Graphics card overclocking with "weak" Power Supply??

[Deleted]

So, I recently bought myself a Sapphire HD 5770 to work along with my stock PSU that is a Dell 350 watt. 12v(18 amps)

On the Catalyst Control Center, on Overdrive, I overclocked the GPU to max and my screen went black/grey. I was able to overclock it to a more reasonable and "stable" setting but I decided to return it to its original numbers.

My questions is: Is it possible that my 350 watt stock PSU is holding me back from fully overclocking my graphics card? I know that the card sucks out more power from your PSU as you overclock, and maybe my PSU is lacking that "power" that is needed to power my graphics card?


Thoughts? Help is greatly appreciated.

P.S. I do plan on getting a new, more powerful Power Supply.
P.P.S. I know that I may be "overusing" or pushing my Power Supply to its limit.

System Specification: (for nerds-alike! =)

Dell Vostro 430
Intel Core i7 860 (2.80 Ghz)
5 gb ram 1333 Mhz
350 watt Dell stock PSU
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770
1 Harddrive
1 Disk Drive

Link to my system: http://www.hitechreview.com/uploads/...ni-Tower-3.jpg
[Note: The extra hard drive on the bottom is not present in my system(Maybe I can fit a much bigger Video Card?). I got this image off google which is basically the same as mine but with the HD 5770 and without the extra hard drive]

[Deleted]

So, I recently bought myself a Sapphire HD 5770 to work along with my stock PSU that is a Dell 350 watt. 12v(18 amps)

On the Catalyst Control Center, on Overdrive, I overclocked the GPU to max and my screen went black/grey. I was able to overclock it to a more reasonable and "stable" setting but I decided to return it to its original numbers.

My questions is: Is it possible that my 350 watt stock PSU is holding me back from fully overclocking my graphics card? I know that the card sucks out more power from your PSU as you overclock, and maybe my PSU is lacking that "power" that is needed to power my graphics card?


Thoughts? Help is greatly appreciated.

P.S. I do plan on getting a new, more powerful Power Supply.
P.P.S. I know that I may be "overusing" or pushing my Power Supply to its limit.

What "Max" overclock are we talking here?
If you mean dragging the sliders all the way to the right, well, pretty obvious it'll black out on you.
My 5770 is running at 900/1300 with no voltage mod, and that's a pretty casual one for a 5770 to run on. However, yours can be different and it's important you test every overclock you do by doing some stress tests on the card for a couple of hours.

[Deleted]

What "Max" overclock are we talking here?
If you mean dragging the sliders all the way to the right, well, pretty obvious it'll black out on you.
My 5770 is running at 900/1300 with no voltage mod, and that's a pretty casual one for a 5770 to run on. However, yours can be different and it's important you test every overclock you do by doing some stress tests on the card for a couple of hours.

Yes, I did drag the sliders all the way to the right. =) I did however get to 920/1320 but I decided, after a few hours, to revert to its original numbers to avoid overheating in my system as my PSU is not very powerful.

[haxartus]

18A on the 12V rail is 216W. Are you sure it's not 2x 18A ?
The 5770 on stock needs about 9A.

[Saithes]

Yes, I did drag the sliders all the way to the right. =) I did however get to 920/1320 but I decided, after a few hours, to revert to its original numbers to avoid overheating in my system as my PSU is not very powerful.

lol Yeah... Dragging the sliders to the max is the reason you got a black/grey screen. Max on the Sliders doesn't mean max stable

[Deleted]

18A on the 12V rail is 216W. Are you sure it's not 2x 18A ?

12v rail isn't the only rail on a PSU.

[haxartus]

12v rail isn't the only rail on a PSU.

They should put the max wattage as close to the 12V rail as possible.

[Saithes]

They should put the max wattage as close to the 12V rail as possible.

That's normally only on aftermarket power supplies. Dell's typically have a majority on the +12V then another majority on the +5V.

[haxartus]

That's normally only on aftermarket power supplies. Dell's typically have a majority on the +12V then another majority on the +5V.

And that's why the PSU is terrible and not even close to 350W. A real 350W PSU can support 5770 just fine.

[Saithes]

And that's why the PSU is terrible and not even close to 350W. A real 350W PSU can support 5770 just fine.

Yeah but this users problem isn't about the PSU supporting it... It's the fact that he/she just maxed out the slider to clock speeds the GPU couldn't handle.

[Deleted]

My question should have been:

Would I be able to overclock my GPU further if I get a more powerful PSU?

[BicycleMafioso]

My question should have been:

Would I be able to overclock my GPU further if I get a more powerful PSU?

Not likely relevant. A better question would be if you could overclock better with a more powerful aftermarket GPU-cooler, where the answer is, probably, but not guaranteed.

Have you touched your voltages yet? Feeding more voltage to a GPU can increase stability at higher clocks. Be more careful than moving the slider all the way, though. :P

[Schpa]

I also have a question: When you first decided to buy a new GFX card, why did you go with such a low-end one? Why not go for a card like 6850 that is many times better, but is very affordable at a price of 170 bucks?

[BicycleMafioso]

I also have a question: When you first decided to buy a new GFX card, why did you go with such a low-end one? Why not go for a card like 6850 that is many times better, but is very affordable at a price of 170 bucks?

Not everyone thinks every price is affordable.
Not everyone lives in the super-inexpensive US.

5770 is more than capable of handling WoW fully.

[Deleted]

Not everyone thinks every price is affordable.
Not everyone lives in the super-inexpensive US.

5770 is more than capable of handling WoW fully.

This, and to add to what you already said, the 5770 is far from low-end.

[Saithes]

This, and to add to what you already said, the 5770 is far from low-end.

I'd say that depends what you're comparing it to :P If you're comparing it to next generation cards then yeah, I'd say its the low end of midranged or the high end of low range :P

[Tyril]

Yeah but this users problem isn't about the PSU supporting it... It's the fact that he/she just maxed out the slider to clock speeds the GPU couldn't handle.

Actually it's a combination of both, the PSU not being powerful enough to support the overclock that the OP stated (max on the slider) and the fact that not every GPU overclocks the same, one card might beable to handle a max overclock, but 2nd card of the same make/model might not be capable of handling the same clock speeds that the first card managed.

[Deleted]

Not knowing the specs for the rest of the rig, it's hard to say if you're pushing close to random shut downs due drawing too much power from the PSU. Stability issues is one thing, but drawing too much power from a PSU can lead to catastrophic failure prematurely. Had a PSU literally blow up a capacitor, shorting the high voltage leads above it. Needless to say, there were some spectacular fireworks, the smell of burnt electronics and all that as it blows the fuse. Aging reduces output as well, increasing power load.

The average rig at the moment would be happy with 300-400W but the PSU has to be some 50% more than that for safety margins and efficiency for at least as long as the warranty is active. 600W+ is pretty much the norm for anything but SLI / CrossFire or multi-CPU rigs.

The PSU not being able to supply enough power under load may cause as many stability issues as clocking the GFX card too high. They're all individuals and their stability at any given clock rate has to be checked by the users themselves. The HD5770 shouldn't itself have that much of a heat problem unless the case itself has poor airflow, but that of course depends on the manufacturer as well, as my Sapphire Vapor-X version runs quite cool compared to other cards I, or my friend has used.

[Deleted]

I'd say that depends what you're comparing it to :P If you're comparing it to next generation cards then yeah, I'd say its the low end of midranged or the high end of low range :P

Considering it still runs everyting I throw at it, I'd say it's far from low end.

[Saithes]

Actually it's a combination of both, the PSU not being powerful enough to support the overclock that the OP stated (max on the slider) and the fact that not every GPU overclocks the same, one card might beable to handle a max overclock, but 2nd card of the same make/model might not be capable of handling the same clock speeds that the first card managed.

Um, an HD 5770 won't do max on the slider without added voltage.