New gts 250 wont post. psu or mobo prob?

[autorotation]

hey folks, new member, so first off hello =]

heres my specs.
mobo- epox mf570sli nforce 570 chipset phoenix/award bios. not sure what version >.<
cpu -amd athlon x2 dual core 4600 + 2.4 ghz
ram- patriot 2x2gb 6400 ddr2 800
psu- nspire 450w atx 2.0 12v(1)@15, 12v(2)@ 17 for 28a total on both 12v rails
pci expressx16-x1, pci expressx8-x1, 3 pci slots
evga e-geforce 7950 gt 512 mb


i bought a gts 250(512mb pci-express 2.0 ddr3) because i was sick of crappy frame rates and medium settings on games like fallout3. world of warcraft, or world at war.

unintsalled my old cards drivers, put the new card in, system posted and ran. but, the frame rate was unchanged, pretty minimal difference. from what ive read a 7950gt is pretty outdated by a gts 250 and i should notice a pretty significant difference in framerate.
next day when i went to turn on my comp, no display and my system wont post. long beep followed by two short beeps. but it still seems to then run windows because i can hear the windows startup audio. strange. also, the 250's fan was revving up and down like it didnt know what speed to run at. i put my 7950gt back in, works fine, everything posts, my card works normal. i assume its a defective card due to the low frames i had from the get go, get an rma from newegg and have them repair it. they just sent me a new one im quite sure. so, i uninstall the drivers again, make sure im using the integrated video, put the new card in, and lo and behold, system wont post now. same long beep followed by two short beeps. windows seems to boot again, i can still hear windows startup audio. put the 7950 back in, works fine. ive tried to use this card with the 7950gt drivers installed and uninstalled. ive tried to switch the 2 molex plugs around to my open plugs on both rails to make sure its not a wiring issue. 4 hours and about 1000 different forums later, i decide to join a site and post my own question.

so based on the millions of different things i read, heres my questions...

is this video card doa?

this was one of my first thoughts because if it worked before, why wouldnt it work now? but then i thought that if the other card had issues and then would not work at all, and this new card i get does not work at all, its probably not defective or doa. i.e, i probably sent them back a card that worked perfectly fine and had to pay 10$ for shipping =[ by the way, i have made sure that i am using the 2x molex to pcie plug that came with the card, i also tried the pcie plug that comes directly out of the psu. neither worked. i have also tried with drivers installed and uninstalled. i tried to find out a way to turn off my integrated video because a forum suggested it but i could not find anywhere in my bios. so im quite positive that wiring or drivers are not the issue.

do i need a new psu?
it requires a 450w power supply w/ a total of 24 amps on the 12v rail. my psu puts out 28a total on 12v rail, so i assume it meets those req's. i dont know if n-spire is a good brand or not, but people were saying it can depend on more than just the wattage if its a crappy brand so i really have no idea if i need a new psu or not.

do i need a new mobo?
i also read about compatability issues between mobo's and nvidia cards, could not find any posts regarding issues between my model of mobo and the gts 250.

ive got 30 days to decide wether or not i want to return this card. i dont think i can even get a refund, but maybe i can get a different card. i dont even know if its doa or not. the fans spin, but no display. i cant afford a new mobo in the next 30 days to find out wether or not its the mobo, but i dont want to spend another 10 bucks to return a perfectly good card i would love to have work the way my friends does.

sorry if anything in my post didnt make sense, i know a lil about computers but im not a guru by any means =/
thanks in advance for the help, and sorry for the long post, i just wanted to get it all down at once.

 

[El Chupacabura]

looked on the evga website for beep codes=http://www.evga.com/articles/public.asp?AID=24] near the bottom it says "one long beep followed by two short: Reseat the video board - replace if board is determined to be faulty." I took a look at the PSU calc on newegg, =http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html] and when I entered what information I had of yours, it determined that your system would use 474 watts so you might need a new power supply. but before you go spend more money i would see if you have a friend(with a larger psu) that would let you install the videocard on his system just to see what the real problem is.

 

[autorotation]

thanks for the reply. i just moved out here so i dont have a friend that could check for me, and i asked a computer store if they would be willing to put it in a rig for me and they wanted to charge me something like 40 bucks. retarded. i honestly dont think its a seating problem, ive tried several different times and checked to make sure the card was fully seated every time. i have a 500w power supply, but its a generic brand and it weights alot less than my 450watt. it seems cheaply made and didnt really want to put it in my system and have it melt my whole setup =[
i also forgot to mention in my post that when i have the new card in, when i turn on the computer the fans rpms spike up and down, and my core temp readout goes crazy, showing anything from 30 degreeds up to 75, with ff thrown in there. then it boots windows and runs at about 40 degrees which is usually what i run at. but no display =[ wish i knew someone i could have check this card =[

 

[autorotation]

update- i used one of the computers at my work that had a generic looking 400watt power supply and wtf. had a display, install wizard recognized the card and proceded to ask if i would like to install. so at this point i can guess its not my power supply or the video card itself. i know my psu is a low wattage and should be replaced anyways, but i dont think its the psu keeping the card from posting.
i can only assume at this point that its a motherboard issue. ive never heard of a mother board with a pci-e slot not being compatible with a pci-e card, but over the last two days ive learned that there can be a whole "fustercluck" of things that can go wrong when trying to upgrade my system.

but before i go out and spend another 100 bucks on yet ANOTHER part for my pc, i guess i just want to get some opinions. what do you guys think? based on the info ive put down in my posts, best bet that its my motherboard? and if so, why did the video card play for almost an hour on my mobo before refusing to post? (it ran like crap but still posted). and why does my 7950gt work perfectly fine but the gts 250 doesnt work at all? \but it seems pretty obvious at this point that it IS my mobo, i just dont want to buy a new mobo and have this same problem and then not be able to return this card in case there is the small chance its defective. i cant see how it would be defective if it posted and was recognized on the other system and tried to install . i didnt install the drivers or try to play w/ the card, but the display wouldnt even come up on my pc and wouldnt post so i assume its not the card.

fml, i shoulda bought a ps3 >.< they replace those when the power supply melts the whole system =[

any help is GREATLY appreciated. any parts or repairs store wants to charge me $40-50 just to check the card and even more to check my system to make sure they are compatible. =/

 

[daship]

Its your power supply.

 

[autorotation]

i thought it was my power supply too, but i tried the card out on a system at work that only had 400w rating and barely 24 amps on the 12v rail. the card seemed to post and work fine....if its my power supply then why did an under-rated generic brand 400w supply at my work run this card but my 450 watt n-spire that is definitely a better make and brand not run it? me=confused. but thanks for the post =]

 

[mindless728]

because the n-spire must be crappier than a no brand

honestly i would get a quality PSU in the future, aka Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling and the likes

 

[El Chupacabura]

I would say that its the PSU also, on the EVGA website it says that a minimum of a "450 watt power supply" is necessary just for that card, so your cutting it pretty close with JUST the GPU. I would also try calling EVGA for help they might just tell you to take a hike, but, I'm pretty sure they have 24 hr customer service and will be willing to atleast determine if your card is indeed DOA. It is weird though that it did run for almost an hour... when you say it ran like crap, what exactly was wrong with it ?

 

[masterjaw]

PSU problem, I suppose. The crappy performance could be because your PSU can't deliver enough power to the GPU. Your PSU might be 450W at peak but might not be able to meet the 12v rail requirement of the card.

 

[pont]

i agree that it is a power supply but i had to go into the bios and tell it to use the pcie slot
before mine worked with a gigabyte MB

psu- nspire 450w atx 2.0 12v(1)@15, 12v(2)@ 17 for 28a total on both 12v rails

never heard of that so it might me as good as a name brand 300 wat

 

[autorotation]

@ chupacabra, basically i noticed little or no difference between my frame rates using the 7950gt and the gts 250. loading screen times also seemed to be twice as long as well as windows startup.

it seems so strange that it would end up being my powersupply since i put it on a 400w generic psu versus my 450watt. i dont know too much, i just figured it was better because it weighed more, seemed to have better construction and has blue l.e.d lights all over it. idc about the lights really, (even tho my case is see-thru and looks pretty cool) just figured they wouldnt bother putting cosmetic parts like l.e.d lights on a p.o.s psu. thanks for all the comments guys, ill go buy a new psu and try that route.
as far as a psu is concerned, this is the one i had in mind for my price range
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148022
any thoughts as to wether or not this is agood psu i can use for a while without having to upgrade would be appreciated. thanks again guys =]

 

[El Chupacabura]

Idk before you do anything I would see if you can get a hold of EVGA support and see it they can help determine that the card is indeed functioning, I am 98% sure this is PSU problem, but see if they have any other insight.

 

[autorotation]

SOLVED.
well, it wasnt the power supply. i tried a couple of 750 watt power supplies, they didnt work. so, due to the fact that my mobo didnt support phenom I or II and i ended up buying a phenom II x4 for a great deal, i bought a new mobo. i used the 450w power supply that supposedly wouldnt run it before, presto. works fine. it was my mobo. i dont know too much about pci-e slots, i figured as long as it fits it should work. but my gts 250 says its pci-e version 2.0, so i can only assume that my pci-e slot on my old mobo wasnt 2.0? no idea. but yeah. figured id come back here and post to help out anyone who is having the same sort of problem and finish this thread. so, for the record....GTS 250 AND EPOX MF570SLI ARE NOT COMPATIBLE. lol. it was a crappy, noisy mobo anyways =P

 

[autorotation]

one last note...weird thing is that it worked for an hour before quitting....if it wasnt compatible, why did it work at all? strange.

 

[masterjaw]

one last note...weird thing is that it worked for an hour before quitting....if it wasnt compatible, why did it work at all? strange.

They tried to get along with each other. But after an hour, they've realized that things won't work-out between them so they broke-up.