Graphics card failed upon first start with new monitor. Coincidence?

[noob5000000]

My graphics card is (was) a HIS ATI Radeon 4600 series. I bought it second hand several years ago, and it's at least 8 years old. I used it in my previous PC, a Dell Inspiron 530 for at least 5 years, then moved it to my new system when I built it about 6 weeks ago. Obviously the card is pretty outdated so I'm not too devastated about losing it, but I am very curious about what happened.

The card has two DVI outputs and one S-Video output. For the past 5+ years, I've had my monitor (Dell 20" 1680x1050) connected via DVI, and my TV connected via DVI through a DVI-to-HDMI adapter. Today I purchased a new monitor (ASUS MG248Q, 24" 1920x1080) and simply replaced the old monitor with the new, same DVI cable connected to the same port in the card.

The first time I attempted to start the PC with the new monitor, I got the ASUS logo but unfortunately looked away and I didn't see if there was any message afterward. By the time I looked back the monitor was off and I could smell a faint electrical burning smell. I shut everything down, pulled the side panel off my case and had a look around inside. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary so I buttoned it back up and tried to start it again. This time, I heard an electrical snap/pop sound accompanied by the burny smell. The monitor came on again, then displayed a 'No Signal DVI' message. I shut everything down again.

I figured the graphics card would be the problem, so I pulled it out and connected my monitor and TV to my motherboard's onboard connectors. Everything works fine connected this way.

I pulled the cooler off of the graphics card and right away saw a scorch mark on the PCB, and what looks pretty much like a glob of solder in the center. What could have caused this? I find it pretty amazing that there was never an issue with this card on my old monitor, but then it failed immediately with the new one.

 

[Shaun o]

What your looking at in the picture is where a capacitor of the circuit board used to be soldered to the cards board.
The capacitor has exploded due to heat, or liquid leakage.

You can also see to the right of the big blob of solder a surface mounted resistor that has been burned to death and blown completely off the circuit board as well where the three sets of numbers printed on the board are.

It`s badly damaged, and to be completely honest, it should be thrown in the bin, and you should look for another card to replace it or a better more powerful Ati card instead.