• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

PSU question - am I overloading mine?

J

Jeraden

Platinum Member
I've been pulling my hair out over some video corruption problems I'm having now that I upgraded to a 6600GT AGP in my htpc. Before I return the card, I'm wondering if it might be power supply related.

I have a 320W power supply (model TTGI TT300-SS):
link here - http://www.thetechlounge.com/r...php?directory=ttgi_psu

Off of it, I'm running a mobile barton @ 200x11
onboard sound
4 hard drives
1 optical drive
Wintv pvr250 card
fusion III gold card
6600GT AGP video card

Is that overkill? I had no problems with a vanilla Radeon 9600.

Here are my symptoms:
I don't use this for games, mostly as a media server, and HTPC. Things worked fine on my Radeon 9600. With the 6600GT, depending on what post-processing (via software) I'm doing on a DVD, I get these flashing pixels all over the screen (generally purple, blue, or white). If I pause the dvd, I can still see the pixels on the display - they stay on and in the same spot, so its the post-processing software which is introducing the corruption into the picture, not the video card. I'm wondering if the extra post-processing which uses more CPU power is running into power deficiencies since the 6600GT takes more power than the 9600 did. Are these symptoms something that inadequate power might cause? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Also, what wattage PSU do you think would be sufficient for that hardware?

Thanks!
 
The +12V rail is pretty weak at 15A. Nowadays you'll find PSUs with 12V amperages in the high 20's and even 30's, as the +12V rail is the most important at powering today's components.

Try running off of only one or two hard drives and see if it still happens.
 
15A @ 12V is 180 watts, there is no way your even close to that with that hardware. The PSU should be fine, if you want rule it out though follow iamtrout's advice and run with some of the HD's un-powerd.
 
Ok, tried again and powered down all the extra hard drives. Unfortunately the pixels/artifacts/sparklies are still there. So no clue whats going on. I tried to get a screenshot of them, but when I pause the movie and do a screen capture (with the dvd software), the pixels don't show up in the output. So that leads me to believe it really is the video card causing the problem, as the pixels seem to just be in the overlay.
 
After some more research, the problem is happening anytime I watch a dvd with software decoding. If I use DxVA, then it doesn't happen (as it offloads a lot of the processing to the video card). It turns out its my overclocking thats causing the problem. I'm guessing the additional load of the 6600GT card is causing my system in general to not get stable voltage to all the components. I was running a Mobile 2400+ at 200x11 @ 1.625V and never had any problems. If I switch it to 166x11, then all the pixellation is gone. I tried upping the vcore at 200x11 @ 1.65V, but that just makes it worse! 200x11 @ 1.7V won't even boot. Whats up with that? I tried Prime95 and the torture test fails in less than a minute no matter what I try, even at 166x11.

Looking at the voltages in the bios, all the voltages seem to be quite a bit off from their targets. Like the 3.3v was .2 off or soemthing, 12v was off by like .2 as well. Since this problem never occurred prior to the 6600GT, I can only assume it has to be power supply related. So I guess I'll go for a PSU upgrade, which I probably should do anyways.
 
Originally posted by: Jeraden
After some more research, the problem is happening anytime I watch a dvd with software decoding. If I use DxVA, then it doesn't happen (as it offloads a lot of the processing to the video card). It turns out its my overclocking thats causing the problem. I'm guessing the additional load of the 6600GT card is causing my system in general to not get stable voltage to all the components. I was running a Mobile 2400+ at 200x11 @ 1.625V and never had any problems. If I switch it to 166x11, then all the pixellation is gone. I tried upping the vcore at 200x11 @ 1.65V, but that just makes it worse! 200x11 @ 1.7V won't even boot. Whats up with that? I tried Prime95 and the torture test fails in less than a minute no matter what I try, even at 166x11.

Looking at the voltages in the bios, all the voltages seem to be quite a bit off from their targets. Like the 3.3v was .2 off or soemthing, 12v was off by like .2 as well. Since this problem never occurred prior to the 6600GT, I can only assume it has to be power supply related. So I guess I'll go for a PSU upgrade, which I probably should do anyways.
Click to expand...

What is your AGP running at when you overclock? If it's not 66MHZ you are out of spec and that?s most likely what?s causing your video problems, not your PSU.

BTW, BIOS voltage readings aren?t very reliable, either way yours seem alright.
 
I have a TTGI TT350-SS sitting on the shelf.

That power supply worked fine under normal conditions, but when I was overclocking a Barton processor using it, the rails would vary tremenously. I have had it parked on the shelf ever since. I had much better results with an Antec TP430 in it's place, although I think their quality has gone downhill over the last year or so. (along with their price)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top