Is my Video Card or my PSU failing?

I just recently put about $400 dollars into upgrading to a new system but am having sudden power/video card problems.



My build is:



Rosewill RX850 850w SLI power supply

4 GB of Patriot RAM

2 DVD-RW optical drives (one of which is recognized but will not actually read cds, another problem that I have)

EVGA GeForce 9800GT video card

Soundblaster Audigy 2

ECS NForce 9M-A ATX Mobo

AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000+ (3.1ghz-dual core)

Not sure what kind of case because it was given to me, has alot of fancy lights and fans



all parts were purchased through newegg



About a month ago I built this same computer with a RAIDMAX 730w PSU and it was working great. I was playing Fallout 3, Crysis, etc flawlessly on the highest settings. I then built a cpu out of old (but good) parts for a friend and moved my 730w to my friends build, replacing it with the 850w that I have now. I continued playing the games on my system with the new 850w PSU in, because it only makes sense that, if a 730w can power the above config, an 850w should have no prob; the system worked well for several weeks. After Christmas, I was playing the new Rise of the Argonauts game (which has demanding system requirements) when my system crashed during play. I unplugged and began troubleshooting because the system would not reboot. I finally narrowed it down to one thing: the system will not power on when the 6-pin PCI-E power cable from the PSU is plugged into the port on the video card. If this is unplugged, the system powers on (no POST beeps, but it has never beeped on startup anyways) and all components are on, including the video card fan. Also, the video card is beeping (signifying insufficient power because the 6-pin is unplugged) which leads me to believe the slot as well as mobo are fine because all components seem to be operational. Once again, the only time the system will not power on is when the 6-pin is connected to the port on the video card. I have tried different 6-pins from the PSU, but same issue. I'm not familiar with bad PSU rails but could that be the culprit? The PSU I'm using boasts 4 separate rails. On the other hand, can the actually port on the graphics card be faulty, causing the system to crash? I'm a pretty advanced computer user and have repaired and built dozens of computers, but have never had this issue. This is the first problem I have had with my build and would very much appreciate any advice before I RMA both the PSU and graphics card and try to start over.



Thanks in advance|||Your PSU, while having enough total power output for the 9800 GT does not have enough Amps on a 12 volt rail to power the card. The 9800 GT requires 26 to 28 Amps at the 12 Volt rail to power the card*. The Rosewill RX850 only has 20A at each of it's 12V rails. The Raidmax 730 watt you gave away had 24A at its 12V rail. I have encountered the problem you describe when a 12V rail gets overloaded. This is a common issue with multiple 12 rail PSUs.

You could try using a Molex to 6-pin PCI-e adapter. They usually require 2 Molex connectors be combined to make 1 6-pin PCI-e connector. That may spread the load across a couple rails providing a workaround to see if the card works. If that fixes things, maybe a new PSU with appropriate specs is in order.

Good luck!|||it sounds like the PS is defective and the 6-pin is having a problem you shoudl talk to whoever you got it from.



also take it to a fry;s or somethign and have them run a power test on it to see if the PS is good or if any of the wires or stuff is bad on it.|||I'd say it's the power supply. return the power supply and get a new one. if problems persist then it's probably your video card. but seeing as how everything was fine until after you changed the PSU, that leads me to believe the PSU was the problem|||Ask to borrow the 730w back to see if works in your rig. You can also test the voltage at the 6 pin connector. The yellow should be as close to 12.00v as possible. If I remember right, mine is 12.08v|||I hate to be a follower , but , the other two said it as will I . I think it's your ps,and should take it back , either for a new one or a replacement one ,,.. Sometimes you'll get one thats defective in the lot ..