Vid Card

[Hoss]

Hey y'all - thanks for your patience and help last night! The fact that I viewed several disk errors on the event log that were causing problems didn't make sense until several of you suggested I might have a psu issue. Per the diagram that came with the card, I used the same line for the HD to patch into the vid card. I rerouted it through the cd power line and it works awesome now! Lesson learned - don't use the psu that comes with the case! Well it's off to Pricewatch again...

[nonstop]

Ah..hem.... Uhm that was me who suggested the psu!

There are a number of people who could have but it was me dangit!!! (pwter could have but he was playing guild wars and didn't care about your video card problem.)

Ok so you needed to have a direct 4pin connector from your cd rom instead of from your hard drive because the hard drive draws more current? No comprende? Did it actually say that in your sapphire manual?

Also, how do you like it? Big step up from your 9700 isn't it?

Glad you got it working.

[law.of.averages]

Ah..hem.... Uhm that was me who suggested the psu!

Ah.hem.... It was me who first brought up the question of PSU quality... Sure, you could have done it...but I automagicly cringe when someone says I have a 400W psu w/o including a brand name...

The lowly 350w enermax running my system is rated better across the board than the last 400w 'came with the case' unit I got.

And Hoss, you may have cured the symptoms but not the problem... All those wires meet in the same place inside the PSU

(I've been known to take mine apart and clip off any unused extras once the warranty's expired)

You'll want to replace it with a quality unit. Be sure to check the amperages on the individual outputs before you buy.

[Hoss]

Well thanks to the both of you! LOL!
Huge step up from the 9700! Not stellar, but got a 4300 on 3dmark05. It came with a neat overclocking program that I will probably use later as well.
The HD must have been competing for amps with the card and the HD won everytime I guess.
I have no idea what a decent brand psu is. Any suggestions on a decently priced 400watt?
Oh, I will add that I purchased a cpu fan that I saw y'all debating on the forum a few weeks ago as well. My prescott was just scaring me. After closing UT - temp was almost 150 deg. Now after closing - the highest I have seen is 134 deg. Thanks again y'all!

[nonstop]

Yes get a new fan/hs soon, that's hot.

I don't have time now but if no one comes up with something I'll make some recommends soon.

Psu's: ocz, enermax to name a couple. Sparkle is a no frills but reliable psu. and cheap too.

[law.of.averages]

http://www.tomshardware.com did a review of psu's not too long back...

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040122/index.html

Enjoy

Edit: ok, so it was in January of 2004...but i only read it awhile back

Re-Edit: found the real one I was talking about

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/200507111/index.html