Is it possible for a GPU work perfectly, but have bad hardware for specific to 4K rendering?

[MeatTowel]

I have a Gigabyte G1 GTX 970 with the most recent 350.12 Nvidia driver that has been causing issues with my 4K Seiki. I really think it's the TV, so I got an RMA replacement, but it hasn't been delivered yet and won't be till Friday. My rebate for the GPU expires tomorrow, so if the card is the problem I won't be able to return it after I use the rebate and I won't be able to test the 4K with the new TV by then.

My stupid question:

Is it possible for this card to work correctly most of the time at 1080p, but for some reason have botched hardware on the logic board or something when attempting to render things in 4K?

I don't think it would work that way and I'm leaning towards other issues, but I heard from a co-worker that it's possible, so I want to have other opinions from more seasoned experts.

 

[bystander]

What sort of issues does it have at 4k? If it is performance issues, then yeah, that is normal. If you are having artifacts, that is not normal.

 

[MeatTowel]

What sort of issues does it have at 4k? If it is performance issues, then yeah, that is normal. If you are having artifacts, that is not normal.

The TV would render anything above 1080p with grey screens, or when I was lucky, it would show the desktop completely distorted and blurred with grey/black lines etched into it. So, artifacts, I would assume. There are plenty of people that can at least RUN 4k with this card, albeit perhaps slowly, so I am just not sure if it's the card or not.

I've tried three different types of HDMI cables, and I've seen people run this same setup of TV/GPU without hassle, so I really don't know what's going on. Do I need an HDMI -> DisplayPort adapter or something and people just don't mention that tidbit of info?

 

[bystander]

It's either the TV or the GPU.

 

[MeatTowel]

It's either the TV or the GPU.

Yeah, I figured as much which is why I got an RMA on the TV, but is it possible for the GPU to render most stuff correctly, but for some reason NOT render 4K correctly? Bad hardware? Are there any tests to run to see that the GPU is rendering things correctly at 4K (if I don't have a TV currently)?

 

[bystander]

It may be possible. It's still a bad GPU if that was the case.

 

[MeatTowel]

This problem has been solved, as I got my RMA replacement TV back and hooked it up: 4K works wonderfully! Now to fix this terrible color setup... Thanks for help @bystander.