HD 6870 installation help

[Graal]

Okay, I received my HD 6870 from the competition (thanks guys!) just now, but I'm having trouble getting it to work. I've got my 600watt PSU, two 6 pin pcie connectors, everything set up perfectly, but the moment I try to power the system, it starts up, and shuts down immediately. It goes on trying to start up and shutting down immediately after until I pull the power plug. :/

Anybody know why it would be doing this, as I don't want to fiddle around and end up breaking the card.

Edit: Okay, I removed it and reseated the card, and now the PC turns on, buuuut, no display. Screen just stays in standby mode, with the little light going on and off, but nothing else happening. It sounds as if the PC does start up correctly, though, as it makes all the appropriate sounds, etc.

[Soul Assassin]

You probably just disconnected something when switching cards, pull it back out, reinsert it plug everything back in nicely, check all lose cables.

[Graal]

Hmm, I'll try that. I've got a feeling I did something very wrong, because I'm not getting any display at all. Not even with the GPU removed and using the onboard video. Arrgh, I hate when something like this happens. :O

[Graal]

Okay, I plugged EVERYTHING out and back in, and now it's working. Thanks Soul Assassin.

I'm going to have to upgrade the mobo sometime though, because it's got one PCI slot, and the card is so big, that it blocks all my SATA connectors on the MoBo. :P

[OGBuzz]

Okay, I plugged EVERYTHING out and back in, and now it's working. Thanks Soul Assassin.

I'm going to have to upgrade the mobo sometime though, because it's got one PCI slot, and the card is so big, that it blocks all my SATA connectors on the MoBo. :P

ahah Graal

Hate it when things dont work first time, glad its working now

Yeah the HD 6870 caught me by surprise to with its size and its quite heavy too!

I have an extra slot, where i'll put another HD 6870 in sometime next year

Be sure to give feedback on thr card, keen to see how you find it.

Run unigine heaven 2.5 and post your score, wanna see what you get cause i dono any1 else here with the HD 6870....

[Lupus]

I have an HD6870 as well, it was a little smaller then the old 4870 it was replacing. It's a decent enough card, but yeah I don't really play games on my PC.

[OGBuzz]

I have an HD6870 as well, it was a little smaller then the old 4870 it was replacing. It's a decent enough card, but yeah I don't really play games on my PC.

For shame Lupus! its like buying a a pretty fast car but never putting ur foot down!

[Lupus]

Hey I played both Crysis and Warhead with it at the maximum they would go, which was only a little over my 4870 ;-) also Mass Effect 2 actually didn't grab me like 1 did.

[Soul Assassin]

Okay, I plugged EVERYTHING out and back in, and now it's working. Thanks Soul Assassin.

I'm going to have to upgrade the mobo sometime though, because it's got one PCI slot, and the card is so big, that it blocks all my SATA connectors on the MoBo. :P

No problem, it usually happens to me when changing something, I often forget the CPU has a power plug then it also just turns on and off.

[Graal]

Okay, I've been installing as many newer games as I could today, and I have to admit, I'm amazed at what this card can do. The rest of my rig isn't too awesome, so I'm going to upgrade it for the card to reach its maximum potential, but with what I've got now, the results are amazing. Playing Just Cause 2 and Crysis 2 on max, no hiccups, Witcher 2 comfortably on medium. I'm going to test Crysis 1, Bulletstorm and Metro 2033 next. I don't currently have a benchmarking program, but I'll try and get one over the weekend to test that out.

The only problems I have so far, is that I'm going to need to make a few hardware changes to accommodate the card properly, but seeing as I was planning an upgrade for the end of the year, that's not really a problem per se. More like a godsend, seeing as now I can put more money into a decent MoBo and CPU without having to set any aside for a GPU. I can't use any SATA devices until then, though, as the card is so big it's obstructing all six of my Sata ports. :P

I'm definitely going to need a bigger case, because I'm seriously worried about overheating. I've always considered my case to be 'normal' sized, but this card fills it out in such a way that if I close the sides it blocks all airflow to beneath the card.

Oh, and I just want to ask, how would one go about keeping this card dust-free? I'm very hesitant to use compressed air, and have always used a small brush to gently clean dust from the GPU fans. Seeing as the card is enclosed on the bottom, dust could really become a problem with overheating.