Hello all, I have an old Sapphire HD 6950 Dirt 3 Edition video card that has an issue w/ one (or both) of it's PCI-express 6-pin power connections. When I connect the 2 PCIe connectors from the PSU (Seasonic GOLD 1050W) as I would w/ any other card, it produces no video, but if I monkey w/ the cables, it will produce video and then eventually the display becomes garbled as if the video memory were bad. However, when I tighten the cables to the top of the system to the point it is raising the card itself upward, the card works perfectly. I have come to the conclusion that the PCIe connections are the issue, but have tested all of the solder points and none of them are cold. I have also tested the PSU and cables on other video cards, they work fine, and used dif cables from the PSU w/ no dif in behavior. Any suggestions? <No warranty BTW>
this sounds like a bad/worn contact on the video card itself, one of the PCIe contacts in the slot. Finding which one it is could possibly be done just by visually inspecting the contacts, and it may turn out theres just dust or something in the slot. However, if this isnt the case, the card itself is likely shot.
Thanks for the suggestion, however, it seems that the contacts are fine being that the card works perfectly when the cables are in a particular arrangement. I thought maybe this was adjusting the contact, so I did check them and they are fine (no dust or missing/scratched contacts). I will just try using it unless someone knows a definitive solution... I was hoping to sell it LOL
Still rocking my cf unlocked XFX 6950s. They've been so stable that I simply don't want to ditch them even though I would like a bit more "umph"
My suggestion is to take the heat sink shroud off and inspect the contacts thoroughly, under a magnifying glass if you have to. It's pretty simple to re-solder them if need be.
when the cables are in a particular arrangement
That right there suggests the contacts are not fine, and they need to be re-soldered. Or you can take this as an opportunity to upgrade. A single 6950 may do fine for now at 1080p, but just one more gen of games and you and I both will be struggling to keep up.
I have a 7850 Im not using, send me mailing $ and i will give you it, i have no use for it and was onlyu going to throw it away
TYVM! Sounds like a great opportunity to get this thing up and running properly. I sent you a PM :D