Hi guys,
I recently bought a Geforce9800x2 and have had nothing but problems. Firstly it wouldnt fit in my pc as it was too large, so i had to have the HD's hanging out of the side and also bend a piece of metal on the card. Then i didnt have an 8 pin power plug so i had to get a 4pin to 8pin converter.
After finally getting all this i plugged the card in, and the power wouldnt turn on. So i bought another PSU (coolermaster 650w) and installed that last night, but still no power. The manufacvturer says you need 580w power supply, do they mean 580w just to the card?!?!
I have 'intel core 2' quad 2.60ghz processors, 3 gigs of ram, 2 hardrives and a dvd drive, and the geforce 9800x2, do i need 1000w's of power?
What would be a good PSU for me to get?

Thanks!

Hello Hoffmeister Welcome to PCHF

No, when the manufacturer recommends a power supply, they are considering a standard computer setup (1 video card and 1 hard drive). When they say 580, they mean 580 total watts of power for the whole computer.

Your problem is something completely different. No power is typically a bad power supply, but alas, you have tried two different power supplies. Even if you slightly underpower a video card, the computer should still turn on, you just won't get good video performance in games. Only if it's very very underpowered will the unit just not even try to turn on.

So unless you are forgetting something simple like flipping the on/off switch on, or not plugging the main power and cpu power connector into the motherboard, it is likely you have a bad motherboard. It is also possible that the new PSU is defective. It is not uncommon at all for PSUs to be dead on arrival.

In this order I would check:

1. The on/off switch on the PSU is turned on
2. The main 24 pin power connector is plugged in all the way
3. The 4 or 8 pin CPU connector is plugged in all the way
4. Test a different power cord
5. Check your front panel headers to make sure they didn't come loose during your video card installation
6. Try taking the new card out and powering the unit (I know that'll be a pain)
7. Try leaving the card out and putting in your old power supply

If all that doesn't give you any results, I would think you have a bad motherboard, assuming everything is installed correctly. Again, unless the power supply is just dead, you should at least get a sign of life from the computer. And two different power supplies going bad at the same time is unlikely, but possible.

Give those things a shot and let me know what happens. I'll help out as much as I can

What piece of metal did you bend? Are your hdd's shorting out on your case? make sure you have something in between them and the case. If they are shorting your computer will shut off/not start(i've done this before).

If everything looks good, Try using your old card with the new psu. Make sure the PSU is set to the proper voltage on the back(if it isn't auto). If it is a modular PSU make sure you have the correct wires to the proper rails. Double check your cables and read the manual.

I think at the most a pci x graphics card will suck 75ish and your cpu should be around 100 the rest maybe 150 more at normal load. I think you have more than enough power.

Hi guys

Thanks for your help, this forum rocks!
With regards to Wadd's post, i have tried all combinations of PSU and graphics card now. When i have the new PSU but the old card, it works and currently i have put the old PSU back in there, and the old card, and they work so it seems there must be a problem with the card because whenever it is in the computer won't turn on.
The pc is only about 4 months old so can the motherboard really be broken and if so how is it that it works with the old card?
With regards to these points:
1. The on/off switch on the PSU is turned on - Yes definately
2. The main 24 pin power connector is plugged in all the way - Have done
3. The 4 or 8 pin CPU connector is plugged in all the way - Have done
4. Test a different power cord - Have done
5. Check your front panel headers to make sure they didn't come loose during your video card installation - Whjat is a front panel header?
6. Try taking the new card out and powering the unit (I know that'll be a pain) - have done
7. Try leaving the card out and putting in your old power supply - have done


To Ghastmaster - The piece of metal was just the bit of metal on the end that has the plug (to the monitor) attached to it, my pc is fairly small so I just had to bend it to fit it in, i am pretty sure it doesnt do anything.

The only possibility left is that the HDD's are shorting out the pc like you say, but as far as i can remember they werent touching the case, but i will install the new PSU and graphics card tonight and see if that was the problem. I hope it is otherwise i have a £350 piece of worthless junk lol!

Thanks for the help guys!

Well definitely from the sounds of it the new video card is the defective component. If in every other situation the computer runs normally, except when you have the new card in, I'd say the card is probably bad and somehow preventing the computer from coming on.

It's also possible, but unlikely that the new PSU you got is in fact defective and just not putting out the specified amount of power, but still enough power for your old card.

I would first exchange the video card for another and test it with the new PSU. If still no power, I would then exchange the PSU. If still no power then...... That would be mind boggling. I'd probably just try a different model video card then.

As far as the front panel header...don't worry about it cause your power came on with the other PSU/video card. But for information's sake, the front panel headers are the little wires that connect the power switch, hard drive light, etc. to your motherboard. They are usually a pair intertwined colored/white wires.

I apologize for the wait on my response. I must have checked your post but forgot to reply to it, then didn't see it in my subscriptions after. Sorry