Oh dear.... (GTX275)

[TehBluebear]

Hello all!

Well, I've been having a load of luck lately. After rehousing my PC into a new case, I was faced with a PC doing nothing at all when switched on. After examining the motherboard, I thought that it was at fault (had a burst cap), and rather than try to fix a 775 board, I went for a full socket 1155 upgrade (CPU, RAM, mobo).

Now then, fast forward to tonight when I took delivery of an extension cable, allowing me enough room to re-fit my BFG GTX275, annnnddd... blank screen. I'm really hoping I didn't spend £334 for nothing, but it's looking likely at this point. PC works fine when set to integrated graphics, but when the GFX card is in the slot and plugged in etc, I just get a blank screen. I assume that the motherboard is seeing a card and putting signal through the slot regardless of whether it's working or not, but nothing is getting to my monitor. I could never check this with the old motherboard as that didn't have any onboard graphics, and I didn't have any spare cards

If I took apart the GTX275, is there any chance of me being able to do any fixes, or should I write it off and think about getting a new card? If so, is there anything sub £150 that will give comparable, if not better, performance? I game at 1680x1050, currently playing games like Dark Souls, Witcher 2, ARMA 3, BF3 and (rather shamefully) TrainSimulator 2013.

EDIT: I tried the monitor cable in both DVI ports on the card, neither of them worked.

 

[BuToNz]

As risk of sounding like an idiot again - It's probably the graphics card at fault.

Given you've tried everything else and assuming it's been properly powered you should be looking at replacing it.

The 7850 (2GB) is about the best for that kind of money you can get and will be a large jump up in terms of performance (2x at least).

 

[TehBluebear]

As risk of sounding like an idiot again - It's probably the graphics card at fault.

Given you've tried everything else and assuming it's been properly powered you should be looking at replacing it.

The 7850 (2GB) is about the best for that kind of money you can get and will be a large jump up in terms of performance (2x at least).

There's 2x6pin slots, I assume you only need both plugged in for SLi? It's ran fine with only the one 6pin plugged in before now.

(Also, '...sounding like an idiot again'? Have you popped up in one of my threads before?)

 

[BuToNz]

There's 2x6pin slots, I assume you only need both plugged in for SLi? It's ran fine with only the one 6pin plugged in before now.

(Also, '...sounding like an idiot again'? Have you popped up in one of my threads before?)

You need both of those plugged in, strange it would work without both in the first place!

Regarding the idiot thing - I posted in another thread almost certain a problem was the graphics card when it turned out not to be. So as it stands you should take my 13 years computer hardware experience with a pinch of salt!

 

[TehBluebear]

You need both of those plugged in, strange it would work without both in the first place!

What! It's been running with only one in for about 3-4 years now without any problems! (Well, apart from now!). Hah, oh dear. Will try it with two and see what happens.

 

[spoffle]

What! It's been running with only one in for about 3-4 years now without any problems! (Well, apart from now!). Hah, oh dear. Will try it with two and see what happens.

I am having a hard time believing this!

But seriously, I've never had a graphics that sucks power as much as GTX275 that was okay running with one PCI-E cable in it.

 

[BuToNz]

What! It's been running with only one in for about 3-4 years now without any problems! (Well, apart from now!). Hah, oh dear. Will try it with two and see what happens.

If there is a power connector as a general rule it should be connected to something! A single 6pin will provide 75w + 75w from the PCI-E lane might of just been enough to get it going previously. Definitely connect the second 6pin.

 

[spoffle]

If there is a power connector as a general rule it should be connected to something! A single 6pin will provide 75w + 75w from the PCI-E lane might HAVE just been enough to get it going previously. Definitely connect the second 6pin.

These sort of graphics card shouldn't even let the PC boot without both 6 pins in, and the maxiumum power consumption of a 275 is 219w, which certainly needs more than 1 PCI-E connector.

 

[TehBluebear]

Hahaha, well I have no idea how it's been working then!! Unless the 775 board provided more power through the slot itself or what, but it has definitely been running for the past 3 years with a Q6600 and an Asus P5B with only the one plugged in (I had to break the 2pin additional plug off the second 6pin connector to plug it into the card as well).

How the hell has it handled 3 years of relatively demanding games?! I've been chucking tons of games at it and it's never crashed or complained (BF3, GRID, Borderlands 1 and 2, Crysis 1 and 2, Mass Effect 1 and 2, Morrowind and Oblivion both modded to the hilt and Skyrim, The Witcher 2 - not exactly lightweight games!)

Only thing I can think of is the Antec TruePower Quattro 850 PSU. Would more power have gone through the PCI-E rail if it wasn't needed as much elsewhere? And maybe the extra draw for the new mobo and CPU (if there is more), lessened it too much.

Anyway, everything is working all fine now! Time to dive into Borderlands 2

 

[BuToNz]

So plugging in the second 6pin worked?

 

[TehBluebear]

So plugging in the second 6pin worked?

Yep, all running fine now.

 

[spoffle]

Hahaha, well I have no idea how it's been working then!! Unless the 775 board provided more power through the slot itself or what, but it has definitely been running for the past 3 years with a Q6600 and an Asus P5B with only the one plugged in (I had to break the 2pin additional plug off the second 6pin connector to plug it into the card as well).

How the hell has it handled 3 years of relatively demanding games?! I've been chucking tons of games at it and it's never crashed or complained (BF3, GRID, Borderlands 1 and 2, Crysis 1 and 2, Mass Effect 1 and 2, Morrowind and Oblivion both modded to the hilt and Skyrim, The Witcher 2 - not exactly lightweight games!)

Only thing I can think of is the Antec TruePower Quattro 850 PSU. Would more power have gone through the PCI-E rail if it wasn't needed as much elsewhere? And maybe the extra draw for the new mobo and CPU (if there is more), lessened it too much.

Anyway, everything is working all fine now! Time to dive into Borderlands 2

Well since it was definitely working, this could be exactly why your motherboard died, the card could have been drawing excess power from the PCI-E slot.