What just happend? Major problem!

[bben46]

There are many free programs for checking things like voltages. I use one called speed fan.It also monitors things like temperatures and fan speeds. Available here: http://majorgeeks.com/SpeedFan_d337.html

[prandiningrat]

you can check in BIOS too, like voltages and temperatures, go to (usually) hardware monitors (depends on your BIOS)..or did you get power supply specs from your vendor? like the brand of your power supply.

Certified power supply for you graphic card can be viewed here.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Bandit Ngebak

[UpJumpedTheDevil]

I probably shouldn't be messing with BIOS or anything like that.

I got the speed.fan thing but don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for? :confused:

[prandiningrat]

I probably shouldn't be messing with BIOS or anything like that.

it's not about messing with BIOS, just checking the voltages,speed fan ect.. if you dont know what are you doing, don't change anything, just check all of those values then exit from BIOS (F10 > DONT SAVE)..

the voltages value is the same either check with speedfan or when you check in BIOS..Voltage that used by your grpahic card is only +12V.

+12v meaning this voltage must have 12 voltages or greater when drop this is your power supply problem.

But you should know the specs of your power first. for an example (500W, +12V@30A)

[UpJumpedTheDevil]

Yes that's why I'm trying to find. :laugh: I'm not sure how to read any of this stuff with speed.fan. There's something that says +12V: 12.23 but don't see any W's they're all V's.

[bben46]

V=Voltage

 

W=Wattage which is volts times amps (simplest version)

 

Just to make things confusing, I = Amps. (the capital letter I, not the number 1 or the lower case letter l ) But milli-amps is abbreviated ma. It's an electronics geek thing.

 

And amps will vary depending on what is going on at the time. On a computer power supply, Watts is the maximum total of all of the voltages times all of the amps. So if you have a 5volt supply drawing 10 amps the watts for that 5 volt supply will be 50W, then a 12 volt source drawing 10 amps will be 120 Watts the total watts will be 170 watts. To find the exact amount of watts needed you would have to check the exact power required for each component, then add them up. As that is not always easy to find, you make a best guess then add about 20% for the minimum wattage needed. As a rule of thumb, you shoule have a power supply of at least 400 W - more is better, for a gaming computer. Some video cards can draw up to 300 watts. if you have one of those, look for even more powerful power supplies.

 

Now, to make things difficult, there are many low priced no name power supplies (Cheap) that actually lie about their power. If getting a new power supply, be sure to get a name brand and check on the internet for actual user ratings - not those ratings that are really advertisements.

 

That's probably more about electronics than you wanted to know. :thumbsup:

[prandiningrat]

Mr. bben46 was right.:thumbsup: and you should understand that my English grammar was bad. the only i want to know is your specs of your power supply. if you have power supply specs like (Brand 500W, 12V@30A).. 500W is wattage of your power supply, 12V is the main voltage that can supply your PSU (Power Supply Unit) ...30 A is Ampere the current rating of your power supply. Some modern graphic cards (as you have) need current rating at least 30A or more..

as MR bben46 said the cheaper PSU mightbe have specs that can support of your PC, but the components inside PSU is different when in branded PSU, like choosing their capacitor(not using solid capacitor),trafo , and the main circuits.

in my opinion if you want replacing your PSU and go back to your PC vendor maybe you get the same PSU specs as well as when you bought your PC.

but if you want to replace your PSU by yourself you can get new brand and better PSU but should waiting until warranty end(usually 1-3 year) or replace it now with loose your PC warranty. It's depends on you.

[dazzerfong]

The thing about cheaper PSU's is that they don't always match up to the specified wattage, ie. 500w. If my geek friend's right, Antec, Coolermaster and (forgot the other famous one) have a guaranteed 97-98% accuracy, which means that the wattage would (at the most) stray 2-3%.

[UpJumpedTheDevil]

But I still have no idea what my current power supply has/is. :laugh: I'm trying to find out through speedfan.

[prandiningrat]

But I still have no idea what my current power supply has/is. :laugh: I'm trying to find out through speedfan.

i think we can't measure of PSU current rating with speed fan if we dont know the wattage of your PSU (through by this formula Amperage = Wattage / Voltage),

and i dont know about other tools that can measure of PSU current rating without opening PC case..the tool such as speedfan, MBM, Everest, and the BIOS

only measuring the voltages. In my opinion when we want the actually (true) voltages we need some multimeter or voltmeter which is better than using softwares..