On 11/12/2019 5:26 AM, Paul wrote:
Norm Why wrote:
[snippage]
"Paul" wrote
much snipping
Probability theory says my best bet would be to find a part number for a 2008 GIGABYTE PCI VGA
adapter. This is a hard problem for GIGABYTE techs and me.

You've got Gigabyte techs helping you with an 11 year old mobo that you bought from ebay? That's
very impressive!

So at the moment, I don't see a good match for "problematic
combo" in your case. The only thing that comes to mind
when those ideas are exhausted, is a power-related issue
(not enough juice for video card).
I believe my (unanswered) input into this thread suggested that the GPU wasn't getting enough
power. IIRC the OP is using an "old 400w PSU" that worked fine with a slower CPU with fewer cores
and in an older mATX mobo (with this GPU?).

As I said in my previous post there's a good chance that the PSU simply isn't providing enough on
the +12v rails. The OP seems have a penchant for using 'old gear' so the chances are good that his
"old 400w PSU" is in fact ancient going by modern standards. Ancient enough to be putting out most
of it's rated power on the +3.3v and +5v rails and nowhere near enough on the +12v rail.

I'm not sure I'd be comfortable running a Q9650, a GTX 970 and SSD / HDD RAM etc from a *modern*
400w PSU (unless it was from a tier 1 manufacturer) yet alone a (possibly) ancient one.

I ran a Q9650 for a time and, unlike modern CPUs they don't have very low power 'idle states' so
are constantly drawing quite a few watts. A GTX 970 pulls 69 watts at idle and 256 watts under load
(according to Techspot*). All from the +12v rail.

* https://www.techspot.com/review/885-nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-gtx-980/page7.html

Most hardware sites recommend using at least a minimum 500w PSU with a GTX 970 and quad-core CPU.
And that's a modern (as in 75% of rated power on +12v rail) PSU.

Just for completeness' sake I just grabbed a PSU from my 'still works just fine but obsolete' pile.
It's a Thermaltake Xaser Purepower 480W with an 04/10 date code. It's rated 18A on the +12v rail.
That's 216 watts according to my calculations. Not enough for just that GPU under load yet alone
the rest of the PC.
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification
in the DSM"
David Melville

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