Blurries ..again...I have no hair left!!!!!

[DaveB]

The first sign I got that my old 9700Pro was giving up the ghost were blocks of solid colour and it died the death of a thousand cuts shortly after. Fortunately.. I had an X700Pro loafing so that went in instead ;-) Your card isn't that old is it Tony??

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[tonymadge]

not really its an 8600GT about 9 months old so under warranty, its just a good time to upgrade it and then when its replaced sell it so that reduces the total outlay. I wonder if the GTS version would need more power though?? I guess my power supply should cope as I ran 2 x 6600GT cards in SLI without probs, mind you I would not know the symptoms of a struggling P/S unless it just shuts down??

[SkippyBing]

Errr.. what wattage is your power supply Tony?

[tonymadge]

Power supply
HEC-550-TD-PTE
Output: 550W

http://www.xtsit.com/browse/product_det ... p?id=10686

[DaveB]

Hi Tony..

I went all over Nvidia last night to try and find any a 'clue' as to what is a recommended psu wattage for a particular card and found nowt. There is a link to some sort of system tool but all I got off it was 'due to the large number of users e t c' :roll: I presume the rest of the blurb was going to tell me that the tool was unavailable but the page never actually got that far I'd have thought a good 550w would be good enough mate but hey..

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Kevin Farnell]

Just a thought, 'though I'm sure that you will have this set up correctly.
I have an nVidea 8800GT and this requires 2 power inputs. I'm not sure if the 8600 is the same, but worth checking.
Also, is the card on a dedicated output from the power supply (i.e. not shared with the motherboard etc).

Regards

Kevin

[DaveB]

Hi Kevin

I don't know if you've ever tried it but it's not possible to flash one of these cards up without 2 pwr connections in situ. They alarm.. give an onscreen warning and you get no further.

Had another dig on the Nvidia site and found this ref PSU's..

Q: What are the recommended power supplies for the NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS cards in single and multi-GPU configurations?
A: GeForce 8600 GTS requires a minimum 350W or greater system power supply for a single card or 450W or greater system power supply for SLI.

Also managed to find this bit again (found it yesterday then lost it!)..

Question
My NVIDIA based graphics card has an 8-pin power plug, but my power supply has 6-pin power plugs. Is it OK to use a 6-pin to 8-pin power adapter?

Answer
There are 2 types of 6-pin to 8-pin power adapters.



One type converts from two 6-pin plugs to a single 8-pin plug. These adapters could damage your computer and should not be used under any circumstances.



The second type converts a single 6-pin plug to a single 8-pin plug. NVIDIA also advises against its use since many power supplies will not provide sufficient current over the 6-pin power cable. However, this type of adaptor could potentially support normal operation as long as the customer checks their PSU manuals and ensures that its 6-pin PCI-E rails can handle the same current rating as an 8-pin power cable, which is 150 watts.



The recommended solution is to use a power supply with native 8-pin power cables.

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[tonymadge]

Thanks guys and especially Dave for finding out what I could not...if Mulder needs anew partner your the guy
Re the 8600GT it only has one power input from the board no additional ones
the new card I am getting will require an extra power input, the blurb says that the card comes with this power lead although after reading Davee's words I worry again, just after I was getting over Kylie's illness I have something new to trouble my sleeples days after night duties
this is the blurb of the new card cost me 65 notes... I hope to get 40 back when I sell on the replacement 8600gt??

ZOTAC GeForce 8600 GTS

Model ZT-86SE25P-FSL
Interface PCI Express x16
GPU GeForce 8600GTS
Core clock 675MHz
Memory Clock 2000MHz
Memory Size 512MB
Memory Type GDDR3
DirectX DirectX 10
Ports DVI 2
TV-Out HDTV / S-Video Out
Max Resolution 2560 x 1600
SLI Supported Yes
Windows Vista Certified for Windows Vista Yes
HDCP Ready Yes
Package Contents HDTV Cable
Power Cable
DVI to VGA/D-sub Adapter

[DaveB]

HI Tony..

I had a looksee at the new 'rashes' of graphics cards yesterday and I was left completely confused I think the old 1 or 2 plugs applies mate re starting.. eg, if it has 1 and you don't plug in.. it won't start and if it has two and you only insert 1.. it won't start either. You were obviously doing it right otherwise you'd not got as far as seeing blurries and as you say.. back in days of yore.. you ran 2 6600's in SLI mode (not that FS supported this fabulous feature) :roll:

Re pwr connections..
The ex-Rick Piper ATI HD2900XT I have sounds similar to the question about 6pin and 8pin. This fa-hookin monster has 2 connectors and neither match comes off the PSU :roll: However.. a 6pin can be used in an 8pin as the connector blocks are stepped (I found out later thanks to Rick). Considering your 8600GT only had 1.. I don't reckon the GTS will have two but you never know. I can't see a second on any shots of that card and in any case.. the spec says it comes with a pwr lead so you should be ok. Let's hope it sorts your problem out ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[tonymadge]

Thanks Dave I will hopefully be back running soon