Title sounds a little scummy, and I guess I feel a little scummy about it overall, but I genuinely do not know if my card is dead because of me or not. Long story short: I fried my mobo and CPU on a new build because I used the CPU and MB power cables from another PSU (big mistake, lesson learned). The PCI-E cables were correct though, and I can't see any visible damage on the GPU (though it's hard to see the PCB through the heatsink). Now with a new board, CPU, and 850W PSU, I can finally power on the rig, but get stuck at the VGA light with no indication the GPU is getting any power. I reseated all the cables and tried a different PCI-E slot to no avail, and my friend's card was able to get the system to the "BOOT" LED, so it seems like my card is dead. However, because I've never actually gotten it powered on and don't see any damage, I don't actually know if I caused it.
I want to RMA it, and if Nvidia decides to fix/replace it then that's great, if not then it's disappointing but it is what it is. However, my best buy return period ends in 17 days, so if Nvidia doesn't accept it and sends me my card back after Best Buy's return period then I'll really be out of luck. So in the interest of minimizing risk here: if I don't tell Nvidia RMA about the original cabling incident, is it likely they'd be able to tell if the power issue was my fault and deny me the RMA once they get the card back?
I want to RMA it, and if Nvidia decides to fix/replace it then that's great, if not then it's disappointing but it is what it is. However, my best buy return period ends in 17 days, so if Nvidia doesn't accept it and sends me my card back after Best Buy's return period then I'll really be out of luck. So in the interest of minimizing risk here: if I don't tell Nvidia RMA about the original cabling incident, is it likely they'd be able to tell if the power issue was my fault and deny me the RMA once they get the card back?