Computersight -

Buying a new graphics card can be tricky business and more times than not can lead to more frustration than you’d ever intended. Afters hours and even days of searching for that perfect card, you can end up finding that the perfect card just doesn’t want to work or worse. There are hundreds of reasons as to why a new graphics card wouldn’t work but there are generally only a couple of really simple reasons as to why the card will not function properly. The first of these reasons is your Power Supply Unit, also known as a PSU, they supply your PC with energy for the system to function, a lot of times when graphics cards stop working, this is the first place to look as the PSU isn’t strong enough to power up the graphics card.

Power Supply Unit

 There are multiple symptoms that would lead a user to believe that the PSU is the main reason for the graphics card not working. The first of which would be the graphics card not working after installation into the PC. This would result in the screen refusing to show anything, leaving a black screen on the monitor as the PSU is just too weak to power the graphics card and PC together. Another sign of this problem could be that the graphics card initially works but if it is put under any stress, it will simply turn off on the user. By that I mean that the card will stop working and the monitor will turn black, that would be the case if the user would try to initiate any sort of 3D based game which would have the graphics card try to power up, only to fail once it realizes it doesn’t had nearly enough power that it needs. To give an example, I bought a graphics card that said the minimum PSU was 400W, at first the graphics card would work fine, but once I tried to start a game the monitor would go black and I’d have to restart the computer for it to work despite the fact that I had a 400W PSU which was the minimum. It wasn’t until I bought a 650W Corsair PSU that the card eventually worked properly, but not after going through multiple other PSU’s that, despite having a high wattage, refused to power the card which is why you need to buy a PSU from a well known company instead off an off brand.

Overheating

This is the most common form graphic card failure to date. Generally if you a buying a new graphics card for the first time, the airflow inside the PC won’t be all that great for a rig with a graphics card. Depending on the card, the case could tend to overheat very quickly if the airflow inside the case isn’t all that great. The best way to combat that is to make sure the case is clear of obstructions such as PSU cables all over the place and make sure every fan has enough room to work effectively. Speaking from experience, over heating could end up completely destroying a graphics card. If a machine gets too hot it could cause the graphics card to “burn out”, which means that it just stops working and refuses to work again at which point you’d need to return the card. The best way to battle this is to install some case fans to keep the card cool and if you can, purchase a spot cool fan which you can place directly over the graphics card to keep it nice and cool constantly.

3) Drivers – The most simple cause is graphics drivers. Generally users have old drivers on their computers from previous graphics card which conflict with the new graphics card. At which point the user would need to remove all old drivers and install the new ones for the graphics card.