d4z :
That might be it, my brother bought a 650ti that is pci 3.0, had a motherboard that was 2.0 and the computer would keep restarting after it POSTS. He updated the BIOS and it worked after that
as I said earlier, I am using a sort of old MSI motherboard. I used their live updater software, and now the card's fan does not run so noisily, but I still get no image upon booting. still the same beep at startup and then nothing. is using a live updater different from flashing the BIOS?