Concerned about my PSU - Corsair TX650

I just had a second GTX 260 go bad. The first one was two months ago, and now this one. The Rep I spoke to at BFG just happened to be the same guy I spoke to two months ago, and apparently he remembered me due to the fact I call at 4am. He told me the last card's problem was Fan failure. This card the fan stopped working as well, but it is intermittent. Now I went through all of the Nvidia drivers because I know of the Fan issues recently. The BFG guy suggested it might be a PSU problem. I checked the Molex connector when the fan failed and all of the legs had 12V of course, I can't check the AMPs because I don't have an Amp Clamp.

Realistically, should 650 watts cover SLI 260s and an i7? I know I have a high wattage Fan, but it does not run on high very often. Also the first GPU failed before I installed high AMP fans.

Any thoughts?

Brutal-Force said:

I just had a second GTX 260 go bad. The first one was two months ago, and now this one. The Rep I spoke to at BFG just happened to be the same guy I spoke to two months ago, and apparently he remembered me due to the fact I call at 4am. He told me the last card's problem was Fan failure. This card the fan stopped working as well, but it is intermittent. Now I went through all of the Nvidia drivers because I know of the Fan issues recently. The BFG guy suggested it might be a PSU problem. I checked the Molex connector when the fan failed and all of the legs had 12V of course, I can't check the AMPs because I don't have an Amp Clamp.

Realistically, should 650 watts cover SLI 260s and an i7? I know I have a high wattage Fan, but it does not run on high very often. Also the first GPU failed before I installed high AMP fans.

Any thoughts?

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That Corsair should handle it fine. I'm more inclined to think it's a BFG quality control problem or a motherboard problem. Those 260's aren't power hogs depending on your overclock (about 135 watts each stock).

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gpu-power-consumption-2010_3.html

Your fan wouldn't put a dent into power supply requirements by any means. Two alleged Corsair 650 failures points to another issue IMO.

Thanks for the response. I don't typically run the GTX 260s overclocked. And I too believe it is more of a BFG issue. I just wanted to get some opinions.

At first I thought it was those wonky drivers, the fan would intermittently quit working. Next thing I knew, the temps were like 30 degrees higher on one card than the other. I took it out and was going to RMA, then I figured I would reinstall it and downgrade the drivers.

It worked for a day, and then the screen when pink (this was the primary card). The fan was stopped and I couldn't turn it on with Precision, so I figured it went bad. I RMAed two days ago, so hopefully it was just a bad card.

RollingThunder said:

That Corsair should handle it fine. I'm more inclined to think it's a BFG quality control problem or a motherboard problem. Those 260's aren't power hogs depending on your overclock (about 135 watts each stock).

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gpu-power-consumption-2010_3.html

Your fan wouldn't put a dent into power supply requirements by any means. Two alleged Corsair 650 failures points to another issue IMO.

Click to expand...

+1. Heck even the gtx 480's fan is only 1.xA. The 260 isnt likely half that. That 650 should be just fine really. No DMM to check the voltages?

Lol ED, did you read my posts?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brutal-Force
I just had a second GTX 260 go bad. The first one was two months ago, and now this one. The Rep I spoke to at BFG just happened to be the same guy I spoke to two months ago, and apparently he remembered me due to the fact I call at 4am. He told me the last card's problem was Fan failure. This card the fan stopped working as well, but it is intermittent. Now I went through all of the Nvidia drivers because I know of the Fan issues recently. The BFG guy suggested it might be a PSU problem. I checked the Molex connector when the fan failed and all of the legs had 12V of course , I can't check the AMPs because I don't have an Amp Clamp.

Realistically, should 650 watts cover SLI 260s and an i7? I know I have a high wattage Fan, but it does not run on high very often. Also the first GPU failed before I installed high AMP fans.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I figured 650 is plenty especially from a Corsair. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't misjudging. I know how most of you feel about PSU calculators, but one of them suggested 688W (Minium 635W).

BFG tech supports suggesting someone else to blame?

Anyone suprised?

Are the failures happening pre or post fan on GPU dieing?

As an FYI, support for companies LOVE to blame everyone else. Until they email me the PDF showing that X IS the cause, I refuse to accept the excuses.

PNY was NOT happy with me when I got on them about 17 GPUs needing an RMA immediately after they were returned "tested, known good" from them.

No no, he wasn't suggesting they were to blame.

It was the second card in two months. Two different cards (from SLI set up) so he just wanted to make sure I was covering my bases, just like anyone else here would recommend on a part failure.

The fan failed, thats when the screen went pink. I am with you in thinking that a manufactuerer would try to place blame on somone else, but BFG is a lifetime warranty, no questions asked. He didn't insinuate, he merely asked me which card. While he was filling out the RMA, he asked if I had looked at my bios settings to make sure the power supply was still at 12V. He said if it was dropping below that, then there could be a problem.

BFG was awesome on my first RMA, and they are being great about this RMA, no complaints. I just wanted to double check my PSU to make sure I am in fact not under-rated. Since no one seems to accept online PSU calculators, then the only way was for me to add up the Watts. I come up with about 600 if everything is max overclocked, so I figured I was good, just asking for second opinions.

Again let me repeat, BFG was great in this RMA. I have no problems with BFG.