Just how much power does a 66oogt need?

[kamaboko]

man, i'm really pissed off. i've waited the past week for my leadtek 6600gt card, and have had nothing but %$^&*( trying to keep it stable.

my rig:
antec sonata case 380w
epox nforce 3 ultra
amd 939 3200+
two hd's
dvd writer
1gb memory

i initially installed it with the latest drivers from nvidia. no luck. the computer would freeze, choke, gag, and completely crap out. i deleted those drivers and thought to try the drivers that came with the vid card. same thing.

do have to get a more powerful power supply??!?!?

 

[Therk]

380W should be fine

 

[Crescent13]

I use a 300W Bestec (noname brand) PSU with my 6600GT (PCI express), and I have 0 problems. Were you having theese problems before you bought this card? You ARE using AGP right? Just checking because somebody once thought they could fit a PCI-E card into a AGP slot by cutting the connectors, you didn't do that did you?

 

[kamaboko]

LOL. i know enough not to confuse AGP from PCI-E. i didn't have any of these problems prior to the card. i mean, everything went whacked after installing this card. even my hauppauge tv card wouldn't work.

 

[SolMiester]

Same specs as me, but i have xtra optical drive and only 350w p/s. You plugged the molex into the card right?

 

[kamaboko]

i initially used the supplied cable for power, then used a free one available from the case power supply. in both instances though, i made no difference.

 

[SolMiester]

You may want to check BIOS settings, disable agp fast write for a start, check aperture size should be half your available system ram. NF 3 chipset drivers, check for latest.

However that said and done, not all PSU are the same, my 350w maybe better than your 380w, if you are not radiing the drives, discount one and the optical drive and stress the card with a benchmark, like 3dmark03. If all good, you have your answer....
PS: what are your temps like?

 

[fibes]

Is it a refeburished 6600GT?

 

[dug777]

his psu should be fine if it's the one that came with the case, my truepower 380w (24A on the 12v rail and the only diff b/w the two is that the sonata case one has only one fan iirc) is rock solid with my 6600GT (570/1145) and tbred-b at 2.1ghz/1.8v, gb of ram, 2 optical drives, 1 HDD, 3 case fans, ASUS A7V8X mobo, Fusionlite DVB-T HDTV card...

does the problem only happen when you try to game?

 

[kamaboko]

prior to installing this card my computer was solid. no problems. now it's a living hell.

 

[SonicIce]

350w antec going strong with overclicked athlon 64

 

[jiffylube1024]

The AGP 6600GT has an external power connector if I'm not mistaken (AGP can't deliver as much power to a card as PCI-e can). Do you have that connected?

If so then I really don't know... It could be the card, it could be your PSU is dying. It could even be a motherboard problem -- make sure you have the latest BIOS on there.

 

[shinzwei]

Originally posted by: Crescent13
I use a 300W Bestec (noname brand) PSU with my 6600GT (PCI express), and I have 0 problems. Were you having theese problems before you bought this card? You ARE using AGP right? Just checking because somebody once thought they could fit a PCI-E card into a AGP slot by cutting the connectors, you didn't do that did you?

Haha I remember that one. It was a brand spanking new XFX 7800GTX. What an idiot

 

[mwmorph]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce6600gt-oc_3.html

 

[ScrewFace]

I'd recommend 2 480 watt Power supplies in SLI mode!:laugh:

 

[kamaboko]

well, i gave it a sporting try. this hunk of junk goes back. i flashed the bios, updated the chipset drivers, etc. this card freezes, gives me blue screen, and basically is pissing me off. lol! ATI here i come.

 

[Doctorweir]

Originally posted by: kamaboko
well, i gave it a sporting try. this hunk of junk goes back. i flashed the bios, updated the chipset drivers, etc. this card freezes, gives me blue screen, and basically is pissing me off. lol! ATI here i come.

What a shame...the 6600GTs are adorable...
Power consumption should be ~45Watts max in 3D action. Mine sucks up 60+ due to the *cough* little frequency enhancements...

 

[CraigRT]

My father has a system with a BFG 6600GT card... The old school 300W Antec power supply is seemingly not enough. He gets the nVidia power errors saying the card is not getting enough power and will downclock itself to run correctly, etc. I think the PSU is just due for a change.. It's gotta be 4 years old.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

What's the model # and rail current ratings for that PSU?
Quite a few 6600GTs come without a 6-pin PCI-E power connector, which means that they should be drawing <= 72W (as per the PCI-E spec).

I was running my rig (Valar) temporarily just fine using an old Enermax 350W (12V = 26A), but it depends, since your PSU might be heavier on the 3.3V and 5V rails rather than the 12V (which, IINM is what primarily supplies A64s and PCI-E cards).

 

[kamaboko]

OK, if it were power related, what would you suggest? I don't want to blow $300 on a power supply because it was rated the best in the world. Just looking for something with enough power to run the system and a 6600GT AGP card. Since I have a 380 watt power supply now, I'm thinking anything 450 and up should do.

 

[jonny13]

I have the same case and power supply and ran a 6800 Ultra for about 5 months. I also have 4 hard drives including one 15k scsi, so that power supply definitely isn't the issue. At least the overall power output isn't. You might have a bad power supply or something else that isn't working right.

 

[kamaboko]

at one point had had three hd's, an audigy z3, two dvd burners, and a hauppauge on this thing and never had a power issue. now i've only got the two drives and dvd burner. maybe the 6600gt was whacked.

 

[SolMiester]

BSOD, what was the original card you had?, did you completlely remove old drivers?. Lock-ups are either PSU related or driver unless the card is a lemon!. I wouldnt use the new driver though, alot of people are having issues with those.

 

[kamaboko]

I had a FX5200. Yep, removed all the drivers, and initially installed the most recent from Nvidia. I got the lock ups and so forth, so dumped those drivers and installed the one's that came on the cd. Again, got the old freezaroonie.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
My father has a system with a BFG 6600GT card... The old school 300W Antec power supply is seemingly not enough. He gets the nVidia power errors saying the card is not getting enough power and will downclock itself to run correctly, etc. I think the PSU is just due for a change.. It's gotta be 4 years old.

that sounds like he hasn't connected the external power connector