Lesson learned on power supplies...

[kaydub 3]

Well, i had a q6600 with an 8800GTX when I had to try a 260 GTX overclocked. It reduced the stutters, so I didn't return it, I figured if it helped and ran on my marginal power supply, (not poor quality, just 600W @ 36 amps), I'd keep the 260 GTX. 6 months went by and I ebayed the q6600 and got a q9650. I figured it was about $500 less than the parts for an i7 because I wouldn't need a power supply and new RAM and motherboard. It upped the frames significantly, but it didn't help that nagging stutter in the low-level turns with the Mustang. I tuned and tuned and read how to tune some more. but the Mustang performance was so much less than everything else that I hangared the bird and tried to be happy with anything else. Last week my PC started this continual beep about every two seconds on boot up, it went away when Windows opened. I started to worry that I should have gone for the new i7, because all of the forums had so many ideas of what was going on. I began to think motherboard, because I got my P35 for $60 almost 2 years ago on a clearance rack. AMI doesn't list a code for a slow beep so I thought it must be Motherboard or RAM, but the RAM tested fine on memtest straight from boot. I was standing in Fry's ready to pop for a Gigabyte EP45 when I decided to try swapping the power supply. The 260GTX calls for 38A on the 12V rails and mine had been running fine, (I thought), but my PSU was right on the edge and a new motherboard meant a new OS if MS didn't agree to granting a new activation on my OEM and...$$$$$$$$$! I wanted a 750W but they were sold out of the modular models so I got an 850W TT Toughpower and what happened? The beeps are gone and SO ARE THE STUTTERS! What? The power supply makes FSX run better? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Don't skimp on power!

[gman! 1]

Well, i had a q6600 with an 8800GTX when I had to try a 260 GTX overclocked. It reduced the stutters, so I didn't return it, I figured if it helped and ran on my marginal power supply, (not poor quality, just 600W @ 36 amps), I'd keep the 260 GTX. 6 months went by and I ebayed the q6600 and got a q9650. I figured it was about $500 less than the parts for an i7 because I wouldn't need a power supply and new RAM and motherboard. It upped the frames significantly, but it didn't help that nagging stutter in the low-level turns with the Mustang. I tuned and tuned and read how to tune some more. but the Mustang performance was so much less than everything else that I hangared the bird and tried to be happy with anything else. Last week my PC started this continual beep about every two seconds on boot up, it went away when Windows opened. I started to worry that I should have gone for the new i7, because all of the forums had so many ideas of what was going on. I began to think motherboard, because I got my P35 for $60 almost 2 years ago on a clearance rack. AMI doesn't list a code for a slow beep so I thought it must be Motherboard or RAM, but the RAM tested fine on memtest straight from boot. I was standing in Fry's ready to pop for a Gigabyte EP45 when I decided to try swapping the power supply. The 260GTX calls for 38A on the 12V rails and mine had been running fine, (I thought), but my PSU was right on the edge and a new motherboard meant a new OS if MS didn't agree to granting a new activation on my OEM and...$$$$$$$$$! I wanted a 750W but they were sold out of the modular models so I got an 850W TT Toughpower and what happened? The beeps are gone and SO ARE THE STUTTERS! What? The power supply makes FSX run better? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Don't skimp on power!

Power is definitly one of the most overlooked factors for bad performance or errors in gaming! I myself have a 500W Coolmax PSU, then I have a 300W Graphics Card only PSU that is certified for SLi and Crossfire! It was made by Thermaltake. This can decrease load on one source significantly, and since the main PSU supplies 75 watts to the PCI-E bus it's already giving a lot of power to the graphics card. This also frees up your PC for other components, and you won't have to worry about adding extra CD, HDD, etc. drives! If you have a 2** GT/X from nVidia, or an Ati Radeon 4***/5*** then you should probably have at the min a 600W power supply that can give 38-40 amps on the 12V rail. Thanks for sharing your experience because I bet many people will learn from this!