PSU testing

[pottymonster]

Hey everybody!

So my GPU died and I RMA'd it with BFG. I got the new one, which is a refurbished 8800GTXOC, and hooked it up.

As soon as I powered on the computer I got the Nvidia Power Warning message saying that my card was under powered and I needed to connect the extra cables to it and that it's performance had been scaled back so as not to damage my system blah blah blah.

Well, I didn't have this problem with the old card (reason for RMA was artifacting), so I'm a little curious about what's going on. I called BFG and they suggested I test the PSU to determine if it's underpowering the card or if the card is defective.

I'm using an FSP Epsilon 700W, 4 x 12v rails, 15A each, so I'm hesitant thinking that the problem lies there, but then again I don't have much experience with PSUs so it could just be old (it's 3 years old) and busted now.

Does anybody know of a good way to test the PSU? Are there any apps out that that can give me readings or do I just have to go into the BIOS and see what it says in there? That said, I'm not sure what voltages I should be looking at so if anyone has a tip, that would be great!

 

[pottymonster]

I thought my build was in my signature but I don't see it appearing so I messed around and turned it on, but in case it still doesn't show up, here it is in case it might come in handy:

Thermaltake Silver Armor
eVGA 680i
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Corsair TWINX 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800MHz E.P.P. Memory
BFG 8800GTXOC
2 x WD Caviar 250GB
1 x Seagate Barracuda 750GB
Plextor PX-755SA
Epsilon FSP FX700

 

[JDFan]

You did remember to plug the PCI-e power connector onto the video card correct ?? - without that plugged in the card will still get power from the PCI-e slot on the MOBO but not enough to run the card in 3d mode !! (if you did plug it in be sure that it is connected completly)

 

[pottymonster]

Thanks for the response JDFan. I plugged it in. It has two 6 pin connectors. I took it out a reseated/replugged it but still the same message once I log in to windows.

 

[JDFan]

If you have an extra molex-6pin adapter try using one of the molex connectors instead of one of the 2 6 pins from your PSU (they might connect to a different +12V rail) - If that still doesn't work it could be a defective plug on the Refurbed video card that they didn't fix. Do you have access to another system you could try the card on ?

 

[pottymonster]

Yeah those are the things I was thinking of doing. I'll give it a shot and see what I get.

Thanks!