My 8800gts may have just died :(... Hows my current setup for a 260?

Hi guys,

Tis a sad sad day as my 8800gts (320) started to display graphical error lines all over the place in and out of windows (even while in the bios, ofcourse). My card in windows is showing an error with the device. So to trouble shoot I'm going to pickup a GTX260 and see if it truly is the video card giving me problems and not my mobo/cpu dieing on me.

Setup:

Q9450 @ 3.4ghz (hope this is fast enough for the 260)
Asus p5b-e (old I know)
4gb Corsair
3x 250gb WD's
1x DVD
8800GTS (never OC'd.. now RIP)
X-FI music creative labs
520HX corsair PSU

I just thought I could do this fairly cheap just buying a new card, but now I just thought of another problem. The 520w PSU. I know deep down it should be at least a 650w, but I'm wondering if I can squeak by? ( I know what you guys are going to say)

I did notice one thing last nite I ran superPI 32m without fault. BUT when I ran prime95 (4 cores @ 100%) as soon as i hit TEST .. BOOM Video went to hell (lines all over and colors). All I can think of is that the load might be too much, but a 8800 on 520w corsair should be more than enough. Just odd that happened like that. Any ideas guys?

yeah sounds like ites defo the graphics card
i would jsut wait for teh gtx 260

if all else fauls
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=606658

520hx will have no prob... corsair's psu's are top notch... ur setup with a gtx 260 wont be anywhere north of 450w fully loaded.

As far as cpu, as long as your running 1680x1050 or greater you cpu really wont hold the gtx260 back much at all... hell my e6600 at 3.4ghz doesn't hold my gtx 260 back much at 1680x1050.

nd4spdbh2 said:

520hx will have no prob... corsair's psu's are top notch... ur setup with a gtx 260 wont be anywhere north of 450w fully loaded.

As far as cpu, as long as your running 1680x1050 or greater you cpu really wont hold the gtx260 back much at all... hell my e6600 at 3.4ghz doesn't hold my gtx 260 back much at 1680x1050.

Click to expand...

Oh! awesome man thanks a ton! I was sure it was just the vid card (been getting lock ups in games recently), but with this computer being almost 2yrs old now and been OC'd for that length I didn't wanna rule out the mobo. The only reason I questioned the PSU was that Prime95 test I did last night. I mean as soon as I hit TEST it scrambled. I brought the computer back to stock and of course all the graphical errors still remain while booting and in windows. I figure the 520w I have should be enough, but alot of doomsayers around the net say you better get at least a 650-850w.

Hummm, now this is interesting, the computer in my sig has a Antec 550 Watt PSU and I just orderd a BFG GTS250 that will be here by UPS today...

The PNY 8500GT was doing the same thing last Sunday so I looked around and the Egg had the best deal on the BFG.

I have a thread 'Ahhhh, did I mess up?' that I asked if I made a mistake with this card, normally I get PNY or ATI cards, this is the first one I had die on me and the PNY GTX270 was more $$.

Will let you know if I have any PSU problems.

If I do Fry's is about four blocks away...

As I posted in my 'Ahhhh, did I mess up?' thread the card is installed and it works, sorta.

The CPU under load increases 4* to 12*F, I opened the side of the case and have a small fan pushing fresh air in but the themp still goes up when under load.

And it will lock up when I play a couple of games.

I am working now so the load is light compared to a game and the temp is 96-99*F so that isn't too bad.

I guess I will invest in some more fans for the inside of the case this week.

Or go to a different card...

yea go with a 260, great card and your computer will be able to handle.