New GPU - Monitor has signal but the screen stays black

ATG1412 · November 27, 2018

My setup:

- motherboard: MSI H61M-P31/W8
- monitor: LED TN Acer KA210H 20.7" (1080p 60hz)
- CPU: i5 3340 3.1 ghz
-PSU: Sirtec - High Power Element Smart 750W (Bronze 80+)
- GPU: KFA GTX 1070 TI EX-SNIPER WHITE (I know it's overkill for my outdated components but anyway)
- OS: Windows 10

- 12GB RAM (8GB + 4GB sticks)

Basically, if I power up my PC, it boots properly except nothing is displayed on my monitor even though it does have signal. The lights on my GPU are on, the fans don't spin (until they reach a certain temperature which isn't possible in my case since I can't put it under heavy load). I can't access BIOS or enter Safe Mode with it either. What could possibly cause this other than the GPU itself being faulty? I know there are a bunch of other things that can lead to this but I can't really grab any spare parts at the moment to test stuff:

- faulty cable (I used a DVI-D connection since my monitor doesn't have an HDMI port)

- faulty PCI-E slot (although I doubt it would even send a signal if that was the case)

- my PSU not being good enough/delivering enough power (voltage issues?)

- my mobo being in need of a BIOS update (it's already up to the latest version; most recent one was in 2013)

NOTE: Prior to all of this, the first time I powered up my PC with the new GPU, I was experiencing red flickering horizontal lines/artifacts across the entire screen and I could see what was being displayed but only for 1-3 seconds until the screen would go black temporarily only for the red artifacts to return later and so on. I managed somehow to install the drivers through all that flickering but that didn't fix it. Also, if I gently touched/pushed the DVI-D cable from behind my monitor, the amount of red lines/artifacts would somewhat change/drop. I can't test the DVI-D cable on my integrated GPU because my mobo's DVI port has been faulty for ages now.

So, any ideas?