Display driver warning me of insufficient power to graphics card

[Teeeej]

Here is my system spec:

AMD (Venice) Athlon 64Bit 3200+
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe S939 NF4 SLI ATX
XFX GeForce 6800 GT PCI-E 256MB
Corsair (VS512MB400) 512MB (2)
Maxtor 6L200M0 Diamondmax 10 200GB 7200rpm Serial ATA150
Antec Sonata Midi Tower in Piano Black Trupower 380W PSU
NEC ND3540A 16x DVD±RW Dual Layer Internal IDE

I'm having problems booting up sometimes and now my nVidia panel is telling me on start-up that there is a problem with adequate power. I used a Power Supply requirement calculator before I built this machine and it says I need 271W maximum. Why is my 380W PSU not doing the job? Should I get another one?

 

[smthmlk]

the PSU's in those original sonata's are garbage. 2 friends of mine have em: one blew out with less of a load then you're putting on yours, the other is on the verge (blows extremely hot air, sometimes smells like burning rubber, and again, has less of a load on it than you have [9800pro/athlon-xp both stock, 1 hd/1optical). I'd invest in a new psu, and probably not another antec. A 400w Fortron/Seasonic/PCP&C or an OCZ 420w [powerstream]/450w[modstream] should handle your system just fine.

 

[orangat]

Sounds like you have a flaky ps.

 

[Kyanzes]

You must be kidding that you put a 380W PSU under that config. Sounds a bit tight, don't you think? If I were you I would 'throw away' that calculator and buy a nice 500W> PSU instead.

 

[shoRunner]

are you sure you have the graphics card plugged into the PSU via molex connector, a 380w psu should power your system unless its faulty.

 

[Teeeej]

"are you sure you have the graphics card plugged into the PSU via molex connector"

Umm.. I plugged my graphics card into my PCI-e slot.

What is this molex connector thing? This is the first I've built a PC :\

 

[Teeeej]

Originally posted by: smthmlk
the PSU's in those original sonata's are garbage. 2 friends of mine have em: one blew out with less of a load then you're putting on yours, the other is on the verge (blows extremely hot air, sometimes smells like burning rubber, and again, has less of a load on it than you have [9800pro/athlon-xp both stock, 1 hd/1optical). I'd invest in a new psu, and probably not another antec. A 400w Fortron/Seasonic/PCP&C or an OCZ 420w [powerstream]/450w[modstream] should handle your system just fine.

Cool, thanks. I'll probably do that.

 

[Kyanzes]

Originally posted by: Teeeej
"are you sure you have the graphics card plugged into the PSU via molex connector"

Umm.. I plugged my graphics card into my PCI-e slot.

What is this molex connector thing? This is the first I've built a PC :\

You have connected one of the cables coming out of the PSU to the GT, haven't you?

 

[Teeeej]

No... haha. Okay I'm turning off and doing that just now. What an idiot.

 

[Teeeej]

HMmm my PSU doesn't have the connector I need coming out of it. That's probably why I didn't realise it needed one. I'll definitely need a new PSU then. Hrrmph.

 

[KayKay]

the video card box should have the adapter in it. connect 2 pin molex's into it and plug the 6 pin PCI-E one into the video card

 

[Teeeej]

Ah.. thanks KayKay.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I looked at the newegg link for the XFX 6800gt pci-e and it didn't have the cable in their pictures. I hope they just forgot to take a picture of it and there's one in your box.

 

[LED]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I looked at the newegg link for the XFX 6800gt pci-e and it didn't have the cable in their pictures. I hope they just forgot to take a picture of it and there's one in your box.

My Refurbed didn't have one but...lucky my PSU did!

 

[orangat]

Even if you forgot to plug in the pcie power cable the old 380W trupowers only have 18A on the 12V rail. Which still should be sufficient but you should change it if you upgrade your cpu to something more power hungry.

 

[Tarrant64]

Sounds like you probably just forgot to connect that other power cord thingy they were talking about. I know I would have to remind my friends about that(newer video cards requiring second power cord). 380w should be fine for now however(unless faulty). However, like mentioned, I would eventually look forward to purchasing a better quality PS, 420+ should do ya good. Or just save up for a nice PC Power and Cooling(is that right?). I'm looking at those now.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: smthmlk
the PSU's in those original sonata's are garbage. 2 friends of mine have em: one blew out with less of a load then you're putting on yours, the other is on the verge (blows extremely hot air, sometimes smells like burning rubber, and again, has less of a load on it than you have [9800pro/athlon-xp both stock, 1 hd/1optical). I'd invest in a new psu, and probably not another antec. A 400w Fortron/Seasonic/PCP&C or an OCZ 420w [powerstream]/450w[modstream] should handle your system just fine.

Why post a question like this when the answer is so obvious. Get a New Power Supply.

Here are the best power supplies on the market. Bar None.

 

[IeraseU]

The Antec should supply enough juice to power that system, the only issue is him forgetting to plug the power supply into the video card. If the cable is not included with the card, just pick one up at your compusa/bestbuy/whatever...should be less then $5. Easy, inexpensive solution.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Googer

Originally posted by: smthmlk
the PSU's in those original sonata's are garbage. 2 friends of mine have em: one blew out with less of a load then you're putting on yours, the other is on the verge (blows extremely hot air, sometimes smells like burning rubber, and again, has less of a load on it than you have [9800pro/athlon-xp both stock, 1 hd/1optical). I'd invest in a new psu, and probably not another antec. A 400w Fortron/Seasonic/PCP&C or an OCZ 420w [powerstream]/450w[modstream] should handle your system just fine.

Why post a question like this when the answer is so obvious. Get a New Power Supply.

Here are the best power supplies on the market. Bar None.

What if the "obvious" answer is to plug in the power cable to the card?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Like I said a billion times. While the wattage MAY be sufficient, your rails might not be. Check your 12V rails. Stick a multimeter in. Are the voltages sagging below the 12V mark a lot? If so you definitely need a new PSU. Sure you could just get a new 430W, but just make sure its got ROCK SOLID rails.

 

[feelingshorter]

btw...using your video card when it doesnt have enough power will kill it. I had a 6600GT that HAD enough power yet it kept getting that error and it ended up dying. Luckily i haev a BFG so life time warranty.

 

[Teeeej]

okay so my system is pretty unstable.. the cpu usage is constantly up at 70~100% whenever I'm downloading something (ie writing to disk). i also have a wireless usb mouse and keyboard and they constantly pause and jerk around. would this be caused by poor power supply?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

It's not poor. It's just not enough. Go grab another one. A quality one....

 

[egkenny]

I just looked at a picture of this video card. It has a standard 4-pin power connector on it. This is the same as on IDE hard drives and CD/DVD drives. What is so hard about plugging power into it? I forgot to plug a power connector into this connector one time and got the same error message.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: egkenny
I just looked at a picture of this video card. It has a standard 4-pin power connector on it. This is the same as on IDE hard drives and CD/DVD drives. What is so hard about plugging power into it? I forgot to plug a power connector into this connector one time and got the same error message.

Doesn't look like a molex to me
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150091