TempPCHelpAcc

Yeah, I think my best bet right now is to do the following: -Remove the burnt X-Fi -Replace the X-Fi with the Gigabyte PCI sound card that came with the mainboard, but in the PCI2 slot (PCI1 got burnt) -Remove my new 390 and replace with with an old 8800gtx -Remove all my data drives -Format my solely remaining C drive and make a fresh Windows 7 install on it. In the worst case scenario that my entire system gets destroyed, I will only lose a bunch of 2011 components, and not my important data or new GPU. If everything works fine for a few days, I can then install the important stuff again.

Finally I got around to putting in my new R9 390 GPU. Since I haven't touched my system in the 5 years since I built it, I decided to disassemble everything to clean off all the dust. I removed everything except for the CPU and RAM, cleaned off the dust, and put it back together with the new GPU. I first started it up and saw that my monitor was getting no signal. I restarted the system a few times with the same result (never long enough to boot into windows though I think). I decided that the new DP-VGA adapter I was using for the first time wasn't working. A few hours later I moved the monitor next to the system to connect it with only the adapter without the 5m DP extension cord. This resulted in the monitor getting a signal and I decided that the adapter worked fine and that the extension cord was the problem. About 10 seconds after the system booted into Windows, I hear some subtle fizzle/sputter noise and look over to see smoke coming from my old sound card. I jump up and turn off the PSU, and then remove the sound card. I observe the sound card and see that three of the "pins" on the PCI connector are burnt (2 on the front side and 1 on the back) For a few years now I had the issue of my sound card randomly disappearing as a device in Windows on average once a month. The only way to get it back and make the sound work again was to reinstall the Creative sound card drivers. Anyone have any ideas? My theories: Maybe the sound card was broken and caused the problem, as the power configuration changed? My windows 7 has been pretty FUBAR and glitchy for years ever after I had to disable driver signing and run it in test mode. Could windows low-level issues have caused the burning? I didn't notice any smoke before booting into windows. Could the mainboard have been damaged somehow by the new GPU being added to the system, causing it to overload the PCI slot of the sound card? ADDITIONAL INFO: Gigabyte Z68P-DS3 mainboard(2011) Corsair HX620 620w PSU (2007) MSI R9 390 GPU(2015) Intel i5 2500k CPU(2011) 2x4GB corsair vengeance RAM(2011) Creative X-Fi xtremegamer Audio(2007 or 2005) Crucial m4 64gb SSD (2011) various HDD I've collected over the years water cooling loop for CPU with PSU-powered DDC pump -My PSU only has 2 6pin PCIe power cables, while the 390 required a 6pin and an 8pin PCIe power cable. I used the 6pin-to-8pin adapter that MSI included in the box. -When reassembling the system, I changed the location of the storage drives, as well as the order of the cables that power them. The amount of drives remained the same though.