980ti 980ti - Is it worth fixing?

[Nobgoblin]

So after 3 years of faultless gaming, I started getting this issue with hard booting when loading into games. No blue screen of death, just a 'click' then full on hard reset. After some investigation I found it was the 980ti that was letting go. I did all the usual - latest drivers, flash bios etc, alas no success. I then underclocked it all the way down and increased voltage, as I figured it might be a power delivery issue making it unstable. This worked... temporarily (for like 10 mins) then started hard booting again . I am convinced that it is an issue with the VRM's or something power related as it only dies under load (desktop and light loads like YouTube videos etc are fine). Questions:

 

• Has anybody run into a similar issue with GPU's?
• Is it fixable?
• Is it worth fixing?

 

On a side note - I have jumped ship and bought a 'breathes in slowly'....Vega 64...It works fine and was dirt cheap on a black Friday sale, it's just a cold feeling knowing that its hardly an upgrade over the 980ti

 

Cheers

 

 

[LukeSavenije]

well, first note: pretty good upgrade if you undervolt the vega 64

but to come back to topic, does your cooler function normally?

[fabafaba]

4 minutes ago, Nobgoblin said:

 

• Has anybody run into a similar issue with GPU's?
• Is it fixable?
• Is it worth fixing?

• I have not
• That really depends on what's dead. If you have something like a blown out mosfet or a leaking capacitor, it should be a relative easy fix
• If it's just one or maybe a few components on the PCB you can easily buy and have some soldering equipment, it's worth it

[Nobgoblin]

Hi, thanks for the reply,

 

Yes the cooler seems fine (EVGA twin frozer). I loaded a custom fan curve to ensure it wasn't getting too hot . That said, the card always ran hot and you could cook an egg on the backplate lol. 

[Nobgoblin]

2 minutes ago, fabafaba said:

• I have not
• That really depends on what's dead. If you have something like a blown out mosfet or a leaking capacitor, it should be a relative easy fix
• If it's just one or maybe a few components on the PCB you can easily buy and have some soldering equipment, it's worth it

Ok, cheers. Might have to get the old magnifying glass out then :) 

[Bananasplit_00]

• no
• yes, with a power board you could replace the VRM
• if you are good at soldering, dont mind the extra space and have a spare dead GPU or dont mind buying a few dead cards for their VRMs or buying a poweroard then it could be worth it. id probably do it because i would enjoy doing it

[Nobgoblin]

Well, upon inspection I can't see any blown or leaking parts on the PCB. There is some evidence of heat damage all over the board though, it appears to have anealed the surface in places (see pics attached.. large files sorry). The thermal pads seem to have 'sweated' a bit also?? I will give it a clean-up and wack a bigger PSU in the rig, see if the card has started pulling too much power for the 650 watt to handle in its old age.

 

Cheers