OTOY Forums

Hi Guys,
just wondering if anybody had some tips on installing a GTX580 as a second card into a Win7 64 system.
We're not having any luck with it, Windows doesn't detect the card at all. Suspect a power supply problem.
The workstation, a Xenon Z5 has an 800w power supply.

We've tried it in 2 different pci slots, with my current card installed and without. Without the current graphics card the system delivered 8 beeps on startup suggesting a faulty graphics card.

Does the card require power input into both it's sockets? There is a 6 pin and an 8pin socket on the card. But the card only came with a twin 8pin molex to 6 pin adaptor.
Thanks again for your time,
Steve

Hi Sandrust,

The GTX580 does require both power inputs to be connected at the same time, graphics cards are quite power hungry, especially when your doing something as intensive as octane.

Hope that helps

Carlo

Thanks Carlo,
looking like a power supply issue.
Cheers

Yes, I have one as well and it does require both the 8pin and 6pin connections.

We managed to get it running in another PC, so looks like I need to upgrade my power supply.
Any recommendations?
S.

Sandrust wrote:We managed to get it running in another PC, so looks like I need to upgrade my power supply.
Any recommendations?
S.

Try these

http://www.corsair.com/power-supplies/modular-psus.html

Regards

the jaba

Thanks Jaba,
had a chat to the guys that built my workstation as I couldn't understand why the 800w power supply in it couldn't run the GTX580. They explained that the dual Xenon CPU's use 90w each at idle! So between those and then trying to run the GTX580 and the existing Quadra FX card meant there wasn't enough juice to fire up the GTX.
They recommended, and I've ordered this Thermaltake one.
http://www.thermaltake.com.au/Products/ ... 1500W.aspx
May as well make sure I'm future proof. you never know, I may ditch the Quadra and put another 50 in one day.

Downside is the boss is now expecting big things from this beast.
Cheers,
Steve

I meant, put another "580" in one day.

Sandrust wrote: had a chat to the guys that built my workstation as I couldn't understand why the 800w power supply in it couldn't run the GTX580. They explained that the dual Xenon CPU's use 90w each at idle! So between those and then trying to run the GTX580 and the existing Quadra FX card meant there wasn't enough juice to fire up the GTX.

I don't believe that is true. The Xenon X5550 is rated at a Max TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 95W (see here http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=37106). The Max TDP is usually about 20-30% lower than maximum power consumption (see here: http://www.cpu-world.com/Glossary/T/The ... (TDP).html). Normal operating power consumption (while using a browser, word processor, etc) is usually much, much lower. And when a computer is idle, the CPU is hardly using any power at all.

The GTX 580 uses a maximum of 244W (see here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product-ge ... 80-us.html).

The Quadro FX 1800 uses a maximum of 59W (see here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_qu ... 00_us.html).

Even if we assume that Octane uses 100% of your CPUs (which it doesn't) and you add all of these components up (95W + 95W + 244W + 59W), you will get a total of 493W. I'm not sure what other components you have in the system (DVD, CD, HDDs, etc), but those components don't usually take very much power. So if we add another 50-100 W, then you get a total of about 550W to 600W.

And when you are starting up your machine, most of these components are going to be idle, so the power consumption will be a fraction of the maximum consumption. So if your problem is at startup, then it probably isn't the power supply.

You also stated that the PSU didn't have a 6-pin and 8-pin connector, so how are you connecting the GTX 580? If you aren't connecting it with the correct connectors, then that is probably your issue.

GeoPappas wrote:

Sandrust wrote: had a chat to the guys that built my workstation as I couldn't understand why the 800w power supply in it couldn't run the GTX580. They explained that the dual Xenon CPU's use 90w each at idle! So between those and then trying to run the GTX580 and the existing Quadra FX card meant there wasn't enough juice to fire up the GTX.

I don't believe that is true. The Xenon X5550 is rated at a Max TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 95W (see here http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=37106). The Max TDP is usually about 20-30% lower than maximum power consumption (see here: http://www.cpu-world.com/Glossary/T/The ... (TDP).html). Normal operating power consumption (while using a browser, word processor, etc) is usually much, much lower. And when a computer is idle, the CPU is hardly using any power at all.

The GTX 580 uses a maximum of 244W (see here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product-ge ... 80-us.html).

The Quadro FX 1800 uses a maximum of 59W (see here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_qu ... 00_us.html).

Even if we assume that Octane uses 100% of your CPUs (which it doesn't) and you add all of these components up (95W + 95W + 244W + 59W), you will get a total of 493W. I'm not sure what other components you have in the system (DVD, CD, HDDs, etc), but those components don't usually take very much power. So if we add another 50-100 W, then you get a total of about 550W to 600W.

And when you are starting up your machine, most of these components are going to be idle, so the power consumption will be a fraction of the maximum consumption. So if your problem is at startup, then it probably isn't the power supply.

You also stated that the PSU didn't have a 6-pin and 8-pin connector, so how are you connecting the GTX 580? If you aren't connecting it with the correct connectors, then that is probably your issue.

I tend to agree with Geopappas on this one.A 1500 watt pwer supply does seem to be overkill.Unless you are going for 3-4 x 580's The 800watt supply should be ok unless it's a standard one say running at 65-70% efficiency, one which may not have dedicated rails for the GPU's.However Thermaltake is a good make.Ensure you go for a 80plus Gold unit like the TPG-1050M.This is a high efficency unit designed for SLI so should have enough rails for at least 2 GPU's.Also 80 plus gold units convert most of the power into the unit into power out with very little converted to heat.