AMD RX 580 cable explosion

[Pete_uk]

Hi everyone.

 

I have a 2015 spec Core i7 with a corsair CX 750. I'm not a gamer so I have been using a Nvidia GT 610 (which couldn't render the skin on a rice pudding). 

I'm upgrading to Linux and as the latest versions don't support such an old card I decided to grab a second hand AMD RX 580 8gb from Amazon.

 

I installed it with a three pin to four pin adapter it came with (maybe not originally, I don't know) and turned it on. 

 

Almost instantly the three black cables on the adaptor cable heated up and caught fire. It took about three seconds to shut the power off at the PSU and get the window open to get rid of the smoke. 

 

I've never had anything like this happen and I'm not sure what to do. 

The PSU had a three pin connector with a little one coming out from the side to make it a four pin connector  that fits the GPU but it's not a modular PSU so if that goes up....

 

 

[Potatoes__]

There are 8 pins on the cable for a reason - they deliver more power to the GPU. If I recall correctly, 6-pin delivers 75 watts of power max and an 8-pin connector can deliver up to 150 watts. When you use an adapter like this (assuming this is was a 6 to 8 pin adapter) it only changes the physical connector but not the power rating, essentially you are trying to power an 8-pin connector through 6 pins.

 

So my idea of what happened is that the GPU tried to pull 150 watts of power from an adapter that is rated for half of that, the cables heated up and went poof. Alternatively the adapter is just crap and was shorted somewhere, I'm not an expert in electrical stuff but I see that the top black cables burned and those are supposed to be ground wires, not the +12v power wires which I assume would burn first in the case I described.

 

If my first theory is correct then, assuming that the GPU survived this accident, if you connect it to your PSU via 8 pins without any weird connectors it should work fine. But before trying to power it on again do observe the GPU for obvious issues like blown capacitors, stray screws or debris that could be shorting something, check the PCI-E connector for burn marks and whatever else comes to mind, and take some additional photos of the GPU and the adapter. Maybe ppl here could add something too.

 

Edit: oh and do check the PSU cable it was connected to - was it damaged too?

[Caroline]

CableMod quality adaptor.

 

Before you try the power supply again inspect the card around the connector area, see if there's any signs of burning, melting, or something physically shorting the solder pads, if it has a cover, remove it.

 

That's a dead short, so it's possible the card is busted, if you connect it again it'll burn your other cable as well. 90% of those cards on the market come from shitcoin mining rigs from 5-6 years ago, and most are dead or have severe faults, it's why they're so cheap compared to, say, a 1660Ti.

Faulty power delivery components were common in these, because all the brutes abusing them to mine shitcoins would overclock the f*ck out of them and alter the VBIOS to get more power, which OF COURSE would damage the components as well as air fry the VRAM chips.

 

Do you have *any* proof the card works? that isn't a random video by the seller, I'm always skeptical because I'm basically surrounded by scammers where I live so I know they can fake the videos by having the monitor feed come from one PC, and the computer they record in front of you is dead.

You said amazon so you probably didn't pick it up at someone's place. Hopefully you can get a refund or something.

 

There's a way to try it but you'll need what's basically a sacrificial PSU, get it, connect the card and short PG and COM on the main connector, that'll send power to anything connected to the PSU, if the wires melt or any of the components blows up that makes the card unusable. Alternatively insert the card into a working computer but DON'T attach the power connector, it should at least have a red LED indicating it's missing power, if it has one but it's dead then the card is dead.

 

 

I sold some used 590s and always tested them in front of the customer on a real computer so there was no doubt the card was working, I ran benchmarks and games, all of them were in mint condition and had their original packaging, cables and discs. Probably the only reputable source of cards around, and I made sure all my customers were gamers, not selling crap to cryptoscammers, I've altered the VBIOS to limit mining as much as possible, it doesn't affect games at all, my own LHR lock, cards freeze if you try running a miner, even though GPU mining is almost pointless nowadays, there's still a few doing it.

[Pete_uk]

Thanks both for the replies. 

I'm not an 'enthusiast' so I just plugged it in and expected it to work!

 

The card itself around the power connector looks fine, no burning or anything.