Graphics Problems...(PSU not powerful enough?)

[NataKun]

So we installed my friend's old GPU in my other friend's old computer, the GTX 550ti. It all worked ok at first. He was able play his games just fine. Then I installed a 2GB stick of RAM (he had 1x2GB + 1x1GB) and I reinstalled Windows. Now the graphics are acting weird.

 

Symptoms:
-Nvidia Drivers crashing.
-Weird stuff happening on screen
ex. 
   Random chunks appearing
   Blank chucks parts appearing until I put my mouse cursor over it
   Misbehaving/unresponsive Windows
-BSOD 
-Etc...(there are so many small things...)

 

-The system boots ok and loads the desktop ok. Just some glitches happen every once in a while (mentioned above).
However, when I watch a video with VLC, the graphics start flickering every few secondes. And when I load a game it either crashes, or the computer does, leaving me with a blank screen. Also, I noticed that sometimes when I leave it on for a while on idle, I will get a BSOD.

 

 

His system:
Upgraded Acer Aspire am1640-ed2160a (upgrades below)

-Core 2 Duo e8400
-2x2GB DDR2 800Mhz
-GTX 550ti EVGA
-Dynex DX-400WPS 400W PSU

 

 

I am suspecting that it is his PSU that is not giving the GPU enough juice. I read that the 550ti needs 24A on the 12V rail, but this one only has 14A in the first 12V rail and 15A on the other. Also, the 550ti needs at least 400W, and this is some cheap PSU so it may not actually be 400W like it says it is.

 

I want to make sure that this is the problem so I don't make him buy a new PSU for nothing.

 

I am thinking about the Corsair CX430 if he really needs to change the PSU.

[Guest]

Minimum power requirement is 400 watts, you should be fine

Edit

Whatever you do.

do

not

get a CX 430 just get a 500B or something from EVGA

[iamdarkyoshi]

Kill the PSU.get a new one please...

[NataKun]

Minimum power requirement is 400 watts, you should be fine

Edit

Whatever you do.

do

not

get a CX 430 just get a 500B or something from EVGA

Yeah. But it don't seems to have enough amps...and the PSU he has is cheap.

 

And is the CX430 that bad?!

[Guest]

Yeah. But it don't seems to have enough amps...and the PSU he has is cheap.

 

And is the CX430 that bad?!

Its horrible for any kind of gaming, the capacitors they use are cheap and horrible.

[conspiravision]

everyone over thinks power supplies, you should not be having those types of problems because of power.  Could be the gfx card going bad could be bad stick of memory, could be corrupt hdd or bad os install.. theres a number of things.  But by the looks of it that psu would power what you have, and I don't even need to calculate it.

[OAcesync]

everyone over thinks power supplies, you should not be having those types of problems because of power.  Could be the gfx card going bad could be bad stick of memory, could be corrupt hdd or bad os install.. theres a number of things.  But by the looks of it that psu would power what you have, and I don't even need to calculate it.

Yes but he did say the PSU doesn't provide enough Amps on a single 12V rail

[conspiravision]

Yes but he did say the PSU doesn't provide enough Amps on a single 12V rail

I suppose it could be the PSU going bad or just being a potato to begin with, but I still highly doubt its the power supply.

[Mattler]

You need a 12V rail for most of the 500 series

[Guest]

I suppose it could be the PSU going bad or just being a potato to begin with, but I still highly doubt its the power supply.

It's defo to do with power imo

 

You need a 12V rail for most of the 500 series

This^

[Glenwing]

This is not a problem with the PSU. When a power supply is overloaded it either explodes/smokes or cuts power instantly with no BSOD. It doesn't cause artifacting or other instabilities.

 

Also, a BSOD is a diagnostic tool, the text on the screen does actually mean something. There is no need to wonder what the problem is because the data on the BSOD tells you exactly what went wrong. Well, not exactly. But it gives you an idea of where to look.

 

BSOD code 0x00024 is a drive/OS problem. Furthermore you can see the issue originated from NTFS.sys. So this is a problem related to the file system, or hard drive. It may not be a direct problem with the file system/hard drive, but it's definitely a software issue. Graphics card artifacting seems to indicate a possible driver conflict, the first thing I'd do is uninstall your graphics card drivers completely, restart the computer, and re-install the latest GPU drivers from NVIDIA's website.

 

If that doesn't solve the problem I'd recommend running a CHKDSK on the boot drive and a system file check (Right-click "Run as Admin" command prompt -> "sfc /scannow").

[NataKun]

OK. It seems that the problem was the new stick if RAM I put in. Got errors within 5 seconds of running memtest. I put back the old 1GB stick in place of the 2GB stick and the system runs stable now. I'll have to reinstall Windows now cuz bad memory could have cause the corruption of the HDD during the install. That can explain the BSOD...