Radeon HD 4870 X2: power supply + temperatures?

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Exhonour

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Basically my friend's (which is not in the country) computer is having problems with constantly restarting so his parents brought it over to me. It usually restarts several times during boot up, sometimes restarts during idleing.

I don't know much about computers hardware wise but I am guessing the power supply may be too weak for it.

The PC has an nvidia 750W supply and I have seen that min is 1000W for that video card + other hardware of equal level. There is also an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 on board.

What I tried is disconnecting the dvd/cd drive, the front usb+audio+mic ports (dont think this matters) and a couple back SATA ports.



After I disconnected the stuff, I still noticed PC restarts quite frequently. So my second guess is something overheating. Everything in PC is pretty cool, only the video card temperatures look a bit high (first GPU is around 65-78 celcius while the second is much cooler running around 50-60 celcius). Might it be over heating? What I tried to do is setting the 2 fans (top and side) to low speed (because I was going to sleep) and the computer restarted within maybe half an hour. So I put them both to max.


What else can be the problem? How can I solve this? Is the power supply too weak? Are the temperatures too high? BTW The PC worked fine for like a year for them... Do powersupplies age and become worse?
 
I also wanted to mention that there is a fresh windows installed and for some reason only 4gb out of eight are recognized.
 
I also wanted to mention that there is a fresh windows installed and for some reason only 4gb out of eight are recognized.
Exactly what OS are you using? Is it 64 bit?

The PC has an nvidia 750W supply and I have seen that min is 1000W for that video card + other hardware of equal level. There is also an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 on board.
NVidia doesn't make power supplies. The 4870x2 doesn't really take 1000w a good power supply with around 60A - 70A should do fine.

Also...
Basically my friend's (which is not in the country) computer is having problems with constantly restarting so his parents brought it over to me. It usually restarts several times during boot up, sometimes restarts during idleing.
Because the problem is happening before the 4870x2 gets out of 2D mode and starts eating power, its likely not a powersupply issue.

Do powersupplies age and become worse?
Oh but yes most do indeed age, but it usually isn't a big problem, especially since the PC seems relatively new.

first GPU is around 65-78 celcius while the second is much cooler running around 50-60 celcius
Weird temperature discrepancy with the temperatures, but they are still within usable ranges.
If your motherboard has integrated video, you can take out the 4870x2 entirely if your worried about it causing the problems.
 
The 4870x2 should have 5 diagnosic LEDs on it and I believe 3 should light up at POST (this is normal) now if any of them stay on after POST it might indicate a problem with the card.
Source: http://www.vgaforum.com/showthread.php?t=20492
The position of the LEDs might vary by manufacturer so it's best to check the manufacturer website.

Now the PC could also be experiencing memory errors I suggest taking out all but one stick of RAM and running a memtest on each one individually.
The program can be found here: http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

The tempurature gap is odd, usually the 2nd GPU (ie: the one next to the back back vent) runs hotter that GPU #1 which is closer to the fan.
 
I installed 64 bit windows 7. I mentioned the power supply is nvidia because I noticed the nvidia and sli stickers on it. About eh temps, I don't know which is actually the first gpu and which is second, I just go by what gpu-z program says. Finally I don't think the moherboard has onboard
gpu but I will check when I get back to the pc.

I also left it on overnight and it looks like it restarted. Is there like a log that keeps tracks of errors before system failure like that?

To the other person that responded, I will use that to test the memory sticks. About the LEDs, I only see those on the motherboard itself. I can't see any LEDs on the card. I read the thread there and one of the stages described there (fan speed goes to 100% at boot) happen with the card but again can't see LEDs.
 
About the LEDs, I only see those on the motherboard itself. I can't see any LEDs on the card. I read the thread there and one of the stages described there (fan speed goes to 100% at boot) happen with the card but again can't see LEDs.

They should be on the back of the PCB (the side without the fan/heatsink). Its best to check the manufacturer of the 4870x2 for exact position.
 
Hi, so I found the LEDs. 3 of them light up red for a tiny moment and then they all go out.
Thats normal, means there should be no problem with the card hardware wise.

I'm leaning towards a RAM or Driver issue.

Please run the memtest on each stick by itself, at least for 6 hours. If it shows no errors you may have a driver issue.
 
Looks like I was wrong about ram. Friend told me it's actually 4gb total (no idea why it says 4g on each)
 
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