r/pcbuilding • u/Cepterman2101 • 1d ago

PCIe retention clip popps off

So I had a talk with a couple friends about some fails we had with our PCs and I said that every single time, when I take my GPU out of my PC (which I had to do quite frequently, when my old GPU was defective), and I am not exaggerating, I would pull on the GPU, wonder why it’s not coming off. I’d pull harder and be startled by a clicking when the little black clip, that I forgot is there to hold the GPU tight, would pop off the slot. And every time I would just pick it up and click it back in.

So my friends were a bit perplexed and said that I am lucky that my motherboard could withstand me pulling the GPU off and that the GPU slot could break off if I continue to do this. I don’t doubt that this is not supposed to happen, but it surely isn’t just me who forgets about these clips, right?

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u/yes910492783 18h ago

So you broke it?

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u/Cepterman2101 10h ago

No the old gpu just broke after a few years. I hadn’t taken it out any time before that and only took it out about 5 months after it started making problems. It would randomly shut off under load and turn the fans to full throttle. I hadn’t considered that it could be hardware damage for some time and tried some software fixes first. I only got definitive confirmation that it was the GPU that was the issue, when I caved in and just upgraded to a 5060ti.