So, some of you might remember a small thread I made a couple of days ago about my GPU dying on me. Well, the replacement came in today. Now, I got a 9800GT with the intention of it being a temporary card to hold me over until I could afford a better one. My PSU was a year old and 650 watt. The 9800GT recommends 430, not to mention that it's what? Five or six years old?
The new card got here today, I put it in, hooked everything back up and powered on. Installed the latest drivers, temps looked great, I even loaded up WoW to see how it'd do under load. Well, around an hour and a half in the PC suddenly shuts down and will not turn back on. Plus, I could smell the distinct odor of burnt electronics. My PSU is fried. Why? The 9800GT requires 26 amps on the 12v+ rail. My PSU had 20. Now, I'm sitting with my fingers crossed that it didn't take anything with it since it shut itself off. It didn't shoot sparks or blow up, just shut down. Long story short, and a good lesson learned? Make sure your PSU can handle your GPU even if you're well over the watt requirements.
The new card got here today, I put it in, hooked everything back up and powered on. Installed the latest drivers, temps looked great, I even loaded up WoW to see how it'd do under load. Well, around an hour and a half in the PC suddenly shuts down and will not turn back on. Plus, I could smell the distinct odor of burnt electronics. My PSU is fried. Why? The 9800GT requires 26 amps on the 12v+ rail. My PSU had 20. Now, I'm sitting with my fingers crossed that it didn't take anything with it since it shut itself off. It didn't shoot sparks or blow up, just shut down. Long story short, and a good lesson learned? Make sure your PSU can handle your GPU even if you're well over the watt requirements.