Just Lost a 970 is it A Write-off?

[Purphoros]

I came back to my computer from dinner jovial, and in a good mood.  I didn't seem to be able to wake the PC from sleep, but I thought it was my computer being weird like it can some times be.  I walked my dog, and then tried to boot my PC and was greeted to a black screen with some artifacts and a few lines of white.
 

It appears I just lost my beloved 970 Strix.

 

I have taken the cooler off, and by the looks of it, I seem to have blown a few traces, not great.  This is my first major component failure, I lost a hard drive a year back, but that was a quick run to BestBuy and a few hours of Steam game re-installation, this is a $300 failure.

 

So I need to know, is this a write-off? Can it be salvaged? I have uploaded a picture of the only damage I can find, and I need to know if I should get a new card or try to save my 970.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Just added a second photo, PU6 seems to have died.

Edited April 29, 2017 by Purphoros
Added second photo. I cleaned up the description a bit, I made an ambiguous comment and some grammar errors. Both are fixed now.

[Vandorlot]

That's going to be pretty hard to salvage. But before you buy a new graphics card, check that your PSU didn't burn it. I'm sorry for your loss. Nobody likes when something expensive breaks.

[Purphoros]

4 minutes ago, Vandorlot said:

That's going to be pretty hard to salvage. But before you buy a new graphics card, check that your PSU didn't burn it. I'm sorry for your loss. Nobody likes when something expensive breaks.

How would I do that?  I don't have a ton of experience dealing with technical failures, and the PSU is one that I got as a Christmas gift (EVGA Supernova Gold 850w) so I hope that it isn't the issue.  Thanks for your condolences, if I end up not being able to get it working again, I'll put it in a frame or box and hang it on my wall, it would be a pretty cool piece.

[Vandorlot]

2 minutes ago, Purphoros said:

How would I do that?  I don't have a ton of experience dealing with technical failures, and the PSU is one that I got as a Christmas gift (EVGA Supernova Gold 850w) so I hope that it isn't the issue.

 

That's a good PSU so it shouldn't be an issue. I meant that if you have a bad name brand PSU then you should get a new one.

[Spuriae]

What exactly blew; I'm guessing a capacitor on the other side of the board?

 

Warranty on 970's should also still be good.

[Purphoros]

8 hours ago, Vandorlot said:

That's a good PSU so it shouldn't be an issue. I meant that if you have a bad name brand PSU then you should get a new one.

Oh ok.  I guess I just got lucky the GPU didn't take anything else with it.  I'll have to check the components tomorrow.

8 hours ago, Nimrodor said:

What exactly blew; I'm guessing a capacitor on the other side of the board?

 

Warranty on 970's should also still be good.

I replaced the thermal paste when I was getting heating issues a few months ago, it solved the issue but voided the warranty (broke one of those damned tamper proof stickers trying to take it off discreetly).  If I can find a way to get the rest of the back-plate off I'll upload some pictures and see if I can spot any damage.

8 hours ago, Purphoros said:

I replaced the thermal paste when I was getting heating issues a few months ago, it solved the issue but voided the warranty (broke one of those damned tamper proof stickers trying to take it off discreetly).  If I can find a way to get the rest of the back-plate off I'll upload some pictures and see if I can spot any damage.

I got a picture, seems PU6 is the traitor.  I'd have it shot if it wasn't already dead! On a more serious note, I have a sinking feeling that that is the some sort of regulator for the 6 pin power connector.

[Master Disaster]

Holy crap, that's some pretty severe scalding. That must have gone with a nice pop.

 

There's not much you can do to salvage that, I mean an electrical repair center could replace to component (I'm guessing its an electrolytic cap that popped) but there's no guarantee that other things along the line haven't popped too.

 

Give the area that's marked a good sniff, is there a "fishy" smell to it?

[Droidbot]

1 hour ago, Purphoros said:

-snip-

PU6 seems to have something to do with voltage regulation, so that's the culprit. Little jihadi chip blew up good hardworking American™ GPU

[Spuriae]

I can't find a datasheet for it anywhere. (up0132PDDA/up0132P)

 

Best I can determine is that it's an LDO regulator based on some motherboard quals from Aaeon. PDF of results. Your guess that it's for the 6 pin seems reasonable. $5 part on Aliexpress but based on the burn marks on both sides of the card I think replacement may be a tad optimistic.

 

 

 

 

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, Nimrodor said:

I can't find a datasheet for it anywhere. (up0132PDDA/up0132P)

 

Best I can determine is that it's an LDO regulator based on some motherboard quals from Aaeon. PDF of results. Your guess that it's for the 6 pin seems reasonable. $5 part on Aliexpress but based on the burn marks on both sides of the card I think replacement may be a tad optimistic.

Micro soldering at home it also a tad optimistic. I mean its not impossible but its not exactly easy.

[pas008]

970 isn't worth 300 

Used maybe 100ish

[MrJarhead]

47 minutes ago, pas008 said:

970 isn't worth 300 

Used maybe 100ish

how do you know he didn't buy it new for 300?

[GuruMeditationError]

It's a super-long-shot but if you have soldering skills you might try and swap out the components. The tracers might still be okay? I'm guessing the metal would have melted at a lower temperature than the board scorched but if it stayed in place it might have solidified still connected.
 

If you have more money than you have time, it might be worth just getting an early upgrade.

 

But if you are going to attempt a repair, you'd probably do well to post here for help...it sounds like the kind of challenge the people posting here could very well relish:  https://linustechtips.com/main/forum/83-hobby-electronics/

[pas008]

3 hours ago, MrJarhead said:

how do you know he didn't buy it new for 300?

Things Depreciate 

And things have a going rate

And if he just recently paid 300 in less than 2 yrs he Most likely can rma

[Vandorlot]

If you try to fix it by soldering and it doesn't work, you can get an AMD GPU for a low 240ish price. They should be quicker than the GPU you had. You can even get a1060 which may cost a bit more. 

[Purphoros]

Ok! I am typing this while using the GPU output.  I had my magician friend take time off from the circus to do some hocus pocus and fix my card.

 

What looked like blown traces was some strange grease that I think is from the PU 6 area, we cleaned it off, it now works but I don't know for how long.  We also replaced the thermal paste which seems to have dried on to the GPU with some NT-H1 that I got with my Noctua cooler.

 

I did buy this GPU for $340 new on Amazon in August of 2015 (for my birthday), from what I can tell I did void the warranty (broke a sticker replacing bad thermal paste) so the RMA would likely not work.  I ran some OCCT stability tests at base and my daily overclock, everything seems fine for now.

 

My game plan now is to get a new card, used or new, online if either I see one go for cheap on a site like eBay, or scrape some more money together to get a new card.  I'm likely going to go the used route if I lose the 970 again soon, but if it holds together for a few months, maybe get a 1080 TI for my birthday.  If this thing still holds together for after that I'll make it my no-holds-barred crazy overclocking card.

 

Thanks everyone for the help.

 

P.S.

If it would be safer to just get a new card ASAP then just feel free to yell at me.

[Purphoros]

16 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Holy crap, that's some pretty severe scalding. That must have gone with a nice pop.

 

There's not much you can do to salvage that, I mean an electrical repair center could replace to component (I'm guessing its an electrolytic cap that popped) but there's no guarantee that other things along the line haven't popped too.

 

Give the area that's marked a good sniff, is there a "fishy" smell to it?

There is a smell but it's not fishy, it was also very mild, I'm guessing its the smell from a sheet of foam that I used to rest it briefly so I didn't have to leave it on the carpet.  Also there were no popped caps after I inspected the board.  Maybe it's some resin from the top of the PCB?  Whatever the cause I have the card working now.

[TheRandomness]

That weird liquid colouring comes from a.. cover they use on the PCB to protect it. I've killed a few cards, and every time I heat up the PCB that becomes visible like that. Therefore, that part of the PCB must've gotten quite hot.

[Purphoros]

4 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

That weird liquid colouring comes from a.. cover they use on the PCB to protect it. I've killed a few cards, and every time I heat up the PCB that becomes visible like that. Therefore, that part of the PCB must've gotten quite hot.

Yeah whatever it does, it was not happy last night.

[Purphoros]

So I've taken most of my free time today to run tests on the GPU.  I've got GPU-Z loaded and I have a PerfCap Reason of VRel, could that mean that the component on my board that was damaged is voltage related?  The card seems fine otherwise.  Should I be concerned about my voltage regulation?

[Juanitology]

Just RMA it, should still be under warranty right?

[XR6]

Re-assemble the card and RMA it. Warranty should still be valid.