BSOD coz HD5770 needs 40A from PSU. True?

[BadOmen]

Lots of HD5770 users are getting BSOD due to some "ati2dvag" in an infinite loop. Well, I'm one of them. And not only BSOD, but random crashes, usually before windows is fully loaded (xp 32-bits).

Among the many explanations I've found for the problem, someone mentioned that the 5770 needs 40A from the PSU.

I just bought an Antec CP-850, and according to its manual (http://www.antec.com/pdf/manuals/CP850_Manual_EN.pdf), page 3, I don't see anything getting close to 40A on that table. 30 was the maximum, and under 5V.

I'm kinda lost here, maybe I'm getting it wrong from the manual. Does that really mean that the 5770 won't work with the CP-850?
Or is it just a Catalyst mess?

I'm using the non-modular PCIe connector (the one that cannot be removed from the PSU).

any help is greatly appreciated
thanks

 

[jtisgeek]

I ran mine on a antec 500 and worked fine I think you have something else going on. All the benchmarks show power usage for a single card is under 450 with a i7.

 

[faxon]

5770 shouldnt draw more than 150w by itself, probably closer to 115w. you could run 2 of them off a TP-550, probably 4 off a CP-850, including the rest of the system as well

 

[BadOmen]

Thanks and sorry for the lack of electricity knowledge, but wouldn't the amperage be measured differently than the wattage?

The Antec manual has only one reference to amperage, in a table like this:
Output Voltage - Maximum Load
+3.3V - 24A
+5V - 30A
+12V1 - 22A
+12V2 - 22A
+12V3 - 25A
+12V4 - 25A
–12V - 0.6A
+5VSB - 3A

 

[NoQuarter]

Thanks and sorry for the lack of electricity knowledge, but wouldn't the amperage be measured differently than the wattage?

The Antec manual has only one reference to amperage, in a table like this:
Output Voltage - Maximum Load
+3.3V - 24A
+5V - 30A
+12V1 - 22A
+12V2 - 22A
+12V3 - 25A
+12V4 - 25A
–12V - 0.6A
+5VSB - 3A

Not really, wattage is just volts * amps, so 12V * 22A = 264W on each of the first 2 rails, and 300W on each of the last 2 rails.

Interesting thing about multi-rail PSU's is they can't actually put out the total amount of amperage listed at once, for example your PSU probably has another number covering all 4 rails that is like 700W or so, while if you add up the 4 rails individually it's 1128W. So the 4 rails could each put out 22-25A (264-300W) as long as the total isn't over 58A (700W).

Anyway, the 5770 draws 61.2W peak 3d load, which is 5.1A.

 

[v8envy]

PCIe standard means 75 watts from the motherboard, 150 watts from an 8 pin PCIe connector, 75 watts from a 6 pin.

The 5770 has one 6 pin connector, so the most it can possibly draw from it is 75 watts or ( 75w / 12v ) = 6.25A. The other 75 watts from the board should not be coming from the same rail. In reality the card uses less power than that.

The problem is most likely elsewhere.

 

[OCGuy]

I'm going with the crowd here, it is not your PSU.

 

[BadOmen]

Not really, wattage is just volts * amps, so 12V * 22A = 264W on each of the first 2 rails, and 300W on each of the last 2 rails.

Interesting thing about multi-rail PSU's is they can't actually put out the total amount of amperage listed at once, for example your PSU probably has another number covering all 4 rails that is like 700W or so, while if you add up the 4 rails individually it's 1128W. So the 4 rails could each put out 22-25A (264-300W) as long as the total isn't over 58A (700W).

Anyway, the 5770 draws 61.2W peak 3d load, which is 5.1A.

In terms of wattage, the only number I get is the 850W. The one that gives the psu its name. So, that limit would be 70A, I suppose.

Still, one single rail won't make it to 40A. And you say it actually needs 5A? Well, that`s a long way to 40. I don`t know where this 40A story came from, but it's all over.

The amperage thing scared me because the green leds on top of the 5770 card are behaving oddly. Sometimes all three light up and then one by one they turn off, sometimes two light up and the third never gets a steady light, it keeps fluctuating.

Would it be better if I used a separated rail for the PCI card only? Like the +12V4 mentioned in the table?

EDIT: This one came from v8envy while I was writing:
"The other 75 watts from the board should not be coming from the same rail."

So, I guess a separated rail for the graphics card would be interesting. Right now, its 6-pin connector is hardwired and using the same rail as the motherboard connectors.

 

[betasub]

Did you miss the part where imported_noquarter told you that wattage = volts x amps (that is, potential difference x current)?

For powering the graphics card, you should only be interested in the 12V rail(s). The CP-850 has four, any one of which can easily power the 5770. As it is, it will be drawing some power through the 12V supply to the motherboard, plus the 12V supply direct through the 6-pin PCIe power connector.

The red LED (flickering?) may indicate a loose connection. Check card seating and power connection.

 

[Jesusthewererabbit]

I run my 5770, along with an Athlon II 620, 3 HDs, and a DVD burner off of a Corsair 400w with absolutely no problems.

 

[NoQuarter]

In terms of wattage, the only number I get is the 850W. The one that gives the psu its name. So, that limit would be 70A, I suppose.

Yea I didn't see it in the manual you linked but it's always on the sticker:

"12v1 + 12v2 + 12v3 + 12v4 Max Load: 768W"

The rest of the wattage is locked up in the 3.3V and 5V supply.

Still, one single rail won't make it to 40A. And you say it actually needs 5A? Well, that`s a long way to 40. I don`t know where this 40A story came from, but it's all over.

40A is probably AMD's recommendation which is always a very very conservative estimate (to accommodate 10 year old $20 crap PSU's) and for the entire system not just the video card.

So, I guess a separated rail for the graphics card would be interesting. Right now, its 6-pin connector is hardwired and using the same rail as the motherboard connectors.

Yea in a multi-rail PSU I'd put the video card on its own rail. Also unless it's physically on the same cable you can't determine what rail it's on just from the outside, you can make some guesses but it can be wired up however they wanted on the inside and generally a lot of stuff is on the same rail even if they are separate cables.

edit: oh, your manual says PCI-e blue stripe is rail 3, PCI-e green stripe is rail 4. The top 2 modular plugs are rail 1, and all the built in cables are rail 2, so it's already on a dedicated rail.

 

[bryanW1995]

nothing to do with the rated output characteristics of the psu. however, you might have a DEFECTIVE psu, gpu, ram, mobo, etc. Start troubleshooting.

 

[NoQuarter]

nothing to do with the rated output characteristics of the psu. however, you might have a DEFECTIVE psu, gpu, ram, mobo, etc. Start troubleshooting.

Yea definitely nothing wrong with the PSU specs sorry for going down the tangent

 

[SlowSpyder]

You can probably run 3 5770's with that PSU.

Wipe the drive, reinstall Windows and go from there if you haven't and it's not a new build.

 

[NoQuarter]

Oh run a memtest too.. www.memtest.org

 

[deimos3428]

Lots of HD5770 users are getting BSOD due to some "ati2dvag" in an infinite loop. Well, I'm one of them. And not only BSOD, but random crashes, usually before windows is fully loaded (xp 32-bits).

Sounds like a driver issue to me. If you recently installed new drivers, enter safe mode and uninstall them, reboot, then reinstall the old ones.

 

[BadOmen]

The red LED (flickering?) may indicate a loose connection. Check card seating and power connection.

The LEDs are all green, there is no red, and yes, the third one flickers. Its light gets quite faint. Then the third and second go off and only the first LED stays on. Funny enough, I only noticed that after installing Catalyst 10.2.

You can probably run 3 5770's with that PSU.
Wipe the drive, reinstall Windows and go from there if you haven't and it's not a new build.

It's a new build, but I'll do it. Even in Safe Mode it crashed when I tried to remove the drivers.

Oh run a memtest too.. www.memtest.org

Will do.

Yea definitely nothing wrong with the PSU specs sorry for going down the tangent

It's ok, that was quite enlightening.

 

[BadOmen]

Ok, so I gave the graphics card a dedicated rail (installed one more modular cable with just one PCIe connector on it).

Turns out that I didn't need to do anything else (although I still want to see that memtest working). Turned the computer on and everything was there, clean as a whistle.

The curious thing is that now there's only one green LED on at the top of the card. Sometimes the second one lights up for a second. The third is constantly off. Those LEDs are really puzzling me, I wonder what they mean.

Thanks everybody for the great help!! Much appreciated.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Wow that is a weird problem. I can't believe changing around the wiring solved your issues, but I'm glad it's fixed!