Dead GPU or salvageable?

[Voodoo Rufus]

So I have this old 7950GT that used to be really nice for my older systems. Last time I used it it posted and got to Windows, using the DVI interface. Once in Windows the image quality quickly degraded into random noise and was unusable. It usually had copper heatsinks on all the memory chips and a nice copper active heatsink on the GPU itself. I swapped out the TIM to no improvement.

I know caps can go bad sometimes, but these 'look' fine and I wouldn't expect them to go bad being those solid type ones. Any ideas?

 

[Mr.Scott]

Probably unsalvageable.
The 7 series cards were notorious for untimely death, even with great care.
They got hot even with premium cooling.
You could try baking it, but don't hold your breath.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I had a hunch you'd reply.

Baking it....tell me more.

Rather than freeze it?

 

[Mr.Scott]

Cooler off the card, and any other removable heatsinks/thermal pads.
Place vid card face up, propped up on 4 tinfoil balls, on a baking sheet.
8-10 minutes @ 375 degrees. Take it out and let it cool. Don't bang it around while it's hot. What you are doing is actually re-flowing all the solder joints in the card. If the solder is still liquid, sh1t will slide around all over the place.
When it's cool, re-assemble.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I'll give it a shot. Got nothing to lose on it.

I'm watching this vid, too.

 

[Nebulous]

Be sure you turn it over after the first 10 minutes so both sides get that crispy brown color, yum!



j/k

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Probably unsalvageable.
The 7 series cards were notorious for untimely death, even with great care.

Of course, that was because a lot of them had the dreaded "FZ" caps. Those were turds. Most 7-series probably got hot with premium cooling, because of ripple due to the "FZ" caps.

About the ultra-high-end 7-series? That's sad!

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Cooked it at 380F for 9 minutes. Not hot enough to reflow ROHS solder, but should have done 'something'. It's deader than dead.

Yay wall ornament!

 

[MaddMutt]

So I have this old 7950GT that used to be really nice for my older systems. Last time I used it it posted and got to Windows, using the DVI interface. Once in Windows the image quality quickly degraded into random noise and was unusable. It usually had copper heatsinks on all the memory chips and a nice copper active heatsink on the GPU itself. I swapped out the TIM to no improvement.

I say dead because of the removal of the memory heatsinks.. I believe this messed up the memory chips because those used to have some strong glue holding those little copper HS on.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I used to have Enzotech forged copper memory sinks on the ram chips, not shown in the first picture. The card was dying before I took them off.