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SGasan116
09-06-2009, 12:19 AM
My system:
Asus P5E3 Deluxe\Wi-Fi,
Intel Q9650
XFX GT8800 - 528mb
OCZ1600 – 1gb x 2
Asus Essence STX
WD150gb, SeaGate 750gb

Ultra X3 800wt – power supply

I got a new video card – PNY GTX295 for birthday, so I decided to upgrade.
New card needs two power extras – 6-pin and 8-pin, both 12 volts.
When I installed new card and tried restart PC, nothing happened. PC wasn’t responsive at all,
no POST’ing ot anything, except green light on the board. But I noticed short movement of fan in power supply, and that’s it. I tried resetting power cables - 6 & 8-pins, and noticed that to connect 8-pins you have to put more pressure, like push harder. But other than that, no other abnormalities were visible, and still no post’ing.

I tried to remove power extra cables from video card and suddenly computer returned to life – it started waking-up (but I immediately shut it down, because no extra power cables was connected to video card). My first guess was that power supply doesn’t provide enough power, so I decided to connect one 6-pin cable to video card, start PC and then connect another 8-pin cable. But when I tried this, I saw and heard sparks and cracks in video card input for 8-pin (small but visible and audible). The same happened when I switch extra power cables - started with 8-pin, and then after pressing “power” button connected 6-pins cable.

My questions are:

1) What I did wrong?

Did I fried $500 videocard?

2) Could be a faulty 8-pins cable?

3) May be this video card was broken from the beginning?

I’m kind of scared and upset. It was such a great gift from my wife, and most powerful card for today, and suddenly complete clusterfrack. So I put my old XFX Alpha-Dog GT8800 back to case and everything came to life again, nice and shiny and at least I can write on forums and search Web. But, geez – brand new 2 GB video card dead because of my ignorance? It’s killing me, and before I committ suicide, please share you experience.

Please tell me what I did wrong and what to do next. I really appreciate all you suggestions.

P.S. (sorry my mistakes – English is my second language)
zanzabar
09-06-2009, 12:53 AM
yes u did something wrong, never plug anything in except for fans (not on the MB headers) or sata with the psu on, nothing else is hot swappable in desktop computers

since its new it could have been defective from the start and u could try to rma or return it since it was defective from the start but u likely damaged it physically so there may be repair charges, and as with any rma dont do anything but answer the questions or u will just get in trouble.

for the future dont buy ultra products, dont hot swap things, and for right now getting NV parts is a waste of money (unless u fold/crunch) u have an xfire board and 2x 4890 would be faster and cheaper with less power draw (info for if u do return it)
Jamesrt2004
09-06-2009, 04:07 AM
psu you has bad rails I would have went with somethign higher quality, sounds like a short tbh :/ tried the setup with your old gfx card that still work???

if not its probably the psu.. try it with old psu (even if its a bit much just dont game itll be fine just turning it on)

if not that then i'd rma both the card and return the psu and get a more reputal brand.. corsair 750 sounds good to me... or silverstone or the new OCZ's
Machinus
09-06-2009, 04:33 AM
Turn off the computer before you change anything, seriously.

RMA the card and don't tell your wife.
SGasan116
09-06-2009, 04:48 AM
I have the latest BIOS.
how I can test videocard if it's in working condition or not?
I can order overnight delivery for another videocard or power supply.
Is there any possibility that 8-pin cable was the cause of sparks?
SGasan116
09-06-2009, 06:55 AM
I should be using PCI-E cable, but only now I found out that it was +12v - 8-pin cable.

This is where I made a mistake.
There wasn't any adapters or cables inside the box, which is strange, because they should put Y-power cables or adapters inside of box.

For now I have 6-pin to 8-pin PCI-E cables. Is it possible to use for second 8-pin input on card? Or I should order 8-pin to 8-pin cable?
On power supply I hve only one 8-pin output and three - 6-pin.

I do not want to experiment again, just want to know for sure. It's really stressful situation.
Oberon
09-06-2009, 12:14 PM
Wait, you somehow managed to plug in the 8-pin 12V connector that was meant to the motherboard into an 8-pin PCI-E connector? Those two connectors are most definitely not (or should not be) keyed the same.
STEvil
09-06-2009, 02:20 PM
If the connector is hard to press in, you've got the WRONG ONE.

Notice the differences?

PCI-E 8-pin connector: http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/other/1000w-psu-roundup/p3.jpg
Motherboard 8-pin connector: http://www.cable-trader.co.uk/images/8%20pin%20to%204%20pin%20ATX%20mainboard%20power%2 0adapter.jpg
MadDias
09-06-2009, 04:14 PM
sgasan116 u fried ur card...
by using the 8pin mainboard connector u put voltage on parts that must not be put under voltage.
u should be glad that u didn´t also fry the psu by shorting the +12v to ground.
i would not recoomend u to get an rma for that card, cause a.) it was ur own fault and b.) it´s not hard to find out why the card is defective now.
i´m sorry, but u have a 500$ paperweight now.
STEvil
09-06-2009, 05:49 PM
Card is not necessarily dead. Try with proper connectors.
Sparky
09-06-2009, 05:53 PM
Card is not necessarily dead. Try with proper connectors.

This. A lot of stuff has reverse current protection by way of diodes and such.
SGasan116
09-06-2009, 06:08 PM
sgasan116 u fried ur card...
by using the 8pin mainboard connector u put voltage on parts that must not be put under voltage.
u should be glad that u didn´t also fry the psu by shorting the +12v to ground.
i would not recoomend u to get an rma for that card, cause a.) it was ur own fault and b.) it´s not hard to find out why the card is defective now.
i´m sorry, but u have a 500$ paperweight now.

$$$ thank u! it's very really not helpful, supportive and optimistic contribution from you. unfortunaly for u, u're wrong - card is not dead.
SGasan116
09-06-2009, 06:11 PM
Card is not necessarily dead. Try with proper connectors.

Thank you STEvil and SparkyJJO!

Yes, it worked!
I connected 6-to-8 pin cable (6-pin end to PS and 8-pin end to card) and PC booted up.

Thank everybody for help. I really appreciate it!
Vienna
09-06-2009, 07:46 PM
Yea, when I read your post I doubt it was dead, I've made plenty mistakes shorting out my own components accidentally, the PSU automatically reacts like that when it detects a short to prevent damage.

Not once has something I've shorted(while the system was off) accidentally killed any of my components. Just be more careful next time and you'll be good.
largon
09-08-2009, 05:45 AM
If it's a dual PCB GTX295 I wouldn't be celebrating just yet.
The 8pin plug is on the secondary board so it's possible only the sec. card was fried but the primary card still works. So, if it seems you can't get the onboard SLi working...

Why are you using a 6pin-2-8pin converter? Ultra X3 800W should have both 6pin and 8pin PCIe plugs.
Talonman
09-08-2009, 05:56 AM
If it's an older model Ultra, it can have issues running a single 280...

The Ultra 1000W X3 did.

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=643959&mpage=1&key=��