Hi all,
my rig stopped last night because apparently a riser burnt through. It wasn't one of those cases where people connect to the pci port it the other way around and short circuit: it has been running for weeks without problems. Last reboot was a couple of days ago when I updated Claymore.
I connected a new riser and immediately the riser gave a spark and burnt through as well. Fortunately I still had the powerplug in my hands and could disconnect it immediately.
Picture of what both risers look like:
There is no visible damage to the GPU, to the little thingie going into the PCI slot of the MB or to the slot of the MB.
I disconnected the riser and gpu and fortunately the rig could reboot and is still working with the other 4 GPUs.
Is my GPU fried? I'm afraid to test it directly on the MB, because that might fry my MB as well...
PSU: Be Quiet Power Zone 1000W
Any tips?
Thanks.
If you instantly destroyed a brand new new riser as well as the original, that tells me something is indeed shorted, most likely on your video card. I agree with your instincts to NOT test it out on the motherboard directly, as you will most likely fry that too as you said, instead I would just RMA the GPU and let the service department look at it. If it turns out nothing is wrong with your card (doubtful) then the most you will be out is shipping costs, as they would send you the non-defective card back. If it is bad, they take all the risk further testing it and will repair/replace it for you, assuming you are still under warranty.
If your motherboard has built in video output, you can remove all the GPUs and test it by itself to make sure it is not the cause. I would also recommend picking up a cheap PSU tester, such as a
Thermaltake Dr. Power II if you plan to have more than one or two rigs, so you can easily eliminate a bad PSU when these type of issues arise.