530w wont power GeForce GTX 460 768MB and Core i3?

[Valhalla1]

I built a pc for a friend, Core i3 4gb ram, GeForce GTX 460 768MB

I used a new raidmax 530w power supply. After building it, it powered up fine and I installed windows 7. I was testing it out and watched a youtube video and suddenly the box powered itself off and wouldn't power back up, nothing happened when pushing the power button

I tried an older power supply and it wouldn't even try to power it up either.

I put the raidmax 530w back in and tried unplugging the 2 PCI-E power plugs from the video card, and that allowed the PC to attempt to power up, but it wouldn't boot - just gave beeps indicating video problem.

so it seems that the video card is pulling too much power to allow the pc to boot, unless I unplug the pci-e power. But if this is the case why did it let me install windows 7 and look like everything was fine, and now I get nothing at all

 

[RavenSEAL]

Sounds like you got a bad PSU.

 

[ZipSpeed]

I had an older 500W Enermax that power my GTX 460 with no issues. Almost sounds like your PSU was borderline failing and it finally took the plunge. Pop in a reliable 650W to give you some future headroom.

 

[llee]

i've powered a gtx 460 1GB and a core i7-860 with a 450w. i think you have a bad psu

 

[BoomerD]

I'd guess that the problem wasn't the wattage of the PSU, it was the quality of the PSU.

Raidmax tend to be pretty crappy units.

 

[Valhalla1]

ok sounds like I shouldn't have gone for the cheaper unit

 

[Termie]

I power an almost identical system on a 400w PSU. I would note that I had some trouble booting due to my DDR2 settings once I installed my GTX460. On an off chance that you have the same issue, make sure the BIOS settings of the memory are providing the right voltage/timings for the memory. With your DDR3 system, however, it's less likely to be the issue. If you can't even get into the BIOS, it's pretty obviously not something you can easily address. But you said you tried another PSU and that didn't work either. One thing to try is booting with one stick of ram.

 

[tomoyo]

Raidmax is crap. 530w is plenty for a non-crap psu.

 

[Valhalla1]

I power an almost identical system on a 400w PSU. I would note that I had some trouble booting due to my DDR2 settings once I installed my GTX460. On an off chance that you have the same issue, make sure the BIOS settings of the memory are providing the right voltage/timings for the memory. With your DDR3 system, however, it's less likely to be the issue. If you can't even get into the BIOS, it's pretty obviously not something you can easily address. But you said you tried another PSU and that didn't work either. One thing to try is booting with one stick of ram.

interesting. you're right, I can't get into the bios yet, but I could before this problem appeared out of nowhere. I'll try one stick and see what happens, also going to try a different case, if there might have been some weirdness about the power button (seems unlikely?)

worst case I'll buy an expensive power supply

 

[Termie]

interesting. you're right, I can't get into the bios yet, but I could before this problem appeared out of nowhere. I'll try one stick and see what happens, also going to try a different case, if there might have been some weirdness about the power button (seems unlikely?)

worst case I'll buy an expensive power supply

Doesn't need to be expensive, just better. An Antec 520 was recently on sale for $40 for instance.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Some 80+ PSU`s are very good.