troubleshoot What may be wrong with my RX 480?

matj1 · January 15, 2022

My GPU is Gigabyte Radeon RX 480 8GB. When I have the GPU installed in my computer, I don't get any video output out of the computer, even from the HDMI port on the motherboard and even before it boots into the operating system (so there is no video output at all when it's installed). I didn't try the VGA output on the motherboard (MSI B150M PRO-VH) because my monitor doesn't support that.

Before that happened, when the GPU was 100% utilised by a game, the game had periodically high frame times, every roughly 0.7 of a second. It seemed that everything in the game would slow down during the high frame times; so, if there was an object moving across the screen, It would move at a normal (or maybe higher) speed for a fraction of a second, then it would move slower for a fraction of the second during the high frame times. Screenshots of games with MangoHud showing a graph of frametimes are attached to this post.

What may be wrong with the GPU? How difficult or expensive would it be to fix? I'd like to have it fixed if it's viable because I can't find a GPU that i could buy for a reasonable price.

Kilrah · January 15, 2022

8 minutes ago, matj1 said:

When I have the GPU installed in my computer, I don't get any video output out of the computer, even from the HDMI port on the motherboard and even before it boots into the operating system (so there is no video output at all when it's installed).

That's normal behavior. When you have a GPU you connect the monitor to it.

One of your screenshots shows 86°C for the GPU temp which is a bit high, might want to check case cooling, clean fans/filters/heatsinks for a start.

matj1 · January 15, 2022

10 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

That's normal behavior. When you have a GPU you connect the monitor to it.

One of your screenshots shows 86°C for the GPU temp which is a bit high, might want to check case cooling, clean fans/filters/heatsinks for a start.

Of course, I had the monitor connected, and when the GPU worked and was installed, the monitor would display what it should if it was connected to any of the PC (including the GPU)'s video outputs. In the current state, if it's connected to any of the video outputs, it doesn't display anything if the GPU is installed.

The high temperature may be because of the suboptimal airflow of my case. The GPU cooler is clean. But the GPU doesn't work even if the case is open. But that isn't the problem. The problem is that the computer doesn't display anything at all if the GPU is installed. I think that it would display something for at least several seconds if just the cooling was bad.