Installing New Graphics Card

Beeg Boy · Apr 30, 2013

Hello Everyone,

I just purchased a Radeon HD 7750 and installed it last night.
This was my first time installing a video card.
I opened the case and removed my old card.
I installed the new card, installed and updated drivers and everything works fine.
Here are my concerns however:

1. Is it ok to handle the video card with bare hands? Should I have used latex gloves?

2. Is it possible to damage the motherboard or video card when installing? For example, by pushing it the card into the PCI slot with too much force? And if so, how much force would be necessary?

I made sure I handled everything very gently, but I suffer from OCD and am now paranoid that I could have caused some unseen damage while trying to get the new card in.
I had a hard time getting the card to seat properly and was not able to get it to "click" into place until about the 4th try.

Any thoughts?

ksham · Apr 30, 2013

1. Yes; as long as you've discharged any static electricity. Touch something metallic before handling it.

2. Yes; but you'll almost have to intentionally force that, almost to the point where you should ask yourself if you're installing it correctly. You'll damage the card before you damage the motherboard.

larrym · Apr 30, 2013

If everything is still working, you are fine. But, yes you can damage the motherboard if you are not careful. But your PC would probably not boot if you did..so I would not worry about it. You can touch the card, just try not to touch the gold colored connections on the PCI-e slot. Some people like to put their cards in the MOBO before it goes in the case (If room permits). This way, they can have the MOBO laying flat on a board and the force will not bend the MOBO.

Guest · Apr 30, 2013

Beeg Boy :

Some people wear an anti-static wrist band, but it really isn't necessary unless you handle dozens of chips per day. You would literally have to have someone drag you across a carpeted floor in your socks and then directly touch the chip to discharge enough electricity to brick a CPU or GPU. Like the other poster said, just find a grounded piece of metal and touch it before handling any bare electronics boards.

About not seating the GPU, you might try slightly pulling the release lever, that is if you can reach it, when attempting to seat the card. It looks something like this:

The lever may be obstructed by a newer, mid- to high-end GPU card which are usually quite long.

If your video card and everything else still works after installing, you did not damage anything. You can put about as much force as it takes to close a car door on the GPU and you won't hurt anything. I once tried to remove the aluminum heat spreader off of an old working Pentium 4 CPU because I wanted to see what the actual core looked like. I tried several tools with no success. The last tool I used was a hammer and a chisel. The spreader did not come off. In fact, it barely got dented. I popped it back into the motherboard just for the hell of it. And, of course, it worked fine. If a PC component as sensitive as a CPU could survive that, I'm sure your GPU is just fine.

Beeg Boy · Apr 30, 2013

Beeg Boy :

Some people wear an anti-static wrist band, but it really isn't necessary unless you handle dozens of chips per day. You would literally have to have someone drag you across a carpeted floor in your socks and then directly touch the chip to discharge enough electricity to brick a CPU or GPU. Like the other poster said, just find a grounded piece of metal and touch it before handling any bare electronics boards.

About not seating the GPU, you might try slightly pulling the release lever, that is if you can reach it, when attempting to seat the card. It looks something like this:

The lever may be obstructed by a newer, mid- to high-end GPU card which are usually quite long.

If your video card and everything else still works after installing, you did not damage anything. You can put about as much force as it takes to close a car door on the GPU and you won't hurt anything. I once tried to remove the aluminum heat spreader off of an old working Pentium 4 CPU because I wanted to see what the actual core looked like. I tried several tools with no success. The last tool I used was a hammer and a chisel. The spreader did not come off. In fact, it barely got dented. I popped it back into the motherboard just for the hell of it. And, of course, it worked fine. If a PC component as sensitive as a CPU could survive that, I'm sure your GPU is just fine.

Thank you all for responding, that makes me feel better.
I made sure to work very lightly and not force anything.
Thank you jman9295 for putting it into perspective for me, I do appreciate it.

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Installing New Graphics Card

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