Hi all,

A friend of mine bought this ATI card http://www.ebuyer.com/product/189741 and has asked me to chuck it in his PC along with a Win 7 install - I've built a couple of hardcore gamer rigs in the past but Im having a few issues with this Dell machine. Firstly I see no reason why this card wont work in theory but at prwesent when you power on it sounds 3 continuos beeps and thats it! I havent attempted the Win 7 install yet as I figured I'd get the GPU working first.

As with any manufacturer built PC I'm really struggling to find the system specs - I ran cmd/dxdiag but it doesnt tell me what PSU is in this model - doesn anyone know if an inadequate PSU would cause this kind of 'beep' error.

I feel a right dumb a$s, all Im trying to do is upgrade a graphics card! Do you think if I reveretd back to the on board graphics / drivers and installed win 7 then tried to upgrade the GPU this would work?

I was thinking I may also have to disable the onboard graphics through the BIOS which I'll try and do later tonight?

Thanks for the help.

John

It's possible.

The PSU rating has to be on the outside case of the PSU, so whip it out and have a look.

Another option is that the x16 PCIe slot you see isn't actually wired for x16 but x8 or x4. That would cause problems.

Another option is that the x16 PCIe slot you see isn't actually wired for x16 but x8 or x4. That would cause problems.

Thanks, didn't even think of that! im guessing there's no way round this but to change the mobo? Seems a lot of effort to change a graphics card.

Different Bios versions have different meanings for the beeps, you need to identify the bios type (AmiBios etc) and look up the beep table.

Cards should be backwards compatible within x16, x8 because they usually run in x8 when you use a crossfire system.

The problem is almost certainly the psu however; DELL will spec one that is just powerful enough to run the system they build, it will be nowhere near enough for a power hungry GFX card like this. Mere wattage isnt enough either, you need a card that will supply enough current on the 12v rails that feed the card.

The problem is, DELL sometimes use odd sized psu's so a standard psu will not fit; have you compared it to a standard psu box??

If the case will take a standard psu, I recommend you buy a "Brand Name" unit, Corsair, Antec, etc that exceeds the minimum output requirements for the card (these are usually printed on the cardboard sleeve of the retail box; avoid an "own brand" psu or anything cheap as they rarely give the output claimed and can send spikes down the power rails that can blow components.

Ebuyer are cheap, but returns are a nightmare, I use Aria; only slightly more expensive, but the returns policy is a lot better and they have a good community forum you can use for help.

(AM I allowed to include the links?? https://www.aria.co.uk/ http://forums.aria.co.uk/)

Silly question , but I presume the PSU has 6pin PCIe power connectors and the card is not just getting run off the slot?

As said , Dell skimps on the PSU's and that would be my first port of call also. You got one in your own PC you can swap?

Silly question , but I presume the PSU has 6pin PCIe power connectors and the card is not just getting run off the slot?

As said , Dell skimps on the PSU's and that would be my first port of call also. You got one in your own PC you can swap?

Thanks bud, yes I have my own rig with a 850watt OCZ PSU however its in Sheffield and Im at work in London. bummer! He is seriousy looking to do this as cheap as possible so I pointed him in the direction of this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159708, when I had a look in the case last night the PSU in there is useless at 300watts - there is zero power connections available and the card deffo requires a 6 pin PCI-E connection - ATI recommend a 650 watt PSU so I figured not being a known brand to opt for the extra 100watts which will hopefully do the job. I must say the size of this ATI Radeon card suprised me for the money, in my own rig I have a NVidia FX 3800 workstation card which is huge and v expensive but this thing isnt far off it!

You raise a good point about the size, I'll have to look into this - the Dell case does look a bit on the small side.

Thanks, John

Edited 14 September, 201015 yr by geordie_21