New Build: GTX 460 + EA650: No Video

[noky]

Parts:

ASUS M4N98TD EVO
Antec EA650
eVGA GTX 460 (EE D5) 1GB
2x2GB Generic DDR3 RAM
WD 1TB SATA HDD
Samsung SATA DVD-RW

The important parts are (to me) the PSU and the GPU and have been bolded.

The EA650 is rated at 25 amps on the +12v3 rail (which are the two PCI-E connectors -- 6-pin and 6+2 pin)

The GTX 460 (I just read on the box) requires a minimum +12v amperage of 24.

Do the easy math and the card should work right? Well it doesn't. When I turn the box on, I get a single long beep that loops and no video.

Monitor works -- tested with my laptop.

The motherboard is reporting no errors via the speakers and everything sounds like it's running smoothly.

No on board video so I can't actually check. I don't have a multimeter to test if the rail is actually putting out the 25 amps.

The question is: where do I go from here?

I wanted to upgrade the build to 2x460s but clearly that's not possible with this PSU (I should've done better research). So the plan is to purchase a Cooler Master GX-750 (single rail with ~60 amps on the +12v).

Is declaring the PSU insufficient and believing in the GPU the best course of action? It's definitely the cheapest and funds are limited. The current PSU clearly works but just possibly isn't putting out enough power.

Are there situations where the card would issue the insufficient power beep but actually just be a faulty card? Wouldn't the card register as sufficient power but just fail to display (or display with heavy artifacts or BSOD) if the card was faulty?

 

[Campy]

I think one long beep indicates a problem with RAM. Does the computer work fine with another graphics card? Try reseating your ram sticks and just using one stick at a time just to rule out the ram. Obviously if you could test with another GC that would be a great way of telling whether it's the GC causing problems or not.

At first glance i don't think the PSU should be a problem and you shouldn't fret about the rails on the PSU, mine has 3 rails but is put together so that it can draw power across multiple rails if it needs to. Don't know about your PSU but i've read before that the rail stuff is mostly hype. Ofcourse the overall 12V amps your PSU can put out is important regardless of my previous statement. BTW What CPU do you have?
I think you should be fine on SLI aswell if your 650W is a quality PSU.

 

[Homerboy]

single long beep 99% of the time is RAM
Reseat. Try 1 stick at a time, in multiple slots.
I'll bet heavy on RAM

 

[Zap]

When I turn the box on, I get a single long beep that loops and no video.

I third the previous two. Single long BEEEEEEEEP (repeating or not) is a RAM issue. Can be faulty RAM, can be RAM incompatible with motherboard, can be motherboard unable to set itself to RAM's SPD/EPP.

So the plan is to purchase a Cooler Master GX-750

No.

Read jonnyGURU's review

Coolermaster has a decent 600 watt unit here. The unit does pretty well for stability and efficiency, doesn't get very loud, and... what? It's a 750 watt unit?

Facepalm.

Efficiency plummeted at higher loads, at higher temperatures unit would shut down.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've got an EA650, it powers a 45w AMD AM2 dual-core, and FOUR 9600GSO (96SP) cards, all overclocked slightly. I've got another one, powering a Q6600 @ 3.6, and two HD4850 reference cards (not overclocked).

 

[noky]

It was the RAM, took one stick out and reseated it, booted up just fine. I feel like an idiot -- thank you guys.

And thank you for the use case VirtualLarry, looks like this will be sufficient for a GTX 460 SLI setup.

You guys have been awesome.

 

[VirtualLarry]

And thank you for the use case VirtualLarry, looks like this will be sufficient for a GTX 460 SLI setup.

You guys have been awesome.

Only if you don't overclock the video cards at all. EA650 has 25A * 12V = 300W on the rail for the video cards. The GTX460 takes 140-150W at stock. So two of those would work (get some PCI-E splitters, that's what I did). But if you overclock, according to a thread in the video forum, they take an ADDITIONAL 100W. Each.