Graphics card blew - sort of

[DAMIENNOLAN]

I was messing around with my pc disconnecting and reconnecting fans in an attempt to identify sources of noise.

Anyway when I was finished with my investigations I forgot to connect the Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT graphics card fan. I powered up the pc and a few minutes later things heated up and the pc powered off.

Initially i thought the psu blew but after trying a few things out, i found the pc would turn on once the PCi-E power cable was connected to the graphics card.

I'm presuming the graphics card blew to a certain extent.

So, how dangerous is it to leave the gfx card power disconnected?
Is it possible to reapir such a fault or easier just to buy a new one?

I'm not experienced in this area so all advice is appreciated

 

[thegoonden]

You're more likely to kill your Mobo.

If the card needs, for example, 200W....it'll probably try and draw all of that through the PCIe socket.

the extra power line's not just power for the fan you know.

 

[DAMIENNOLAN]

Yeah, I know it's not just for the fan.

PSU is 450W. running two hard drives, one optical and Quad Core Q6600.
Think it will be safe to run for just surfing the net until I get a replacement card?

 

[waso_dude]

It'll be fine,

The mobo can't supply more than 75w iirc through itself, the GFX power supplies the rest,

The GFX card will just fail to boot, so stopping the comp from booting,

Plug it back in and boot away

 

[J.D]

You may have to reset your CMOS.

 

[DAMIENNOLAN]

You may have to reset your CMOS.

do you think that will enable the pc to switch on with the pci-e power connected to the graphics card?