What is killing my GPUs?

[RussianSensation]

That was even true with the original IBM PC. AC voltages can change so much that incandescent bulbs brighten by 50% or dim to 40%. Those are also perfectly good AC voltages for any properly constructed computer.

More numbers. 5 volt digital semiconductor datasheets clearly state that voltage can increase by 40% or 50% without harm. This might cause timing changes resulting in a software crash. Then a user speculated hardware damage due to timing changes.

13.5 volts is only a 12% overvoltage. Most 12 volt semiconductors can even be at 15 volts or higher without damage.

Also bogus is a myth about higher wattage for better quality. Often a higher wattage without a corresponding price increase means essential functions are missing. Functions that, for example, mean a power supply cannot cause motherboard or disk drive damage.

Most will recommend on brand name due to insufficient electrical knowledge. Fewer who know this stuff could say more IF all voltages were provided. Including numbers from a PSU's green, gray, and purple wire. And only if measured by a volt meter; not by motherboard hardware.

ATX standard says 5%. Adding other facts say why a measured tolerance is different. Better answers provides unadulterated data - the numbers - so that others who know more about this stuff can post informed conclusions. An accurate answer immediately and without any more RMAs.

Or just shotgun - replace a PSU hoping that will fix it.

You can't compare a millisecond spike to 13.5-13.6V on 12V rail vs. the PSU running this all the time. Secondly, you can't compare the complexity of an incandescent light bulb to that of a graphics card and assume that just because a light bulb can handle 40-50% spikes, that a graphics card should too. Believe me current and voltage spikes above specs are killing that videocard slowly. There is a reason the spec has been emphasized to within 5%, not within 15%.

Someone with an electrical engineering degree should be able to explain to us how the 12V volt rails that feeds the GPU 13.6V non-stop is slowly degrading the power circuitry on the PCB and possibly even those GPU transistors.

 

[Spungo]

Someone with an electrical engineering degree should be able to explain to us how the 12V volt rails that feeds the GPU 13.6V non-stop is slowly degrading the power circuitry on the PCB and possibly even those GPU transistors.

Having too much voltage is comparable to having too much pressure in a pressurized system. Stuff generally holds together, but it shouldn't shock anyone when valves are not working properly, gaskets are failing, water is leaking everywhere, and the whole thing eventually blows apart at the seems.