New Graphics Card, now games freeze and crash

[Mattio55]

Hi all

Yesterday I bought a new graphics card (Radeon HD 7770) and now any game I try to play will either crash or freeze my computer or just close. I was able to play almost all of these games before I upgraded my card (before I just had a standard Intel HD Graphics that came with the computer). Any solutions? I was thinking it may be my power supply (475w). The graphics card says it requires at least 450w so I don't know...

Alright, here are my computer specs:
- 4GB RAM
- Motherboard #: P7H55-M
- Operating System: Windows 7
- 500 GB Hard drive
- 475w Power Supply
- Processor: Intel Core i3

Hope this helps

[LeftCoast]

Hey Mattio55,

Welcome to the forums!

I might try checking for an updated driver at the manufacturer's website, and install that, or at least uninstall/reinstall the drivers again from the CD. If you have a better power supply you could try (another computer or a friend's), that's a good option too...a crappy 475 watt might not be enough juice. Also remove/replace the card itself; sometimes it doesn't seat properly even though it appears to be in. You may need to adjust BIOS options too, to disable the onboard video.

What you could do now though is edit your post to include specifics on the computer Make/model number (or motherboard if a build), ram installed, and operating system etc.

Someone will get you sorted out soon.

[Riot-Tech]

one is your board compatible with that card, reseat the ram, defrag the hard disk and beef up your power supply to 500+ watts and make sure that the board is staying cool otherwise I go with a different Card if I was you

[stroyal]

Power Supply brand and model, are needed also, as well as the 12volt amps.
475watt and 500watt, is meaningless, without the specs.

That card calls for a 500watt, but that recommendation is made with crappy ones in mind.

A quality 450watt, should have no problem, if the 12volt amps look good.

[ShyguyXPC]

GPU only pulls 80W's, so it runs cool and no need for a 500W PSU.

I good quality 400W is all that system needs, and could even run on 350W in a pinch, again, with a quality PSU.

If the PC is running a Core i3, then there is no doubt that it is compatible with the Card, so scratch off that idea.

[DoubleGunz]

Wow, I'm having the exact same problem, and I have no idea how to fix it.

I just had the AMD 7770 installed by Best Buy, got it home, tried turning on Borderlands and Left 4 Dead 2 and they both immediately freeze. I could play them before at low graphics, now I can't play them at all. I just spent $400 getting this card and having it installed, also had a new power supply installed (450W I think) because apparently I had a 250W one before, which "wasn't good enough". So, this new power supply STILL isn't good enough is what I'm thinking? UGHH.

What's with this 12volt amps you're talking about? Where do I see if I have that.

I know NOTHING about this stuff, so yeah...

[ShyguyXPC]

On the PSU there are 3 Voltage Rails, the 3.3, 5 & 12V rails.

Some units have multiple rails (usually a single rail split up), some have a single rail, for the +12V.

Most PC's made in the last half decade or so, mainly use the 12V Rail, and tap into 3.3 and 5V for extra power as needed, though parts like the Video cards, Hard drives, DVD Drives, etc, mainly/exclusively use the 12V Rail.

Years and years ago, it was important to have PSU's with strong 3.3 and 5V Rails, now days its mainly important to have strong 12V Rails.

Look on the PSU's label to find out the info, any reputable (and even then many crap brand units) units will have this info listed on the label.


What was the brand and model PSU you had Best Buy install for you? Tell me it wasn't a POS Dynex or Rocketfish?


If it was an Antec, or Coolermaster, or something like that, it should be fine, but depends on the rest of your systems specs.

but $400 for them to install it is ridiculous. the cards only cost about $150 online, a 450W PSU is a good $50, so thats nearly $200 in labor costs.

Could of done it yourself, as its very easy to do.

[DoubleGunz]

It is Dynex... -_- and it says

Output voltage +12V1DC +12V2DC +5VDC +3.3VDC -12VDC +5Vs

It's a 520W.

[ShyguyXPC]

Oh god.... return it, and get a good PSU, Best Buy's Dynex units are crap.


its 520W... but what does it say for the Amp Rating for each of the +12V Rails, and does it list somewhere a combined +12V Rail Wattage rating?

[ShyguyXPC]

Whats the specs of the rest of your system? CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Hard drives (how many), Sound card if you have one, Case/Fans, CPU Cooler (Stock or aftermarket cooler)

[DoubleGunz]

ok I'm bringing this thing back tomorrow, ask for a different power supply, one that doesn't suck.

Also, all I know is that my RAM is 4GB. Where do I find out this other stuff? (I told you, I'm not computer savvy).

[ShyguyXPC]

Ask for an Antec, Coolermaster or Corsair, those are the usual good brands that Best Buy carries, at least on their website, not sure what your store has. If they have the Antec VP450 450W unit for around $40-50 that would be a good unit to get.

I know they used to have it for sale online for $30, but I think it went back up to 40-ish range.

Otherwise the Corsair 430W Builder Series, or Coolermaster Extreme 500W are decent in that price range.

Download this: Speccy - System Information - Free Download

Install it, run it, and take a screen shot of the summary page and upload/post the screen shot here.

[DoubleGunz]

Operating System
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i5 @ 3.00GHz 38 °C
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM
6.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Acer Aspire M3970 (CPU 1) 35 °C
Graphics
HP w2207 (1680x1050@60Hz)
AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series
Hard Drives
1397GB Western Digital WDC WD15EARX-00PASB0 (RAID) 36 °C
Optical Drives
ATAPI DVD A DH16ABSH
Audio
AMD High Definition Audio Device

[ShyguyXPC]

yeah, that Antec 450W, Corsair 430W, or any Coolermaster 450-550W PSU will be enough for that rig.

The Antec VP450 has the best +12V Rail of the 3, the coolermaster has a higher Wattage rating overall, but its 12V Rail is no better than some of Antec and Corsairs 400-450W range PSU's.

Which ever is cheaper if they have any in stock in store.

Don't let them dupe you into the Rocketfish Brand units either, their not much better than the Dynex.

This is the unit I'm talking about:

Antec - 450-Watt Power Supply - VP450

Coolermaster one: Cooler Master - eXtreme Power Plus 500-Watt ATX CPU Power Supply - RS500-PCARA3-US

or Corsair: Corsair - Builder Series 430-Watt ATX CPU Power Supply - CMPSU-430CX



if they have this Coolermaster in as well, its a decent unit too, better than the 500W above: Cooler Master - GX 450W ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply - GX 450W

It won't guarantee to fix the freezing problem, but at least you can eliminate this area of weakness in your system, with a good Quality PSU, instead of that cheap crap that Best Buy sells under their Dynex and Rocketfish brands (at one time they did sell a Rocketfish PSU that was actually a Fortron or Seasonic rebadged unit, but it was a high wattage, higher priced unit, and this was a couple years ago too).

[stroyal]

Just to repeat, the obvious..
Get rid of the Dynex, no question.

[DoubleGunz]

Well, problem was solved after they did 100 tests, they decided to replace the gfx card with another identical one... it works. It was a defective card. wtf. -_-

[stroyal]

Glad to here it.
I'd still ditch the Dynex

[ShyguyXPC]

Glad to here it.
I'd still ditch the Dynex

+1

2nd that.