Ultra X2 Connect and x1900xt - causing GPU probs?

[blade52x]

Is it possible for a PSU to kill a GPU by not supplying it with not enough amps. I feel this may have happened with my x1800xt and do not wish a repeat here. It was a slow death for it, everything began minor, and then eventually artificting was appearing on the boot screen. Everything is fine now with the new x1900xt, but I am worried to run it load on 3D because of the following:

My PSU has +12V1 - 17A, +12V2 - 18A
The thing is, Rivatune reports my GPU pulling in 19.1A at 3D load, and 5.5A on 2D idle.

I'm pretty sure dual rails do not share amps, and running a single rail over it's capacity with other things running on it as well (not just the GPU) cannot be a good thing.

There is also a high pitched noise coming out my PSU after having the computer loaded for an hour or so.

This PSU should have been fine for a single card system setup. Reviews said it ran fine with a single card setup, dual cards is where it had problems.

The rest of my specs are:
-Core 2 E6600 (can o/c to 3.1Ghz stable at stock voltages)
-2gb 667Mhz ram (can o/c to 862Mhz 5-5-5-15 at 1.9V)
-WD 250gb sata 3.0gb/s
-Gigabyte DS3 Mobo
-Sapphire x1900xt 256mb
-Audigy 2 ZS
-1x IDE optical drive
-2x 120mm case fans directly hooked to PSU
-1x 80mm and Scythe Mine HS hooked to Mobo (rpm adjustments enabled, or should I run these 100% all the time?)

Should I get a PSU with dual 20A rails or should this current one be fine?

By the way Rivatune reported PSU temp to be 62C idle - I have no idea what is a good temp range for PSUs, so please let me know there.

 

[Riddlinkidstoner]

I read reviews that stated a lot of Ultra PSUs need high loads in order to function properly.

For example, a system with one video card, one HDD...the PSU would perform terribly.

But a system with SLI/Crossfire, 4 HDDs, and a lot of other stuff the PSU would actually perform better. Keep that in mind.

 

[blade52x]

I read reviews that stated a lot of Ultra PSUs need high loads in order to function properly.

For example, a system with one video card, one HDD...the PSU would perform terribly.

But a system with SLI/Crossfire, 4 HDDs, and a lot of other stuff the PSU would actually perform better. Keep that in mind.

Heh, I might as well get another PSU then if that is true. I'm not getting Crossfire, extra HDDs, and other things to make it run properly.

But my main question still stands - can it cause GPU damage? I haven't been able to find a defined answer on this subject yet.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Is it possible for a PSU to kill a GPU by not supplying it with not enough amps. I feel this may have happened with my x1800xt and do not wish a repeat here. It was a slow death for it, everything began minor, and then eventually artificting was appearing on the boot screen.

Is it possible? Sure. But the 12V would have to be way off or there would need to be excessive ripple. Wintech built PSU's aren't known for ripple, and I would think you'd know it if your 12V was drastically off (-/+ 5%) or your computer would exhibit other ill side effects (since the CPU also uses the 12V rail. HDD motors would fall victim as well.)

So is it possible? Yes. Likely? No. If the PSU were to blame, I would say it would have to be something like a loose power connector on the video card or where the cable plugs into the PSU wasn't tight.

I'm curious as to why it couldn't have just been a "bad card" to begin with?

The whining noise is reason enough to RMA the PSU. I'd call Ultra and just tell them that you're getting a noise under high loads and they'll replace it. The whining is the windings of the transformer vibrating. There's tape and a sort of "glaze" over the PSU that's supposed to keep it quiet, but if the tape comes loose or there's a crack in the glaze you'll get a noise.

By the way Rivatune reported PSU temp to be 62C idle - I have no idea what is a good temp range for PSUs, so please let me know there.

Think about this. Where's the temperature probe on a PSU? I thought so. There's no way for a power supply to tell a piece of software what it's temperature is.

I read reviews that stated a lot of Ultra PSUs need high loads in order to function properly.

For example, a system with one video card, one HDD...the PSU would perform terribly.

But a system with SLI/Crossfire, 4 HDDs, and a lot of other stuff the PSU would actually perform better. Keep that in mind.

Wow. That's completely wrong. I'm pretty sure you didn't read a single review that actually said that.

Wintech PSU's tend to crossload if there's a huge 12V load and very little 3.3V/5V load. Like a pair of X1900's and a single HDD and optical drive. The OP's build is not putting an excessive load on the 12V rail, therefore would not be crossloading the PSU.

 

[davidhammock200]

Welcome back my friend.

 

[blade52x]

jonny thanks a lot for that reply.

My voltage is 12.100V when running everything stock, and when overclocked and running a stress test to what I posted above, it fluctuates between 12.040-12.100V, more often sitting on 12.040V, so no ripples here.

It probably was a bad card. The reason I got all paranoid was because someone on this other forum posted how their GPUs (2 of them in a row) died - and the symtoms his exhibited were exactly the same as mine, however, his cards only had a 24 hour life span while mine lasted almost 2 weeks before it died. People were saying it was possibly the PSU and then I freaked

This computer was my first custom build and on budget so that's why I'm asking a lot of questions

I can live with the noise for now, but if it ever gets to loud for me, it's getting RMA. I just don't want to have to do that because I don't have a replacement PSU for the time it's being processed and sent back.

Thanks again.

 

[jonnyGURU]

My voltage is 12.100V when running everything stock, and when overclocked and running a stress test to what I posted above, it fluctuates between 12.040-12.100V, more often sitting on 12.040V, so no ripples here.

Actually, that's regulation, not ripple. Often confused. You'd need an oscope to measure ripple. But still, looks good.

I can live with the noise for now, but if it ever gets to loud for me, it's getting RMA. I just don't want to have to do that because I don't have a replacement PSU for the time it's being processed and sent back.

You won't be w/o a PSU because the default means of RMA for Ultra is advanced replacement. So the replacement will be on it's way while you continue to use you computer.

 

[filthysanchez]

nice to see you back jonny : )

 

[blade52x]

Props to Ultra for that, thanks again. I'll probably setting up something soon.

And well, yay I've got another problem! A jumping FSB multi in Windows! Building my computer just couldn't be easy

Edit: NVM that was just Speed-Step... paranoia+assumptions=noob=me