Question Is it possible to have a bad PSU fry a graphics card??

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pacpinto

Junior Member
Feb 18, 2020
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Hi,

I recently had my PC stop working with apparently no reason. After that the PC would not start at all (pressing on/off would twitch the cpu fan a little bit but would not start it). After tinkering with it a bit, I found that removing the graphics card would allow the cpu fan to start and so, apparently, I had found the culprit. Bought a new graphics card and installed, and sure enough it booted and everything seemed ok. Until after about two hours, when the exact same thing happened. PC died, fans won't start, but removing graphics card will allow the system to start all fans.
Did my PSU just fry two graphics cards? what other explanation could there be?
I am weary of buying another graphics card at this point...
Thanks!
 
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Stuka87

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
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I would certainly check the voltages coming out of the PSU with a multi-meter if you have one. What PSU do you have now?

Its also possible those two GPU's arent dead. Just that your PSU will not power them up.
 
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pacpinto

Junior Member
Feb 18, 2020
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Stuka87 said:
I would certainly check the voltages coming out of the PSU with a multi-meter if you have one. What PSU do you have now?

Its also possible those two GPU's arent dead. Just that your PSU will not power them up.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. The PSU is a Corsair 850M. The GPUs are dead alright. Just tried them on another PC and the symptoms are the same, when powering on the system there is no power going into the motherboard; remove them and the system powers on without any issue.
One thing I forgot to mention, these are very basic, 1Gb GPUs, with passive cooling, and they don't even have their own power connector (the PC is basically a server). Maybe this is the motherboard? but it booted ok when I changed the original GPU... very strange.
Any help appreciated! Thanks
 
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Guru

Senior member
May 5, 2017
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Well if the GPU's don't have an external power connector to power them and it's done through the pci-e port, I don't see how the psu can fry them!?

Corsair psu's are also known for being very reliable and they are quite expensive, I've had tier 3 psu's easily last 5 years with no issue, but anything is possible.

Who knows, it might be possible your mobo is at fault as well, if its a cheapo mobo with cheat and poor voltage regulators and vrm's, then it could be the issue as well.
 
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pacpinto

Junior Member
Feb 18, 2020
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Guru said:
Well if the GPU's don't have an external power connector to power them and it's done through the pci-e port, I don't see how the psu can fry them!?

Corsair psu's are also known for being very reliable and they are quite expensive, I've had tier 3 psu's easily last 5 years with no issue, but anything is possible.

Who knows, it might be possible your mobo is at fault as well, if its a cheapo mobo with cheat and poor voltage regulators and vrm's, then it could be the issue as well.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'm ruling out the PSU... only culprit left is the mobo. This is an Asus Prime X299A. Should behave a little better... will try to find a replacement, not very easy because this is a socket 2066 board. Ah well. Will post back with results.

Thanks for all the help.
 
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pacpinto

Junior Member
Feb 18, 2020
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Charlie98 said:
I used to have a PCIe slot powered GPU... a 6250, maybe? It was just a tiny little card.

Have you tried a different PCIe slot?
Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for replying. Yes, I did try another PCIe slot, in fact the replacement GPU was installed in another PCIe slot. At this point I'm blaming my mobo. Will try to find a replacement...
 
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VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,339
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Hmm, tough call. You sure that this isn't some sort of software issue? (But you said that you tried the GPUs in another rig afterwards, and they stll did not function? And you tried putting the second GPU into a different slot than that that fried the first?)

Perplexing, unless it's the board somehow. Or a bad batch of GPUs? (Poor TIM application for the whole batch, and they fry themselves once deployed?)

Were these Chinese ebay specials? I tried buying one of those, it mysteriously killed itself in under a week.
 
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Dribble

Platinum Member
Aug 9, 2005
2,076
611
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Even if they don't outright fry stuff they will dramatically shorten life expectancy of other components as the PSU will be giving a rough power delivery which will then have to be smoothed by the power circuitry in your motherboard/gpu/whatever which will wear out that circuitry. As they wear out that in turn will lead to instability and annoying random crashes that are very difficult to track down. Never cut corners with psu's!
 
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amenx

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
3,899
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Not all PSUs are equal. Good PSUs with decent protections, ripple performance, load regulation have much less chance of damaging components then PSUs that dont.
 
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Fallengod

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2001
5,908
19
81
A PSU gone bad or low quality PSU in the first place can definitely fry components. This is why you see many experienced people telling others to never skimp out on quality PSU's. And I am not saying that is this case, but it can happen. I have definitely had an experience with a PSU destroying two hard drives and killing a graphics card. Just because a component is still technically "working" does not in any way mean its working 100% correctly.
 
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LOUISSSSS

Diamond Member
Dec 5, 2005
8,771
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been in computer building for 15 years, never heard of a PSU damaging any computer part. Also have had OEM computers for 20 years in addition to my own built ones, never had a psu damage any parts.
 
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Fallengod

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2001
5,908
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LOUISSSSS said:
Make your own luck, buy quality components. it can also happen that the building you live in collapses and breaks your computer... consider yourself lucky!
Click to expand...

Ok. I definitely consider myself lucky buildings dont fall on my computer every day! Never mind the people in them, but falling on my computer would be devastating! That was a good point you made. I had forgotten about the building collapsing thing.
 
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Brotenks

Brotenks

Junior Member
Oct 26, 2020
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Pleasant day, Pacpinto how did it turn out the same thing that happened to you happened to me and I'm wondering if it's the PSU of the mobo the only difference is that my graphics cards has a power connector it's was a gtx 950?Please reply
 
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AMD64Blondie

Golden Member
Apr 20, 2013
1,660
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Yes. I had an Antec Neopower 480 take out at least 1 hard drive back in the day.(2005,to be exact.)

After that, I switched to PC Power & Cooling power supplies.
My Turbo-Cool 510 SLI in my backup PC is probably still fine(need to get a new motherboard ,CPU, and RAM though-the old CPU is an AMD Phenom II X6.)

Quite impressive, considering it's from 2006.

And my PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1200 in my main Windows 10 PC was installed in January 2013.

Still going strong over 7 1/2 years later.
 
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Brotenks

Brotenks

Junior Member
Oct 26, 2020
3
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AMD64Blondie said:
Yes. I had an Antec Neopower 480 take out at least 1 hard drive back in the day.(2005,to be exact.)

After that, I switched to PC Power & Cooling power supplies.
My Turbo-Cool 510 SLI in my backup PC is probably still fine(need to get a new motherboard ,CPU, and RAM though-the old CPU is an AMD Phenom II X6.)

Quite impressive, considering it's from 2006.
Click to expand...
 
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wr3zzz

Junior Member
Oct 25, 2020
8
0
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Last time I had a PSU fried my PC was in the 90s. After that I learned my lesson and used PC Power Cooling PSU which was the only consumer premium PSU brand available back then. Things are different now. Modern PSU/MB from reputable brands have enough protection that the worst it can happen with a failing PSU is that the PC won't post or just shut itself down to prevent the power from frying power components. Of the 4 Seasonic I have the oldest one is 13 years old and still works fine. It will probably take multiple system failures to fry a healthy GPU.
 
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