Not enough Power?

[HomeyFoos]

Ok, I just built my HTPC. I opted for the 7600GT and had hopes of SLi'ing it with a second. However, when I boot to windows, I get a message that says...

NVIDIA System Sentinel is reporting that the NVIDIA-Powered Graphics card is not receiving sufficient power. To protect your hardware from potential damage or causing a potential system lockup, the graphics processor has lowered it's performance to a level that allows continued safe operations. When I go into CoolBits it says I'm clocked at 550/790. It's supposed to run at 580/1500. Also, when I try to detect optimal settings it attempts, the screen goes black for a sec, and it flashes back as if nothing had happened. I'm using the drivers released this morning 84.21.

The options are OK and Troubleshoot. When I click troubleshoot, it reads...

'To remedy this problem, ensure that your NVIDIA graphics card in your system has the supplemenatl power connector attatched. This connection is required and your system may be damaged if it is not in place. Please refer to your owners manulal for complete inspection instructions. Also, the power supply in your computer must be able to support ample power to power all of the attatched peripherals in addition to this extra connection.'

The problem is, this card doesn't have a supplemental power connector. There is a note ontop of the card in red print that says 'THIS BOX DOES NOT CONTAIN AN ADDITIONAL POWER SUPPLY CABLE - THIS CARD DOES NOT REQUIRE AN EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY'

So here are the specs...

A64 3000+ Venice S754
EPoX 8NPA SLi
1 gig GSkill Pc3200
eVGA 7600GT CO (not superclocked, the lesser of the 2)
XFi-Xtreme Music
Hauppage WinTV150
Lian-Li V800a case
Antec SmartPower 2.0 500w PSU

I would think a 500w PSU would be enough for this system. Am I wrong? Do I need more power? I haven't used this PSU in about a month but it was powering the machine in my sig and I would think that would suck quite a bit more juice than the HTPC listed above.

I'm probably going to take this apart and put it back together and see if I'm missing anything, but in the meantime, if anyone has expereienced this I would love to hear from you.

 

[moonboy403]

the power supply is plenty enough

try testing the 7600 gt in the other rig of yours

 

[hans030390]

doesn't the 7600gt need to be plugged in directly to the psu? did you do that?

EDIT: I dont think they need to be plugged into the PSU, so nevermind

 

[Bobthelost]

That PSU should be more than enough, that's a rather low powered system anyways. I don't think the 7600GT has a seperate power connection does it? The power draw should be within the motherboard's ability to provide. Could be that you're overloading the single 12V rail that's being used for everything but the HDs, but unless the PSU is providing notably less than it's rated current that shouldn't be a factor.

Make sure its' plugged in firmly, if that doesnt' change anything then remove the PCI cards and try again. If none of the above help then we'll have to think again.