Am I over heating or do I lack power?

Hello all, apologies if this is elsewhere but I've tried searching and got no where.

I've recently built a new PC, I won't go heavy into specs but bare bones are:

AMD Phenom Quad 9850 Black Edition 2.5GHz

Asrock K10N78FullHD-hSLI R3.0 GeForce 8200 AM2+ Motherboard

Arianet Elite 4GB PC2-6400 CL5 (2x2GB)

BFG GeForce 9500GT 1Gb DDR2

Currently running Windows 7 but had exact same issues under Vista.

When playing games or even using photoshop at times, I'd get a balloon pop up saying drivers have stopped responding and have recovered and it would often lead to graphical errors that are common with over heating.

I'm pretty convinced I'm under powered. As the only thing I've not upgraded is the PSU. Its a 450watt older model. Not SLi compliant either.

From memory, I didn't notice a power connector on the Graphics card, clisest thing to an additional plug socket on it was a very small connector, is this the power?

I'm new to PCI Express.

 

I had the same problem with a GTX295 and it turned out to be the drivers.
If you have updated the drivers try rolling back, if you have not yet updated see if there are newer versions.

http://www.bfgtech.com/DriverDownload.aspx

 

"BFG GeForce 9500GT 1Gb DDR2"\

Minimum System Requirements
512MB of system memory
CD or DVD-ROM drive
100MB of available hard disk drive space for basic driver installation
Microsoft Windows Vista or XP operating system
PCI Express or PCI Express 2.0-compliant system motherboard with one vacant PCI Express x16 slot
350W PCI Express-compliant system power supply with a combined 12V current rating of 18A or more

Check your PSU & see what the +12V rating is .


As for the power supply, the rated out put of 450 Watts isn't as important as where thise watts are !
Ei you look at rge label on the power supply there should be a chart showing how the power is devided up on the connectors.
Look at the +12v .
Take the number of Amps [expressed by a A on the number & multiply it by 12 & you will know how much of the 450 Watts are on the 12 volt rail where it is needed to run drives/video card/etc that use that type connectors.
For instance, If you see +12V @ 16A the you have 16 X 12 = 192 Watts on the 12 volt rail.

Having 192 RATED watts doesn't mean that is what the power supply is actually putting out.

Most PSU's are rated by "peak" power that means if it is tested & the combined power from ALL of the outputs hits 450 Watts for a few seconds then it is a "450 Watt" PSU.
Most PSU manufacrurers don't provide continues output ,which is the importany number !
What is the max power it will put out & hold steady over long periods of time is the TRUE rating of a PSU.
Unfortunatly, the lower end manufacturers onderstand that the misleading "peak" rating makes there product sound much better then it is.

If you post what brand your PSU is I can give you an idea as to how good it actually is.

One of the biggest issues people run in to is too weak of a PSU.
Marginal power may make a unit work but not neccessarily work right.

 

I have that issue with my PNY 9800GX2 ... It seems only 7 and Vista do it ... XP doesn't no matter how hard I push it .......

 

Thanks fairjoeblue, the other PSU was only putting 16A/192w exactly as you said. So I've updated the PSU.

It's a CiT 700UB. Specs of Power Supply as Follow:

Dual 12v Rails. ATX 12v v2.2 Compliant. 24 Pin (20+4) connector.

Input Characteristics:

Voltage: 230Vac
Frequency: 50-60Hz
Input Current: 10A

+3.3V: 29A
+5V: 32A
+12V1: 21A
+12V2: 21A
-12V: 0.3A
+5VSB: 2.5A
Total Max Output: 700w

The only thing mentioned on the specs with regards to PCI Express is that it has a Connector. But this is in the form of a 2x Molex to 6 pin power.

Bottom line, my card still freezes up with over heat symptoms there is no power connector on the graphics card either.

I tried an older game on the PC (Black & White 2) and it will not even start up after choosing the play option from the ingame menu. Even on lowest settings with compatibility set to XP SP2.

Additional info.

Since first post, I've tried on Windows XP (64) and currently using Windows Vista. (32) same issues across all trying several different version of Nvidia Drivers from newest, to oldest available in Nvidia's archive.

 

The 8500 GT draws all the power it needs from the slot and it shouldn't be overheating unless the fans are not working if you just got the card id RMA it

 

It would appear the card was causing a lot of problems.

I've uninstalled it and am currently using the on-board 8200 graphics and have run games that were screwing up system on high settings (Even higher than I run them on the 9500GT) and they have run without a single BSOD.

Admittedly, they haven't run very well - only to be expected. Bottom line, they run without my PC going all blue screen on me. The card is now back in the box it was packaged with and is going back to the shop tomorrow.

I didn't have any of this trouble when the card was initially installed on my PC.