Question Could a power supply kill a graphics card

[Deleted member 2783327]

I have a GTX 980 TI connected to a Corsair HX750i.

The PC started randomly shutting down when playing Runescape or DOTA. I eventually figured out a way to reliably reproduce the error. In DOTA simply opening the dashboard during the game would cause the power to drop. After reproducing the problem several times after a reboot I could get nothing on the screen. I removed the GPU, cleaned it and re-applied thermal paste. After booting the card worked but there were artifacts all over the screen. Put card in different PC and got same results. So the GPU is faulty.

But my question is - could a faulty PSU have killed the GPU by oversupplying power?

I don't have a PSU tester or multi meter. Is there an accurate to measure voltage being supplied to the GPU from Windows or a 3rd Party program? I used HWMonitor and it didn't tell me what I wanted to know.

I'm concerned because GPUs are absurdly overpriced at present. I was forced to buy an RTX 3060 at A$900 as it was the only one I could find locally (and delivery in 2 days). If I put this in the PC and the PSU is faulty then I risk the new GPU also being damaged.

 

[R_1]

Could it have - yes. the PSU CAN KILL anything attached to it when it goes bad, the HXi is a good unit with protections, but how old is the PSU? it has a 10 year warranty
you paid 900 for the GPU, do not risk the shiny new component with a suspect PSU, I would grab a new PSU to protect everything

 

[Jacozeelie]

When things go wrong in a psu, it can undervolt and it can overvolt all components. And cause mayham in a system, causing all sort of failing hardware and bsod's, instability, random restarts and the worst. Frie hardware

 

[Deleted member 2783327]

Could it have - yes. the PSU CAN KILL anything attached to it when it goes bad, the HXi is a good unit with protections, but how old is the PSU? it has a 10 year warranty
you paid 900 for the GPU, do not risk the shiny new component with a suspect PSU, I would grab a new PSU to protect everything

I wish I had a PSU tester. The PSU may be fine. The GPU was 6 years old. The PSU is almost 4 years old. I've not had many issues with Corsair. IIRC the only faults I've had is they've either died completely of the fan bearings rattled.

I hear what you're saying. Though. A$900 is typical for a GPU at this time, if you can even buy one.

I think I need to invest in a PSU tester.

I've contacted Corsair about warranty. Once they verify my details I should be ok to get a replacement. But I also know that they say if the unit is not faulty I could be up for shipping fees, and US to AU will be about A$100.

 

[Colif]

6 years is a good life span for any GPU, my GTX 980 died last year after almost 4 1/2 years of daily use, so it could be either of them.

the paper clip method - https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/what-is-the-paperclip-method-of-testing-a-psu.1336402/
or multimeter, best way as can see how PSu is under load
or in the BIOS to check the +3.3V, +5V, and +12V. - https://www.lifewire.com/power-supply-voltage-tolerances-2624583

 

[Deleted member 2783327]

Well, I contacted Corsair and tried to get an RMA going on the PSU. The refused to honor the warranty because I don't have a cell phone. To quote them "A valid phone number is required to RMA any Corsair product". They have no presence in Australia so I have nowhere to go.

That leaves me with a hard choice. Corsair are damn good PSUs. This is only my second problem in 15 years. If I can't get warranty though I have to change brands as I rotate out the PSUs (Which I do shortly before warranty expires).

My brother was able to get hold of a PSU tester and it seems fine.

I've replaced the GPU and so far everything seems ok. Fingers crossed

 

[jonnyguru]

@Corsair Nick

Well, I contacted Corsair and tried to get an RMA going on the PSU. The refused to honor the warranty because I don't have a cell phone. To quote them "A valid phone number is required to RMA any Corsair product".

That doesn't sound right.

You just need to enter >>a valid<< phone number. Any phone number. Like when I ship something via UPS or FedEx, the phone number is a mandatory field. If I sell something to someone on eBay, I'm not going to ask them for their phone number. So I just put my own in.

 

[Colif]

this is customer service, they come to you on forum posts

 

[Deleted member 2783327]

I had tried 0300000000 and 0399999999 (03 is my area code). But they still refused as these are not valid phone numbers and explained to them that I don't have a phone and that I felt it was unfair to refuse to warrant the item because of that. The ticket got closed then.