PC Graphics

I will try to keep this brief. I recently purchased a PowerColor Red Dragon 5700 XT from Micro Center. The card was DOA so i RMA'd it, but the replacement card is exhibiting the exact same issues and I'm wondering if it's something on my end. I've tried just about every troubleshooting step that I've found to no avail. Upon installing the 5700 XT and powering on, the CPU turns on and seems to function normally, but the USB peripherals fail to light up and the GPU fans just spin intermittently. My PC does not even boot into the BIOS, there is simply no display signal at all. Sometimes the PC will go into a power loop, shutting off and turning back on 3-4 times until maintaining power to the CPU and nothing else. If I leave it running, the GPU starts to run really hot. My system runs completely fine with my old GPU though (RX 480.)

I suspect it may have something to do with my MoBo UEFI and/or CSM settings or the GPU drivers, but I really have no idea. I took it to a local computer repair store, who told me that they weren't getting any signal from it as well, but I'm still not entirely sure because PowerColor verified the functionality of this GPU before sending it to me. I've no reason to believe that my system fried the GPU both times. Is there any way that some part of my system is causing this failure to even POST? Or did PowerColor just send me another dead card?

My specs for reference:

Ryzen 3700x

ASUS Tuf Gaming B450m Plus

PnY RAM 2 x 8GB 3200hz

Sapphire Nitro+ RX 480 4GB

Corsair CXM Gray 650W (PCIE cables NOT daisy chained)

Any help is greatly appreciated. Let me know if I need to post any more information

22 Replies

Your monitor is plugged into the GPU not the motherboard?

If so I suggest trying the card in another PC, if it works there you know it is at least something with your system.

Yeah monitor is plugged into the GPU. My CPU doesn't have integrated graphics, so no other way to acquire signal. And my system works fine with my old GPU installed.

I took it to a PC repair shop and had them test it and they reported the same thing, so it would seem I just have another faulty card, but the odds of that happening twice in a row seem rather slim.

Could it have something to do with the boot settings in MOBO BIOS? I know these cards are UEFI only and I've also read that power save settings can cause them to not boot

Yes it can absolutely be bios. If your board has a newer bios you can try I would. Sometimes setting the board to a combination UEFI and Legacy mode can help.

At that point talk to the support department of your motherboard.

Sound like a bad AMD &/or Nvidia Driver uninstall to me.
I had exactly the same problem when I removed an RTX2080 OC to replace it with an RX5700XT I was testing.
I ran DDU but forgot to clean out old Nvidia Drivers as well as the AMD ones using DDU.
The RX5700XT powered up in the same way.

No display output, hot GPU. I thought the RX5700XT card was dead. Backplate was roasting.
It wasn't dead..
Do this:
https://community.amd.com/t5/drivers-software/amd-driver-fix-and-install-using-ddu/m-p/426238

So just an update, I tried every step in the link you posted and no change at all, card still failing to display and back plate getting really hot. I even did a fresh install of Windows on a new SSD and still no change. I appreciate the link, though.

Did you try different BIOS switch setting on the GPU?
Did you reseat the GPU?
Check the PCIe slot is clean?

What happens if you install it in the second slot on the motherboard?

One other possibility is you might need to reflash the motherboard BIOS in case it is corrupted.

Hope the card is not dead.
Should be still under warrenty if it is though.
So RMA it rather than take the GPU apart.

What wattage is your power supply?

Corsair CXM Gray 650W. More than adequate for this card, as far as I know

https://www.powercolor.com/product?id=1565953800#spe

Minimum System Power requirement (W)

650W

Maybe time you bought a new Power Supply Unit with ~ 750 Watt "Gold" rating.

@npma225 wrote:
Corsair CXM Gray 650W. More than adequate for this card, as far as I know

Test the Power Supply and GPU to make sure you are not dropping below 12v.

Use OCCT from OCBASE dot COM. Run the test. See what it shows.

Latest version of OCCT can be found here:
https://www.ocbase.com/

It can bve used to check full GPU VRAM.

Going to do this when I get home. One last thing that I haven't really fooled with is Windows' Power Management settings, particularly the PCIe Link State Power Management. Might this be the root of the issue, if it is enabled? Guess there's only one way to find out..

Just trying to flesh it out logically in my head to the best of my knowledge. If the card isn't dead, then it pretty much has to be related to power management/consumption settings or boot settings within the BIOS, or both... It doesn't make sense to me that it could be a driver issue if the PC doesn't even POST into the BIOS. It seemingly can't be anything that loads after the OS.

Appreciate the help btw

Returning to this after a busy week, am going to use OCCT when I get home. If it does turn out that it is dropping below 12V, what then? Does that mean I'd need a new power supply or is there a way to fix this in settings. I just recently bought this PSU new from Best Buy so while it is a relatively older model, it has virtually zero wear and tear on it. Looking at the PSU tier list on LinusTechTips, it's a C-Tier unit, but I really see no reason why it would be causing the issue here all things considered

Yes you would need a more powerful power supply. You also might want to consider going to like an 850 if you think you will upgrade to a new GPU in the next couple years. Then new cards seem to be a bit more power hungry. Better to spend an extra 25 bucks then have to spend over 100 again later.

Understood. I was planning on using the 5700XT pretty much until obsoletion so hopefully more than a couple years, but that is good to know regardless. Will post readings from OCCT later on

Any update on this? What were your readings? Did a new power supply fix it?

hi, i have same problem with my card..does replacing the psu fix the issue?

I have the same issue driving me nuts. It just doesn't want to boot, 1/1000 times it magically boots after reseating for hours on end. At this point i might have to RMA it, my psu is new evga supernova g3 850w and it's fine to me. Just the gpu not working I guess. But idk, works on my friend's rig just fine. Weird as hell.

Have tried both BIOS settings on the GPU and have reseated it more than once. I would assume the PCIe slot is clean since my other GPU works just fine when installed.

I haven't tried the second PCIe slot on the MOBO because the GPU is too big and would block the USB 3.0 port, among other things. Worth a try though.

I updated my MOBO to the most recent BIOS and still no change. At this point, all that makes sense is that it's dead. I guess I'll just RMA it again

It definitely seems like a "brownout". You're hurting for power. I'd suggest buying a more powerful power supply and hopefully you haven't done any damage to your board/GPU.

PC Graphics

PowerColor Red Dragon RX 5700 XT no display, won't boot into BIOS