Did my GPU kill my motherboard

[Zizo47]

Hello friends,

Specs first:
Asrock Extreme4 Z77 1155
16gb Corsair Vengeance ram
CX750M PSU
Intel i7 3770
GTX 670 & 1070Ti

I recently purchased a GTX1070Ti Asus Cerberus, been running a 670 for a while so was happy to finally catch up on some games. The system ran fine for nearly 2 weeks, then my PC just decided to die. I noticed my GPU power led flashing, should be stable. At first I could get the PC to run for a bit by disconnecting some usb peripherals and slowly plugging back in but eventually it went completely dead. The GPU power led also completely off now.

I attempted to test with another PSU, still nothing. Also tested my PSU in another build, works fine. I went barebones and tried to get any sign of life from the motherboard, nothing. So I went ham and ordered another motherboard.

As I had just done a recent fresh OS install I wanted to avoid pain with drivers so I ordered the exact same motherboard again, plus I love this guy. I took my build apart, cleaned it all up and ran it barebones first, it worked absolutely fine, so happy, much excite, let's go.

Then I went ahead and put the rest together and seated my GPU, turned the PSU power on and the GPU power led started blinking again, PC won't turn on, no god please no.

Figured maybe the capacitors need to heat up after a while being off, gave it time, led stabilized, turned it on, it worked. Then got a few BSODs at login but figured hey maybe it's just an OS recovery thing, I'll sort it out later.

Later is now, PC behaving like it did with the previous motherboard. Absolutely zero signs of life, nothing at all. If I cheekily jig the 24pin I can see the fans rev for a second but other than that it is absolute death.

So what do you think? The only component change before this all began was replacing the 670 for the 1070Ti GPU, could it be the cause? I've decided to build a fresh rig with the 1070Ti but am worried it's going to destroy another build.

Any advice would be much appreciated, please share your wisdom with me.

 

[jojesa]

Have you tested your system just using the Intel integrated graphics?
That will help rule out if the 1070Ti is the issue.

 

[jay32267]

I agree with you. I would be very concerned with that 1070Ti.
I would look very closely at the 1070 Ti for any visible burns etc.
Look at the connector as well.
I would also smell the 1070 Ti for any burn smell.
It seems to me that what you are thinking may be correct.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

So, it sounds like, the original variable in play here is your 1070 Ti.

It worked for 2 weeks, then stopped.

In troubleshooting, instead of testing the one variable, you have replaced the motherboard, tested a different power supply, tested your original power supply, and are now resorting to fiddling with the 24-pin power connection.

Test the GPU first. That is the one part you list as having changed before your issues began. Replace the 1070 Ti in your non-working system, and / or test it in another system, and yes, be wary that there could be dire consequences to the other system if your GPU is faulty and destroying other hardware. Haven't personally heard of a GPU torpedoing motherboards before, but technically it's possible, and there have been reported cases where GPUs drew too much from the motherboard slot.