Sentinel power warnings with my sn95g5 and 6600gt.

[Chrizcol]

Please help me...This is driving me nuts.
I've got an sn95g5 with an amd 3500+ cpu, maxtor 80gig 7200rpm hdd, nec 7900a writer, and an inno3d 6600gt. I ALWAYS get the sentinel warning when i boot up windows.

Getting a 3dmark score of 1998 with all that plugged in. And a score of 3317 when i unplug the cd writer (no sentinel warning).

I connect the 6600gt using an extension off of the one that is powering the cd-writer as its my only option.

As i cant actually purchase a higher wattage silentx psu for my system in asia (my location), my only option is looking to be to get an external power supply purely for my vid card... and a) thats riduculous b) looks ugly c) goes against the point in having a shuttle.

Do you think that it might be that
1) my psu is faulty?
2) i should use a power cable solely for the vid card (and if so.. how do i get another out of the psu?...my warranty will void too)
3) my cd-writer is taking too much power away from the system unneccesarily? (its old and hardly works now)
4) could i disable the power sentinel?

Ive tried putting new bios updates, using different vid drivers... no help

Please help me! my gaming is suffering!


Oh also... my cpu case temperature is approx 35.C , my system temp is 54.C and my GPU core is 62.C. Is this normal? (no overclocking)

[Rqyteqto]

I'd suggest you take a long hard look at that CD drive. You don't have a problem with it disconnected and you do with it connected. Obviously, its affecting your scores, probably because the card isn't getting enough power. And its unlikely its your PSU. I'd bet you have some sort of short or something in the old CD. Dump it and get a new one.

As for your temps, are you sure those are the correct tags. If they are, your CPU looks about right (assuming that's at idle, under load it should be up around 45 or 50, maybe a bit higher). Your system temp looks high, have you got the chipset fan going? You can check using SpeedFan or Everest or your BIOS. Your GPU looks about right, if you are getting it from your graphics card utility but the real temps should be about 10c lower.

[Chrizcol]

Thanks for your advice mate.
I got the video card replaced yesterday (couldnt even update the bios for some reason..so i suspect it was malfunctioning) AND bought a new dvd (pioneer...amazing!...16x) drive.
Dont know which did it but its running like a dream now. Temps never go above 60.
Now im off to shoot some terrorists... later!