgpower.com/ , and on that home page is an icon to click on that says "? What Power Supply Do You Need". For the GX2 card that I have, it actually recommends the 800 ES series.

That's because the BFG Power website only supports current product. We don't market EOL product.

JonGerow: If you're reading this, I have already gone through two RMA's, and I'm leery of the 800 PSU that's in my system now (it's the "old" model"). If I give you all my information (past history/ story with BFG tech support, RMA numbers, etc.), would you be able to help me?

There is really no "known issue" with the "old" 800W power supply. A few forum posts when thousands of units are in circulation is hardly cause for alarm. Just as one individual's bad experience with getting the wrong product on an exchange hardly evidence that BFG's support is lacking. The "old" 800W should be more than enough power for two GX2's, never mind just one, so there's no reason for you to have to upgrade again.

If you could post what changed between the old system and now outside of the power supply and graphics card, I'd like to start there instead of throwing power supplies at the problem. If it crashes even when surfing the web or writing a Word doc, it should be easy to nail down the cause of the problem.

Feel free to just PM me if you'd like.

 

[magoo]

PezzyDude......if you think the GX2 can run Crysis flawlessly, you got another thing commin'.

I had 8800 GTX in SLI and couldn't run well in Vista/DX10 on "high" settings @ 16 X 12.
I could get pretty good FPS in DX9.
Your poor frame rate is from a weak card for that game, not your PSU. The 9800 GX2 is essentially two 8800GTs on a single card......nothin special. Not a bad card, mind you, but not the giant killer you expect it to be. Crysis is a good benchmark for a card's abilities, but I wager that GX2 will play most other games without a problem and run just fine with your current PSU.

When I added a third GTX to my computer I could finally play Crysis with acceptable FPS on "very high" at 19X12.

 

[PezzyDude]

Hi all; thanks for answering.

Jon: I had no "old" graphics card. This build I have is all new; there was no "swap out" for a different part. I put this together from scratch: new motheboard, processor, RAM, hard drive, graphics card, and fresh installation of Win XP Pro.

The graphics card of the GX2 "worked" from the get-go, just not to its full potential. I mentioned the game Crysis above, and I realize that even now that that game is very demanding on just about any system. But even other games that I would load up that are considered "old" by now, such as Painkiller, would have little hesitations during gameplay in intense battle scenes or explosions. I've read in articles that insufficient power from the PSU can result in poor frame rates. Here's a quote from the web site of guru3D.com:

"What would happen if your PSU can't cope with the load?:

bad 3D performance
crashing games
overclocking issues
spontaneous reset or imminent shutdown of the PC
freezes during gameplay
PSU overload can cause it to break down"

I went through LOTS of troubleshooting since May with BFG and elsewhere trying to narrow down this problem. I didn't list everything here because it would be a very long list of things and details. One of the suggestions from BFG Tech was that I was experiencing an IRQ conflict; my GX2 card shares an IRQ number with my on-board Ethernet. I did some checking, and it basically turns out that IRQ conflicts are more relegated to operating systems of the past, such as Windows 95 & 98; it's almost nonexistent now with systems such as mine with Win XP Pro.

And this "older" model 800 watt PSU that was sent does not have the 8 pin plug for PCI-E cards; I had to use the 6 to 8 pin adapter that came with the GX2 card. From what I've heard, it's better to have a PSU that actually has an 8 pin PCI-E plug.

And Jon: What did you mean by, "That's because the BFG Power website only supports current product. We don't market EOL product."? What do the letters "EOL" stand for?

And since on the site of bfgpower.com it does recommend the ES series 800 watt for the GX2 card, then why wouldn't that one have been sent? I asked that at one point of a rep from BFG on the telephone, and they said that they can't always get a hold of one of them. What does that mean? That they're too new? How is it a company can't get a hold of one of their own products? It just sounded strange to me.

And Jon: I know what you mean by "known issue" when there are a lot of a product in circulation. This applies to just about any product from any company. You could be talking an automobile from Ford, Toyota, or Nissan; an appliance manufacturer such as Maytag. There will always be someone somewhere that has an issue with one of their products. It doesn't always mean anything.

But, here are some web reviews of the "old" 800 watt PSU from BFG; they say some good things about it but not exactly a shining review:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/3313-bfg-800w-power-supply-review.html

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/525/1

The 2nd review says that the PSU performed below 80% efficiency, and at the end of the article says that they even "burned" the PSU from possibly loading it too heavily.

So Jon: Near the end of the message you posted you say for me to post "what changed between the old system and now outside of the power supply and graphics card"; there is no "old". This is all brand new stuff from scratch with a fresh install of Win XP Pro. BFG was good enough after troubleshooting this to "upgrade" me to an 800 watt PSU, but just not the ES series of PSU's (although the ES 800 watt is the recommended PSU for the GX2 card according to the bfgpower.com web site).

I had requested the ES series when this all started to take place, but was instead sent the "old" model twice. I just thought the company itself could get a hold of one of their own products (ES series 800 watt Power Supply). So from my search on the 'Net and coming across your name on this message forum and that you're the "BFG PSU guy", I thought that perhaps you would be able to help me.

Just today I sent back two PSU's via RMA and used UPS delivery to BFG Tech. I sent back my original 650 watt, and one of the 800 watt PSU's that were sent to me. I'm not saying that I really want to do this a third time, but I would really rather have the 800 watt ES series PSU. The ES 800 watt seems like a stable, quality PSU; here's a nice review for it:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/bfg-es-800-watt-psu-review/

And magoo: I already knew that the GX2 was basically two 512MB GPU's slapped into one giant "brick" of a card with a fan in-between. I'm running DX9 because I have XP, not Vista. But I've seen postings elsewhere that people are getting nice FPS on the GX2 playing Crysis; FPS in the 40's and sometimes better.

So Jon; let me know what you think. I don't know much about you or what position you have in the BFG company. Like I said in my original post, I can give you RMA numbers, etc., if you need it. I would really rather have the 800 PSU ES series.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Pez

 

[Old Hippie]

An RMA was set up to kind of "upgrade" me to a better more powerful PSU, an 800 watt.

Let's see if I have this right, they upgraded you free of charge and you're cranky because they didn't give you the latest model?

If I were them, I'd send your origional unit back to you and tell ya to go buy a newer model, preferably from some other manfg.

Maybe then you'll see it's not a PS problem, but if ya don't, at least you'll bug somebody else.

Guess this is why I'm not in CS?

 

[JonGerow]

Here's a quote from the web site of guru3D.com:

"What would happen if your PSU can't cope with the load?:

bad 3D performance
crashing games
overclocking issues
spontaneous reset or imminent shutdown of the PC
freezes during gameplay
PSU overload can cause it to break down"

I'm going to say that Guru3D's advice isn't exactly correct. You're not going to get bad 3D performance from inadequate power. If the PSU is weak and the voltages drop, the PC will reset, shutdown or lock. This is true. But the performance doesn't just get "bad". It's not like the graphics card goes "oh crap.. voltages are low. I better drop a few frames." I only WISH that graphics cards were that "smart" and that was the case. Unfortunately, graphics cards try to chug along regardless and if the voltages drop below a threshold that allows the card to function properly, something gives... either the PSU or the graphics card.... and you get a lock, reset or shutdown.

I went through LOTS of troubleshooting since May with BFG and elsewhere trying to narrow down this problem. I didn't list everything here because it would be a very long list of things and details. One of the suggestions from BFG Tech was that I was experiencing an IRQ conflict; my GX2 card shares an IRQ number with my on-board Ethernet. I did some checking, and it basically turns out that IRQ conflicts are more relegated to operating systems of the past, such as Windows 95 & 98; it's almost nonexistent now with systems such as mine with Win XP Pro.

I understand and appreciate that you did a lot of research and some troubleshooting, but now you're on your third power supply and willing to try a fourth and still haven't considered the problem is anything else. Am I 100% convinced that the problem isn't the PSU? No. But at this juncture if you're going to replace the PSU yet again, you might as well replace the graphics card too. If they replace them both and you STILL have problems, I would say that it's definitely time to move on. Motherboard problem? Perhaps. You never really know for sure until you dig in.

In the other thread I moved in because BFG obviously screwed up with the guy's RMA. they flat out replaced his one power supply with another. It's a bit of a different scenario. I'll certainly help you to the best of my ability, and even make sure someone that can replace both PSU and grapahics card for you gets a hold of you. But I don't see anything all to unusual about your situation. You may think you got poor service because you asked for an ES-800 and only received one of BFG's old 800W power supplies, but what might have happened behind the scenes is that the support rep put the request in and then a manager shot it down because you're asking that a $100 unit get replaced with a $300 unit. Like I said: the 650W is adequate and should've worked. The "old" 800W certainly is more than enough power. Throwing an ES-800 at the problem is really quite overkill.

And this "older" model 800 watt PSU that was sent does not have the 8 pin plug for PCI-E cards; I had to use the 6 to 8 pin adapter that came with the GX2 card. From what I've heard, it's better to have a PSU that actually has an 8 pin PCI-E plug.

You are correct. Good point. But this is also an all new build and you initially chose to use the BFG 650W power supply when you initially built it and that PSU doesn't have an 8-pin either.

And Jon: What did you mean by, "That's because the BFG Power website only supports current product. We don't market EOL product."? What do the letters "EOL" stand for?

End of Life. If we're not making the product anymore, and are only moving through a few hundred units left in the channel there's no sense to really promote it strongly on the website just to end up taking it down in a couple months. the BFG Power website is actually only a couple months old. By the time that site launched, the "old" 800W was EOL for a few months already.

Also note that BFGpower.com states that you could also use "Any LS" and "Any MX" as well as the ES-800. The LS and MX only come in 550W and 680W. I think it's fantastic they upgraded you all of the way up to an 800W instead of just sending you an LS-680.

I asked that at one point of a rep from BFG on the telephone, and they said that they can't always get a hold of one of them. What does that mean? That they're too new? How is it a company can't get a hold of one of their own products? It just sounded strange to me.

There may have been a mis-understanding there. Support has the same access to inventory as anyone else at BFG. I'm thinking the person meant "they can't always use an ES-800 to replace another unit of lesser value". That would be a manager or supervisor's call and, like I said, there's not many people that are going to sign off on sending a $300 power supply in place of a $100 power supply when the $100 power supply should have worked in the first place.

And Jon: I know what you mean by "known issue" when there are a lot of a product in circulation. This applies to just about any product from any company. You could be talking an automobile from Ford, Toyota, or Nissan; an appliance manufacturer such as Maytag. There will always be someone somewhere that has an issue with one of their products. It doesn't always mean anything.

But, here are some web reviews of the "old" 800 watt PSU from BFG; they say some good things about it but not exactly a shining review:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/3313-bfg-800w-power-supply-review.html

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/525/1

The 2nd review says that the PSU performed below 80% efficiency, and at the end of the article says that they even "burned" the PSU from possibly loading it too heavily.

The 2nd review says the PSU performed below 80% efficiency and "burned" it out when he was running it at 855W with a 63A load on the +12V rail at 57°C temperatures. I'm hardly going to fault the PSU for failing under those conditions.

The other complaints have to do with lack of +12V power when compared to similar units from other companies, lack of four PCIe connectors on the non-LE version and some what short cables. None of these would have any impact on the performance of your particular graphics card.

I really do want to help you out here and I'm going to be very pro-active on my end to get you what you need from BFG support starting with getting someone that works in support to contact you. I'm just letting you know that you might be (not for sure, but maybe) misdiagnosing your problem. That said, if we can eliminate BFG from the equation by replacing both the PSU and the graphics card I think we're making great head way.

Again, feel free to PM me. I'll need all of your personal info, name, phone, RMA #'s, etc. Right now I only know you as "PezzyDude" and that's not helping me out much.

Thanks!

 

[magoo]

Pez:
What motherboard and RAM do you use?
What resolution do you use for your games?
What components are in your computer besides the CPU, MB,Ram, and GPU???

 

[legcramp]

I doubt it's your PSU that's the problem, poor fps does not equal a defective PSU.


Why don't you try another brand psu and plug that baby in, I am willing to bet you will still have the same problems.

And Crysis on maxed out settings you're going to dip down to the teens anyways if you're maxing everything out.

 

[PezzyDude]

magoo:
Motherboard is a Gigabyte # EP35C-DS3R
Ram is Corsair XMS2, 4GB (2 x 4096/ 6400C5DHX/ 800MHz/ 5-5-5-18/)
Native Resolution for widescreen monitor is 1280 x 1050 (although for the game of Crysis, I've lowered it to 1600 x 900, and sometimes 1280 x 1024). For most games I can leave it at my native resolution.
The only other "add-in" card I have is a "mini" PCI-E card that's a TV tuner (from ATI).

aZn_plyR: I realize that poor FPS does not always equal a defective PSU. But, before I came to this message forum, I had already been troubleshooting this since the month of May, 2008. I've already tried lots and lots of suggestions before I even came to this forum. I've been to Electronic Arts tech support, Gigabyte, Nvidia, and of course BFG Tech. I've also been around to other tech forums besides here. I'm not saying I've "heard it all", but I have tried much.

So yes, it finally came down to the PSU not being quite strong enough to power the GX2 card. The GX2 card (probably while under a full load) requires 580 watts; this is according to the requirements on the retail box. It also requires 40A from the 12V rails; this is also according to the retail box. The original PSU I had from BFG Tech was a 650 watt. 650 minus 580 equals 70 watts. The Q9450 processor I have can need at least 65 watts (sometimes more on a more demanding load). With those 70 watts leftover, minus the 65, that leaves 5 watts left for everything else in my system. Does it sound like enough?

I am no expert with computers but have a fairly good working knowledge. Before I purchased the components for my system, I wrote to BFG Tech and asked if their 650 watt would be enough to run their GX2 card, the Q9450, and all else in my system; they said "yes". That answer may have been premature.

And oh....where I mentioned that it says on the retail box that the GX2 requires 40A on the 12V rails? The 650 watt has two 12V rails with 20A on each rail for a total of 40. I didn't know a whole lot about the importance of PSU's way back; it's also the reason I wrote to BFG Tech before I purchased all my components.

And aZn_plyR: You mentioned if I could try another brand of PSU and try it out.....and that I would have the same problems? I don't have a different brand of PSU, but I was finally able to get the 800 watt "older" model of the BFG PSU working stably. Back when I had the 650 watt PSU I ran a program you may have heard of called "3DMark06". Results of the test are available only on-line, so I took a screenshot of it. I ran the 3DMark test again with the older model 800 watt PSU, and took another screenshot. I'm not saying that this is definitive proof, but no, I am not having the "same problems" as you said by trying another PSU.

Here are the two screenshots; notice the difference in scores between the first one and the second one:

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll217/PezzyDude/3D-Mark2.jpg

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll217/PezzyDude/3D-Mark7-22-08.jpg

And I'm willing to safely bet that if I were to have a "newer" model of a PSU, either from BFG or a different brand, that the score would raise even higher. Especially newer models of PSU's that have an 8 pin PCI-E plug and not require me to use the 6 to 8 pin adapter.

Like I mentioned: Before I came to this forum, I had been to many places and tried all kinds of suggestions, tips, and even tweaks to various programs. Nothing had worked. The only change since all of this? Putting in the older model 800 watt PSU....and look at the change in the 3DMark scores. You say I will still have the same problems? No, I don't. Even my Crysis frames have improved a little bit, but just like the 3DMark results, I'm sure the frames could improve even more with a newer, more recent PSU.

Pez

 

[Arcygenical]

And since on the site of bfgpower.com it does recommend the ES series 800 watt for the GX2 card, then why wouldn't that one have been sent?

Because it's not the one you bought... 650w IS enough for a 9800GX2. I know MANY people running them off the 620w HX series Corsair PSU's. Hell, I ran one myself in a customer's system for awhile.

The fact that they upgraded you to an 800w, when you purchased a 650w PSU, is incredible IMO, and deserves to be commended.

The GX2 card (probably while under a full load) requires 580 watts

Negative. The GX2 under full load requires around 200w. The specs on the box are recommendations for your entire system, not just the card. That's 40a for the ENTIRE system, not the card alone.

The Q9450 processor I have can need at least 65 watts (sometimes more on a more demanding load). With those 70 watts leftover, minus the 65, that leaves 5 watts left for everything else in my system. Does it sound like enough?

Yes, it does sound like enough. See above . If it wasn't your computer would shut down immediately, and potentially burn the PSU up.

And I'm willing to safely bet that if I were to have a "newer" model of a PSU, either from BFG or a different brand, that the score would raise even higher.

I'm willing to bet you'll see no change, TBH.

Most reviews peg the 9800GX2 at around 13k 3Dmark's with your 2.6ghz CPU. If you want to see higher scores, start overclocking the system.

The 6>8pin adapter makes no difference. The extra 2 pins are just ground sense pins that provide no power anyways.

Your power supply is fine.

 

[Chilly]

Pez, I recommend you just PM him directly, and deal with him directly, I can almost gaurentte that jonnyGURU(Sorry, but you'll always be jonnyGURU to me ) knows his stuff, and if anyone can help you its him.

Franklly you seem fairly closed to suggestion and are fairly stturbon to the fact that you think its the PSU, yes maybe the PSU's playing a factor(I doubt it from what you've told us), but it does not sound like its the *MAIN* issue here.

 

[Kil4Thril]

I also want to commend Johnny on his fantastic use of tact in public interactions with customers. Since we all knew the "Guru", and posted alongside, we saw the "home John", and now the "work John". It isn't easy to do. I am a lead/supervisor over people I knew for many years before we worked together, and it is tough to distinguish. Good job, Johnny.

 

[CAD4466HK]

magoo:

Ram is Corsair XMS2, 4GB (2 x 4096/ 6400C5DHX/ 800MHz/ 5-5-5-18/)

Gee, I would think your problem would be "trying" to run 4GB of RAM on a 32bit OS
Why do you think your 3DM06 scores only show your rig having 2800MB

Learn how to build your rig the proper way before you start putting the blame on other people for your noobish mistakes

 

[[Spectre]]

It should be pointed out that Jon is a BFG employee/representative but he is not a tech support representative. This issue should be directed to tech support on the way off chance it actually is a PSU problem. Further, expecting an upgrade to the premier product that is currently offered when that was not the product purchased is ridiculous.

 

[Xilikon]

Did you try formatting and reinstalling the OS then install the latest WQHL drivers (177.41 as of now) ?

I'll chime like others and think it's not a PSU issue. Maybe you are just greedy and hoping for a free upgrade.

 

[Rydawg5143]

"So yes, it finally came down to the PSU not being quite strong enough to power the GX2 card. The GX2 card (probably while under a full load) requires 580 watts; this is according to the requirements on the retail box. It also requires 40A from the 12V rails; this is also according to the retail box. The original PSU I had from BFG Tech was a 650 watt. 650 minus 580 equals 70 watts. The Q9450 processor I have can need at least 65 watts (sometimes more on a more demanding load). With those 70 watts leftover, minus the 65, that leaves 5 watts left for everything else in my system. Does it sound like enough?"

you make me laugh

 

[-SHiFT-]

Gee, I would think your problem would be "trying" to run 4GB of RAM on a 32bit OS
Why do you think your 3DM06 scores only show your rig having 2800MB

Learn how to build your rig the proper way before you start putting the blame on other people for your noobish mistakes

I don't think having a decreased RAM amount would lower his score THAT much?

 

[CAD4466HK]

I don't think having a decreased RAM amount would lower his score THAT much?

I agree, but running 4GB of RAM with XP is a mishap waiting to happen, that can(and will)lead to other problems
A 32bit OS can only "see" 2800MB,therefore by decreasing the OP's amount of RAM down to 2048MB(2x1GB) could yeild higher scores and FPS.

As any one can tell you that has run 3 or 4 GB with XP, results with 2GB are more favorable.

The only question I have is, why would you buy a 9800GX2 to game at 1280x1024?
You could do that with a 6800U

 

[Dazed66]

I agree, but running 4GB of RAM with XP is a mishap waiting to happen, that can(and will)lead to other problems
A 32bit OS can only "see" 2800MB,therefore by decreasing the OP's amount of RAM down to 2048MB(2x1GB) could yeild higher scores and FPS.

As any one can tell you that has run 3 or 4 GB with XP, results with 2GB are more favorable.

The only question I have is, why would you buy a 9800GX2 to game at 1280x1024?
You could do that with a 6800U

My XP 32bit install "sees" 3.25GB of my installed 4GB and been running it that way for months now with no "other problems" , in fact MANY people run 4 gigs on 32 bit OSs with no issues.

FWIW my benchmark scores went up when I went from 2 to 4 gigs.

So being "anyone" that has run 3 or 4 GB with XP my only conclusion is that your facts are incorrect.

 

[Arcygenical]

I agree, but running 4GB of RAM with XP is a mishap waiting to happen, that can(and will)lead to other problems
A 32bit OS can only "see" 2800MB,therefore by decreasing the OP's amount of RAM down to 2048MB(2x1GB) could yeild higher scores and FPS.

As any one can tell you that has run 3 or 4 GB with XP, results with 2GB are more favorable.

The only question I have is, why would you buy a 9800GX2 to game at 1280x1024?
You could do that with a 6800U

Uhm. What?

A 32b OS is limited to 4gb of address space, from which GPU Vram and IRQ addresses are subtracted from... If you have a 512mb card, chances are XP will see around 3.25gb. And there's a distinct performance increase between 2gb and 3.2gb or so in certain games.

And a 6800U playing Crysis at 1280? What the shit?

 

[CAD4466HK]

Uhm. What?

A 32b OS is limited to 4gb of address space, from which GPU Vram and IRQ addresses are subtracted from... If you have a 512mb card, chances are XP will see around 3.25gb. And there's a distinct performance increase between 2gb and 3.2gb or so in certain games.

And a 6800U playing Crysis at 1280? What the shit?

I stand corrected on the 4GB issue,
But I NEVER once said anything about playing Crysis at 1280 with a 6800U
I said "Why would you buy a 9800GX2 to game at 1280x1024 you can do that with a 6800U"
I myself could not play Crysis at that res with a pair of 7950GT 's
The OP's native res is 1280x1050, and that he plays most games at his native res.
For Crysis, he "lowered" his res to 1600x900
So unless your implying that Crysis is the only game the OP plays or worse yet, that he bought his 9800GX2 just to play Crysis which would make the OP feel dumber then I do at this point in time
And yeah, yeah, yeah before I get flamed any more , it may be the 6800U was not so good a choice as a 8800GT would be for today's games at that low res he enjoys so much

 

[OCC_Yoda]

It should be pointed out that Jon is a BFG employee/representative but he is not a tech support representative. This issue should be directed to tech support on the way off chance it actually is a PSU problem. Further, expecting an upgrade to the premier product that is currently offered when that was not the product purchased is ridiculous.

It should also be pointed out that GURU probably is as well versed in PSU`s as most anybody who posts in these forums!!

 

[[Spectre]]

It should also be pointed out that GURU probably is as well versed in PSU`s as most anybody who posts in these forums!!

Yes and? His job is NOT BFGTech support representative for Hardforums it is Product Manager so rather than addressing him as personally responsible this should be addressed to BFG's tech support if it is a PSU issue in order to get the issue taken care of bh the appropriate support personnelk at BFG who can issue an RMA. Do you understand the point now?