upgrading my desktop with a new video card

[Vail]

my computer is a prize computer I got, and well to be honest: some corners were obviously cut when putting this thing together I've had enough and finally got around to getting a new video card to replace the old one.

The card in it is a Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT. The card has several errors with direct X applications (anything with Direct X used will bug my PC out, except ffxi) and by bug out: I mean I get imaginary black walls in 3d games, crashed screens, incorrectly loaded pixels models. color distortion, etc.

the new card I got today was a BFG Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT, however when I uninstalled the drivers of the previous card and put this one in. Nothing happens, my PC won't start at all. I can apply power but it'll just sit and nothing will begin to load at all, no visual, seemingly no starting up.

every other video card I've tried to put in this PC doesn't let the PC start-up

my PC's specs are
Pentium(R) D 2.80GHz
2G Ram
ASUS Motherboard (sorry, I'll try to get model number up asap)
430W Antec PSU (model: Neo HE430)

any help on either the reason or troubleshooting for connecting this new card I got, or info as to why my old card and direct X don't act like oil in water, I'd appreciate it.

[Omnipotent]

Might need a bigger PSU, pretty sure that graphics card takes a minimal of 400watts. Definitely invest in a new PSU.

Edit: 350W PCI Express-compliant system power supply with a combined 12V current rating of 22A or more

Your model requires minimal 350W. You need a bigger PSU

[Isiolia]

every other video card I've tried to put in this PC doesn't let the PC start-up

How many other cards have you tried? Of them, how many were lower end cards?

Reasons I ask that are that first, higher end cards need more power, and while your 430W unit should be fine, there's the chance that it could be culprit.

The other is that higher end cards also tend to require an additional power cable because they need more juice than is provided through the PCIe slot. If you didn't connect that, then it could lead to the type of problem you're having.

If, however, you've tried some low end cards in there that use little power, and so don't need that extra power connection, then it'd kinda rule those issues out.

[Vail]

The other is that higher end cards also tend to require an additional power cable because they need more juice than is provided through the PCIe slot. If you didn't connect that, then it could lead to the type of problem you're having.

my current card (the 7800GT) does require one of those extra power wires, and I have that connected, the 9800GT I just bought doesn't seem to have a spot for one to connect to at all

looking some stuff over, I think the power supply might be the issue, while it is a 430W (which should be sufficent) the issue is the new card requires 22A on my 12V, but the PSU it seems only does 16A on the 12V

I guess the further question would be, is that why my current card (the 7800) acts up ? god if so Fuck Square-Enix for this incorrectly put together prize PC

[Isiolia]

Does sound like a PSU issue then.

My guess would be that your 7800GT has bad RAM, but that FFXI doesn't use enough of it to hit the bad modules. Maybe has heat problems, but FFXI doesn't push it? Hard to say.

I had a 7900GT for a while, worked perfectly fine with everything I tossed at it.

Way back though, a roommate of mine had an ATI Rage 128 Pro or something along those lines. He'd had it for a year or more without seeing any problems, but I think it was the demo for American McGee's Alice that actually used all 32MB (I think) of the RAM on the card - with that game, or anything else that actually required a 32MB card, he had problems until he RMA'ed it (well, the second time, they sent him the same or another defective one the first time).

[Omnipotent]

Not to mention you might have a couple fans and your optical drives take up ure PSU, so you are probably over the limit.

[Vail]

ok so another question, since I don't have the chance to go back to the computer store until tomorrow.

something that's been another video issue is, when I try to watch videos on my PC often times the screen will go black (and not recover) unless I drop down the hardware acceleration to the point of direct X being disabled. this has been generally how I watch movies/video on VLC video player. Is this also apart of the PSU lack of power ?

[Omnipotent]

ok so another question, since I don't have the chance to go back to the computer store until tomorrow.

something that's been another video issue is, when I try to watch videos on my PC often times the screen will go black (and not recover) unless I drop down the hardware acceleration to the point of direct X being disabled. this has been generally how I watch movies/video on VLC video player. Is this also apart of the PSU lack of power ?

Most likely, your comp could be overheating too, try taking a can of air and blowing it out.

[Vail]

oh, I air-can it once a month, and worse case once every 60 days, so I hope that's not an issue

edit: I wanna thank you two for your help this afternoon~

[Vail]

ok, so I bought a 500W PSU with two +12v on it and 16amp on each, and it's still not working.

we put the video card in his PC and it started up. his PSU is like a 700w (but he won't tell me the amps on his, just that it's a "700w thermaltake toughpower" and won't bother to take his PSU out to check the label that says the stats on it

but looking it up online, the 700w thermaltakes are only like 14-18amp on 4 +12v

my original PSU the 430w has 3 +12v @ 16amp each
the PSU I bought yesterday is 500w with 2 +2v @18amp

do I need a PSU that has 22amp on each +12v, or am I missing something else

(my motherboard is a ASUS PSVD1-X, finally got that info, but idk if that helps)

[Vail]

ok so after talking to another guy who got one of these prize PCs, we figured it out that the motherboard has something wrong with the way it works with PCI-E slot

so I bought a new motherboard, just got it setup and wow, everything is working clean, Direct X is full on and my computer is just powering right though it

brb: fapping to my PC now