Underpowered Graphics Card?

Bah

Hey,
I'd appreciate some help with a problem I'm having with my graphics card:
System Specs:
Case/PSU:Antec Sonata Case, 380w PSU
Motherboard:Gigabyte GA 8i915P Duo Pro
Memory: 1024MB Geil Value RAM DDR400
Graphics Card: Leadtek Geforce 6600GT PCI-Express
Processor: 3.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 S775 (Prescott, with stock cooler)
Hard drive: 160GB Samsung Spinpoint SATA (files/programs), 10GB Maxtor (OS)
Optical Drives: NEC 2500a DVD-RW, Samsung DVD-ROM
Operating System: Windows XP Home SP2

Problem:
[1]
On startup, an nVidia dialog box appears, saying that for safety reasons the graphics card has automatically lowered its perforamce, citing the reason as being insufficiently powered. It also mentions that I should ensure that the power cable is connected correctly to the card. Since the manual didn't mention anything about needing any additional power... and since there doesn't seem to be any kind of power connector on the card (molex or otherwise), I'm thinking this is just a generic warning about an underpowered card. But my main question is should I actually replace the PSU if it's under strain? I'm not sure what other signs there would be of an underpowered PSU, but everything else seems to be working ok. Should I just replace my PSU, and how urgently should it be replaced (cash flow isn't great at the moment...)
[2]
On my 160GB Samsung Spinpoint SATA hard drive, in My Computer, it shows up as only having a capacity of 149GB - I was thinking it might have been down to the 1000MB vs 1024MB in a GB thing, but then it should really be showing up as having a capacity of about 156.16GB, which kind of rules that out. I don't have any partitions on the drive. Any idea where my 11GB have gone?
[3]
Only a minor problem, but when I try to shutdown the computer, it takes *ages*. Up to about 2 minutes. Startup is pretty fast, faster than most computers I've used, but shutdown takes a good while. It's not a big issue, since I can just leave and it'll still [eventually] shutdown, but I'm just curious as to what could be causing it to take so long?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Nukem

Try taking the power from the Optical drive and see what that does.
Nothing goes - google a PSU calculator and check your required Wattage.
Might be an under powered system

Nukem

EDIT: where is Ciarans post gone?

Canis Lupus

As nukem said take power away from whatever doesn't need it and try a boot up then. After a little googling as well I have seen ppl saying the 6600gt needs a min of 450 but some say 350 and so on.

Next I have 2 160 drives, both report at 149gb.

Ciaran500

I deleted it because I was looking at the AGP version instead of the PCI-E one. Only the AGP has the molex connector.

Bah

Funnily enough I just started up again and it didn't display the message... I was thinking maybe it wasn't actually directly related to an underpowered PSU, since I've been using the exact same system for about 2 months now, and never had the message before. Then all of a sudden it started next week (no sure if it was every time I powered on though...) and now it's stopped again all of a sudden.

So, if the PSU is actually underpowered, will there be any major effect on my system if it was to fail?

Canis Lupus

Doubt it unless it fails when yur doing something important. I had my last one go (sparks, smoke the works) But my pc was fine when I got a new one.

Nukem

Canis Lupus wrote:

Doubt it unless it fails when yur doing something important. I had my last one go (sparks, smoke the works) But my pc was fine when I got a new one.

Lucky!!!!!!

Bah:Have a look here PSU calculator comes out roughly about 360w required.MAke sure all your parts are in correctly and all power cables are in too.Check the PSU for the amount of Power coming out.

Mickie M

the gf6600gt needs an extra power connection as you can see from this 6600gt's molex connector clicky and you should have a lead that came with the gpu which extends to a molex psu connector.

harddrives when formatted end up about 11% lower then its stated size because the companys use or dont use metric, cant remember the full explination but it goes something like that.

do you keep youre harddrive defragmented, clean of spyware and virus's?

Ciaran500

The AGP slot can't supply enough power for a 6600GT, but the PCI-E slot can. The PCI-E has no molex connector.

e.g. http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/video/roundups/2004/leadtekfrontsm.jpg

Mickie M

Ciaran500 wrote:

The AGP slot can't supply enough power for a 6600GT, but the PCI-E slot can. The PCI-E has no molex connector.

e.g. http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/video/roundups/2004/leadtekfrontsm.jpg

hmmm learn something new everyday, thanks

RicardoSmith

Ciaran500 wrote:

The AGP slot can't supply enough power for a 6600GT, but the PCI-E slot can. The PCI-E has no molex connector.

e.g. http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/video/roundups/2004/leadtekfrontsm.jpg

I didn't know that either!

marco murphy

I dont wanna rob the thread,but my asus probe prog tells me my PSU is way underpowered/fan isnt moving fast enough!