GPU killed PSU?

[AwesomeOwl]

The other day when I went to turn on my pc I got the beep code for gpu trouble..
I swapped my ancient 8800 gts for an even more ancient 6800gt, and it booted up (I did get some artifacts and crashing though..)
I concluded the 8800 gts was dead..

So I figured I give the oven trick a shot - what did I have to lose? Everything seemed ok, put it back in, pushed the power button, split second of life, then nothing. Nothing at all, except light in the green LED on the motherboard.
I tried the paper clip trick on the psu, but still nothing.

Could the gpu have killed the psu? Or could the psu have been the source of the gpu trouble?
The 8800 needs extra power through a 6 pin plug btw, 6600 does not.

I don't want to buy a new gpu if the old is ok after all, but I don't want to kill a brand new psu either..

 

[Gizmotron]

Maybe try a PSU tester:

http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Produ...er=BESTMATCH&Description=psu+tester&x=20&y=35

 

[samuelmorris]

Extra power draw sends faulty PSUs over the edge - happens all the time.

 

[AwesomeOwl]

Maybe try a PSU tester[/url]

I'm quite sure the PSU is dead, but I'll see if I can borrow another one to check, or I'll just order a new one.

Extra power draw sends faulty PSUs over the edge - happens all the time.

Maybe I was a bit unclear.. The 8800 gts has been in the pc with the PSU for 4 years. I just put the old 6600gt in for troubleshooting.

Basically the core of my question is if a faulty gpu can kill other components?

 

[samuelmorris]

That is unusual, to be fair. Unless the card has shorted out the PCIe slot and damaged the board somehow, I don't see how it could have happened. Could just be a coincidence - disturb the hardware, PSU already on its way out stops working altogether...

 

[MavericK]

Yeah, my guess is the PSU was on its way out as well. Never heard of a card destroying a PSU.

 

[AwesomeOwl]

I got a hold of another pc that just needed some ram and a harddrive. Put the 8800 gts in it and hit the power button. Red light on the motherboard lit up, and there was a buzzing sound (maybe from the psu?)

The capacitors on the card smell btw..

So what do you reckon? Psu killed gpu, and then the dead gpu took down the psu with it? Or gpu died and took down the psu with it?

 

[samuelmorris]

Sounds like the card has a short circuit fault, assuming this is an entirely different system you're testing with (PSU inclusive)

 

[AwesomeOwl]

Yep, different system that has a decent psu, which thankfully survived my little test
I figure the old psu was on it's way out, as some of the others have suggested.

 

[samuelmorris]

NorthQ PSUs are not decent, I saw that cheeky little edit - They've made some reasonable units over the years, but I wouldn't trust them any more than most other budget brands...

 

[Lord_Exodia]

It's possible you had a bad surge go through the system and whack your psu and/or gpu, Or your psu was bad and then you baked your card and killed it.

Do your other components seem ok? also never bake something unless you have tested and verified all your other components are okay and that the pastry is definitely the only defective part. A bad diagnosis could have you bake a working part and then bricking it as a result.

 

[AwesomeOwl]

Yes, the rest of the system was ok. I think the psu might have been on it's way out, gpu was dead and whatever went wrong was probably exacerbated by baking, and that pushed the psu over the edge. Just a theory.
The gpu was 4 years old, and the psu was 5 years old and it's been my main pc since I got it.

NorthQ PSUs are not decent, I saw that cheeky little edit - They've made some reasonable units over the years, but I wouldn't trust them any more than most other budget brands...

It's done ok in tests, so I reckon I can get away with calling it decent (as in adequate).