Flaky power supply?

[trigggl]

Just when I'm getting a GPU in 'eagle' finally, my Dell starts flaking out. It may be a power supply issue, it may be a heat issue. Either way, I'm forced to shut off GPU crunching on the 9800GT until I figure it out. The Dell started shutting down after a half hour. It did that three times today, so now I'm down to CPU only. I'm getting ready to turn eagle on, though, so hopefully that will more than make up for it. So where's the most bang for my buck on the 4870?

Otherwise, it looks like I'm either going to need a new PSU, more cooling, or both on 'stephie' (the Dell).

[Fire$torm]

Since it is a Dell, it is very likely to be both...

What model is it?

[trigggl]

Since it is a Dell, it is very likely to be both...

What model is it?

It's not the power supply that came with it. I bought a new one a while back. It's also not the processor or the case fan that came with it. It is the same heat sink, but I'm pretty sure I cleaned it well when I swapped out the processor. Maybe I just need to clean out the nvidia cards fan. I suppose it could be GPU heat causing it to shut down. The answer is probably readily available in my logs. I just need to remember to check them. The computer is doing a software shutdown, so it must be logging something somewhere.

[YoDude9999]

9800GTs are very prone to get dust bunnies built up in the heatsink around the fan area right where the fan blows in. I've been running 3 of them for a few years now so this is something I know about. I also know that they tend to be able to run at high temps without issues. I've seen mine running at over 130c and they still live. Keeping heatsinks cleaned out are a priority for any GPU card, so look at that first. I know my 460s will crash the system as soon as any of them reach 113c by powering down the system. I've never seen this behavior with any of my 9800GTs however.

If you're going to replace the PS and you're intending to run a 4870, I'd suggest nothing less than a 500w PS with a single 4870. 650w will give you ample amount of overhead and make you not worry. With a bare bones system, you could get away with a 400w PS, but why push it?