Installing a new graphics card

Hi everyone. I have been getting black screen crashes ever since I started playing GW. When I first got it and installed it, I was on a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 graphics card, and on 252MB RAM. So I went out and bought more RAM to make it up to 768MB, and a new NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT graphics card. Same problem. My specs are as follows:

Windows XP (sp2)
AMD Duron 1.31Ghz processor
VIA KM266 chipset
768MB DDR-RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT

The question I have was just about installing the graphics card. My old one did not need it's own power supply, its just plugged in to the AGP slot. The new one however does need it's own. I was looking for a spare power thing coming out of the PSU but there were none, so what I did was unplug the power from my CD burner and put it into a splitter, and ran one end of the splitter into the burner and the other into the graphics card. Is that okay? I have a diagram of what it now looks like:

Note: The number of wires have been halved to make drawing easier.


Can someone help me?

If you have one free to do so, try giving the 6600GT its own clean lead from the PSU to the molex connector. This actually solved a lot of problems with a friend's PC one time.

Also, what driver version are you using for graphics? Recent Nvidia ForceWares have caused crashing and anomalies in Guild Wars, most people here would reccommend v71.89 which you should be able to find at this website.

No such luck. That's why I had to do it the way I showed you. I'm going to try that driver you suggested, and I'll keep you posted.

It shouldn't matter as long as your not doing really heavy graphics related stuff while burning. Somthing else people commonly overlook it the amount of wattage a power supply provides. I'd suggest you check and see, and if its anything less then 350W buy a new one. There not that expencive, and it may be a good way for you to get more connections. Also, heat may be a problem for you. Look for a program called SpeedFan, its a free temp monitor for windows. High heat can cause you more problems then you would really realize.

Edit: HAHAHA, Sorry, didn't see the 400W deal there. I'd check heat then, more fans may be your solution.

Thanks so much for that info, any advise is appreciated. LOL I only added that 400w thing in at the last moment while I was drawing it. I'm going to download that program too, because the techs asked me for the temperature, and it couldn't give it to me on my card... So yes, thanks so much!

I haven't been able to do the graphics thing yet, because I'm running Prime95, and it's supposed to run for 8 hours straight so... Tomorrow I'll reply to everyone's suggestions.

Splitting isn't really a problem, if you don't mess up the harness. 9800's come with a splitting harness, and it hasn't interfered with anything on my system.

how does one go about getting 252mb of ram without an onboard video card?

i think he meant 256 as the 768 is right

also the 6600gt is not that power hungry a card

it might still be the power supply is it is a cheap one that came with the case.

the tip off as to quality is they limited the power plugs to only supply 2 devices which screams low output intended especially if it is more than a year old

So why a cd-reader & a cd burner?

(If your cd-burner is old & cant read fast get a dvd-burner which are really cheap nowadays, cant figure out any other reason to have both).

While you have a point, who wants to go out and spend $100+ on a dvd burner if they are not going to burn dvds.

I just got an awsome DVD Burner on Newegg for $50. DVD Burners are comeing down in price, as is single layer media.

If you really want to find out if a power supply is cheap (aka. sucks), get a PS Load (sometimes called a tester) and a DMM (Digital Multi Meter) and make sure your getting the correct voltages under a strained load. The motherboard onboard sensors arn't always exact, and it dones't always stress a power supply. Also, its a cheap way to show off how much of a nerd you are to others.

Lastly, never ever ever forget about heat. Heat is death for computers, and any electronics. I can't stress how bad a hot computer can really make everything run poorly.

tenira, can you get hold of a spliter?

we use them a lot at work, when there are flashy systems with lots of lighted fans, power using vid cards and at least 2 hard drives and 2 cd drives

you can get ones that add one extra power part here, and im sure that you can get others that will add more than 1 or 2.
this might help if you were wanting to re-arange the cables to give the vid card its own power.

what about a PCI fan? we get asked about them sometimes, and its just that the boss cant get them from his normal suppliers that stops him getting one.
you could pop it in the slot just below the vid card and help to keep its backside cool as well

He already has the power going to it. Its just his power supply may nor may not beable to handle the load. And PCI Fans are not that great. They take up a lot of room, block air flow, and move a vary small amount of air. I'd stay away from them.

Oh GOD so much to reply to! Okay here goes.

Yes, sorry... All I know is that the new one wwas like 516 or something and it adds up to 768.

On the side of the PSU it says 'Pentium IV & PFC 400w'. It supplies power to my CD-Rom, CD nurner, floppy drive, graphics card, motherboard, and something else under the floppy drive which is where the power button is... ? LOL

I don't even use the cd bunrer anymore. Does that mean I can somehow remove the power supply from that to free up more power?

I have downloaded that SpeedFan program but haben't tested it out yet, so when I install it I should be able to see what the temperatures are like. I read on their webiste however that you have to know which sensor is which, and I don't think I will be able to tell...

What am I using the splitter for? The power coming out of the PSU is like a big bunch of wires, there isn't a place to split the power from it unless it's from another device, and I didn't know if I could use the splitter they supplied to split power from the CD-ROM or not, so I chose the CD burner because it was like last in the series if you know what I mean, LOL sorry.

When I plugged my graphics card in, the fan was facing downwards anyway, kind of like it was upside down, because that was the only way the pins would align with the AGP slot. Also, that slot is the topmost so I couldn't position a fan above the card. If I was to buy a fan, how do they install in your computer? What about water cooling?

The PCI fan he was refering to is different then the onboard fan on your video card.

Water cooling is good if you really want to invest that much time and money into your system. You have to water proof your mother board, and all you add-on cards (ie. video card, sound card, ect.). Then theres the water tank you need, the prossessor cooling block, and a bunch of other stuff. Basicly the only reason to water cool is if you spent $4000 on a bunch of high end stuff, and are planning to over clock all of it. If your temp is too high, look for more 80mm case fans. Or look to relpace the ones you have with better ones. The higher the CFM on a case fan the better, but it also gets louder the higher you go.

As for Speedfan, usually the highest temp is the prossessor. Aslo you don't want any temp to be over 50 degrees C. And even then people will tell you thats too high. My personal computers all run from around 32 to 40. So yeah, I hope my rambalings here help you.

Yes lol! It found four sensors, and basically I narrowed it down to sensor 2 being the graphics card, and it runs at something like 56-58 degrees C, but when I put a housefan into the side of the computer (as the tech support people suggested) it stays around 48 degrees C. Also, there was another sensor (number 3) which for some reason stays at 81 degrees C or at 82 degrees C, and thats like REALLY HIGH. I don't know where it is, but yeah... It could be faulty, because I turned off the computer and left it off for laround 20 minutes, but with the house fan still on, and after I started it up again, it still said 81C whereas the others were much lower. What do you think?

My CPU runs on constant 60° C And if I start Guild Wars, it goes up to around 65°

ahem....calendae, HE is a femail *refering to herself*

tenira, the spliter is a little peice of cable that attaches on one end to the power cables that go into your hard drive or cd drive, and at its other end, gives you another or two other power out ends to go into cd or hard drive.

the sensor thats reading in the high eightys, *sounds* like its under your heatsink, and between that and the prosessor chip. the reason its still hot is cause the heatsink is holding that heat probably.

ok, have you got more than one drive for cd/dvd ect?
if you have, and you want to, yeah, you can get rid of the cd r drive, simply take off the power cable and unplug the grey (or black, or whatever shade yours has) ribon from the back and then its not there anymore for your PC

the house fan is a great idea i have one here with me now, sitting near my pc and its faning not only my machine, but the backwash of air is keeping ME cool as well
(acording to some magasine i read, cause i have a fan next to my pc, im an overclocker heheh....guess they dont know theres such a thing as a paranoid PC owner that just want to keep her pc cool, and has no idea how to overclock thingy)

LOL! So basically, what did you want me to do with the splitter? Because I used the one which was included with my graphics card to split the power from the CD-ROM to both the burner and the graphics card. *Points to diagram* :P

Thanks for everyone's help so far, I swear in the past week after reading this forum I've learnt so much about computers. Especially the fact that mines crap and is going to die any minute now. And the WORST thing has happened... Not only is it black screen crashing in Guild Wars, but it's done it once in Rise Of Nations! That never used to happen, and it's not like Rise Of Nations is a graphically intensive game.

I swear, I'm so depressed over this. I worked 32 hours at Coles (Aussie version of Walmart, but like groceries only :P) to buy this game, then because it didn't work I invested in more RAM and a new graphics card, and it STILL doesn't work... All I wanted was to play the gaaame! Waaa! LOL And I'm also broke.

ok, ok, dot go off the deep end

take deep breaths....thats it

now then. your case, tour power supply and drives ect are ok.
how long have you had the system?
are you a every day after work 4-6 hours a night person?
do you actually turn off the machine when your not using it?
(yeah, daft questions, and sure, i didnt look that much at the diagrams, i tend not to ^^)

it could be your hard drive, or mainboard thats causing your trouble. in which case, yeah, i know, its more cash. i know exactly how you feel, i have upgraded myself only to find it was board or hdd.
on the up side, your memory, case, vid card and drives are ok, which means all yu need to do is work out if its the hdd or the board.
if you have a spare hdd, or can borrow a spare off a friend, try that. if that cures it (constant play on as many games that it crashed on to test) then all you need is the hdd, if it still crashes, then check the board and chip