[SOLVED] Help! I may have ruined my GPU..

[TechCam]

So I built my pc in 2018 and it's been running relatively well until recently I noticed my screen and mobo lights flicker very subtly simultaneously once every half hour or so. A quick google search said the gpu could be placed loose or be faulty. I figure it may have been loose so I shut down my pc and took it out but before putting it back in I noticed a lot of dust on it.. this is where I may have messed up but I used a small microfiber cloth to clean the gpu fans and socket. Anyways, when getting it back in and trying to start my pc up, it would blue screen and send me to repair mode, where it then loads until it freezes. I tried to adjust it a few times and relatively got the same result(freezing during boot/repair). I took out the gpu completely and my pc is running fine on integrated graphics it seems as I type this. I'm pretty casual when it comes to pc related issues and not sure it I may have made the issue with the microfiber or if the gpu was having issues. Welp, at least my monitor isn't flickering anymore..

specs:
Intel i7-6700K
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 8gb
Gigabyte Z270X-Ultra Gaming-CF
Corsair Vengence LPX 16gb
BenQ ZOWIE 144hz monitor

Any help/suggestions appreciated, thanks for the time.

 

[cdrkf]

So I built my pc in 2018 and it's been running relatively well until recently I noticed my screen and mobo lights flicker very subtly simultaneously once every half hour or so. A quick google search said the gpu could be placed loose or be faulty. I figure it may have been loose so I shut down my pc and took it out but before putting it back in I noticed a lot of dust on it.. this is where I may have messed up but I used a small microfiber cloth to clean the gpu fans and socket. Anyways, when getting it back in and trying to start my pc up, it would blue screen and send me to repair mode, where it then loads until it freezes. I tried to adjust it a few times and relatively got the same result(freezing during boot/repair). I took out the gpu completely and my pc is running fine on integrated graphics it seems as I type this. I'm pretty casual when it comes to pc related issues and not sure it I may have made the issue with the microfiber or if the gpu was having issues. Welp, at least my monitor isn't flickering anymore..

specs:
Intel i7-6700K
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 8gb
Gigabyte Z270X-Ultra Gaming-CF
Corsair Vengence LPX 16gb
BenQ ZOWIE 144hz monitor

Any help/suggestions appreciated, thanks for the time.

Cleaning the fan on the gpu with a cloth shouldn't be an issue - cleaning the PCIe slot with it though.... microfibre cloths are terrible for building up static, I think you may have damaged the slot rather than the gpu.

Looking up your motherboard, it does appear that you have 2 full PCIe slots in the machine, have you tried the graphics board in both slots? If not try it in the other position as that might resolve the issue.

If it still doesn't work I would suggest trying the board in a different machine - if the board works in a different system then the problem is with your motherboard (the iGPU runs direct from the cpu to the video ports on the board so it's possible the chipset could be broken and the machine still work from the iGPU - I have run into this before). If the graphics board does the same thing in a different machine then that proves it is the card itself.

 

[TechCam]

Cleaning the fan on the gpu with a cloth shouldn't be an issue - cleaning the PCIe slot with it though.... microfibre cloths are terrible for building up static, I think you may have damaged the slot rather than the gpu.

Looking up your motherboard, it does appear that you have 2 full PCIe slots in the machine, have you tried the graphics board in both slots? If not try it in the other position as that might resolve the issue.

If it still doesn't work I would suggest trying the board in a different machine - if the board works in a different system then the problem is with your motherboard (the iGPU runs direct from the cpu to the video ports on the board so it's possible the chipset could be broken and the machine still work from the iGPU - I have run into this before). If the graphics board does the same thing in a different machine then that proves it is the card itself.

I just got home from work and did exactly this and it worked! So I guess my gpu is in alright condition for now and my issue is me breaking the PCIe socket the gpu was originally in with microfiber. Thank you so much!