Legit Reviews

Bought myself one a them shiny new ATI cards. One 'o the 5770's, seein as the 5800's are all sold out.

Anyway, I stick the ruttin thing in there, and now all of a sudden I can't seem to overclock my goram cpu anymore.

I had my e8400 running at a sweet 4.2 GHz, but since I added the new vid card, if I raise it more than 100MHz over stock my system won't even post.

Way I figure it, the 650 watt power supply I have just can't hack it. Can't really figure anything else would be the culprit. I'm all for a unifying theory of time and space, and really dig on the interconnectedness of all things, but other than the power supply not passing mustard, I can't figure as how a new video card would affect the cpu like this.

So, I figure I need me a new power supply... But before I go and order me one, I figured I'd ask around and see if anyone else might have a notion as to the nature of my dilemma.

Extra details...
Xigmatech 650 watt PSU
e8400 Wolfdale
GIGABYTE GA-P35-S3G (lastest bios downloaded 2 months ago when I got the CPU)
4GB Patriot Viper II DDR2-800
Old video card was an ... NVidia 8600 GT (?)
New video card is an XFX 5770
Also got an "el cheapo" DVD drive, half a dozen case fans and a big 'ol heatsink and fan for the CPU, and 4 hard drives of varying sizes...
And yes, I may have been involved with a Firefly marathon this weekend...

Shouldn't be an issue with the power supply (my opinion). Might be something to do with the card and how the motherboard handles its signals. Have you checked for an updated BIOS? What are your load voltages? If nothing else just see what a software app is displaying.
EVEREST Ultimate Edition v5.30.1944
http://www.lavalys.com/beta/everestulti ... 3mcs9x.zip

See my sig, that's an overclocked quad core, 2 video cards, 3 hard drives, 2 PCIe 1x cards, etc... on a Corsair TX 650 PSU.

I have the latest BIOS (I double checked)

Load voltages...

Everest says...

Motherboard 42 °C (108 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #1 43 °C (109 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #2 43 °C (109 °F)
GPU Diode (DispIO) 46 °C (115 °F)
GPU Diode (MemIO) 46 °C (115 °F)
GPU Diode (Shader) 48 °C (118 °F)

Voltage Values
CPU Core 1.25 V
+3.3 V 3.36 V
+12 V [ TRIAL VERSION ]
VBAT Battery 3.26 V
DIMM 1.92 V


Speedfan says ...
The same, plus
5.08V on the +5V
12.41V on the +12V

I would have to say it is the power supply..wattage is fine, its the amps it needs to deliver. if your Xigmatek is the one i see on newegg now, then I honestly don't think that will cut it..I had a Seasonic 650 with 4 rails, and 18 amps on each rails(same as the Xigmatek on newegg)..and the gtx280 laughed at it..red light came on..wouldn't boot. Got a new PSU(back then the TX-750) and it worked flawlessly. the PSU Major has should be sufficient as it has 52 amps on 1 rail...plus he's runnin all that on it. Not sure what the requirements for the 5000 series are, but just my two cents

Put a load on your CPU and check the voltages.
wPrime 32M test will do that for you.

Put a load on your GPU.
oZone Fur Mark will do that.

Report back with both.

the wattage and amps on your power supply should be fine for a 5770. The power requirements for that card are pretty low. The recommend PSU for that card is only 450w.

InspectahACE:
Yeah its the one you see on Newegg.

Major A:
The readings that I gave you earlier were with full load (Prime 95 and FurMark) running for 15 minutes.

I'm still convinced it's something else going on here. It sounds dumb but have you tried reseating the video card?

Yeah, reseating the card was the first thing I tried. I also took out the tool-free case clips and secured it with "ye olde" screws to make sure it was in there good and proper.

I ordered a new power supply...
Serendipitously my sister was given a free computer this weekend with a non-functional power supply. Pulled the power supply out of my computer this morning to test the rest of it (not that hard since it's modular and I have way more cords for it than I needed) only thing I had to disconnect was the mainboard power. Everything else in it works fine (well the video card is also shot, but I have an extra one of them lying around too) It's got a crappy celeron processor, but hey, it was free.

Since she needs a power supply, she can have my old one when the new one arrives.

Even if it doesn't fix my problem, at least I'll have a "good" power supply when/if the time comes that I manage to save enough money to afford that Core i7 system that I want to build

What did you end up ordering?

The Corsair 950 from newegg. I figured I couldn't go wrong with Corsair, as they are constantly recommended here, and I've never heard anyone complain about them. I'm sure that the 950 is overkill for what I have now, but I plan on upgrading in the future and, if I ever work up the nerve to take on what seems like a monumental task, I've always wanted to add liquid cooling.

Good choice. Here's what I like about Corsair PSUs, they just work. There isn't any acrylic panels, flashy LED fans, etc... they just do what they are designed to do and well I might add.

Power supply came last week. Finally got a chance to put it in last night. And... It wasn't the power supply.
Brand new PSU, and still can't overclock my CPU

So now on to the next candidate, a strange interaction between the motherboard and video card.

Since I don't have a different motherboard to test this against, I guess I'll have to wait until the new one arrives and see what happens. Christmas came early here in the form of a big tip so I've got a shiny new Gigabyte EP45-UD3P and a Kingston SNV125-S2BD SSD on the way.

Even better, my sister's boyfriend has already offered to buy my old parts. So, once the case I ordered for him arrives, I'll put together a rig for him and just about break even on my upgrades

That really sucks. At least you already have a buyer for your old stuff and Santa is coming early.