PSU or GPU?!

Hey everyone, I was wondering if I could get a little bit of advice here. So, I picked up a Force 3D Radeon 5670 1GB GDDR5 via an online classified ad—nothing too fancy, just a quick deal. From what I’ve read online, this card really needs at least a 450W power supply to run reliably, but my current setup is only sitting at 400W. I went ahead and installed it anyway, and when I hit the power button, the PC gave that familiar series of beeps, which usually tells me everything is being recognized by the system. However, there’s absolutely no signal reaching the monitor. I’ve tried the usual troubleshooting steps—resetting the CMOS by pulling the battery and reseating the RAM—and the computer seems to boot up normally, but I don't get any video until I plug the monitor directly into the motherboard's integrated graphics. The system isn't even detecting the new card. Now I'm starting to wonder: is this a power delivery issue? Did I just make a bad call by trying to squeeze this onto a 400W unit? When I swap back to my old graphics card, the picture pops up immediately without any fuss. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! 😢

Thanks so much for all the help and the replies!

I’d bet it’s the graphics card... Honestly, don't sweat the wattage too much—the guys at PC Gamer always tend to exaggerate those specs. A solid 400W power supply from a reliable brand like Corsair should handle that card just fine without breaking a sweat. By the way, what kind of PSU are you actually running? It might be worth testing the card in another rig just to be absolutely sure about the hardware. Also—this might sound like a silly question—but did you remember to plug the PCIe power cables directly into the card itself?

So, I’m currently running a Cheftech 400W power supply, but I’ve run into a bit of a snag—it doesn't actually have the necessary connector for this card. Here are the specs if you want to take a look: http://www.force3d.com/products/hd5670.html

At full load, this card only pulls a measly 61W. 😬 Your power supply should be more than enough for that—plus, the card draws its own power directly from the PCIe slot anyway... But if you want to be 100% certain, just pop that card into another PC and see how it behaves. That’s really the only way to know for sure, right? Does the GPU fan actually spin up when you boot the computer?

and I don't even have a place to go try it out!

Hey neighbor—mind if I ask how much you dropped on that graphics card?

It seems like everyone is carrying around a laptop these days—I mean, it’s practically the norm now. I ended up shelling out quite a bit for this one $117! 😢 And honestly? It was a total bust
.

Does that GPU have an extra power connector? Did you plug it in yet?

They don't have that setup. They pull their power straight from the PCIe slot. This guy just blew a fuse—it happens more often than you'd think.