Question Monitor will not detect GPU after overheating event

[astuka]

[Full disclosure: cross-post from my question on Reddit]

Hey all,
Recently had an issue with my PC and I'm stumped. I was in the middle of playing Elden Ring earlier when I suddenly hear the fans in my PC freak out and my screen turn black. I assumed the GPU overheated (Elden Ring is a pretty new game and I just recently got 1440p monitors so I was playing on a new resolution), but when I tried booting the monitor up sometime later I still got no signal. Panic mode sets in and for the next two hours or so [edit: now 2 days] I've tried troubleshooting the issue with no avail. Certainly Elden Ring didn't brick my GPU... right?

Tech Specs:
Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
Motherboard: ASUS PRIME B550-PLUS AC-HES
Memory: 32 GB [16 GB x2] DDR4-3200
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti - 12GB GDDR6X
Power Supply: 750 Watt

Troubleshooting notes:

• Switching from a 1440p to 1080p monitor does not seem to solve the issue.
• Switching between different DP cables, or using HDMI instead of DP, does not seem to work.
• Trying different slots on the GPU does not work.
• Switching PCI slots does not seem to work.
• There is an HDMI slot on the motherboard and this does not work, though IIRC this is only for if the CPU has integrated graphics which I don't think this one does
• I see some support articles mention video drivers. I cannot check video drivers as the screen is black.
• Unplugging and replugging the computer, monitors, power supply -> GPU connection seems to do nothing
• The rest of the computer seems undamaged. Things that usually light up rainbow continue to light up rainbow, I'm getting lights on USB devices, fans work, things seem normal beyond this one glaring issue. Perhaps most curiously the lights and fan on the GPU work as well.
• Monitors do detect other systems, such as my old laptop, work MacBook, etc.
• Switching DisplayPort versions on the monitor (1.1, 1.2, 1.4) does not work.

Any thoughts? Things I can try?

 

[rgd1101]

brand and model of this 750w psu?
test with another gpu and/or psu?

 

[DRagor]

Any thoughts?

Possibly dead GPU

Things I can try?

Try another GPU

 

[astuka]

Not sure what the model of the PSU is. I do have another GPU but it's at my old house in another state, so it will take a while to get here. I'll update the thread when I try it. In the meantime, if anyone else has any different ideas feel free to post and I can try them.

 

[astuka]

Update: I talked with some of the more tech-savvy people I know and they reinforced RGD's theory that it might be the PSU. That is possible -- the 750W I believe is just a generic power supply that came with the system, and so it seems more likely that the PSU somehow short-circuited and is giving enough juice to turn on auxiliary components (the fans and the lights) but not enough to run the GPU. Someone also mentioned to try a different PCI cable on the PSU. That did not work either. At this point, I'm just going to try again with the secondary GPU when it comes, and if that doesn't work then I'll try the PSU theory instead. And if that still doesn't work I lay down on the floor and cry as Hidetaka Miyazaki laughs at me from ten thousand miles away in his corner office at Tokyo Tower.

 

[John Chesterfield]

Either way, get RID of that generic power supply and replace with something decent regardless of whether it's the actual issue here.

 

[John Chesterfield]

It'd be useful if you could take a photo of the power supply, but a 3080ti needs something decent of at least 850 watts.

 

[astuka]

My friends brought up the same thing you did, John. They recommended I get the Corsair RM850W so I ordered it. It'll actually be coming tomorrow, earlier than the GPU. I'll update then.

 

[astuka]

Update: The new PSU did not work. Same signs: everything lights up/seems normal, but no display output. Someone in the reddit thread mentioned the motherboard LED lights -- if the GPU is not detected, one of the lights is supposed to light up. It does not.

So I get my old 3060 in the mail tomorrow, and I'll try that as my final troubleshooting step. If the 3060 works, my guess is that the 3080 was damaged in such a way that it receives power and is detected by the motherboard, but internally something short-circuited on the path to giving output to the monitors. Which would be a depressing conclusion, but perhaps not as depressing as the system still not working, in which case I have absolutely no clue what's going on. If anyone has any fresh ideas feel free to post, otherwise I'll update the thread once more tomorrow.

 

[John Chesterfield]

If the 3060 doesn't work, try running it out of the case.

 

[astuka]

[Note: Not sure how to mark as solved, let me know if I need to mark as solved on my end]

Well the GPU arrived today and we've reached our bittersweet answer: the 3080ti was in fact bricked by Elden Ring. Just kidding -- I would wager that the cheap PSU was more to blame. Now that it's solved my diagnosis is that, like I had mentioned, the 3080 must have reached some peak wattage level that the PSU didn't like (not a technical person sorry in advance), thus causing a short circuit on the GPU card itself. This short circuit must have fried the connection between the input and output, but the part that connected to power and also "registered" itself with the motherboard must have still been working, hence the lights.

Someone on Reddit mentioned potentially switching the PCIe slot in BIOS to Gen 3, to see if it was some compatibility issue and that the 3080ti does indeed still work. I'll check that out at some point later down the line, and if it bears fruit I'll update the thread again (if it doesn't I won't). Moral of the story: never go cheap on a power supply. And maybe don't play Elden Ring at max graphics and resolution if you don't have to. Anyway my next step is to pull out my warranty for this card and see if I can wrangle some amount of money back. Wish me luck.