The sum of the whole is less than the sum of the parts

[fthlagen]

I have purchased the following (with a view to constructing a reliable gaming platform for the next few years).

FX53, 2x512MB Corsair RAM, Gigabyte X800XT AGP, MSI K8N Mobo
The CPU is cooled by a Zalman Reserator.

The whole lot's plugged together but when I run a game like Doom3 or Thief3, the system will work for between 2 and 10 minutes before rebooting.

So far, my chief suspect is the Q-tec 650 (I'm rapidly learning that this piece of hardware could turn into a bit of a system-eating liability.)

So - question 1 : Do my problems sound PSU related? If so, what's my next best bet ( I only have 200watt PSUs to fall back on).

question 2 : In my position, would you ever switch the system back on with the Q-tec attached?

I know you're gonna need to know voltages and that kind of thing (so where do I get that info from?)

Also, CPU temps ( my FX53 gets to 38/39 deg centigrade and no further - according to the BIOS ).

Many thanks in anticipation.

[Rave]

What are your graphics card temps? What sort of ventilation does the case have? Is the computer Prime95 torture test stable? If it is, then it seems to me that the problem is likely to be either the PSU or the graphics card. Given Q-Tec's very questionable reputation, I'd be pretty inclined to get something better sooner rather than later.....

Rich :¬)

[Swafe]

get rid of that q tec !


lol, could be a number of reasons, try reinstalling OS, etc, personally i wouldnt use a q tec on a system like that for explosive reasons, and it could be your problem

[SmileyUK]

i cant believe you would plug all of that expensive kit into a qtec!!!

replace it as soon as possible...if you have a choice dont turn on until is replaced...just in case..

[Lee H]

Was the Q-tec bundled with a free fire extinguisher ?

I would use the q-tec as a doorstop and get a better quality PSU straight away.

[fthlagen]

Right - here's the plan.

The q-tec is for the bin.

What should I replace it with?
I've read good things about Tagan but I've also seen a report about one which exploded..

What would you recommend?
And what kind of wattage do I need for this setup?

In addition to the goodies above, I'm running a SATA Raptor, a couple of IDE slugs (150gb and 8gb(!)). I've also got an optical drive, a humble floppy and of course a couple of fans.

[Lee H]

Tagan, CWT, Coolermaster, Antec, Hiperpower are all good quality PSU's so the range is quite good for getting a PSU with enough stability and support for the parts you've listed. in an analogy - the parts you have are similar to having a ferrari and then sticking cheapo-nasty fuel in with less octane rating than normal fuel. You save in costs but it could hinder performance ( or lack of it really )

Go for the PSU you feel is the best for your system. Anything over a good quality 400w would be ideal. I personally use a 550w CWT for a 2500+ based system but the tagans are getting good reports from left right and centre

[fthlagen]

New PSU has arrived. An ANTEC 480W (what a lovely power supply - the connectors from the PSU to the peripherals is very thoughtful..)

Anyway - for the benefit of visitors who have the same problem as me and want to know how it turned out:

Doom3 ran for 30 minutes or so before the system rebooted....so it's not the PSU as such but there has been an improvement to performance. The system runs fine otherwise but stuffs up on 3d games..

Next area to investigate is the ATI800XT .. I'm going to try older drivers if I can find them. I will report back.

In any case, thanks for the advice on the Q-Tec (can't believe Overclockers.co.uk sell these puppies - still my fault for being ignorant when it comes down to it.)

[SmileyUK]

someone i work with has just had similar problems. turned out it was his ati driver causing a serious error in windows and then windows doing the reboot.... wonder if this could be the same issue you have

[fthlagen]

Any idea which drivers he went for?

Whatever I go for it's bound to be wrong - it would be nice to get a set that run well with my setup.

[Furton]

I've been suffering the same problem latley but with a Radeon 9600, after trying loads of driver sets I found 4.10 with that new horrible cluncky control centre fixed the problem.

[BenW]

I think you can get 4.10s without the control contre

[Agent]

Was the Q-tec bundled with a free fire extinguisher ?

I would use the q-tec as a doorstop and get a better quality PSU straight away.

Stop beating me to it

Wack Q tec in the search box and check out the results

[SmileyUK]

i will have a word with him in a bit and get back to you

*ties string to finger as he has worst memory in the world*

[skuzgib]

Do you get any blue screens? If you don't, go to control panel>system>advanced>startup and recovery and make sure the "automatically restart" box is unchecked.
If you still dont get a BSOD, it sounds like a power prob to me.

[fthlagen]

So.... new drivers (Catalyst 4.10) install but (a) cause CLI.exe errors (a colleague has since suggested I uninstall the old before putting in the new - sheesh! - so I might try that.)

Current situation : new drivers (6.14) re-installed and XP re-installed - I will try the control panel suggestion as there is no BSOD - the system literally freezes for a quarter of a second, resets resolution and starts with the startup splashscreen (as if I'd just switched on from cold).

I've checked temps for everything I can and they "seem" fine.
Temp on CPU 39deg
Temp on MOBO 24 deg
Temp of X800XT 31 deg

I did notice that the BIOS voltage data for the 12V reads 11.79 (is that normal? it occasionally flips to 11.80 but only for one read or so).

As you can imagine I've got plenty of advice on what to try next so I'm probably changing too many things at once in the hope one of them works. Someone has experienced similar problems only to find the MOBO wasn't supplying a necessary quarter of volt to the graphics card (where do you look for that sort of thing?)

Anyway - in summary, bags of patience left for this situation, so looking for ideas. My current plan of attack is:

try system tonight (now XP re-installed)
if uncommanded reboot, try the control panel fix.
If still defective, uninstall Catalyst 6.14 and install 4.10
if still defective, uninstall 4.10 and put 6.14 back in
if still misbehaving, I will start to take the problem seriously and start looking at the error messages and logs that occasionally pop up (i'm not on the net for a number of reasons) and see if I can isolate the problem that way.

Many thanks for those of you who continue to contribute to this thread. The winning suggestion wins a Q-tec 650W!

Marko.