Did I just wreck my 980ti?

[Stoffa]

Hi guys,

Running a custom wc loop. Recently decided to add my 980ti to the loop. Remade the loop with rigid (PETG) tubing, to incorporate the 980ti.

The card is a reference board, and I used an EK TitanX block for it with the plexi top. Originally the card was by Inno3d. While installing the copper block I actually used a screw that was slightly longer that was meant by EK to be used in another screw hole. This screw was a couple of mm longer, and as soon as I reached the end while screwing it in I stopped when I reached the copper and heard a noise. I never heavily torqued the screw, or used a lot of pressure.

After this had happened I was afraid I couldve crushed my core, since they supposedly get crushed incredibly easily. However, I shrugged it off since it was such a little mistake, and proceeded with mounting the block. Also, I inspected the core itself, and it looks completely fine (no visible damage whatsoever).

After this I completed my loop, and tried to boot the pc. No dice. The mobo leds light up, the fans go on, everthing looks like a booting computer. Except one thing: the screen remains black.

Does anyone have any clue what can be wrong? Did I crush my core? Please help me!

 

[EarthDog]

So, to be clear, you don't see the BIOS loading and the monitor never gets a signal, correct?

I would see if you can boot from the onboard GPU. If so, I would look into remounting that block again...assuming your basics are taken care of... (making sure PCIe connections are in right, the video plug is in right on both ends, and the card is slotted properly in the PCIe slot).

 

[Stoffa]

My cpu is a 2600k, I dont think that has an onboard GPU? I checked my motherboards connections and I dont see anything that resembles a VGA output?

And no, I see nothing on screen

Btw thank you so much for trying to help. Im really scared I messed up my card man

 

[EarthDog]

2600K does have integrated graphics... absolutely. What motherboard do you have? VGA, DVI, HDMI, Displayport... something should be on the motherboard?

(you will want to list your system specs, and create a signature as soon as you can. )

Is the motherboard BIOS updated? Is there a new BIOS for your GPU on the MFG website to update to?

 

[Nebulous]

Do you have another video card to try?

 

[Stoffa]

My bios is up to date.

My monitor is an Asus Rog Swift which only has a displayport afaik. Ill list my total specs later, cause Im about to have dinner now.

Im already trying to buy a secondhand 8800gts to go and test btw (15 euros).

 

[EarthDog]

Just the motherboard for the moment would be nice... we could tell you, now, what you have/dont have...

.. but we will be here!

You can use an adapter from HDMI/DVI to DP...

 

[Stoffa]

Motherboard: Asus P7P68 WS Revolution B3
Ram: 2x Corsair Vengeance 8GB set 1866C9 (16GB total, 4 strips)

My bios is up to date, but I dont think there is a problem there since the computer worked fine before taking it apart and editing the wc loop.

By the way there is another thing I felt I need to mention:

The manual from EK for installing the waterblock mentioned a strip of mosfets that I needed to put a strip of thermal pad on. These mosfets (at least, I think they are mosfets?) had two mosfets in the middle that were slightly less high. I thought it was quite strange that two mosfets therefore werent high enough to connect to the copper block like the rest of them do. Hope the way I typed this up is clear enough btw.

To further clarify: in this youtube video (

) at 11:11 you can see the strip of mosfets to the left of the core that Im talking about. There are 8 in total, and the middle two are smaller, and therefore dont connect to the heatsink.

 

[EarthDog]

You do not have video out and that workstation board... Your best bet is to take apart the GPU, maybe put the air cooler back on and test it out. If it doesn't work then... you may have borked it..

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

The mobo leds light up, the fans go on, everthing looks like a booting computer. Except one thing: the screen remains black.

Does anyone have any clue what can be wrong? Did I crush my core? Please help me!

Yep, sounds just like a crushed core! That sucks. Just like a crushed CPU core, like my T-bird 1.3 on October 13, 2002! (I sadly still remember that accident!)
(Even though a different era)

I think some folks here will know what I'm talking about, the-socket-462-period, the period of IHS-less AMD CPU cores.

 

[Stoffa]

Yep, sounds just like a crushed core! That sucks. Just like a crushed CPU core, like my T-bird 1.3 on October 13, 2002! (I sadly still remember that accident!)
(Even though a different era)

I think some folks here will know what I'm talking about, the-socket-462-period, the period of IHS-less AMD CPU cores.

But for it to be a crushed core shouldnt there be any kind of visible damage?

 

[Nebulous]

Not necessarily. Sometimes there will be external damage you can see. Other times the damage is internal. You'll hear the crack/pop, but when you look for it, it's nowhere to be seen.

I remember those Socket A days RJ. Sadly I had several Tbreds/Durons go that same way.

 

[Stoffa]

Not necessarily. Sometimes there will be external damage you can see. Other times the damage is internal. You'll hear the crack/pop, but when you look for it, it's nowhere to be seen.

I remember those Socket A days RJ. Sadly I had several Tbreds/Durons go that same way.

Yeah AMD was notorious for crashed cores because of no IHS. But does the same go for GPU's?

 

[Nebulous]

Pretty much yes.

 

[EarthDog]

If it wasn't mounted right/ with too much pressure, sure it can happen.

 

[Stoffa]

An update:

Yesterday I bought myself a secondhand pci express nvidia card, which i hooked up to my old Dell monitor (this graphics card has no DP output, and the only input my Asus Rog Swift has is DP).

I was expecting my core to be crushed on the 980ti, and therefore regain the onscreen image with the new/secondhand graphics card. But to my surprise there is still only a black screen being displayed.

So either

A) Something else is wrong (not the gpu)
B) The secondhand graphics card I bought is also broken (highly unlikely since the guy I bought it from swore it worked just fine)

Does anyone have any other ideas what can cause this black screen?

 

[EarthDog]

Well that is good news...

Try a different PCIe slot with that known good card or the 980ti...

 

[Stoffa]

The Corsair 800D case Im using has a kind of weird system with hotswap bays for your drives. This means you screw the ssd/hardrives in a little bracket, which u then click in the case. Then, on the back of this sytem inside the case, you actually connect all the drives (meaning you dont directly plug in the sata and power cables, but you connect those into a plate, that THEN connects to the drives and ssds).

So I opened the hotswap bay of the SSD, took it out and put it directly in the case connected to power and sata.

Lo and behold suddenly I did get an image on the screen. But then I disonnected the SSD entirely off the sata and power, meaning the pc had no bootdrive at all anymore, but it still displayed an image on the screen.

I mean, if an SSD is not properly connected, shouldn't you simply see an error message a la "no bootdrive detected"? Instead of nothing at all?

Im also really torn now between draining the whole loop again, and putting the watercooled 980ti in again, or taking off the waterblock and putting the aircooler back on and then testing it. (the original heatsink was connected with a million screws, and they got kind of mixed up with other screws so Im not sure I can rebuild it exactly as it was right now).

 

[Conumdrum]

Looks like you will have to sit down and figure it out. If it takes 5 hours to figure out the screws for air-cooling the 980 again, then so be it. That's what I would do, test it on air.

I borked a $600 GPU once because of screws when watercooling. I survived. And I didn't even try to RMA, that would of been unethical.

You just have to do it, slower next time with good organization.....

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Looks like you will have to sit down and figure it out. If it takes 5 hours to figure out the screws for air-cooling the 980 again, then so be it. That's what I would do, test it on air.

You just have to do it, slower next time with good organization.....

I agree with ED here. It seems after reading your posts, you're running with your head cut off. Take a breather and slow down. This is part of the added bonus of choosing water cooling. It's all a learning experience.

You shouldn't attempt to put two things together that weren't packaged together.

Too many variables to say exactly whats wrong.

Were you ESD protected while disassembling and reinstalling everything?

Did you match the right GPU with the right WB using Cooling Configurator on EK's site?

Did you run a 24 leak test with towels in the right places?