GPU causing forced restart on computer

So I've just put my HD4870 gpu back in my Win 7 computer, after my other card died.

Fan and everything seems to work fine - but a few seconds after I load up a game, the case fan goes into overdrive and the computer force restarts, loses power instantly.

So, any ideas what's happening with this one? I have a digital multimeter if that will help

 

Tried other drivers? Event log indicating anything?

 

Nothing on event log, tried reinstalling the drivers...

 

But tried a previous driver version?

 

tried it, same deal.

Annoying thing is, I'm stuck on this GPU because my HD6870 stopped outputting any display signal, for some unknown reason.

 

It sounds like you have a questionable power supply. What are the specifics on that?

 

Corsair HX520W

 

Hmm. What else is in your system?

Corsair are quality power supplies, but it sounds like you may be pushing it at least just a tad.

Maybe throw a power meter on ($15-20 from Jaycar or Aldi if you can find them there, everybody should have one), and see how much power the computer draws. If it's pulling more than 550w or so from the wall, chances are that your power supply is at full load and is shutting down to avoid killing something.

 

Been running that power supply for years. Don't have much else, 3x 1tb hard drives (1 or 2 are WD greens), and a fairly modest quad core Intel processor

Power supply was more than enough for the system when I had the 6870 in.

It could be dying, but I'd be pretty unlucky. I wonder if that could explain why my 6870 stopped outputting video.....maybe I'll run the multimeter over it tomorrow, see what I can find.

 

Electrolytic capacitors invariably dry up over a period of time, but this period can be years or even decades for top quality caps.

Nevertheless, if your power supply had been running at a decent load for a while and getting warm, this could accelerate the caps drying out, and maybe they've reached a point where they can't hold their load anymore.

It could also be that caps have outright failed, because although Corsair have quality power supplies across their range, their not-so-high-end models can use Tier 2 capacitors, which may be more prone to failure.

But do throw a multimeter on it tomorrow and see what you get.

 

What is windows description of the card? i had a card all of a sudden show up as generic video adapter. It would boot and display but as soon as i would load 3d applications it would do what your saying

 

Had this happen a few times before - Check your RAM you might have a dodgy stick.

 

Sometimes this can be a voltage issue on the GPU. If the voltage is adjustable on the card, it might be worth bumping it up a notch or two. Alternatively, you could use After Burner to under clock the card by a couple hundred MHz and see if it still crashes gaming.

 

Windows picks it up as 4800 series

 

i use to have a 4870x2 great card it was they were known for heat issues are you able to run a temp program and see if heat is a issue?

 

It's ok, all sorted. I'm a total spastic

(while the GPU itself was plugged in, that had to be connected to an adaptor from one of the modular PSU cables. When tracing the cables back, I picked up one of the adaptors but didn't spot the other. Hence, not enough power - which would explain why my 4870 carked it the moment load increased. The 6850 on the other hand didn't even have enough power to output a 2D image).

In attempting to fix my 4870 I accidentally fixed my 6850. Super win!

 

Using a molex to anything adapter? I'd suggest you don't. Some of those things are really sketchy, and I have seem them burn before. I've had a Molex to SATA burn before.

 

Yeah, got a couple. What problems have you had?