HD 4870 X2: PSU issue

[Chalky Emultion]

hi,

I bought an used HD 4870 X2 yesterday, and I'm unable to use it properly: Crossfire is not working on 3D applications.

To test if the card is broken, I used GPU Z and I started the render test to see if the second GPU is working.

During the test, the GPU 1 is 100% working, and after some seconds the GPU 2 start to work properly... but, when i start the test, I hear a strange "beep" incoming from the PSU, and the card has a strange noise (like something inside which won't work).

So, when I force the second GPU to work, it works but I hear PSU beep & GPU noise, when I set it to work in 3D games, it simply won't work...

What is the problem? I have a pc with:

Asus P5LP motherboard
Core 2 Duo E6300 @1.86 GHz
3GB DDR2 dual channel (4 sticks)
Radeon HD 4870 X2 @800/1000

PSU: Nilox LC8600BTX 600W

 

[bobkn]

If I understand things correctly, the 4870X2 requires one each 6 and 8 pin PCI-E power connectors. That suggests that it needs something less than 300W. (One site had the actual peak at 270W.)

What's the spec for current at +12V for your Nilox LC8600BTX PSU? I haven't been able to find specs on line. (That's not a good sign.) If it is less than 40A, it probably needs to be replaced with a better unit. (Not just a higher power rating, but a better make. Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, etc.)

 

[Chalky Emultion]

+12 V1 and V2 is 22A

I also noticed that when I'm forcing the card to run Crossfire in tests, all my system fans run slower.
And, I noticed that using AMD Overdrive to downclock my GPU core and memory, my PSU's beep becomes more "silent" and the GPU's strange noise is less noticeable...

 

[Erick Aguilar]

+12 V1 and V2 is 22A

I also noticed that when I'm forcing the card to run Crossfire in tests, all my system fans run slower.
And, I noticed that using AMD Overdrive to downclock my GPU core and memory, my PSU's beep becomes more "silent" and the GPU's strange noise is less noticeable...

600w and 22amps. Looool.

Get a reputable PSU before you fry your system or take one of the cards out.

 

[bobkn]

+12 V1 and V2 is 22A

I also noticed that when I'm forcing the card to run Crossfire in tests, all my system fans run slower.
And, I noticed that using AMD Overdrive to downclock my GPU core and memory, my PSU's beep becomes more "silent" and the GPU's strange noise is less noticeable...

Is that 22A each on two separate 12V rails?

That sould be OK in principle. However, the symptoms your PC is displaying suggests that upgrading the PSU should be a high priority.

A few years ago, some PSUs were wired in such a way that it was easy to overload one of the 12V rails, even though the sum of the ratings suggested that the PSU would be more than adequate to power the PC. I wonder if something like that is happening here?

 

[Chalky Emultion]

+12 V1 and V2 is 22A

I also noticed that when I'm forcing the card to run Crossfire in tests, all my system fans run slower.
And, I noticed that using AMD Overdrive to downclock my GPU core and memory, my PSU's beep becomes more "silent" and the GPU's strange noise is less noticeable...

600w and 22amps. Looool.

Get a reputable PSU before you fry your system or take one of the cards out.

I'm here to solve a problem, not to be criticised.
This system worked fine for years with several graphics cards (Ati X1650, Nvidia 9400 GT, Nvidia GTS 450, and finally Ati HD 4870 X2). The PSU worked fine for years too, now I'm asking why it is giving me problems.

And before starting writing, read the title of my thread: "Radeon HD 4870 X2"... It is a single card with 2 GPUs.

 

[Chalky Emultion]

+12 V1 and V2 is 22A

I also noticed that when I'm forcing the card to run Crossfire in tests, all my system fans run slower.
And, I noticed that using AMD Overdrive to downclock my GPU core and memory, my PSU's beep becomes more "silent" and the GPU's strange noise is less noticeable...

Is that 22A each on two separate 12V rails?

That sould be OK in principle. However, the symptoms your PC is displaying suggests that upgrading the PSU should be a high priority.

A few years ago, some PSUs were wired in such a way that it was easy to overload one of the 12V rails, even though the sum of the ratings suggested that the PSU would be more than adequate to power the PC. I wonder if something like that is happening here?

Now I'll post a pic

 

[Chalky Emultion]

http://i46.tinypic.com/34erslw.jpg

sorry for bad quality :huh:

 

[Erick Aguilar]

+12 V1 and V2 is 22A

I also noticed that when I'm forcing the card to run Crossfire in tests, all my system fans run slower.
And, I noticed that using AMD Overdrive to downclock my GPU core and memory, my PSU's beep becomes more "silent" and the GPU's strange noise is less noticeable...

600w and 22amps. Looool.

Get a reputable PSU before you fry your system or take one of the cards out.

I'm here to solve a problem, not to be criticised.
This system worked fine for years with several graphics cards (Ati X1650, Nvidia 9400 GT, Nvidia GTS 450, and finally Ati HD 4870 X2). The PSU worked fine for years too, now I'm asking why it is giving me problems.

And before starting writing, read the title of my thread: "Radeon HD 4870 X2"... It is a single card with 2 GPUs.

You are not being criticised, you are being recommended to get a better PSU if your first one which is not so good is starting to give you bad symptoms.

And all those cards you have noticed do not have a high Wattage, or Amp requirements anyway.

If you take it a criticism, your bad, if you take it a recommendation, change it.

 

[Chalky Emultion]

600w and 22amps. Looool.

Get a reputable PSU before you fry your system or take one of the cards out.

I'm here to solve a problem, not to be criticised.
This system worked fine for years with several graphics cards (Ati X1650, Nvidia 9400 GT, Nvidia GTS 450, and finally Ati HD 4870 X2). The PSU worked fine for years too, now I'm asking why it is giving me problems.

And before starting writing, read the title of my thread: "Radeon HD 4870 X2"... It is a single card with 2 GPUs.

You are not being criticised, you are being recommended to get a better PSU if your first one which is not so good is starting to give you bad symptoms.

And all those cards you have noticed do not have a high Wattage, or Amp requirements anyway.

If you take it a criticism, your bad, if you take it a recommendation, change it.

...were you reccomending me a new PSU? bobkn was...
So, according to my PSU specs (see the pic i postes), according strange noises from GPU and PSU, and according with the fact that I'm using only 1 of the 2 cores of the graphics cards, do I need a better PSU?
If yes, how much Watt and Amp i need?

 

[Erick Aguilar]

I'm here to solve a problem, not to be criticised.
This system worked fine for years with several graphics cards (Ati X1650, Nvidia 9400 GT, Nvidia GTS 450, and finally Ati HD 4870 X2). The PSU worked fine for years too, now I'm asking why it is giving me problems.

And before starting writing, read the title of my thread: "Radeon HD 4870 X2"... It is a single card with 2 GPUs.

You are not being criticised, you are being recommended to get a better PSU if your first one which is not so good is starting to give you bad symptoms.

And all those cards you have noticed do not have a high Wattage, or Amp requirements anyway.

If you take it a criticism, your bad, if you take it a recommendation, change it.

...were you reccomending me a new PSU? bobkn was...
So, according to my PSU specs (see the pic i postes), according strange noises from GPU and PSU, and according with the fact that I'm using only 1 of the 2 cores of the graphics cards, do I need a better PSU?
If yes, how much Watt and Amp i need?

Just this alone makes it obvious that you do.

 

[stormy13]

Location and how much can you spend? Maybe even post a couple of links to sites available to you.

A good quality 600-700W is more than enough.

 

[Chalky Emultion]

Italy, max 70 euros...

 

[Erick Aguilar]

Italy, max 70 euros...

If you can give out just a little more :

ALIMENTATORE MODULARE 500W - CORSAIR - CP-9020005-EU

 

[Chalky Emultion]

Italy, max 70 euros...

If you can give out just a little more :

ALIMENTATORE MODULARE 500W - CORSAIR - CP-9020005-EU

This is a 500W PSU...
Ati recommends a 600-650W PSU for a HD 4870 x2

 

[Erick Aguilar]

Italy, max 70 euros...

If you can give out just a little more :

ALIMENTATORE MODULARE 500W - CORSAIR - CP-9020005-EU

This is a 500W PSU...
Ati recommends a 600-650W PSU for a HD 4870 x2

Ati recommends a 600 ot 650W psu in case customers do not use silver/gold/bronze certified PSU's.

This power source is bronze certified, has more than enough amps for your card, AND is corsair/seasonic. It is miles better than your current PSU.

Not to mention graphic cards NEVER use what their manufacterer recommends for the PSU, it's not like just the card will use 650W, that would make the computer useless. Get a PSU Wattage Calculator and put in your specs so you get an idea of how much wattage you will actually require. I'm suspecting it won't even come close to 400

 

[Chalky Emultion]

If you can give out just a little more :

ALIMENTATORE MODULARE 500W - CORSAIR - CP-9020005-EU

This is a 500W PSU...
Ati recommends a 600-650W PSU for a HD 4870 x2

Ati recommends a 600 ot 650W psu in case customers do not use silver/gold/bronze certified PSU's.

This power source is bronze certified, has more than enough amps for your card, AND is corsair/seasonic. It is miles better than your current PSU.

Not to mention graphic cards NEVER use what their manufacterer recommends for the PSU, it's not like just the card will use 650W, that would make the computer useless. Get a PSU Wattage Calculator and put in your specs so you get an idea of how much wattage you will actually require. I'm suspecting it won't even come close to 400

466 W, already checked.
But count that I'm going to overclock the GPU a bit.
And, at 100% load, the GPU will use 400W..!

 

[Erick Aguilar]

This is a 500W PSU...
Ati recommends a 600-650W PSU for a HD 4870 x2

Ati recommends a 600 ot 650W psu in case customers do not use silver/gold/bronze certified PSU's.

This power source is bronze certified, has more than enough amps for your card, AND is corsair/seasonic. It is miles better than your current PSU.

Not to mention graphic cards NEVER use what their manufacterer recommends for the PSU, it's not like just the card will use 650W, that would make the computer useless. Get a PSU Wattage Calculator and put in your specs so you get an idea of how much wattage you will actually require. I'm suspecting it won't even come close to 400

466 W, already checked.
But count that I'm going to overclock the GPU a bit.
And, at 100% load, the GPU will use 400W..!

True, I keep forgetting it's a card with two cores.
Well then you -will- have to spend more than 100 euro most likely for a good PSU if you don't want to risk it.

 

[bobkn]

http://i46.tinypic.com/34erslw.jpg

sorry for bad quality :huh:

Damn. Our firewall blocks that site.

(Later, from home.) Two +12V rails, 22A on each. Seems like it ought to have been OK. Too bad that it isn't.

I'm not sure what to recommend. Antec seems to be about the least expensive among the well-regarded PSU suppliers.

This one:

http://www.antec.com/product.php?id=Mjc0NQ==

may run a bit outside your range (Amazon.it has it for about 77 Euros), but it'd do the job. It only has two 6+2 pin PCI-E power connectors, so it's not a candidate for SLI with two monster cards, but it's not bad.

There must be a dozen choices worth considering, though. Antec, Corsair, Seasonic are the popular choices among enthusiasts at the moment. My own PSU is from PC Power & Cooling, which is now owned by OCZ.

 

[Chalky Emultion]

Ok, I'll search for a new PSU... The one which you provided sounds good, thank you

So it's sure that the problem because programs use only 1 graphics core is my PSU? Because the second core loads only with GPU-Z render test (it sounds like I'm forcing Crossfire to work)... when I play games, core 1 is loaded a lot (60-70%, sometimes 95-100%), and core 2 is ALWAYS loaded 0%...
Right now, performance in games is a little bit better than when I was using my "old" GTS 450... All I want is to be able to play games using both HD 4870 X2's GPUs.

Oh, and I noticed another thing... In GPU-Z, Ati Crossfire is enabled, but... It shows "sideport off"?...