When sparks fly.. but your build still works... >.<

[snowgorrilla]

Hey all looking for any advice from anyone willing to help with more experience than myself.

Here is my GPU, https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125413

It has seen extensive gameplay typically on high video quality since May of 2013.

Last night I was playing a low pop game "The culling" when my computer randomly cut power..
I tried turning it back on, but it was as if there was no power being supplied. At this point I unplugged the PSU and I flipped the switch on and off for my power surge protector.

What happened next kinda sucked... I pressed the power button after restoring power and all of the sudden BOOM. About 3 fair size sparks came firing out of my graphics card.. Went to bed a little depressed, after physically feeling the GPU, most of it was warm but one spot in particular was on fireeeee (figuratively).

Got home from work today, and it turned on as if nothing had ever happened..

I would love advice on.. 1) What happened
2) If it did overheat.. how??? I have 5 140 mm case fans 2 120's on my cpu and that's excluding all the other fans on the devices themselves.. and two pci slot fans..
3) should I run this gpu to the ground, or replace it before I reach catastrophic failure.
4) Was the computer not turning on, a failsafe in the event of an overheat? Did I bypass this failsafe when I disconnected all power to the PSU?
5) any other advice greatly appreciated and welcomed


At the very least thanks for reading have a good one!

 

[clutchc]

If your sure the sparks/fire came from the gfx card, I would not use it anymore. It may have been a failing capacitor that finally blew. Might have triggered the shut down and a reset had to cool back down before it would operate again... but no doubt with defective performance.
Remove the card, buy a new one, and/or use the iGPU for now. And hope the dying card didn't take anything on the motherboard out with it.

 

[snowgorrilla]

If your sure the sparks/fire came from the gfx card, I would not use it anymore. It may have been a failing capacitor that finally blew. Might have triggered the shut down and a reset had to cool back down before it would operate again... but no doubt with defective performance.
Remove the card, buy a new one, and/or use the iGPU for now. And hope the dying card didn't take anything on the motherboard out with it.

how can I confirm whether it did or didn't come from GPU? visible evidence?

 

[clutchc]

I thought you said you saw the sparks come from the card? I doubt the card would have done that if some other item failed.
There is one other possibility; the PSU's +12V to the PCIe x16 slot and/or 6 and 8 pin headers spiked or went high. But that's really reaching. Most likely the 4 year old card since it has been in heavy service for that long.

List your system specs. Do you have a high quality PSU or a no-name piece of junk?

 

[snowgorrilla]

I thought you said you saw the sparks come from the card? I doubt the card would have done that if some other item failed.
There is one other possibility; the PSU's +12V to the PCIe x16 slot and/or 6 and 8 pin headers spiked or went high. But that's really reaching. Most likely the 4 year old card since it has been in heavy service for that long.

List your system specs. Do you have a high quality PSU or a no-name piece of junk?

CPU: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285

PSU: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171079

MOBO: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157358

all the parts from original build. I surveyed the card looking for any burn marks but no avail.. still don't understand how the card became SO hot with all those fans tho..

could a really old surge protector cause this?

 

[clutchc]

Any electrical device between the wall outlet and the gfx card could cause it, yes. But I still suspect the gfx card if you saw sparks coming from it.
Parts of the card WILL get extremely hot under normal gaming use. I've given myself minor burns touching my cards when I'm careless where I grab when removing them for testing.
You can continue to use the card as is until something dies, your choice. Personally, I wouldn't take the chance.