HD 4870 X2: PSU issue

Dorado said:

Erick Aguilar said:

Dorado said:

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.

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.

Italy, max 70 euros...

Dorado said:

Italy, max 70 euros...

If you can give out just a little more :

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

Erick Aguilar said:

Dorado said:

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

Dorado said:

Erick Aguilar said:

Dorado said:

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

Erick Aguilar said:

Dorado said:

Erick Aguilar said:

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..!

Dorado said:

Erick Aguilar said:

Dorado said:

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.

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"?...