Geforce 9600 GT significant underperforming after..

[Daniiel]

Hey,

I've had my system for about 4 years (haha as you can tell by my graphics card) and I have had no problems, I could run all games up to Crysis 2 on maxed out settings (though Crysis 2 was slow at times). About a week ago I upgraded from 2 giges of ram to 4 giges and from windows xp to windows 7 64bit. Yesterday while I was making dinner my power supply (Antec BP500U) seemed to have died, when i walked in i heard a flickering, crackling noise coming from the power supply and the computer seemed to to have limited power flowing through it as the fans were all running very slowly and the computer was not able to boot at all. I pulled apart the psu and it was full of dust, I also tried to locate the source of the noise once its cover was off, it wasnt the fan it was coming from either the yellow thing in the middle of the first picture of the site below (the site didnt let me use there insert there picture), or the silver bar thing under it.
Uncomplicating the Complicated | Hardware Secrets
I don't really know if this was a result of adding new ram, installing windows 7, or simply a coincidence. About 3 hours before the psu crashed i installed these drivers withing rebooting "Intel(R) 4 Series Chipset Processor to I/O Controller - 2E30", i don't know if that could have been the cause of the problem either.

After i pulled apart the psu and tried to locate the problem, i switched it with another 550W psu i had in another computer, im not sure the brand of this psu as i didnt look and at the moment its orinentated such that i cant see the label, and i dont want to disturb it.

Once booted up with the new psu windows said it installed some drivers. A little later i went into bad company 2 to try play, for some reason it installed direct x and thought that it was the first time i had played it which was weird.
I loaded up a game, it loaded as fast as it used to but when i spawned the lag was horrendous, i literally couldnt turn haha.

Back to a week ago, I had tested bad company 2 right after i installed windows and the new ram and it was 100% on max settings. After i tested it i updated my bios, which gave me a "CMOS Check sum bad load default settings" and i never tested the game after that. So it could be due to the bios change, i've reflashed the bios with 2 different versions and i get the same thing, i try loading up the performance settings and also get the same thing.

I've also tried reinstalling a clean copy of the nvidia drivers, but uninstalling the graphics card, removing the drivers, then sweeping the drivers using driver sweeper and reinstalling the drivers again. No luck

Sorry this post is so long, i tried to be as detailed as i could incase one of the steps i made caused the error. I really dont want to have to buy a new PSU anddd a new graphics card, i going to get a new computer next year, so if i have to buy both components i may aswell just get it now.

Does anyone know why this lag could be happening? Could it be the problem with the bios? The power supply not being sufficient, even though its larger?

Another subtle detail i could add is that i used speedfan and Rivatuner to see gpu temperatures (before i noticed the lag) and on the load of rivatuner it asked afew things, and i unticked both boxes, but thats all, i don't think anything got touched.


Thanks alot in advance

edit

Just checked, the power supply im using at the moment is a Powercase phkpow550080mm

+3.3v =25A, +5v=20A +12V = 30A, -12V = 0.5A and +5VSB = 2.5A

 

[Joshatdot]

did you perform a clean install of 7? http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html
did you thoroughly check the RAM? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html?highlight=memtest86

 

[Daniiel]

Yea i formatted twice, same issue,

I noticed this power supply doesnt have a 6point power plug to fit into the back of my graphics card, so the obsence of the power cable might be causing the problem.

Though i recall not having my gpu plugged directly into the power supply and it running fine.

I haven't done the ram test, I'll give it a shot tomorow morning, but the ram seems to be working fine, if there was a bad ram chip what would the consiquences be? What would i notice differently?

I ordered a 4pin to 6pin adapter to see if the suplimentary power is the issue with the gpu.

I hope my graphics card hasnt broken and that my NEW ram isnt riddled with errors haha,

thanks

 

[Zepher]

did you perform a clean install of 7? http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html
did you thoroughly check the RAM? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html?highlight=memtest86

This question shouldn't be asked. He had XP and went to Win 7.

It's possible that the PSU may have damaged your video card which is why you are experiencing issues with it.

 

[Layback Bear]

Some times when a power supply goes snap,crackle,pop it will take other components in the computer with it, i.e. motherboard, video card ect.

 

[Daniiel]

Is there any thing I can do to test the video card?
Besides putting it in a different system (because at the moment all i have is this one temp power supply)

Hopefully when my power adapter arrives and i plug it in, it'll work normal again

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

You could have a weak power supply causing the problem....but I feel it's a damage issue....It's never good when a PSU dies like that....You could try swapping parts with another system...but again I feel that might be risking the other system by installing possibly damaged parts...

With out a plugged in 6 pin cable the video card will never work right in any case

 

[Daniiel]

It was really strange how I could play bad company 2 with maxed graphics without the gpu plugged in properly. I was thinking that maybe that caused the card to suck too much power straight from the motherboard which caused the motherboard output compenents of the power supply to strain. But there was no sign of melting between any of the plugs or any other kind of evidence of heat.

I guess I just have to wait for that adapter to arrive so I can plug in the graphics card properly and see if it works.

Worst case I have to get a new supply and graphics card,

I've been looking at Corsair TX 650 V2 and a GTX560 Ti,

Do you guys think that would work find with my mother board, ASRock G41M-LE, and leave me some room to upgrade my processor in the future to a Core 2 Quad Q9550? (that processor requires 40W more then my current and the graphics card requires 100W more)

 

[Sub Styler]

A geforce 9 series should run fine without supplementary power, the frazzled PSU could have damaged the mobo or the gpu. Adding the RAM may have been the tipping point for your PSU as more sticks = more power being drawn, but not a lot though.

And if the ram was bad your system would likely blue screen alot.

Your suggested components should work together nicely, may need some manual BIOS adjustment with a 1333FSB CPU and a max 1066FSB DDR2 (same as my setup).

To be sure on the power requirements use this link: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp for your exact setup

There is no point re-flashing your BIOS, keep the latest version and thats it, if you loose power during a flash your motherboard is screwed, The default checksum error is normal for a newly flashed system, you loose all stored bios data and settings when you flash, so the system has to learn it again, also you may need to adjust any settings that dont work as if it was "out of the box"

 

[Layback Bear]

Okay I'm going to do a little preaching about power supplies.
When a power supply goes bad it just stops working and you replace it, that's good. In some cases their are voltage and amp surges that can do all kinds of bad things. Think of what a power supply does. It converts the a/c power coming from the outlet 110 volts in my case to a max. of 12 volts. If it goes bad in a certain way it can supply many times the 12 volts required. This will destroy one or more things in your computer. No electronic thing will live with voltage surges. Some times the damage can be seen and sometimes not. When it can't be seen trial and error by replacing parts is the only way I know of testing. That is the reason I always recommend more power supply than you need. When you install a power supply that will get the job done you are taking a serious chance. When you work a power supply 80, 90 or even a 100% it gets hot and breaks down. I have a 850w power supply and I don't even come close to needing 850w according to all the charts. It runs cool the fan comes on slow speed when I'm humping this baby 100% with prime 95. When power supplies work some were around 50% to 60% of what they can do they produce less heat and a smoother volt and amp signal, (computers love that) and they last longer. Do not cheat yourself or your computer with a under powered or cheep power supply it could cost you a computer. Any power supply that comes with a store bought computer has the cheapest power supply that will get the computer out of warranty and no more. Look at my specs and you will see I practice what I preach.

 

[Daniiel]

Thanks Sub Styler that is the answer I have been looking for since my psu crashed.

Okay so now I can test if its my graphics card or mother board by plugging my card into a spare compute I have, but i'll be using the same power supply the 550W.
Could the different power supply cause the problem ?

So when i get home today i'll wire up the other mother board, plug in my graphics card and if it works my mother board is screwed, if it must be my card.

I'm worried ill buy a new card, plug it into my board and it'll break that too.

Are there any other ways I can test the mother board?

 

[Sub Styler]

Not really any way to test a board at home other than use it, if it under warranty you could try to RMA it (send back to manufacturer) and if it's good they will send it back, if it's bad you get a new one. If it's not under warranty they would charge you to test it. If you are worried about power supply strength, dont use too many hard disks, case fans, usb devices ETC when testing, just the essentials.

On one of my early PC's I had a 12v cigarette lighter from a car, this was an excellent way to kill a PSU by adding a sudden massive load to it.

 

[Daniiel]

Is it weird that I can use both the graphics card and the motherboard with the only issue of lag when playing a newish game?

Like i would imagine having more obvious problems if the motherboard or card were broken, but i have no experience ahah

 

[Layback Bear]

Some one here would be able to help you on your lag problem if you would fill in your system specs completely. Lower left corner of your post.

 

[Daniiel]

Sorry,

Fixed,

checked ram, ram's fine.

I spoke to the IT people at my uni today, he suggested that as i'm currently using a nonameish brand PSU, the continous wattage is not actually 550W, he said alot of the no name brands mark the max wattage and no the actual continuous wattage.

I got my 6pin power adapter just then, so im going to unplug everything i dont need from the power supply, plug the card in through the supplementary power port and see how it goes.

I can't find any info on my temp power supply online, it doesn't give a continous wattage number on the side which sucks



EDIT:

That fixed it, problem solved!

Now to buy a new PSU.

If i eventually upgrade to a GTX560 and a intel 2 quad q9550 (requires about 140 more power then my current sett up)

should i buy a Corsair TX-650 V2, or a 750 for 40 dollars more?

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

Always go for the most wattage (within budget/reason/quality)....gives you more options for future expansion....