Last night, I helped a friend build a PC.
- i7-4770k
- ASRock Z87 Extreme4
- Samsung 840 EVO
- Nvidia 560 branded by Zotac
- Thermaltake 600 watt PSU
- 4 x 4 GB 2133 Mhz RAM
- stock cooling, no overclocking
(Specs are his own decision. I offered advice, he sometimes didn't listen.)
The first time we fired it up, we never saw it post. But physically removing the GPU and running off of integrated graphics allowed it to post just fine, and also install Windows and boot to the desktop just fine. Bad GPU, right? But it was working on his last machine.
Plugging the GPU into a different PCI slot allowed it to boot, but of course the resolution was super small because it had no drivers. So GPU appears to be working? During installing the Nvidia drivers, the screen went dark and remained dark. We waited over 15 minutes. I'm used to flashing, but not remaining dark. Most times we tried booting with the GPU installed, we never saw it post. Once more after trying to install Nvidia drivers, it was able to post and begin loading windows with the GPU installed, then the screen went dark.
I'm grasping at straws, but here are my hunches:
- Maybe the GPU is bad, was partially damaged by cold or humidity or static electricity or something.
- Maybe the off-brand PSU isn't able to deliver enough power for the whole system?
- Maybe the off-brand PSU isn't able to deliver enough power over the 2x6 pin power connectors for the 560?
- Maybe I'm not supposed to be using both 6 pin power connectors from the same wire coming from the PSU? But that's all it comes with.
Other ideas?
TR community is the best. Thanks in advance.