ATI Radeon 4830 causing PC to restart (Help)

Rendier

Rendier

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So this is my setup:

Intel Quad Core 2.33GHz
4GB Ram - Kingston
2 x Terabyte Hard Drives
ATI Radeon 4830
Intel G43 motherboard
400W power supply.

the prob is that the computer will restart randomly. Sometimes it happens when I open a program in Win XP... but it always restarts when I start a game...(haven't even played a proper game yet)

Now I know most of you are screaming POWER SUPPLY! but the techie said 400W is fine seeing that the specs of the Radeon say 450W.

Why does it do this randomly in Windows though?

Another thing is that I have a Samsung Syncmaster 2232GW and it doesnt want to work with the DVI cable from the GFX... it works on another screen but not on my Samsung... I had to use the DVI-VGA adapter...

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
 
I think a lot of the power issue will depend on the make of the 400W PSU - which model is it? To my knowledge a 450W would be fine if it's a good make with stable rails, but you have to remember that the rest of your system hardware also pulls juice... ;)

I recall some friends of mine having issues with some Samsung LCD's on the DVI cable - this was solved by uninstalling the graphic drivers, switching off the PC, connecting the DVI cable, then booting and reinstalling the graphic drivers.
 
PSU for almost 100% sure. ATI spec a 450w for good reason.

"but the techie said 400W is fine seeing that the specs of the Radeon say 450W."

That's logic of a weird kind...:confused:

The reason for the random restarts is that power consumption of the different components varies all the time depending on what the pc is doing. A hard drive might initiate a write operation at the exact same moment that the graphics card draws a bit extra to render a new image, whilst the cpu is active, whilst the cd-rom motor spins up, etc, etc.
 
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With the Quad and 2 hard drives + the 4830, I would not go under a good name brand 500W power supply ... You also need to take the amount of cooling fans you have into consideration. For example I have one in the front of my case sucking air over my HD's a second one at the back of the case to exhuast hot air. I have a much bigger CPU cooler and fan than stock and my PSU has a huge fan in it. So if you add all the amps required to run everything at 90-100% will give you an Idea on the PSU required. Plus don't forget that any OC'ing will up your power requirements.

PS your techie is needs to realise that a 400W PSU is an entry level PSU... you will never run stable on that. I had to run a 500W for a 8800GT - then upgraded to a 600W when i upped to the GTX280 (OC Ed). You got to look at the amps available on the 12V rail, I suggest nothing under 26A.

for interest : http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-4830-review-his-technology/4
 
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unplug all your usb devices, one of the harddrives, and the cd-rom. That will answer your question
 
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