PCIEXpress slot plastic holder came off GA-Z77X-UD3H

[rob909e]

Hello,

So here's the deal. I decided to clean the inside of my computer to get rid of all the dust build-up. After disconnecting everything and opening up the cover, I carefully reached inside and behind the graphics card, pushing down on the release switch so I could get the card out. Because my graphics card is so big, AMD HD-7950, I noticed that there was some resistance when I was pulling it out. After double checking the release lever had, in fact released the card, I pulled it out. While pulling the card out, there was a strange noise, kind of like if you were to run your finger across a metal comb. Needless to say, the card came out along with the plastic part that's supposed to be attached to the Motherboard. The exposed prongs were bent to hell. Luckily I was able to fit the card on the top most PCIExpress slot. Here is an example, but not my actual board.

[IMG][/IMG]

Believe it or not, my computer works, even though my Gfx card is now seated in PCIExpress 4 slot. Other than uninstalling and reinstalling the Catalyst Control Center 14.6 drivers, I don't really see any issues. Since there's exposed prongs, I'm curious what kinds of problems I could face down the road. Also, whats the difference from the slot my card was on to the slot its on now?

I've included an labeled image of my exact model, detailing what slots are available. In addition to the Graphics card, I have a PCI Firewire card for my external Audio interface.

[IMG][/IMG]


[IMG][/IMG]
Any help or advice would be appreciated!!

Thanks,
Rob

[wazza300]

Re: PCIEXpress slot plastic holder came off GA-Z77X-UD3H

your gpu will be running at pcie 4x speed rather than pcie 16x

idk what res you game at but you wont notice much of a performance drop,if only at 1920x1080

why not rma the board for repair?

the next pci-e slot up would be better 8x slot

[rob909e]

Re: PCIEXpress slot plastic holder came off GA-Z77X-UD3H

Yes, the PCIEx8 would be better but it wouldn't fit because of the PCI Firewire card. I have 2 monitors, both at 1920 x 1080. When you say performance drop, do you mean OC'ing the GPU?

[wazza300]

Re: PCIEXpress slot plastic holder came off GA-Z77X-UD3H

no I mean the pcie lanes limiting the throughput of the gpu

16x 8x 4x

I think it would suffer a little on the 4x pci-e if I were you id raise an rma and see what they say,takes around 2 weeks for a returned working board,but might depend on location ect

whether stock or overclocked gpu it would still be as fast as the 4x pcie lane would allow

[rob909e]

Re: PCIEXpress slot plastic holder came off GA-Z77X-UD3H

I purchased my custom build from Cyberpowerpc. They said that my warranty had expired and that there was nothing they could do. So could I RMA to GIgabyte, and if so, how much would that cost vs buying a new board?

[wazza300]

Re: PCIEXpress slot plastic holder came off GA-Z77X-UD3H

I don't know,you would need to ask them and make sure,usually its free but cant guarantee that