I have a Dell Dimension E521, that i have completed modified... the only original parts are the mobo, cooling system, and the stuff thats attached to the case! ive pretty much turned it into a gaming machine... but theres a snag. i put in a Nvidia GeForce 7950 gt video, and since the dimension's power supply didnt have a six pin, i installed a PowerUP! ATX Switching Power Supply. well, like when im playing mw2, i have the graphics settings on Extreme. But my computer always freezes up. ive been poking around, and my thinking is that im overloading the power supply, but i cant figure out what wattage the power supply is... and i could be something completely different. i really dont know. and to be specific on what i mean by freezing up, i will be playing, and then i hear the windows exclamation sound... and then the screen goes black. or i hear the sound, and the picture stays, but the computer doesnt respond. and the other thing is... this power supply came out of a top of the line custom built computer that my dad isnt using, and i also got that video card from said machine. so that why im not sure that im overloading the power supply, because that thing sucks in so much more power!
Graphics Problems
- Thread starter relion65
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~Darkseeker~
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Sounds to me like it's getting stop errors, overloading the Power unit would shut it down cold, completely off. Crashing is normally more a memory problem - it might just been you're not seeing the error screen before the dump is complete.
grumpy07txan
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Go get a new power supply and see if it fixes the problem then. You can always take it back. It also sounds like it could be a cooling issue. I have seen computer screen go black and shut off to avoid damage due to heat. Check your temps in the bio.
well, this is the only power supply i have for this. the power supply for the dell dimension does not have a 6pin. and i have 4gigs of memory installed. Im also using CoreTemp to monitor my CPU, and a seperate program to monitor the GPU. I also put in a fan controller due the fact that i installed a AMD Athlon 64 fx 2 core 2.8 ghz processor, in a cooling system original designed for an Intel processor of 1.8 GHZ and 1 core, effectively more than tripling this computers power! so, i have the CPU cooling problem down, monitoring it with CoreTemp and adjusting the settings on the fan controller(its a physical hardware fan controller). so my thinking is something with the graphics card. And im thinking this because that video card needs at least 400 watts, and the chart on the side of the power supply says 450 max combined wattage, all tho im not exactly sure what that means...
grumpy07txan
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Yep, I would grab a new power supply. However, every nVidia card I have owned has burnt up. They like to provide updated drivers that burn up the card. Try installing the driver before last and see if you still black screen if the new power supply doesn't work.
ok, what does max combined wattage mean tho? And i put my computer specs in my signature... based on that, how many watts do you think i need? Also, i noticed a switch on this power supply, it the switch is set to 115v. the other setting is 230v. what does that switch do, and what would happen if i switched it to 230? Would this solve my graphics problem of not enough power?
~Darkseeker~
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Combined wattage is what it sounds like, the combined power draw of all the components.
grumpy07txan
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The 115v and 230v options state which type of power you are hooking up to. If you are in the U.S., it needs to be 115. Setting it to 230 could result in a short or worse.
