[Solved] HD 4890 Problem

Hey guys.
I've just built my first computer and not surprisingly am having some difficulties. When I try to start the computer it does not output to the display at all however when the display is turned on you can hear a significant increase in the sound generated by the computer. Also my graphics card (Sapphire HD 4890) Displays red warning lights meaning I have a "Aux Hot Plug Unplug Fault (Lower Connector)" fault which is simply because the PSU only has one 6 pin connector and the card requires 2. But I also get another LED indicating I have a critical temperature fault which I cannot explain. I think the problem is my PSU, because it is only 460watt. Could swapping out for a PSU with 2 6-pin connectors and an output of around 600watt solve all my problems? Or is it likely that the card and/or mobo is faulty?

EDIT: I just tried a boot without the graphics card in and the computer gets still absolutely nowhere. No signal detected by monitor. Could it be my power supply is simply not powerful enough to even cause the AMD Athlon II X4 620 @ 2.6Ghz to even boot?

Thanks in advance

Message edited by W477ZY on 11-07-2009 at 09:49:20 AM

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I would say that you should most definitely upgrade your PSU to at least 600w - 650w

Reply to Drfeelz

If the graphics card has two 6-pin power connections, it NEEDS the power and you're not going to get anywhere with only one plugged in. So that should be fixed before you try anything.

Before you go replacing your PSU, check and see if you have a couple free 4-pin (molex) connections. You can buy a molex-to-6-pin adapter for about 5 bucks. Basically, you can turn two molex plugs into another 6-pin plug and maybe solve your problem that way.

460W is not a very big power supply by today's standards, but it may just be enough. You'd be surprised sometimes at how little a system will use; I've seen pretty good gaming rigs that could get by (in theory, at least) on no more than 200-250W. The HD4890 is a known power hog, but my guess is with 460W, you have a decent shot at making it work.

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Message edited by capt_taco on 11-07-2009 at 10:38:52 AM

Reply to capt_taco

capt_taco wrote :

If the graphics card has two 6-pin power connections, it NEEDS the power and you're not going to get anywhere with only one plugged in. So that should be fixed before you try anything.

Before you go replacing your PSU, check and see if you have a couple free 4-pin (molex) connections. You can buy a molex-to-6-pin adapter for about 5 bucks. Basically, you can turn two molex plugs into another 6-pin plug and maybe solve your problem that way.

460W is not a very big power supply by today's standards, but it may just be enough. You'd be surprised sometimes at how little a system will use; I've seen pretty good gaming rigs that could get by (in theory, at least) on no more than 200-250W. The HD4890 is a known power hog, but my guess is with 460W, you have a decent shot at making it work.

Ok, cheers. I've done some more digging in the meantime though and found more evidence to incriminate the PSU lol. The booklet that came with the mobo it states that using a PSU less than 500watts may result in system instability or failure to boot along with that I'm driving 4GB of DDR3 RAM @ 1600, im not sure how much of an impact that would have. Case closed? :??:

Reply to W477ZY

Best answer

The 4890 test system consumes 285 watts at full-GPU load. Assuming your power supply is 75% efficient, your 460 watt power supply should be able to output 345 watts which should be more than enough.

If you don't mind spending the money, then go ahead and buy a new power supply. However, if you want to save money, I would say try the molex-to-6-pin adapters to power 2-6-pin plugs first to see if it works.

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 62-13.html

Reply to jkflyer

Alright thanks guys. The computer ran last night without the graphics card in it. So I guess I will be trying the Molex adapter and with a bit of luck that should do the trick.

Reply to W477ZY

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