AdrianG

Closing the loop... COVID made the RMA process slow AF but I got a full refund. They didn't really ask any question. I've been running a Corsair RM650 since then, full OC, no dramas.

When you read what you actually wrote... lol In fact, there was no smoke, no smell. I thought it was gonna look like capacitor confetti.

That, fixed! Thanks.

Mate, the retailer where I got it is closer than the e-waste so worst case scenario, they saved me the trip.

Hi all! My PC was doing pretty much nothing when I went to get a coffee, came back and it was off. Weird. What actually happened was that something tripped the fuse but I thought it was the coffee machine. I unplugged everything, fuse up and started to connect everything one by one. When I got to my PC, as soon as I plugged it in, big explosion with blue flash! Like any good IT professional I tried twice just in case the laws of physics changed, but yeah nah, another explosion, another blue flash I replaced the PSU with a Corsair RM650 and voila all back to normal. I checked my rails idle & under load w/multimeter and everything is stable. The PC is connected to a powerboard w/surge protection together with 3 other devices, they were all on and nothing happened to them. The PSU was an 18 months old Antec EA650G Pro, not a crappy one. What are the chances that it was just a faulty one? What else would you check? I started the RMA process, the retailer told me they'll give me an update... eventually. Thanks!

The corroded Vega64 is back! Hi all, on my last post I posted some pictures of my corroded Vega64 caused by a dead moth Corrosion was so bad that I had to break the metal housing to remove the damn moth and clean the mess, so I end up with only half of it attached to the card. Surprisingly, the card was still functional but now noise became an issue. A noisy walking-dead card, the lack of aftermarket cooling solutions for the Vega and the need to try something totally unnecessary was enough to take this card to the next level. After all, I haven't done anything that non sense since the days of the Celeron 300A... The solution AIO cooling, of course! (can't even remember the train of thoughts that lead me to this) I found a cheap Corsair H110i 280mm rad & pump. The pump's block was scratched AF, as if someone tried to remove the paste with a screwdriver, but my card was in no better condition so perfect match. The resources I had: - H110i 280mm rad & pump - AM4 bracket - TT 120mm x2 - 3mm fan screws x4 The resources I did NOT have: - 140mm fans - A drill - >3mm fan screws - all the other screws The process Initially I though about leaving the metal plate and somehow try to attach the bracket to it, but the block is bigger than the plate's window so it was touching its sides and not the GPU. Goodbye plate. Now the only option was a DYI bracket, which is not that hard if you have a drill and the proper screws (go to the later list) Feeling a true blacksmith, I grabbed a hammer, a nail and a self piercing screw and managed to make a hole for the 3mm fan screws. BTW, 3mm is too big to fit on the Vega's stock bracket holes so I had to "gently" force its way through the PCB. Amazing sensation. The process was so intense that after screwing just 2 sides, I had enough. The results The icing on the cake: With no 140mm fans and no screws, the only option was to leave the rad on top of the case. But hey, that's not safe, it needs a cover! The performance: The two 120mm are running fixed at 1000RPM. Noiseless. - Idle before: 30c after: 20c - BF V before: 68c after: 45c VRM temps after: Mem temp 50cGPU VRM 63cSOC VRM 63c Mem VRM 54c - Overwatch before: 66c after: 43c The caveat: With no heatsinks on the VRMs, I had go back to stock clocks. Even 1000Mhz in unstable. The next steps Get a drill and screw the other 2 sides. 140mm x2 & screws are on the way. With that, the rad goes inside. Still looking for some heatsinks for the VRMs that I can fit under/next to the pump. Hopefully I'll get the fans & screws by next week and post the results. I'll appreciate any idea on which heatsinks to mount. Cheers.

After re-pasting, it's working fine. Even though it's probably a dead man walking... Yeah I thought that was a bit too much for a moth... The thing is that's the newest component of my rig and the only one which suffered corrosion. Rest of the hardware is 2-3 years old and no sign of corrosion. I live in Sydney, 2km from the sea, 60% humidity. PS: To be fair, non-inox parts of my motorbike get corroded AF if I don't treat them but bike sleeps on the street so it makes more sense.

Used to live by the sea, now I'm 2km away.

Hey, Same as Jinx. I was having the same issue and, let's say that mostly, was due to the thermal paste. The real issue was that a moth corroded the heatsink & some components but I found out cause I followed the OP's advice so thanks very much mate. Cheers. PS: Here's the full story https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1053256-corroded-vega64-what-are-these-components/

Hi all, You know the story about why bugs are called bugs, right? Yeah well, turns out it can actually happen. TL,DR: go to the last picture, can you tell what those corroded components are? I had this Vega for a bit more than a year, solid GPU, stable OC, life was cool. I mostly play BFV and Overwatch @1440p, again blazing fast. A couple of weeks ago I got the latest Civ VI expansion and to my surprise after 30 min of gaming or so...bang! black screen & fans 100%. Nice. Initially I though may be software issue? I'll figure it out later. In the meantime, a mate insisted I try Warframe so I did. After 20 min of gaming, some story as with Civ. Tried many things, ended up following this guy's advice and check the GPU's thermal paste. As soon as I removed the Vega from the slot I noticed some corrosion on the inside side of the bracket close to the HDMI. WTF?! While inspecting the board some white sh*t was coming out from it. Was that burnt thermal paste or what? Next, I removed the backplate & heatsink and found the victims. Clearly that could be a great reason why I was getting those reboots, but still, how the hell did that happened? I could see some corrosion and more of that white crap close to the fan so the next step was to disassemble the heatsink. To my surprise the 3 bottom screws were totally corroded so they basically fused with the housing, my only option was to brake the housing... so I did. Once the housing was opened, I saw what I thought was an IT myth: So yeah... a bug. I would assume that the moth crawled into the heatsink though the GPU slot (as I got filter everywhere else) and was having a nice nap when I turned my PC on. Probably due to the heat, that created condensation and eventually corrosion. What's the end of the story? Cleaned everything, re-pasted the GPU and re attached the back & front plate without the housing. Everything works fine, temps are cool and the black screen/reboots are gone. Only thing that's not working fine is the Vega's sound output, there's sound but with a cracking. Would anyone know what these components are? They read "L1000" & "L1001" To sum up, bug are not just a myth. Cheers.