can a psu kill a video card?

g1tigi

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
258
the computer I built for my folks has now gone through two video cards.

I've since switched to a 460W PSU, but I'm just curious, could an underpowered psu kill a video card?

here are the rough specs of the system
2.4ghz core 2
2gigs ram
320gb wd hd
7300gt (passively cooled asus, died-->crashes windows boot), ati rx2600pro (memory failure, rma'd)
2x cd rom drives (one dvdr one cdr)
2x random pci cards (old sound card, usb2.0/firewire card)

and....an a really old 300W PSU that is doesn't have the extra 4 pins on the mobo connector.

thoughts?
 
Poor power regulation can put too much stress on the components on the card and cause it to fail, yes. That is more due to the quality and not the wattage of the PSU, though. If the replacement 460W PSU is a low-quality unit, I recommend that you replace it with a better one as soon as possible, because even if it is more powerful than the old one, it could still cause damage if it's a poor PSU.
 
what brand PSU?

I was going to say a simple yes. Cheapo PSU's have poor voltage regulation that can provide unstable voltage rails and cause component failures.
 
A PSU can kill anything. Since it provides power if it provides bad power it can fry anything in your system. Will it? Well that's a more complex question. Should be if the PSU is too heavily loaded and/or has a fault, it fails safe and shuts down. That is the right way of doing things. Unfortunately, not all do that.

A friend of mine had a cheap powersupply fail in a spectacular fashion. I'm talking sparks and smoke spitting out the back. All because he overloaded it. So it CAN happen. Dunno how common it is, but it can.

My solution? Don't risk it. Do two things:

1) Buy only from good PSU makers. Corsair is my personal favorite. Ya it costs more, but there's a reason for that.

2) Buy a big one, much bigger than you need. You need 300 watts? Buy 600. This keeps the PSU working at or below 50%, which is where they are the most efficient, and ensures that it is not under stress.

You do that, real unlikely the PSU causes you any trouble.
 
yeah, this particular machine I am talking about had its original 200W PSU fried way back when we upgraded to a celeron 900mhz (this machine has been around for a while...) and was later replaced by the 300W--some generic taiwan brand (sunwin?). Currently I stuck in a coolermaster PSU of the extremepower series (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171031 e.g.) so hopefully things will be fine :)

thnx for the info!
 
Back
Top