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I think I went wrong somewhere

hardware graphics card problems

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#1
MereLyap

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Hello there everyone,

first off I just wanted to say how happy I am to have found this forum here; compared to my 'regular PC advisors' you seem a whole lot more professional (at least from the bits that I was able to read so far during my short time being here)!

But I suppose I shouldn't bore you with long backstories and get right into my teensy little problem: Several years ago I bought myself a PC that consisted out of the following pieces:

There was a bit more but I didn't think that the other parts would be important for this - if you still need to know about them please let me know.

Point is, that after having served me incredibly and astonishingly well for what felt like ages, it came the time when my system started to struggle with the newest games on the market, so I went ahead and asked around on how I could fix this. The message was clear, I apperantly just need to get a new graphics card, most of them suggested one from AMD, so I quickly pulled a model out, asked if it'd work with my current set-up, and they all agreed and said yes.

 

The replacement graphics card was namely a Radeon Sapphire HD 7790. And after having replaced and connected it to the power supply using a PCI-E plug it actually worked fine. Though about 1 1/2 weeks later I suddenly started to see my computer struggling again, something that I tried to fix by adding a set of two 1GB RAM memory modules from G.E.I.L. again. But it continued and then suddenly nothing worked anymore. - Switching the PC on resulted in a set of warning sounds, 1 long and 3 short ones, indicating a broken graphics card. I thought I was just unlucky and bought one that was almost broken from the beginning on, and so I quickly replaced it with the previous model, a Radeon Sapphire HD 7770.

 

But soon after the problems occured again, and started to get worse. Games that my GeForce 8800GT was able to run just fine were suddenly an ongoing struggle with the new one. Two broken graphic cards in a row seemed really strange to me and I was starting to fear that this isn't actually the fault of the graphic cards, and instead the one of the current setup of mine ... maybe it's the power supply or an incompatible mainboard ... I'm just not sure.

 

And that's why I came here, in hopes of an answer that could help me solve this mystery. And thank you to everyone who actually took the time to read all this ... I know I probably wrote way too much again; this could have been shorter. I'm sorry.


Edited by MereLyap, 08 April 2014 - 05:25 PM.

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#2
phillpower2

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:welcome:   MereLyap

 

 

Things of particular note from your OP;

 

The PSU had a 3 year warranty and so has well expired.

The PSU when independently tested only achieved a maximum 408W, source here

The Ram is only 1066MHz and so will bottleneck the newer faster video card.

 

You obviously know your way around the hardware but can I ask if you have tried the second video card slot.

 

An underpowered/weakening PSU may have been depriving the hardware of the clean and stable power that it needs so we should take a look at that first;

 

Download [url="http://www.filehippo...load_speedfan/"]Speedfan[/url] and install it. Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows. The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.
If you are running on a vista machine, please go to where you installed the program and run the program as administrator.

speedfan.png
(this is a screenshot from a vista machine)

 

To capture and post a screenshot;

 

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... then after typing in any response you have... click on browse...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on the upload button...then on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.
 

Depending on the results we may need to run further software for comparison http://www.cpuid.com.../hwmonitor.html

 

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.


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#3
MereLyap

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Ahh! Thank you for the warm welcome and the quick reply! It's really appreciated! :D

 

As for your first question: Yes I have tried the 'second' video card slot, though admittedly I was and still am not entirely sure, which one the secondary and which the prime video card slot is. So I 'just' tried both of them with both of the new graphic cards, but it always had the same outcome.

 

And I've made the screenshots, just like you instructed me, but I think I should mention that currently I'm having my old GeForce 8800 GT in the PC and I also removed the two additional 1GB RAM memory modules in fear of eventually breaking any of the newer hardware further.

Should I re-run the programs again with the HD 7770 installed?

 

Attached Thumbnails

  • FanSpeed&HWMonitorValues.jpg

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#4
phillpower2

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Thanks for the screenshots MereLyap which show that temps and voltages are all good  :thumbsup:

 

Please insert the HD 7770 in the video card slot that is the nearest to the CPU (pci-e x16 slot 1) do some gaming and then take a HWMonitor screenshot and attach it to your next reply, can you make sure that it is an expanded screenshot so that we get all of the information.

 

You are welcome btw  :)


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#5
iammykyl

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Gday.

Did you install extra memory and the new GPU at the same time?   Is the new RAM the exact Brand/type as the existing?

I see you removed the extra RAM and reinstalled the old GPU, computer now working.

If it runs with the 7770, I would suspect a RAM issue.


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#6
MereLyap

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Hey there again,

 

first off I'd like to apologize for taking so long to reply, but after I wrote my last answer I left for work, and there I obviously couldn't really test a game with the other graphics card installed. But I've done it now, and I've made the screenshots of the HWMonitor - they're again attached to this post.

 

 

Did you install extra memory and the new GPU at the same time?   Is the new RAM the exact Brand/type as the existing?

 

As for your questions, iammykyl: I've installed the new GPU (the HD 7790) first, and only after the problems occured I added the RAM memory modules (about 1 1/2 weeks later), which were of course from the same brand (namely G.E.I.L.), though these were the 1GB edition in contrast to the 2GB ones I had installed. I wasn't aware that this could be a problem. Does that mean I only also should have bought the 2GB ones again?

 

And as for it eventually working without the two 1GB memory modules: Well so far during the current playthrough everything seemed fine and no crash or bluescreen occured, though I've only played for like 20 minutes so far, just for the purpose of the screenshots requested by phillpower2...

Attached Thumbnails

  • HWMonitorValues.jpg

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#7
phillpower2

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Temps and voltages are all good  :thumbsup:

 

Regarding the Ram, as long as the two sticks of additional Ram that you inserted were the same Cas latency, speed** and voltage as the 2GB sticks you should have had no problem as long as 1: the Ram was good and 2: they were inserted in the correct slots on the MB, the two 2G sticks should have previously been inserted in slots A1 and A2 which according to the MB manual are the two nearest to the edge of the MB, this means that when you added the further two 1GB sticks they should have been inserted in slots B1 and B2 which are the two nearest to the CPU.

 

** If the two 1GB sticks were faster than the 2GB sticks they would be clocked backward to the same speed, if they were a slower speed they would cause stability issues, the Ram as we know was added after the initial problem with the HD 7790 video card and I was just offering some info on the Ram configuration  :)


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#8
MereLyap

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Hmm! That's interesting to know ... though unfortunaltey on the cases of all the memory modules there're no further information beside the maximum capacity, and so I'm not entirley sure what exact values in regards of Cas latency, speed and voltage they have. But as you said, this isn't the problem, since the complications with the HD 7790 were already there before their installation.

 

And well, if both temperature and voltage values are good, then what else could be the problem?

I mean on the packaging of the graphics card there was a note that it needs a power supply unit with 450W or greater ... since you showed me that my current one is only capable of producing 408W in its best stages, does that mean it's still the fault of the PSU and I should get a newer and better one? And if so what exactly should I get? Would be a successor of my current model be fine?


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#9
iammykyl

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Gday.

 

408 Watts, = 34 Amps combined rails, 17 Amps per rail but, if you are using the 6 pin plug? and other hardware is also drawing from that rail, there may not be quite enough Amps for the GPU.  Try using the 6 pin part of the 8 pin plug.


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#10
MereLyap

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Okay ... I have to be honest, I'm a bit confused, and I'm not sure what to do.

I've looked at the plugs I had for quite some time now and I didn't really find one with 8 pins that could be inserted into the "6-holes socket" of the graphics card... ó~ò


Edited by MereLyap, 11 April 2014 - 12:27 PM.

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#11
iammykyl

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Gday.

your PSU has a 6 pin PCI-E plug and a 6 + 2 = 8 pin PCI-E plug, you can detach the 2 pin part from the 8 pin plug, usually it slides off. you can then plug it into the 6 pin socket on the GPU. 

Please see image. 

 


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#12
iammykyl

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Gday.

Rather than edit the previous post.

 

The plug you want is the larger one of the two you were using for your original card.


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#13
MereLyap

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It took me some while, but I think I actually got it with that 8 pin plug.

And well I've tested it over the course of the past few days and unfortunaltey I came to the same conclusion; the crashes started to happen again. But thank you for the help anyway!

 

I suppose I should consider replacing my PSU now...


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#14
iammykyl

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Gday.

I think we should eliminate the RAM as a possible cause beforediciding it is the PSU,   First, try running in safe mode with networking.   use as many applications as possible to see if you can crash the system, 

 

Please download Mentest86+, this file, Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip) from, > http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Unzip and burn to a Bootable CD.

Test your original RAM, both sticks in the correct slots, run for 7 passes.


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