Graphics Card Help (or let's rip on my shitty ass PC) Topic

I dropped £39.99 on mine and got a good psu (StealthXStream2) So the price can't always be a judgement. It has a nice 3 year warranty and isn't that much of a power whore and has nice efficiency for the price.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/ocz-stealthxstream-2-600w-review/

 

Hey, I just got my graphics card. It's an XFX Radeon HD 5670 PCI Express 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card. I'm having problems with it now.

I turned my PC off, installed the card, turned the PC on, inserted my PC VGA monitor with a DVI M to VGA F Adapter on the card, no picture. =/

The card and the adapter is secured when installed. Unless, I really need to screw it in. (The card does not seem to have a sort of power molex cables on it to be installed onto the MB.)

I opened up task manager, my display adapter is shown (I do not have a card installed in this pic):

What can I do?

 

Are you sure you PCI slot is right kind (Ie PCI E,2x etc probably wont work in PCI slot)

 

It says on the box a "PCI Express 2.1", whatever that is. The device does fit, but then again just because something fits don't mean it'll work. =/

Here's the slot (it's the black one): http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/109/p6180221halfsize.jpg

 

That's just a PCI-E slot Not a 2.0/1 slot.

 

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Your point? Does it matter?

 

yes

Capacity Per lane (each direction):

• v1.x: 250 MB/s (2 Gbit/s)
• v2.x: 500 MB/s (4 Gbit/s)
• v3.0: 1 GB/s (8 Gbit/s)

You have a 1.x

The card is a 2.x hence it isnt able to run as fast as it needs to. and therefore wont work.

 

^ Ugh.

Is there a place on the internet where I can find out what exactly are the best suitable graphics cards for my PC? Kinda like you would for finding out how much RAM you can max out on your PC.

 

As a matter of fact it depends on the motherboard compatibility, I have a motherboard with a G31-based chipset and it has a PCI-E 1.x port, but my current card (GeForce GT240) and my previous one (GeForce 9500GT) both were PCI-E 2.0 cards. In this motherboard both work perfectly and as they're not high end cards the speed bottleneck doesn't affect performance that much.

Anyway it all depends on the motherboard and graphics card compatibility. My previous mobo wasn't able to support the 9500GT (we're talking about LOTS of bluescreens) and I had to buy the one I have right now.

And if I understood correctly, you're unable to see the card on the Device Manager, right? Have you changed the video adapter settings from on-board to PCI-E on the motherboard CMOS setup? Many mobos need you to change this manually, and if it's still set to use on-board graphics the board won't even try to use the PCI-E card.

 

So PCI-E type isn't always a factor in compatability?

 

did the card have any extra power connectors you might have neglected to attach to it

 

I can't even see ANYTHING on my monitor when I turn on my PC with the card is plugged in, whether it's through VGA with an adapter or a DVI connection. Should I try installing the card with the PC running this time?

I set it to PCI-E. No dice.

No it did not. But I want some clarification here. See image below.

 

I think those connectors on top are for SLI connectors. Like if you wanted to run 2 cards for improved performance.

 

You won't need those connectors, as BM-Viper said, they're made to link two or more cards for improved performance.

If the image is right, your card doesn't need an external power connection. And I've been making some research about PCI Express specifications, and all PCI Express 2.0 and 2.1 cards should be compatible with PCI Express 1.0 chipsets. Remember anyway that there are some very few motherboard models that have compatibility issues (specially older ones). It's very unlikely to happen, but it's a possibility.

To me it sounds like you got a defective card. Try taking it to the store where you got it (or wherever the warranty says) to get it tested (and replaced if it doesn't work properly).

 

I got this card new from an eBay seller in Amsterdam. =/

Should I try installing the card while the PC is running, so it could perhaps be detected?

One thing I should probably mention is that there is this "smearing" on the card's circuit board that I was curious enough to take pictures of. I noticed this when I first took the card out of the box.

 

Dont install the card while the pc is running that will end very very badly if u do something wrong...

 

PCI and PCI-Express cards are not hot pluggable. For the way PCI-E cards are plugged, you will have a short circuit in some point if you plug it while the PC is running, damaging your card AND your motherboard, and possibly even frying the whole computer.

If you have the chance, try the card in another computer. If after configuring the CMOS you still aren't able to use the card it's probably damaged, otherwise the problem must be in your motherboard.

 

One thing I should probably mention is that there is this "smearing" on the card's circuit board that I was curious enough to take pictures of. I noticed this when I first took the card out of the box.



This is not normal is it?

 

Seems normal to me, thought it's hard to say from a photo. Sometimes the color isn't perfect in boards, so it isn't an exact way to tell if there's something wrong with the card...

 

When you have the new card plugged in and start the PC, does it boot up and do you hear the Windows start sound?

When switching between integrated and PCIEx graphics card it is important to turn the integrated card off. You have to find the correct settings in the BIOS.
There is a place where you can tell the PC to turn on/off the integrated card (="IGP"), assign memory to it and also chose which card to turn on first. What you want is to turn on the PCIEx card (="PEG") and disable the "IGP".

You can change those settings
(1) when the new card is not installed: change the settings, save and turn off the PC. Then insert the card, plug in the monitor and turn on the PC. If you don't see a thing try plugging the monitor into the mainboard. If you don't see a thing there either, even after removing the PCIEx card then locate and take out the CMOS battery, turn on the PC, turn it off again and insert the CMOS battery to start over.
(2) when the new card is not installed: connect the monitor to the mainboard, change the settings, save and turn of the PC. then connect the monitor to new card and it should work.