[SOLVED] Is my GPU forever ruined by a bad PSU?

[brekker21]

Hello, I bought ASUS RX 580 Dual 8GB a week ago. My PSU had only a 6 pin PCIe connector available, so I also bought a 6 to 8 pin adapter since this GPU requires 8.
Everything ran very smoothly without any problems. From games, I mostly played CP 2077. However, yesterday I started experiencing artifacts in said game. I've run Kombustor stress which showed nothing, but later I've tried Unigine Heaven which showed the mentioned artifacts.
Now from what I've researched, a lot of people said that it's a power supply that's making this issue (it's also an older brand), so of course, I'll be buying a new one as soon as I can.

But it worries me, has PSU already made damage to my GPU? Will the problem go away If I change supply, or have I ruined it in an irreversible way?
Thank you in advance.

 

[bignastyid]

No way to know till you get the new PSU but it is possible the PSU has damaged the GPU.

 

[Archaic59]

Hello, I bought ASUS RX 580 Dual 8GB a week ago. My PSU had only a 6 pin PCIe connector available, so I also bought a 6 to 8 pin adapter since this GPU requires 8.
Everything ran very smoothly without any problems. From games, I mostly played CP 2077. However, yesterday I started experiencing artifacts in said game. I've run Kombustor stress which showed nothing, but later I've tried Unigine Heaven which showed the mentioned artifacts.
Now from what I've researched, a lot of people said that it's a power supply that's making this issue (it's also an older brand), so of course, I'll be buying a new one as soon as I can.

But it worries me, has PSU already made damage to my GPU? Will the problem go away If I change supply, or have I ruined it in an irreversible way?
Thank you in advance.

In case you don't know exactly what was happening with your setup, let me explain. Here's the power delivery capabilities of the motherboard and cables.

• PCIe x16 slot: 75 watts.
• PCIe 6-pin connector: 75 watts.
• PCIe 8-pin connector: 150 watts.
• Asus Radeon RX 580 8GB DUAL TDP: 185 watts.

If you look at the numbers, using the required 8-pin connector + board slot power gives your video card 75 + 150 = 225 watts to run on. A 6-pin + slot power is only 150 watts, which is well below the TDP of 185 watts for the video card. Under a heavy gaming load the Asus card can consume more than 200 watts easily (example). You were starving the video card for power. Using a 6-pin adapter does not magically create the missing 75 watts.

Also, there's the question of the quality of your unknown power supply. A poor quality unit that has high ripple can also damage the GPU and other components. Until you install a new, good quality PSU with the correct connectors you won't know if it will work properly. It's possible that even if it works, you may have shortened the life of the GPU.

 

[brekker21]

In case you don't know exactly what was happening with your setup, let me explain. Here's the power delivery capabilities of the motherboard and cables.

• PCIe x16 slot: 75 watts.
• PCIe 6-pin connector: 75 watts.
• PCIe 8-pin connector: 150 watts.
• Asus Radeon RX 580 8GB DUAL TDP: 185 watts.

If you look at the numbers, using the required 8-pin connector + board slot power gives your video card 75 + 150 = 225 watts to run on. A 6-pin + slot power is only 150 watts, which is well below the TDP of 185 watts for the video card. Under a heavy gaming load the Asus card can consume more than 200 watts easily (example). You were starving the video card for power. Using a 6-pin adapter does not magically create the missing 75 watts.

Also, there's the question of the quality of your unknown power supply. A poor quality unit that has high ripple can also damage the GPU and other components. Until you install a new, good quality PSU with the correct connectors you won't know if it will work properly. It's possible that even if it works, you may have shortened the life of the GPU.

Ah, great, so there is a good possibility I've ruined it 😀 I thought it would work since my last GPU R9 380 2GB used 190 watts, but I was being an idiot. Thank you nevertheless.

 

[Archaic59]

Ah, great, so there is a good possibility I've ruined it 😀 I thought it would work since my last GPU R9 380 2GB used 190 watts, but I was being an idiot. Thank you nevertheless.

Don't worry about that right now. First, get a good PSU 550-650 watts and go from there. Use this list to help you select a good model from tier A or B.

Article - [psucultists] PSU tier list rev. 14.8 (Final Update Jul '21)

PSU Tier List 4.0 rev. 14.8 (outdated) Last Update: 12-07-2021 Legend : Gray - EoL/obsolete and/or otherwise not recommended for purchase. Green - small form-factor (gold and blue colors are disregarded due to scarcity of SFX PSUs) Gold - best units in the tier (includes requirements for blue...

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