GTX260 Video Artifacting/BSODs

Newegg.com - StarTech 6" LP4 to 6 pin PCI Express Video Card Power Adapter Model LP4PCIEXADAP - Cables

Should I try and use one of those in the link, along with one of my supplied PCIe connectors?

Well my buddy had that type of adapter. Just installed it in place of one of my PCIe power connectors, and when i initially hit the power button, the pc turned on, then a few seconds later it lost power. I pushed the power button again and it went without a hitch. I will test this config in gaming and normal computing and see how it does

Well started by trying out some CoDMW2 and this is what happened

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXe7F19maAA

So i decided to hop back in the game and give it another go.. game froze, then screen went black then BOOM.... BSOD and it read....

"Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed"

smarteyeball said:

Is this the PSU?

Newegg.com - Rosewill RX630-S-B 630W ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

The 12v rails are getting close to a 260's max amp load draw, but it should be okay. (Amps are more important than wattage)

What 12v rail do you have your card connected to?

Just remember that normally the hardwired 4/8 pin CPU power and 24 pin motherboard power connectors are generally part of the 12v1 rail. Perhaps try connecting the card to to a different 12v rail to further 'evenly distribute' the load. ie connect the card to 12v2, 12v3 etc

If memtest with the correct timings / voltages are passing okay, and the power distribution is even - then unfortunately you could indeed be looking at a faulty card after all.

Hey Smarteye, or anyone, could you help me understand the "rails" in a PSU. And possibly tell me what wires from my PSU are connected to a certain rail? It would be appreciated, thanks

PSU's distribute power over rail(s) - some have one rail, others branch off rails, although there is only one physical rail. If there are no branch offs, then the first rail is responsible for stability. ATX specifications list the performance qualities of these rails and the acceptable spikes. If there is a sag or spike your PC may crash. Each PSU is different - mine has 4 12V rails each rated @ 18A - the 1st one has control over drivers, the second the PCI-Express slots, and the third and fourth otehr connections. It is rated @ 650w and is 80+ Bronze Certified - Xigmatek NRP-MC651.

Frostmourne said:

PSU's distribute power over rail(s) - some have one rail, others branch off rails, although there is only one physical rail. If there are no branch offs, then the first rail is responsible for stability. ATX specifications list the performance qualities of these rails and the acceptable spikes. If there is a sag or spike your PC may crash. Each PSU is different - mine has 4 12V rails each rated @ 18A - the 1st one has control over drivers, the second the PCI-Express slots, and the third and fourth otehr connections. It is rated @ 650w and is 80+ Bronze Certified - Xigmatek NRP-MC651.

My psu... Newegg.com - Rosewill Green Series RG630-2 630W Continuous @40°C,80 PLUS Certified,ATX12V v2.3,SLI Ready,CrossFire Ready,Active PFC"Compatible with Core i7, i5" Power Supply - Power Supplies

+12V1@20A,+12V2@20A,+12V3@20A, +12V4@20A

And there is 1 PCIe 6-pin connector and 1 PCIe 8/6-pin connector. Are those on seperate rails? So that my video card is receiving 40A?

My Video card... Newegg.com - BFG Tech BFGEGTX260MC896OCDE GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

525W PCI Express-compliant system power supply with a combined 12V current rating of 38A or more

Is that sufficient?

I am going to RMA my card but still wondering if I should ditch my current PSU for one with a single 60A 12V Rail

Yes, I would think so. Look at the specs on the Rosewill PS. It supplies 20A on each of the 12v rails. So if the GTX260 tries to pull more than 20A it may fail. But keep in mind that the requirements mentioned for the video card in the ad is counting the power needs of all the other components of a typical system (using a QX9650 processor). You really need to know how many amps the video card alone will draw at maximum throttle. A PS with 60A on a single rail would simplify the calculations, and in your case may be a good way to go. And you need to determine that your power requirements are good before you move on to higher diagnostics because a problematic power supply can cause all kinds of issues that can be confused as OS and driver failures.
I've been a hardware guy for many years (not much of a software guy) and can tell you that for these modern systems the power supply, in addition to being nearly the most important component in the system, is the most unforgiving in terms of quality of build to performance delivered. There are many schools of thought, but I subscribe to the 1.5 school: calculate the power needs of the original system and get a supply that supplies 1.5 times that wattage. Power supply ratings that are given by manufacturers can be exaggerated, and even well made supplies lose power as they get older, so the 1.5 rule is supposed to cover those contingencies (without having to think too hard!). It also allows for system expansion in the future.
Take a look at other peoples system specs and note what power supply they are using if they are using a high end video card (nVidia 200's, ATI 5's).

My PSU + 4890 is perfectly stable.

TVeblen said:

Yes, I would think so. Look at the specs on the Rosewill PS. It supplies 20A on each of the 12v rails. So if the GTX260 tries to pull more than 20A it may fail. But keep in mind that the requirements mentioned for the video card in the ad is counting the power needs of all the other components of a typical system (using a QX9650 processor). You really need to know how many amps the video card alone will draw at maximum throttle. A PS with 60A on a single rail would simplify the calculations, and in your case may be a good way to go. And you need to determine that your power requirements are good before you move on to higher diagnostics because a problematic power supply can cause all kinds of issues that can be confused as OS and driver failures.
I've been a hardware guy for many years (not much of a software guy) and can tell you that for these modern systems the power supply, in addition to being nearly the most important component in the system, is the most unforgiving in terms of quality of build to performance delivered. There are many schools of thought, but I subscribe to the 1.5 school: calculate the power needs of the original system and get a supply that supplies 1.5 times that wattage. Power supply ratings that are given by manufacturers can be exaggerated, and even well made supplies lose power as they get older, so the 1.5 rule is supposed to cover those contingencies (without having to think too hard!). It also allows for system expansion in the future.
Take a look at other peoples system specs and note what power supply they are using if they are using a high end video card (nVidia 200's, ATI 5's).

Thanks for the info TVeblen, like i said before, my PSU had 2 PCIe connectors. Not knowing much about PSUs and the way RAILS work, could you possibly tell me if they are each on a seperate rail, so that my PSU would supply 40A to my vid card?

Note that all the parts in your system draw a certain amount of power, according to this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...er,2122-6.html

your GTX 260 draws less than 16A - and you will also need to add in other parts. However, have you cleaned out the case/psu for dust?

Run Memtest86+, defragged before chkdsk and also tested a gaming benchmark to rule out other hardware and stress the card? Try the Heaven benchmark from Unigine.