[SOLVED] Can motherboards die from too strong graphics cards?

[marko4588]

I heard that motherboards can die if they are overwhelmed with a powerful graphics card, that's much stronger than the motherboard, I guess.



My motherboard is Foxconn G31MXP, it's very old. It's 775 and supports ddr2 ram.

I'm planning on buying a GTX 660, a graphics card much stronger than my current one, which is a 8800 GT.



I used the same motherboard for 9 years without it breaking, and it's probably near its death.



So, can my motherboard die if I put such a GPU in it? And if it does, can it damage my components or does that matter on what type the damage is?



That's all, thanks for the help!

 

[Darkbreeze]

No, they can't. If they are compatible, they are compatible. If they are not, then they are not. There is not "compatible" but "too strong". That's just silliness.

If the motherboard is old, it's old. Period. Using it as is or adding new hardware, may represent equal potential for it to fail. Yes, it can die if you put a new graphics card in it. But it can ALSO die if you don't, simply because it is very old.

More importantly is the fact that you do not want to buy a GTX 660. That is a card which is likely around 8 years old and has probably also already seen nearly all of it's useful life pass by. It would be a poor investment, unless you are getting it for EXTREMELY cheap in which case it might be worth the risk. In reality you would be MUCH better off to simply deal with what you have a while longer, SAVE some more money, and buy something new which will likely be magnitudes more powerful than the GTX 660 even if it is a current entry level card, but will have a warranty, which is the MOST important consideration.

 

[bryanc723]

Yes. You would need to see what wattage the mobo can support and if its vrms could handle it. That being said, graphics cards are overwhelmingly backwards compatible, so it will fit and it probably will function, but if it pulls a lot of wattage, it can burn out your vrms and brick your mobo. But you can also work around it like i did. My crappy mobo can support up to a 300w card, i have a 350w card in it, i just lowered the power the GPU can draw so i don't exceed 275w. While sure i don't get the full potential out of my card, it is a vast improvement over what i used to have.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Motherboard "VRMs" and "wattage" have nothing at all to do with graphics card support. Motherboards MUST support the voltage requirements of 75w for the x16 slot, whether it is PCIe 2.0 or higher. Therefore ANY motherboard that has a PCIe 2.0 or higher slot should be capable of supporting any graphics card from the last 14 years or so. Any power beyond the 75w slot power the motherboard is responsible for would come in the way of manufacturer specified auxiliary power in a 6 or 8 pin connector.

That is ALL that the motherboard needs to be able to accommodate is the 75w slot power. The rest will be the PSU if anything more is needed. There is no possible way for any graphics card to "burn out your VRMs" unless there is something wrong with the motherboard and it is not capable of supplying the mandated 75w of slot power, because nothing more than that will be asked of the motherboard to supply when all is working correctly. If that is more than the motherboard is able to handle then either there are bigger problems with the motherboard or the motherboard is past it's useful lifespan.

There are no motherboards that "support 300w cards" because there are no PCIe slots that can supply, by spec, 300w. Everything you've stated is absolutely nonsense. Anything beyond 75w required by the graphics card will be supplied directly through the power supply PCIe 6 and 8 pin cables, on any traditional configuration. There are some newer specialized configurations where there are additional power sockets on the motherboard and the motherboard is designed to EXCEED the PCIe specifications in order to delivery addition power to the graphics card, but those are not the norm and any motherboard that lacks those additional connections would not be capable of doing the same.

Most GTX 660 graphics cards require at least a decent quality 450w power supply and it should be a model with at least a single 6 pin PCIe auxiliary power connector.