Accidentally pulled out my GPU slot off motherboard, operating it slows to a crawl

[bad_boy_izzy_215]

I was trying to clean the case fans and third-party fans because they were making a loud noise. I removed the RAM to get better access to the CPU fan. After I'd finished them, I was going to pull out my GPU, a GTX 780 OC Edition and clean the three fans on it. I forgot to push down the tab and it pulled the GPU slot off of my GA-Z77X-UD4H motherboard. I was freaking out. It was the PCI-E 3.0 Slot. I was able to line up the pins on the motherboard and fit the slot back in, the black piece, but I didn't want to use it because of concerns of shorting out something. Instead, I installed my GPU onto the PCI-E slot. I put the RAM back in and started up my computer.

After a little while of operating, my computer slows to a crawl, and I'm not quite sure what's causing it. Games that I normally play at around 130-150FPS like Left 4 Dead 2 now crawls to 7-14FPS. I thought perhaps it was the GPU slot, but I'm not so sure anymore. I also think it may be my RAM. It's dual-channeled and is seated properly as per the manuals suggestion. Is there something I'm missing?

 

[Satan-IR]

Motherboard is damaged because you applied quite a lot of force enough to rip that thing off. I'm thinking you're lucky it's even working and the pins are not shorting now otherwise the board would have been toast when first you booted after the incident. The PCB might even have cracked.

You can use it for a while and see how things turn out but I think you should be looking for a replacement for the mobo. That board is on the brink.

 

[bignastyid]

Time for either a new motherboard(since it's older used market is the best bet) or time for an upgrade.

 

[bad_boy_izzy_215]

I'm currently looking for a replacement, but because I need it for college, I can't toss it out either. My next opportunity to get a motherboard will be by the end of November, but I hope it can live that long.

 

[bignastyid]

Be careful if the pci-e bus shorts it could wipe out pci-e cards(your video card for example) and cpu(contains part of the chipset with some of the PCI-e lanes)

 

[bad_boy_izzy_215]

I'll keep that in mind, thanks. I can probably get away with just using it for schoolwork, but seeing as my mobo is pretty old, I may be able to get one sooner.