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Is this a PSU problem?

U

UndeadRoadkill

n00b
Joined
Mar 8, 2005
Messages
7
Ok, I'm at the end of my rope with this, but there seems to be quite a few people here with their heads on straight, so I'm going to ask you guys.

Last year I knew absolutely nothing about PSUs, which is why I was using a "580w" Powmax. I was getting ready to upgrade my Radeon 9800 to a GeForce 6800 when the Powmax just rolled over and croaked. So when I went to order the GeForce, I threw an Ultra 500w X-Connect onto the order as well. The reviews seemed good, and those modular cables would be the envy of all the kids.

I got everything set up, and it was running great for about a month. I had a weird problem with bizarre artifacts with newer drivers for the GeForce, but reverting to older drivers made it run fine again. Then I got Half Life 2, and I had to switch through a bunch of driver versions to get it to work. Artifacts kept cropping up, however. Then I was seeing artifacts in other games. Then I was getting all manner of graphical anomolies in my internet browser. Then I started getting artifacts on just the desktop.

People were telling me that it must be a defective graphics card, so I took it out, put the Radeon back in, and leant the possibly-defective card to a friend to see if he had the same problems. The Radeon was running fine, but my friend was having no problems with the GeForce, either. Then, just this week, I started to see little artifacts in an UT2K4 map. I tried playing HL2. I didn't see any artifacts in that game (though I didn't play long), but the artifacts in UT2K4 were MUCH worse afterwards. After a while, I was seeing them in my web browser, and now UT2K4 is an unplayable graphical mess even on fresh restarts.

The Radeon USED to work in my system. In fact, the only hardware difference in my system between now and when it worked is the PSU (though it seems like playing Half Life 2 could have been a catalyst for it all). Before, I didn't think it could cause problems of this nature, but glancing through these forums, I realize I don't really know anything about it. Could the PSU be causing these extreme graphical problems?
 
It still sucks either way. I thought that because of stories and the fact you can buy it from POWmax's site.
 
Grab a good quality PSU from somewhere local and test with your system. If it works, return it and order a good one from somewhere on the net cheap. A lot of places have good return policies on hardware, so you don't have to pay the extra high retail price just to test your hardware... ;)
 
UndeadRoadkill said:
Could the PSU be causing these extreme graphical problems?
Click to expand...

I cant speak definatively on that
but empirical evidence suggests that yes
even a PSU that is outputting enought amps but with poor AC Ripple \ high EMI
can contribute to artifacting

alternate theories being that shared devices on that strand are the cause
and the obvious lack of amps

its recommended that leads powering the new video cards have no other devices attached
 
What drivers were you using? There were a set of drivers I used with my 6800 that caused artifacting also. I switched back to my old ones and all is good.. newer drivers came out later and I tried those and had no problems. What kind of temps are you getting on your video card?
 
Ice Czar said:
I cant speak definatively on that
but empirical evidence suggests that yes
even a PSU that is outputting enought amps but with poor AC Ripple \ high EMI
can contribute to artifacting

alternate theories being that shared devices on that strand are the cause
and the obvious lack of amps

its recommended that leads powering the new video cards have no other devices attached
Click to expand...
Yes & the X-Connect 500W is known to have dirty & somewhat unstable rails.

The ones produced in 2005 are by far the worst! :(
 
Thanks a lot, guys, this was driving me nuts. I do have some fans shared on the strand with the Radeon (I can't get the extension out of the connector on the card, it's stuck!!), but this was never a problem with either of the other two power supplies I've used in this setup. I'm probably going to put in an order for an OCZ Modstream today (I like the Antec NeoPower, but I'd have to use an 24-to-20 pin adaptor). Maybe I'll use the Ultra as a decoration or a paperweight or something, it still looks kind of pretty.

Copyright, the version that I first noticed the artifacts in was 66.93 and anything later (it may have happened in some versions right before 66.93, but I haven't tried all of them). However, my friend is using it in a nearly-identical system right now with 66.93, and everything is working fine for him. He says he's playing HL2 and doing full-res rendering in Maya 6 without problems.

I was usually getting temperatures of 50-52C, and 58-60C when gaming.
 
i have been running a X-connect for almost a year now rails are all inspec and never drop even under load checked with a voltmeter and im even OC a bit works for me :rolleyes:
 
Elios said:
i have been running a X-connect for almost a year now rails are all inspec and never drop even under load checked with a voltmeter and im even OC a bit works for me :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
The older ones were good. The newer ones are udder crap.
 
which new ones the 400w or 500w i know the 400w ones are iffy
 
well I've started noticing something weird with my computer ... Ever since I've been starting to upgrade the drivers for my X800 I couldn't o/c the computer as much ... not only that but my video card was not performing as it used to ...

I down graded my X800 driver to 4.10 and I think it's back to normal now .. it doesn't artifact.

It used to artifact as soon as I would click "scan for artifacts" on Ati Tool ... almost immediately and it would repeatedly artifact.

I will test some more and see what's up

Btw ... i tested the ATX and the 3.3 was at 3.43 which is almost 4% which is kinda worrying me. This summer however I'm defintely gettin myself a new video card.

j/k ... I want a pc P&C if I can afford it :p .. sometime this summer .. :D
 
it's nothing if it's idle ... but what if it is under load .. this was the paper clip method ... I can't stick my multimeter into the atx when the computer is on .. I ain't risking it :p

BTW what's the importance of the 3.3V line .. what uses it ?
 
mohammedtaha said:
I can't stick my multimeter into the atx when the computer is on .. I ain't risking it :p
Click to expand...
There is no risk. Just take the ground lead, stick it into a ground pin on a four-pin molex, and take your red lead and stick it into the slots where the orange wire goes into.
 
mohammedtaha said:
BTW what's the importance of the 3.3V line .. what uses it ?
Click to expand...

http://takaman.jp/D/index.html?english

in most supplies the +3.3V and +5V rail are a shared capacity
until recently they powered the mobo, CPU, and Graphics cards
now a fairly healthy portion of that is done by the +12V rail
but the mobo and PCI cards can still employ the +3.3
as do many AGP cards


while most devices are tested to withstand the occassional voltage fluctuation up to 10%
anything over the expected 5% is however wearing on them
and since every IC is already the luck of the draw that can mean everything from immediate failure
to no percieved change in performance within the actual lifespan
as few employ the same hardware indefinately

roll the dice take your chances
or be proactive


Semiconductor Electromigration In-Depth
everyon3e should read this at least once ;)
 
I have a few more bits to add to my story about how NO ONE SHOULD BUY THIS ULTRA GARBAGE. Today I tried to turn the machine on (to check when the scheduled delivery of my OCZ PSU is, no less), and the optical drives started going nuts, LEDS flashing, starting up and turning off. This kept going on, and the PC wouldn't boot. So now I'm typing this from a different PC, which I guess I'm stuck with until the new PSU arrives. And it looks like I'm going to have a hell of a time trying to get a few of those Ultra connectors out without destroying the devices they're attached to, because some of them are STUCK.
 
OMG :eek: :eek: You won't believe what happened .. !!

MY ULTRA IS DEAD ... I CAN'T BELIEVE IT ... IT WAS THE BEST PSU EVER ... WTF ..

HAHAHAHAH

:D

I was expecting it :( ... I was stating that problems were arising in my computer and I could notice them and here we are at the point we all have been waiting for ... I'm powering my computer using a generic PSU ...

I'm waiting to see what Ultra can do for me ...I'm thinkin forget the RMA and get a new PSU ..

If I do get a new one .. I will be selling it

Oh well .. good thing I dug myself out of defending Ultra before this happened
 
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