power suply or video cards

[FluorideInMyWater]

i've had ongoing issues with a Lenovo tower with 2 Nvidia quados and a 3rd nvidia 7100gs.

yesterday all the monitors went blank on me. i rebooted and then it happened again. then the whole system crashed.

had to take all the video cards out, re-arrange, test and what-not.....the fan would spin, then not spin on powerup and not enter POST. Finally i thought i had found the bad card after trying every combination in the pci-x slots, resetting the CMOS etc.........and just now it just turns off dead....but reboots and takes 3 times of fan on fan off to enter post and it's back up.

i dont know if i'm looking at bad video cards or bad power supply, or bad mobo or what...........very frustrating.

i was running 6 monitors for trading.......now im down to 4.
any ideas?

[vintagearms]

I'd statrt with the power supply then goto the video card.

[d4v0s]

it sure sounds like your killing video cards through bad power. how many watts is the power supply and what card are you currently running?

also is your power filtered? ups or anything in front of it?

[FluorideInMyWater]

600w ps
running 2 nvidia quado fx
no filter on the power

thing is......the computer will or won't boot depending on which video card i use and whic pci-x slot i put it in.....which is really weird..

[2shotjoe]

600w ps
running 2 nvidia quado fx
no filter on the power

You need more watts, get 1000 watts. Discount 20% since you lose that and you really get 800 watts out of it. You're pretty much taxing the 600 watt with 2 video cards, you really only getting 480 watts from it.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[FluorideInMyWater]

i was running 3dual successfully for 3 years................hmm

[2shotjoe]

i was running 3dual successfully for 3 years................hmm

Power supplies die with time, you could possibly only getting 60-70% of the rated power.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[d4v0s]

600w ps
running 2 nvidia quado fx
no filter on the power

thing is......the computer will or won't boot depending on which video card i use and whic pci-x slot i put it in.....which is really weird..

Ok,


600w is probably too low, but ultimately its the 12 volt rail amperage that makes the biggest difference.

quadro fx 4800?? 5800??

Once I know which card, I can look up the amperage required and tell you if your too low or high. Also CPU model would help too, there were some real power hogs out a few generations ago, 130 watt quad cores and such.

[FluorideInMyWater]

2 quadro fx 370
an0d i was running a 7100gs

[d4v0s]

i was running 3dual successfully for 3 years................hmm

Power supplies die two ways, long drawn out deaths that start killing everything around it. And suddenly or overnight so they just never click over.

600watts is far too little for that much hardware. Thing is, Assuming a quadro fx 4800 at idle each card is pulling 12amps. at high load its pulling 24 amps. your power supply can only dish out a theoretical 50 amps if it was all coming off the 12 volt rail, and its not, there are many other devices using those amps.

You need to get something with at least 90 amps just to the graphics cards for it too run cleanly. I think you need at least a 1200 watt power supply and make sure that it has 6 (yes 6) 12 volt rails at 15 amps each minimum. Those cards should have dual connectors so you can plug 2 of those into each card and give it all of the juice they crave!

If your using older cards with lower power requirements then all of the above changes. for example the old quadro fx 380 is a 34 watt card. Not a 320 watt card like the fx 4800.

[FluorideInMyWater]

no, my card is the fx 370.........an older card

[d4v0s]

quadro fx 370

Just posted my other reply. The 370 was like a 24 watt card or something tiny like that. Even a 600watt power supply should handle 3 of those no problem as they will pull a massive 2.x amps ha ha ha

It sounds like you need to pick yourself up a new power supply, frys has a really good exchange program and you can snag a good 750watt antec for under $100.

Other than that, nvidia is pretty good with warranty work, if the cards are built by another company (msi, evga) then use their support not nvidias.

[FluorideInMyWater]

yeah, love frys.........unfortunately i'm in Cancun and all there is here is coconuts
i might have to take a burrow over to the next state to get one

[stilly]

Ok,


600w is probably too low, but ultimately its the 12 volt rail amperage that makes the biggest difference.

quadro fx 4800?? 5800??

Once I know which card, I can look up the amperage required and tell you if your too low or high. Also CPU model would help too, there were some real power hogs out a few generations ago, 130 watt quad cores and such.

Damn you beat me to this.

I would have a closer look at the amps that are being put out on the rails. Maybe the PSU is starting to go from being worked and now it is time to get like a 700+ with ample amps to spare.

As a troubleshooting method perhaps get a cheap pci-x card for $40 that does NOT need any additional power and boot up with it in all of the slots, if you can boot up with it then that would rule out the mobo prolly. If you have a PSU tester hook it up to the psu and see what it says. They are NOT that reliable but sometimes they can show you a thing or two that is off the charts bad. THAT would be enough for me to get a new psu over. gotta go, two broke girls is coming on.