Dust kills. Leaky thermal pads attract dust. I didn't see it until I took off the HSF.

D

duronboy

Gawd
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
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549
Was watching one of CmdrSoyo's videos on youtube and one of the things he mentioned that could revive cards that were artifacting was simply cleaning the PCB thoroughly. I'd seen cleaning a card as a suggestion in the past, but I never really thought about the PCB, itself. I keep the dust from accumlulating on the heatsink fins and I thought that was about it. Naw, the kind of thermal pads that many manufacturers use tend to leak out their guts over time and the oily residue collects dust. I didn't see any of that until I removed the heatsink and memory/VRM plate.

20220820_112707.jpg



I cleaned all that off and now the card is detected in windows and lets me choose full-resolution, rather than the 800x600 it was stuck at! I did not expect it to work again!

Bad news is it's still artifacting and in device manager there is a notice that "the device was shut down due to a problem."

I'm thinking it needs a bath in an ultrasonic cleaner to get under the chips, but mine's only large enough for like a watch or something.

Anyway, probably wouldn't have had a problem if I'd been changing the thermal pads every couple years like you're supposed to.
 
Set your case up with positive internal pressure (more intake vs exhaust airflow) so that you have full control over where any air enters your case. Put dust filters on all air intakes. That will prevent 95% of dust from entering your case. Better to prevent the problem than try to fix it afterward.
 
i just shoot compressed air at everything including gpu (not just heatsink) every ~3 months

more when i used to smoke cigs, but that's way worse with the tar in the smoke acting like glue for dust besides trapping heat itself
 
GotNoRice said:
Set your case up with positive internal pressure (more intake vs exhaust airflow) so that you have full control over where any air enters your case. Put dust filters on all air intakes. That will prevent 95% of dust from entering your case. Better to prevent the problem than try to fix it afterward.
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My dust filters are nowhere near P95 performance lol. I would do the positive pressure thing but my fan controller died(corsair). I just leave the side panel off.

staknhalo said:
i just shoot compressed air at everything including gpu (not just heatsink) every ~3 months

more when i used to smoke cigs, but that's way worse with the tar in the smoke acting like glue for dust besides trapping heat itself
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Yeah I use a giant compressor with an air blower to just hit everything. On many cards, including mine, the memory/VRM plate thing curves up blocking access. Only way to get to it is complete disassembly. Wouldn't be anywhere near as bad if not for the damn grease coming out of the thermal pads.

Airmanv said:
Not sure if a good fit here. But I have had some luck "baking cards" in the oven at a moderate temp , did this a few years back as a last resort
https://www.instructables.com/How-to-repair-your-Graphics-Card-by-baking-it/Attach files
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I've come across the idea of baking things but I've since been informed why it's a stupid idea. Heatgunning just the GPU die/VRAM while avoiding heating things like electrolytic capacitors is a better way.
 
duronboy said:
I've come across the idea of baking things but I've since been informed why it's a stupid idea. Heatgunning just the GPU die/VRAM while avoiding heating things like electrolytic capacitors is a better way.
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I would not use a generic heat gun either. I would recommend a hot air rework station... They pinpoint the heat and are purpose designed for the job.
 
Yeah, the 858D is great, after you fix the wiring from the factory. You can choose a max temp and it comes with different tips to really zero in the heat.
 
duronboy said:
Yeah, the 858D is great, after you fix the wiring from the factory. You can choose a max temp and it comes with different tips to really zero in the heat.
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I like my xtronic 4040 I have the older model that I bought years ago. All of the parts are replaceable. Never had an issue. https://xtronicusa.com/products/hot-air-rework-stations-parts/X-Tronic-4040-PRO-X-•-Platinum-Series-•-750-Watt-Hot-Air-Rework-Soldering-Iron-Station-•-Brushless-DC-Vortex-Blower-Air-System-•-C-F-Conversion-0-30-Min-Sleep-Calibration-&-Auto-Cool-Down-Features-p274409164

I really need to upgrade to the 5040-xr3 or something of the like: https://xtronicusa.com/products/mul...Rework-Station-&-Preheating-Station-p25881615
 
The only thing that I dont like about the 858D is the fan in the wand... The main selling point of the older 4040 was that it used an air pump so the noise is a hell of alot lower than that of the 858D or the modern 4040 from xtronic.... I hate the noise of the fan driven units.

Either way I guess we better get back on topic before we get the hammer.
 
Yeah if you're doing rework every day, it's worth it to get something better for a lot of reasons. Fan noise isn't something I'd considered since I don't use it very often or for very long. It's a heck of a lot quieter than a standard heatgun since it's a lot smaller.
 
duronboy said:
Yeah if you're doing rework every day, it's worth it to get something better for a lot of reasons. Fan noise isn't something I'd considered since I don't use it very often or for very long. It's a heck of a lot quieter than a standard heatgun since it's a lot smaller.
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You guys should give this guy some pointers. He's just starting out on his quest for a station of his own.

https://hardforum.com/threads/hot-air-rework-stations.2021593/
 
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