Graphic Cards Can a PSU damage a GFX card?

I

imoen

Contributor
Hi everyone. I am making an appeal to all the young and bright minds here: please help me with this problem im having.

I'm an occasional gamer, and bought a mid-range XFX 7600GS Extreme Edition which comes with passive cooling and clocks of 500/900MHz. Seems good enough for most RPG games.

It has been working fine for the past month, right up until last night. Was playing Oblivion and suddenly things went haywire. First, my computer froze for a few seconds completely. Then it would resume play for about a second and then pause again. Repeat. Repeat. All the while the HDD light would remain on and whirring occasionally.

Then I reboot my machine and got back into Windows XP. Then loaded Oblivion and once again the same problem. This time I looked more closely to see red, green and blue pixels while the comp was frozen. Then again I rebooted my comp, only this time I started getting black lines on the "Windows XP Professional" loading screen. After a few secs the comp would flash to BSOD and instantly reboot. It happens everytime I try now.

I recently learned about PSU requirements and to my dismay, I've been running this card on a 350W cheapo PSU with only 12A in the 12V rail. *Yes, shame on me, I know* :@

Can a PSU actually cause damage to my card? I'm a little worried now. :( Please do help me. Thank you.

imoen
 
Yes a faulty psu can damage not only gfx card,but everything with it like mobo,cpu,memory etc.
But here in ur case its an underpowered psu for ur system.Buy a good and branded psu.Stability is a must and must have very less fluctuations in the voltages.
Also it wud be nice if u mention ur total rig.
Also if possible check out and post the voltages on the 12v,3.3v and the 5v rail using everest(Lavalys - Comprehensive IT Security and Management)
The 350w is very much insufficient as far as ur gfx card is concerned.
Get a powersafe 500w or a vantec ion2 460w at the least.
 
Thanks for the valuable input. Can you recommend some good PSUs? And also what kind of money would I be looking at spending? I guess my budget would be betwen Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 3,000 give or take.
 
first thing is how does the 350w psu made oblivion run.........i have heard its the worst coded game...............
and yup psu can damage any component connected to it.......by passing insane vtg due to fluctuation
 
get a cooler master or antec one's they all are worth it
try the smart power series from antec or the extreme series from cooler master
also dnt look less than 450wtts
i myself have a coolermaster 600wts costed me around 4.5k
they blow in air so ypur temp within the system is reduced
c for yourself
Cooler Master Co., Ltd
AntecIndia
 
Hi. Thanks again everyone. This is my config:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice)
Asus A8N-VM
1x512MB DDR 400 (Dynaheir, or something like that)
XFX Geforce 7600GS Extreme Edition (500/900)
80GB SATA Hitachi 7200 RPM
Zinx 350W PSU (about to be replaced)

I will check out PowerSafe and Antec. Would prefer an well established brand such as Coolermaster if it doesn't cost so much more.

~imoen
 
For ur config even powersafe 400w wud be enuf i think.Shud cost u abt 1400/-
has arnd 17A on 12v rail.
But to be little future proof,
Buy powersafe 500w Or vantec ion2 460w(solid performance)
 
hey
dude if you are lucky the psu din't damage the card or someting else .Stability is the word for the kind of machines ,i would also recomend the cooler master and antec power series the 450 W cooler master would be avaliable for about Rs2500 or below that it's stable :cool2:
 
Coolermaster 450W for Rs. 2,500 sounds very reasonable. Any idea where I can get one in Pune? Even Mumbai would be good, though I'm not sure where you are. Are Zebronics PSUs any good? Found a Powersafe 400W model with a 20A on the 12V rail. That seems to be good too.

~imoen
 
Hi! Just an update on the graphics card. I was able to swap out my current PSU for another cheapie 350W (same 12A/12V ratings, beefier 3.3/5V amperages). But this time I was at least able to get into Windows XP without artifacts. However when I tried to take a run at 3DMark 03, I started getting artifacts again.

But the fact that I was able to get into Windows cleanly without problems suggests that the card is fine and the artifacts only come when the GFX load is high. Can someone validate these findings? I appreciate it.

Will be getting a new PSU tomorrow. Hope that solves the problem for good.

~imoen
 
^^its again an underpowered psu ..stop experimenting with those cheap psu's.

get a powersafe 500W psu for around 2.5k ...contact darklord on this forum and he will give u the details where u can buy it in pune.
 
:) :) U can also try the smartpower series from antec...anyways I would suggest you to choose from coolermaster or antec. The vantec ion is also quite good.. Stop experimenting with cheap psus...u may damage ur card for good.
 
Really appreciate all the support, guys. You are all the greatest!!! :)

Found a place where they sell Powersafe 400W and am on the lookout for Coolermaster.

Wanted to wish you guys a great Indepence Day. Jai Hind!!!

~imoen
 
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