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Today I recieved my XFX nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra XXX. I hapily took off the cover of my box, grounded myself, and replaced the cards (my old card was a 6800). I replaced my box to its normal position in my room, and plugged in my power cable.

Then it laughed at me - in an annoying, $800, high pitched, screeching sort of way.

I re-seeded my card twice, and had the same results. I replaced my new card in my box, and everything works fine. I use a Dell XPS 400.

Help... please?

Hello Wallar, welcome to PCHF.

Does the PC startup with the card at all, despite the screeching?

I see power and green lights, but I do not get a display (orange light on monitor).

Does the PC still work with your old card?

Yes, I switched back to my old card and everything works fine. However, I woud like to use my new card. Any way I can check how to get it to work?

The XFX 8800 will easily work in this PC, but to be honest Wallar, screeching is really not a good sign. The screeching can be coming from either the fan or one of the capacitors.

First of all, make sure that the PC has enough power in the first place to support the card. Dell are a good manufacturer of PC, but they don't really accomodate for future upgrades. Check how much wattage you have on your power supply, and then go to this site here: eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite v2.5 (Click Go Lite).

Secondly, make sure the fan is spinning on the card when you switch it on. Remove the card, and look closely at the capacitors on the card for signs of leakage.

Looking at my card, I do not see anything that could be described as "leaking".

When I open up my box, what should I look for to see the wattage?
Just checking before I switch the cards again, but you want me to:
- Check wattage
- Run computer with case open
- Check if fan is running
- run "go lite" on the power supply calculator

(How do thanks work on this site? Is it a once-per-problem thing, once-per-topic thing, or what?)