Some GTX 295 Questions

[Stingy49]

Hey guys. So I just got a GeForce GTX 295 by BFG from my mate and it's crashing on games and I had a hellish time with the drivers because it kept BSODing on boot but I finally got the drivers fixed but still after about 10mins of game play it freezes up and I have to hard reboot my computer

and now device manager claims I only have one card and that "This device will not work until you restart your computer". I've restarted several times with no luck and I'm about to give up and put in my old 9800gtx+. Any sugestions?

One thought I had was my psu, but I did the math and since I only have a Core 2 Duo my 500w psu should be putting out enough power, and I can run OCCT's psu stressor for an hour no problem.

Also if I do need a new psu is there anyway I can check to make sure the card isn't faulty before I go drop the money on a nicer psu?

Thanks,

Stingy49

 

[JezEngland]

Hi,

Not enough power. Look at minimum system power requirements on this page in the specifications section, 2nd from the bottom: http://nvidia.co.uk/object/product_geforce_gtx_295_uk.html

I think you can't test the card with your PC

 

[Stingy49]

Hi,

Not enough power. Look at minimum system power requirements on this page in the specifications section, 2nd from the bottom: http://nvidia.co.uk/object/product_geforce_gtx_295_uk.html

I think you can't test the card with your PC

Ya but if you do the math 289w max so that is 289/12=24.08(so 24.08amps on the 12v rail) I would just have to calculate the rest of my system CPU,HDD,etc... and as long as it's under 500w it should run fine right?

 

[JezEngland]

erm i dunno and you're OC'd wich needs more power. 9800GT wants 40Amps and GTX 480 wants 42 Amps. If you've the 295 box it'll be on there. You know summin I don't for PSU's. that calculation isn't fully understood.

You need a very good quality PSU with correct PCIE power connectors for the 295 because it'll be safe, wont blow up so wont kill your hardware. A power surge protector too

Does your 500w PSU have all the correct PCIE power connectors for the 295?

 

[Stingy49]

Ohh well here let me explain it lol so graphics cards have a TDP (Thermal Design Power) and that is a rating in watts thats the max amount of power they can use and since graphics cards run off the 12volt rail you would divide that number by 12 to get the actual number of amps the card uses. Like so: say you had a GTX 560 Ti, it's rated at a TDP of 170watts so you would divide that by your 12volt rail so 170/12=14.16amps so the max amount of amps your card could draw is about 14. Its recommended amps on nVidia is 30 so I think they are accounting for the worst case scenario, as in all the other parts in your system are power hogs which isn't always true. I could be wrong on this though but I've seen quite a few other review sites who use the same math. So since the 295 should actually only use about 24amps and my psu puts out 35 on the 12volt rail it should be fine or so I thought...

Ohh ya and my psu does have the right connectors built in. Also the rating on the box is 46amps but according to the TDP there is no way it should use that much amperage unless I'm missing something which is entirely possible

.

 

[JezEngland]

OK I'll av a look for the math. I learn't it at college, years ago and the memory has gone