Trouble getting a stable gaming PC

[Wenus23]

I recently purchased another Gtx 470, bringing my system to Gtx 470 in SLI. I have an i7 920 and 1000w psu on an Evga X58. (Windows 7)

My Cpu was overclocked to ~3.7 and pretty stable, i also overclocked the gpu to a ~655/850mhz roughly on a single Gtx 470.

But now that i added my second Gx 470 i cant figure out why im getting continuous shutdowns when gaming. Sometimes it takes seconds, sometimes it takes minutes. Ive lowered my overclock with no luck, added voltages to cpu, and the bridges. When it shuts down too, i dont get a blue screen...is there a way to find error reporting somewhere?

I've managed to make it through a few benchmarks, so i know SLI is working, and the difference is obvious. But still the shutdowns are frustrating.

Is the 1000w psu enough? i also have 2 x 240mm fans and 3 x 120mm fans, HD, CDROM, Nvidia 3d Vision....but i think thats it for power.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Xg32]

keeping this short, my bet is on your power supply if everything else is stable without the second vid card, fermi cards can draw up to 250W each at full load, assuming your psu has 80% efficiency the cards are already a good chunk of your max power draw.

google psu calculator to make sure.

 

[RaistlinZ]

PSU should be more than adequate. Maybe it's a driver issue?

 

[jvroig]

What 1000W PSU are you using? An overclocked i7 and two overclocked 470's definitely draws some power, but I can't say it exceeds 1000W, so I am more concerned with the brand and model of your 1000W PSU.

You can also try removing one of the 470's and trying to game from there:
1.) Remove the new 470. With only the old 470 in there, try to see if you can play a game fine.
2.) If it works ok, remove the old 470, swap in the new 470. Using only the new 470, see if you can play a game fine.

With that testing, you can identify if somehow you've just become unstable at the wrong time (coincided with the purchase - this is if even with the single old 470 you still can't play anything), or if the new card is defective.

 

[Wenus23]

It's a coolmax psu. I think it was a 100 bucks or so. I don't think the new card is defective cause I have completed some synthetic tests.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It's a coolmax psu.

LOL. There's your problem. Low-tier PSUs don't put out as much as their label states. For example, a DiabloTek "1000W" PSU was tested, and could barely put out 500W continuous.

Get an Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, or perhaps a couple of others. But if you stick to top-tier PSU makers, you wouldn't have troubles.

 

[jvroig]

I don't know that brand, but 100 bucks for a 1000W PSU does not give me much confidence at all.

So that we can remove any doubt about the ability of your PSU, please post in the Power Supplies forum that you have a Coolmax 1000W PSU and an overclocked i7 and two 470's that were also previously overclocked. The experts there are better suited to tell you if your PSU can actually supply good clean power for the load your high-end equipment is chewing.

EDIT: VirtualLarry beat me to it :awe:

 

[Termie]

This is likely what he has: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817159101. Currently $80 after rebate.

It's rated at 90 amps spread across 4 12-volt rails. Sounds like you might have a load imbalance, even if the power supply could theoretically handle it. That being said, it probably can't. Coolmax isn't the best brand for really pushing a gaming rig. Those 12-volt specs sounds too high to believe on a PSU in this price range.

 

[jvroig]

I have a feeling this thread will end up as another lesson in "PSU cheapskating". If you spend hundreds of dollars on your CPU, mobo, and dual high-end video cards, it just doesn't make sense at all to cheap out on the PSU. The quality of the PSU will not only affect whether they will run at all, but the quality of the power it outputs can determine whether or not the longevity of the components are shortened or not.

 

[Termie]

I have a feeling this thread will end up as another lesson in "PSU cheapskating". If you spend hundreds of dollars on your CPU, mobo, and dual high-end video cards, it just doesn't make sense at all to cheap out on the PSU. The quality of the PSU will not only affect whether they will run at all, but the quality of the power it outputs can determine whether or not the longevity of the components are shortened or not.

True, but you can't blame the OP for trying. He probably bought the CoolMax before he considered going SLI, and it was probably sufficient for one GTX470.

So, you try, you fail (sometimes). I think it's time to step up to something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009. Reasonably priced, accurately rated (at 850w), and sufficient for the OP's system (I'm betting, unless others disagree).

 

[jvroig]

True, but you can't blame the OP for trying. He probably bought the CoolMax before he considered going SLI, and it was probably sufficient for one GTX470.

Right, thanks for pointing that out, that's possible of course.

I immediately assume people mean to SLI/Crossfire whenever 1000W PSUs are bought, because it just makes sense, but you are right that it may not be the case.


No offense meant to the OP. Buying a better PSU is the best course of action here, you should really browse around the Power Supplies forum or make a thread there about your specific scenario and ask for alternative PSU brands and models.

 

[Xg32]

i'd stick with corsair hx series or the antec truepower. personally perfer the corsair hx cause one of the antec psu's died on me after a year.

OP still needs to calculate the total power usage on his rig to know whether he needs the 1000W or the 1200W though.

 

[jvroig]

Agreed. Calculating it through traditional means (comparing power draw specs) can be difficult, due to overclocking the processor and both video cards. It's not just the cards here that draw power, even high-end processors can draw power like crazy when overclocked and pumped with enough vcore. Overclocking both the processor and the two SLI'd cards could mean anything from 200 - 400W more than if everything was at stock.

I suppose that leaves using the kill-a-watt to calculate the total power usage - but then again, if CoolMax does not publish an accurate efficiency rating for their PSUs, that's also out of the question.

The best and simplest way would really be to post this on the Power Supplies forum. People who have solved (or can solve) the OP's problems, and are experts in power supply considerations and PSU models, are all there, and I have rarely seen most of those people post here. If this doesn't get posted over at their forums, they might never see this thread and never get to offer needed help.

 

[CurseTheSky]

For your system, I recommend a quality 750-850W PSU. The Corsair HX850, AX850, or something similar should work. Brands that you can trust include Corsair, Seasonic, Antec, BFG, XFX, PC Power & Cooling, and a few others.

CoolerMaster, OCZ, and Thermaltake are hit and miss. They have some good units and some junk. I generally stay away unless the unit has been positively reviewed by a credible source (JonnyGuru.com).

Absolutely stay away from CoolMax, PowMax, Diablotek, Apevia (previously Aspire), Rosewill, and MANY others. When in doubt, look at the price compared to a quality unit (Seasonic, Corsair, etc.) - if the unknown brand is much cheaper, stay away. Also, don't base your buying experience off of Newegg / Amazon / etc. reviews; they generally will give it 5 eggs just because they plugged it in and it didn't blow up.

 

[jvroig]

From an [H] review:

For anyone running a 2-Way SLI GTX 480 setup, we would suggest no less than a 800 watt power supply of good quality and surely we suggest a 1000 watt if you are overclocking anything in your system. (1000 watt PSU doesn't sound stupid anymore does it?!?) For a person wanting to run a single GTX 480, we would suggest no less than a 600 watt power supply but we would be more comfortable with a 700 watt power supply; again if you are overclocking anything in your system. That should give you a safe bit of headroom and keep your PSU from running "in the red" continuously. It is hard to suggest any less for the GTX 470 either. NVIDIA's official stance is a 600w PSU for GTX 480 and 550w PSU for GTX 470.

We did see this, and it very much worth mentioning. With a nicely overclocked Core i7 920 processor (3.6GHz) and GTX 480 SLI, we saw at the wall wattages exceed 900 watts at the wall in some very stressful GPU system situation.

With an overclocked 920 and two overclocked GTX 470 vidcards, I don't think 850W PSUs are the best option. I personally just wouldn't be comfortable running the PSU at that extreme a load close to its max, hence recommending a good 1000W instead of a good 850W.

 

[Markfw]

From an [H] review:



With an overclocked 920 and two overclocked GTX 470 vidcards, I don't think 850W PSUs are the best option. I personally just wouldn't be comfortable running the PSU at that extreme a load close to its max, hence recommending a good 1000W instead of a good 850W.

+1 ! I run a 1000 OCZ >85% efficiency (rebadged fortron I think) with 2 GTX 470's @ 700 mhz (OC'ed) and a Q6600@3.4

Anything less would be scary. I have burned up 6 PSU's, and good ones doing F@H 24/7/365 @100% load. They were all <700 watt, and good quality, which is now my minimum for any system (that I get, always quads, always OC'ed, alwayys 2 video cards)

 

[bryanW1995]

i'd stick with corsair hx series or the antec truepower. personally perfer the corsair hx cause one of the antec psu's died on me after a year.

OP still needs to calculate the total power usage on his rig to know whether he needs the 1000W or the 1200W though.

my hx 620 died on me about a year ago. I literally had the new one within 5 days, and I didn't put any special shipping or anything on it at all. if anything, I'm happier with corsair now than I was before. it also helped that I sent yellowbeard a pm and he told me exactly what to do and whom to talk to.

@mark: uh oh. well, I don't have any multi-gpu setups. next time I upgrade I'll get a 750w+ high quality psu.

 

[AlucardX]

I'd vote for a Antec TruPower. worth the cash.

 

[theAnimal]

It's rated at 90 amps spread across 4 12-volt rails. Sounds like you might have a load imbalance, even if the power supply could theoretically handle it. That being said, it probably can't. Coolmax isn't the best brand for really pushing a gaming rig. Those 12-volt specs sounds too high to believe on a PSU in this price range.

The actual 12V total cannot be calculated by adding the individual rails. The PSU label should tell you what the combined total is, which in this case is 800W (or ~67A). It is unlikely to be a load imbalance since you don't really have a choice on what connects where.

 

[Wenus23]

thanks for all the replies guys, just got back from work.

here is the coomax i bought:
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=...0a39dbd9e96627

so you guys think a corsair 1000w one would be sufficient or should i go for the 1200w bfg?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-007-_-Product

or

http://3btech.net/bfgte12wamop.html

 

[Meghan54]

Looked at that Coolmax you linked; its rails' outputs are almost exactly what my Antec TruePower 750 list for it.....

Between the two you listed, take the Corsair. Not to knock BFG, but the company's longevity is currently in question, to say the least.

 

[Wenus23]

how bout that bfg one though. for 1200 watts, same price? is it not a 'quality' psu?

 

[Rifter]

I would go with the corsair and not look back.

 

[Termie]

Just to throw out one more option, how about this 850w from Seasonic, at an extremely reasonable $120: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151083

If you look carefully, you'll see the 12-volt rails are rated exactly the same as the Corsair 1000w unit. Just something to consider...Seasonic is arguably the best manufacturer out there, providing many of Corsair's highest-rated units in the past.

Skip the BFG - you'll get nothing extra from that 1200w unit, and it's arguably not as well-respected. Just go Corsair or Seasonic this time around.

 

[CurseTheSky]

BFG has pretty much disappeared from the graphics market, and their power supplies don't seem to be selling all that well either. They are / were a great company and made quality components, but they might not be around in a year or two.

That's why I'd go with the Corsair over the BFG unit.