Honey, I blew up the gx card.

[kick]

This is just a warning post
PCIE connectors.

Ive left them off before on rebuilds/quick reseats etc.
Either the system wont power up ,or once you get into windows you get a message like.
"Since you Cap'n Dumbass, have neglected to connect the pcie extra power connector(s),the gx will operate at a minimal level"
No big deal just shut down n reconnect etc.

However:Since I bought a new psu for the middle system in my sig,Id been doing lots of cleaning/refurb and reboots.

Upshot:
The 6 pin pcie connector was hanging loose ,in the vicinity of the gx card edge.
I had the side of the case off as I was ,tweaking ,as you do.

The 6pin cable was dangling close to the edge of the 9600 gt.power up, then I got a visualbright spot(like someone doing welding).
In essence the 6 pin 12v power cable had arc welded a nice fat current right thru a chip on the corner of the card..

A freak accident that the plug had been at an angle close enough to almost touch the chip.
The high quality new psu was so powerfull itcompleted a circuit and welded right thru the low voltage chip.

The gx card is now dead,the particular chip is like a burnt match ,even tho I swatted the cable away and shut down rapidly.

The good news is ,every other component seems to be ok and I had a spare 6300E gx card..
You dont want to know how bad that is .

The 9600gtwasnt state of the art .. just a good mid card about 4 years ago,so no huge worries.
Just a warning tho.
If it had been a brand new NV 690 I wouldnt be so blase.I wouldnt have posted at all!

[profJim]

Glad to hear that your 9600GT was the only casualty.
I'm anal when it comes to unused psu connectors, including unused sata power connectors and fan connectors.
There are just too many ways that an unused connector can cause an electrical short unless it is properly secured so that it can't accidentally cause a short circuit. Proper cable management can help reduce the risk.

Even with a multi 12 volt rail psu, it's possible that the OCP (over current protection) can allow 25 amps or more current to flow.
My made by Seasonic, 750 watt Antec TP-750 TruePower New power supply has a 40 amp OCP setting for each of the four 12 volt rails. I'm positively shocked to hear about the premature demise of your 9600GT. May it R.I.P.

[wazza300]

it was divine intervention hinting at you to get a 7850!!!!!!

glad it didnt damage anything else though

[kick]

:) you know I had been thinking about replacing the 9600, but couldnt justify it as I dont use that pc for games,at least modern ones, and the monitor isnt that big..
In fact the 6300E(in case anyones forgotton it only has 32 mb on board ,for anything usefull it siphons system ram, they used that as a selling point!),is fine except I bought a highish class decent psu which should be able to handle any non sli/xf setup :).

Sooo.I had a look at some gx cards.. . nvidia 640, "hey that doesnt look too expensive ,maybe its like an updated 460 gtx..turns out it has like half the performance of a single 460 gtx..groan"

Well then Kick go buy a 460gtx..I dont think theyre available new now,probably because theyd be so cheap no one would buy newer models and the "one fanblade missing but still working great" ebay models dont look attractive.

So for $100 US approx on a 22" monitor what is the greatest "bargain" out there ,in terms of a single slot pcie2 dx11gx card.It can be multi gpu,over 1gb ,hi power consumption,whatever ?
Yes I know I can check out Tom's/anand for bang for buck , but is there any unusual intersting double gpu card for example that never sold well cos of its huge power draw/non sli/xf potential and is still available ?

[profJim]

My 7600GT?

prices sorted, low to high:
Newegg video cards: $75 - $100
Newegg video cards: $100 - $200

[wazza300]

LG IPS224V 22 inch LED Backlit IPS Monitor: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr AMD Graphics Card (2GB, PCI-E 3.0 x16): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

[profJim]

Gtx 465?

[kick]

Heh.
The 22 in monitor I already have for the 775 board,usin 24 on the p67.
a £165 card for the middle system, I doubt it Waz,twin froz or not.Still Ill check some "evil" amd cards :)

You know yourself PJ on the 465,it kinda died fast when the 460 came out, oh wait I think I see what your saying.. the 465 was pointless when the 460 showed ,same performance almost for a lot less power,and its value went down the tube so I might get one cheap..yeh Ill look into that for sure..cunning plan !

[profJim]

You know yourself PJ on the 465,it kinda died fast when the 460 came out, oh wait I think I see what your saying.. the 465 was pointless when the 460 showed ,same performance almost for a lot less power,and its value went down the tube so I might get one cheap..yeh Ill look into that for sure..cunning plan !

YOU BETCHA!!!
Now you're on my wavelength, as long as you don't mind the 465's electrical appetite, heat and possibly noise.
The GTX 550 Ti is in your budget range, check out the reviews to see if it will meet your needs for about $100+.
I think that the Radeon 7750 cards are decent for about $100 and the 7770's are about $10 - $20 more.

[wazza300]

what about the trusty 5870/6870 used of coarse,they can be had for little money now