New vid card - pc won't power on

Thanks all, just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything.

And yeah, every thing (including psu and motherboard) functions well when the new vid card isn't in, so that has to be it.

And GibsonSGKing, it does run most games I play okay with the 8500 GT in, but I play stuff like The Sims II and Diablo II. And I'm a she ;).



Wait, saw this too late. Yeah, that's kind of what I thought, but when I put the old card in, everything works fine. With the new card the power light doesn't come on, no fans, no hard drive noises, nada. But if I switch the card back, it's fine. Both graphics cards are pcie x16, so I don't know what could be failing if it's the motherboard. Wouldn't it still use the same paths on the bus?
Woopsies :eek:

Maybe you don't have enough bandwidth for the new card? Maybe try booting with onboard or the old card, and then change the bandwidth for the pcie x16 slot and make it a little higher. Don't know why it would stop it from booting though...
 
Wait, saw this too late. Yeah, that's kind of what I thought, but when I put the old card in, everything works fine. With the new card the power light doesn't come on, no fans, no hard drive noises, nada. But if I switch the card back, it's fine. Both graphics cards are pcie x16, so I don't know what could be failing if it's the motherboard. Wouldn't it still use the same paths on the bus?

Your PSU may not be strong enough to run the card. What is the current on the rails?
 
Your PSU may not be strong enough to run the card. What is the current on the rails?

After reading through everything, this is what I've concluded as well. It seems like the only way for a video card to make they system not boot would be if it was drawing too much power from the PSU that the PSU didn't have enough "punch" to run the rest of the system. This could happen if it's a low amperage PSU.
 
The psu is 500 watts, the minimum recommended for the card is 350. I don't have many things on the pc. No secondary hard drives, sound cards, extra fans or anything like that. Just a firewire card, cable modem, video card, and memory card reader.

GibsonSGKing, how do I check the bandwidth? Go slow, I'm not a total newbie but I kind of zoned out through my A+ hardware class.
 
Look on your power supply. On the side it should list how many Amperes run on each rail. We're looking for the amps on the 12V rail.
 
Wow my class was worse than I though.

Okay, umm, is it 22A?

3590060654_c166f11b18.jpg


ETA - If I am reading that correctly than the power supply should be adequate, the requirements on the card say:
Minimumrecommended 300W system power supply (with 12V current rating of 20A)
 
Wow my class was worse than I though.

Okay, umm, is it 22A?

3590060654_c166f11b18.jpg


ETA - If I am reading that correctly than the power supply should be adequate, the requirements on the card say:

But who knows if the card itself takes that whole 20A. I mean, if it does, that's only leaving you with 2A for the rest of the system.
 
Eep. Okay, new power supply time.

Edit - Wait, hold on. One of the reasons I picked this card is that it was rated decently on power consumption. I found reviews saying just about any current psu should be able to handle this. I'm looking at one now that says anything over a 450 watt should suffice. I can't find anything that mentions amps, but this is seriously the page that sold me. That plus quiet.

With this in mind, could this seriously still be the problem due to the amps? Is there anything else it could possibly be? I need to know because I'm on an extremely tight budget (partly due to the card purchase) and I can't afford to buy replacement parts I don't need.
 
Eep. Okay, new power supply time.

Yup. I mean, this is the most logical conclusion...everything you/we've tried, kind of confirms it. It just proves that it's not all about the watts...it's a combo of that and amps (which are kind of the same thing in a roundabout way). Anyways, I'll post up some suggestions when I get time...I'm sure someone will be around to post up as well. OCZ, Antec, Corsair, etc. All great brands.
 
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