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Video Card Power Issue?

S

svgtom

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
Messages
66
I already posted some of the details of this problem in the General Hardware section but I finally pinpointed where the issue is. I just put together a new build and when I turned it on, it wouldn't boot up. The system and cooler fans as well as the video card fans would spin but nothing else would happen. About every 18 seconds though, the entire system would appear to briefly shut down and then start up again.

The issue appears to be the video card because when I unplug it from the power supply the power stays consistent and I can get into the BIOS using the mobo video display. Is this just a bad card or some sort of voltage issue?

System Specs
Gigabyte H97-DH3 mobo
i5-4570
Arctic Freezer i11 CPU Cooler
Kingston HyperX FURY 8GB
Seasonic G-Series 550W PSU (SSR-550RM)
Sapphire Radeon R9 270
 
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seems like a bad video card if you can boot with integrated graphics ..
do you have another system you can plug the video card into?
 
Unfortunately I don't have another system (or at least one that can handle the card). When I get home later I'm going to try plugging the card into another slot to see what happens. I also have a different video card I can try but this one gets its power directly from the mobo.
 
Ok, I just tried putting the card in the PCI-E x4 slot and it seems to work fine and I even got video output. I then tried putting a different card (a Radeon 6670) in the x16 slot and that too worked. The difference with the second card though is that it's powered by the mobo and not the PSU.

What would cause a card not to work in the x16 slot but work in the x4 slot, while another card does work in the x16? I'm thinking if the issue was with the slot, the second card wouldn't have worked either.
 
Are you saying your Sapphire Radeon R9 270 doesn't have a 6-pin? I can only find ones with a 6-pin.
Can you provide a link of the card?
 
No, it does have a 6-pin. The 6670 does not have a 6-pin and that worked fine in the x16 slot.
 
That's weird, so the R9 270 worked on the x4 slot with the 6-pin plugged in but not in the x16 slot with the 6-pin plugged in .. did you try the R9 270 on the x16 slot again? Maybe it wasn't seated in the slot properly or the 6-pin was not plugged in flush? Did you try using a different 6-pin from the PSU to the R9 270? Maybe one of the 6-pin is bad.

I just googled your PSU, since its modular try switching the 6-pin plug with another one and/or reseat it on the PSU end just in case it didnt go in flush.
 
Yes, I've already tried all of your suggestions. I've read elsewhere that something like this could be caused by a compatibility issue and the solution is usually to update the BIOS. I checked the Gigabyte website though and there are two updates, neither of which address a video card issue.
 
The GPU is probably the culprit since in the x4 slot it only takes in a portion of the gold contacts.
Have you tried it in the x4 slot under load?
 
Ok, my head is about to explode. I came across various posts on different forums where someone had the same issue where the card didn't work in the x16 slot but did work in the x4 slot. In each case it was never followed up with a solution. Then I read this which kind of blew my mind:

okay i had a similar problem.. i have a GA-990FXA-D3.. previously i had an EVGA GTX 550 ti and finally had d money to upgrade to a new gpu.. i purchased an AFOX GTX 560 , and also a new psu Cougar GX 1050watts.. after 1 day of use just yesterday my computer decided not to display anything and give me weird beeps.. 1 long and 2 short beeps.. it means video error.. no post.. just a black screen.. restarted it several times still no luck at all.. tried cleaning everything.. still problem persisted.. i searched in google for this problem and i found a tread mentioning maybe it will function in my x8 PCI-E slot.. i tried it den POOF! yes it did functioned normally so initial conclusion is that my x16 PCI-E slot is dead.. BUT i was shocked when i placed a low end video card like a GT 240 GeForce that does not require a 4 pin or 6pin cable direct from the power supply (it gets power directly from the motherboard) and it worked fine.. so my PCI-E x16 slot is not dead! its just that it wont support video cards that requires 6 pins or 4 pins from the power supply.. im puzzled.. and the worst case scenario is about to happen when i tried my AFOX GTX 560 in my friend's PC he has a ASRock Extreme 4 990 motherboard.. i placed my videocard on to his x16 PCI-E slot and no video came out just like my problem.. i re inserted it in his x8 PCI-E slot and there is video and its stable.. just the same as mine. now i removed my videocard and placed his videocard (EVGA gtx 550 ti same as my old video card) back to his motherboard particularly in the x16 pci-e slot and POOF! no video! i transffered his videocard in the x8 pci-e slot and it worked there is displace! OMG i think my GTX 560 transferred the problem to his motherboard.. and to make matters even worst i had another PC running in my cafe and its a new one.. i pulled out his EVGA GTX 550 ti and i tried it to my other computer in the cafe and OMG again no display if i place it in the x16 pcie slot and there is a display when placed in x8 slot.. my god my new motherboard in the cafe is damaged to.. it spreads like a virus.. so i have all in all two damaged motherboards and 1 damaged GTX 560 and also damaged my friend's videocard and motherboard.. i do not know what happened..
Click to expand...

I got a hold of my brother and was going to try the card in his PC but of course after reading this I'm worried about messing up his mobo, even though the above story sounds fishy. I also read a couple of negative reviews of Gigabyte mobos which mentioned the same reboot cycle I have right out of the box although they didn't indicate the problem had been isolated to the x16 slot.

And then of course I read on another forum where someone had the same issue I had only with a Sapphire Toxic R9 270X on an Asus mobo. I can't go nuts with this anymore so I think I'm going to just RMA the card.

Question is, should I stick with the R9 270 with possibly a brand other than Sapphire, or just go for something else? What else is comparable to the R9 270?
 
Does your brother have an equivalent or better GPU than the R9 270? If yes, try using his card in yours and see if it works. If it works with his GPU, then your GPU is definitely faulty. Video Card Hierarchy Chart

Yeah you can just exchange/return the card with the merchant especially if its within the return policy or RMA the card with the manufacturer. You can just check out the link I provided above for comparable cards to the R9 270. I am using a GTX 760 (I got it for $200 new on BF), upgraded from an HD 5870. If you plan to get another R9 270, I guess Asus, MSI, XFX whichever has the better reviews of their respective models.
 
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