What does this mean?

This is on my friends computer that i built. He calls me today and says he cant play any games because it says he doesnt have Directx on, this is on his 9800pro. So i go over there and just install the new 5.8's and after i uninstall the old ones the computer says the 9800pro isnt plugged in. So i open up the case and feel the molex on the 9800pro and its burning hot, i then pull the power plug out of the card and one of the pins is black, like it was burnt. Well i put a new plug in and it boots and i install the drivers and all is fixed. But could the burnt pin made the computer say Dx wasnt enabled or is this a sign to buy a new PSU before possibly something frys in his system, his is a stock wimpy PSU from a $50 case.

Thanks, Jacobman

probably a loose pin in the molex connector not making correct contact with pins in the card. An arc in electricity generates heat which would eventually burn up the molex. This would probably cause the cards processors to not function correctly which would show a wide range of symptoms from artifacts, computer crashing to simply not changing to more power consuming settings to play games. Ive seen several cases of the connector problems here on the forums since I joined. The worse being a melted MB 20-pin connector.

What I would do is cut the molex off and recrimp better pins in it, reassemble and put it back together. That would be the bare minimum. You should probably tell him to get a better PSU for his rig. Ive had nothing but problems from cheap PSUs. If he wants to keep it for a cheap backup then by all means keep it. It should then only be just a backup until something better can be purchased.

JT