Help with PSU for this system

[subxero]

I built 2 systems. One for our studio and one for at home for light gaming. Both have the same specs:

Intel 3570 processor
Gigabyte B75M D3H M/b
8GB Corsair RAM
Gigabyte 7770 OC 1GB Graphics Card
1TB Seagate HDD
Corsair VS450 PSU

I have had issues with both systems. The Studio PC was freezing and a RAM module was found to be faulty. After replacing the faulty RAM module, the machine has been fine. It's only used for Photoshop, Corel-Draw & Indesign. (Light duty work)

The 2nd machine which is used by the family for light gaming has had endless issues - only in games. It would freeze 5 minutes into any game. Tried the latest drivers. Tried older drivers - the net is a terrible place - one person says driver 12.xx is the best and the next says avoid driver 12.yy as that causes xy&z. etc. The last time the card froze, it died. (machine was not booting with the card plugged in) . So I sent the card to be RMA'd and used a 550ti as a temporary card. Now, that card is lagging badly in one of the lightest games (graphically) ever. 10 minutes into play and all animations start lagging badly.

I ran Cinebench and the card gets a reasonable score of 52. Ran Unigine Heaven DX11 benchmark software and the card freezes half way into the benchmarking - every time

So... that VS-450 PSU! Can anyone tell me if it has the legs to carry either of these cards? I seem to get conflicting info on the PSU. The Corsair web site states it has a single 12v Rail. The sticker on the side has two 12v Rail ratings 12V1@21A & 12V2@18A. Can anyone who has used this PSU or anyone who knows more about PSU's please advise me. The Corsair forum has a thread on the subject, http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?p=579263 but it is a dead end. One of their agents promised to look into it, but came back saying he has no further info on this model - only that it was made for Europe/Asian markets only.

PS:The 550ti card was in a machine that has a 470W Gigabyte Odin PSU and it ran perfectly fine for the past 2 years.

 

[Sysem]

I'd say the PSU is a little underpowered. I used this calculator with your specs and it recommended a 492W PSU.

 

[subxero]

I was worried it might be the case. Gigabyte's recommended PSU for the 7770 was 450w, yet the recommended PSU for the 550ti was 400W. Confusing, since the 550ti uses more power than the 7770.

I used this calculator http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp which suggested 305W, (based on the 550ti, so I assumed I was well within requirements. Obviously I am overlooking something or two.

 

[Pada]

The VS450 PSU should be MORE than capable to drive that system!

I'd start by underclocking the GPU first and see if that fixes the issue. The OC models from Gigabyte have a tendency to be overclocked too far without boosting the voltage enough and then you get those kind of issues.

I'd also suggest that you keep a close eye on your temperatures with something like HWMonitor.

 

[subxero]

The VS450 PSU should be MORE than capable to drive that system!

I'd start by underclocking the GPU first and see if that fixes the issue. The OC models from Gigabyte have a tendency to be overclocked too far without boosting the voltage enough and then you get those kind of issues.

I'd also suggest that you keep a close eye on your temperatures with something like HWMonitor.

Thanks. Sounds like something to look into. Both the 550ti and the 7770 are factory OC. HWMonitor is installed. The CPU reaches 55-60 max and the GPU goes up to 50 under load. The last time Unigine Heaven froze, that was +- where they were at (benchmarking in windowed mode).

i was just concerned that the VS-450 may be a dodgy range seeing as it is sold exclusively to E/Asian markets. An Asian forum member was ranting about Corsair flogging off their defective ranges to the Asian market as an insult to their intelligence.... whatever!

 

[Pada]

The reason why it is only available in those countries and in SA are due to its input voltage being only 200-240V and not from like 100V.

Seeing that your temperatures are good, I'd really recommend that you downclock the GPU to the standard clock speed that the reference card runs at.