Artefacts + crash = power problem?

[Anjow]

New card has arrived. Same problem as the old one - fan won't start. Skip down for more.

As you might have read in my other thread, I bought an XFX 8800GTX today.

When I got it home I realised that I did have 2x PCI-E connectors, but they were on the same wire from the PSU - which the XFX leaflet says won't do. My PSU is some Thermaltake 550W one, can't remember the name (could have been purepower, toughpower or something).

As it stands, I'm running the card on both of those, since the shops were closed and I couldn't get hold of a 4-pin molex to PCI-E adaptor. I have tried playing Oblivion and FEAR - both of which work initially, but develop artefacts after a short while. The HUD, text and mouse pointer get all blocky and messed up on Oblivion, and on FEAR everything turned bright pink.

Then, after I tried to quit Oblivion, my screens went to 640x480 and I got a dialogue box saying that nv4_disp.dll or something similar was not functioning properly and that I should reboot.

I am assuming this is because of my running it without the proper power setup - can confirm whether this is likely to be the case? They say it is okay if you just use 2 separate wires from the PSU, do you think that my using a separate wire with a PCI-E adaptor on it will solve the problem?

Thanks.

[Deadman93723]

Sounds like a driver problem. What is the amperage on your 12v rails?

[Anjow]

I've no idea. How would I find out?

I'm using the 97.44 drivers off the nvidia site. Edit: I have also tried uninstalling those and using the 96.89 drivers that came with the card. I did not experience the same artefacts, but the game did still show the occasional flash of mangled geometry and it crashed after 5 minutes, freezing my machine.

It might also be worth mentioning that none of my system is overclocked in any way.

[Anjow]

I monitored my temperature using RivaTuner, it is 68 degrees C idling on windows desktop, I then ran Oblivion - it went up to 80 degrees then after a while I saw the blocky artefacts around non-3D stuff like the HUD, text and mouse pointer. At this point my machine froze and I had to reset. Is that temperature too high?

[DeepScience]

Prob try the powersupplies thread. My thoughts would be that anything by Thermaltake won't do.

The different lines to the psu (if you had a decent one) would be needed if it was twin rails. Single rail psus with a high load capacity wouldn't care where the wires were plugged.

[Anjow]

If this entire PSU won't do then it's a bit stupid that they don't put requirements on the box about which PSU brands are compatible...

[Anjow]

Upon opening the case it appears that the fan is not starting. It moves a tiny bit upon power up, as though its trying to start, but does not spin. Would that explain why it works when idling (it manages to cool itself passively until load)?

[stratcatprowlin]

Would that explain why it works when idling (it manages to cool itself passively until load)?
Yep,time to return that bad boy:(

[Anjow]

Ahh well, at least my old card is back in there and working now, so no damage done. Except I have to wait for the new one.

[Anjow]

New card arrived. Same problem - fan doesn't start.

What should I do? Do you think they are both faulty? Do you think it is a problem on my end? I don't have a clue what to do next.

[Maviryk]

Do you have both connecters plugged into the PSU yet?

[Anjow]

I have tried with both PCI-E connectors running from the same wire plugged into the card. I have also tried one PCI-E connector from that wire and one 4-pin molex to PCI-E converter plugged into a separate wire from the PSU. The PCI-E adaptor takes 2 4-pin molex plugs, so I tried with each coming from a different PSU wire.

[Maviryk]

We need to find out what your PSU is.

Give us the name and number that's listend on the sticker on the side of the PSU.

[Anjow]

It's a Thermaltake TR2 550W.

[Maviryk]

Hmm... looks like your PSU should be ok, it's made by either HEC/Compucase or Sirtec.

Try this, boot up, use rivatuner to set your 2d and 3d fanspeed to 100% manually and see if that fixes the problem.

[Anjow]

I put my 6800GT back in and tried to boot, now it doesn't get past "Loading your personal settings" except in safe mode :(

I will try your suggestion when I have fixed this problem. God damn I need a second machine for redundancy... This is on my mum's laptop which I don't have use of when I'm at uni in term time.

[Maviryk]

Is your CPU OCed? Might want to turn that off.

[Anjow]

No, it isn't. No overclocking whatsoever, anywhere in my system.

[Anjow]

Okay, now I have a new PSU - an OCZ Game X Stream 700W. I plugged it all in, with the card powered by two separate PCI-E plugs on separate wires from the PSU and the fan STILL doesn't start.

So, did I spend over £100 on a PSU I didn't need? Did I send my card back with a genuine defect, only to get ANOTHER card with EXACTLY THE SAME defect? By god I am asking for a refund this time and NOT getting another XFX card.

Can anyone comment?

[DeepScience]

If the fan isn't going then overheating certainly explains the initial functioning followed by artifacts and crashing. In my first post, before you mentioned the fan on the video card, I thought the overheating was happening inside in the power supply.

If the fan on the video card isn't going that is not a good sign.
Try the video card in a friends computer and send it back if it still doesnt work.
Keep the new PSU.
Yes, try a different brand of vid card.

[Anjow]

If I am going to get another card, what should it be? I need to get it from here since it is within driving distance:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/productlister.aspx?GroupID=1880

I don't really know what brands are okay. Bear in mind that in getting the BFG I'd be paying £70 more for essentially the same thing (I got this XFX one for £380 in an offer).