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Did I damage my motherboard?

westmarch
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This is my second Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi from Amazon. The first one had a few bent fan headers, so I exchanged it for a new one. This time I managed to damage it all by myself! While installing a defective ASUS RTX 2080 graphics card I picked up on eBay, I didn't immediately realize that the I/O shield was badly bent and contorted so it was sharp, and it scratched the PCB and the cover of the Audio driver thing (idk what it's called, pictured below). One of the scratches exposed a sliver of copper on the board's surface. Does it look safe to boot? Is this cause for serious concern? All my parts are brand new besides the graphics card which caused this issue, and of course I'll be returning that. I cannot exchange the board again. I would have to get a full refund now and I would prefer to keep the board because I got it on sale for a good price and I really like it.

copper.png

copper2.png

UserBenchmarks: Game 147%, Desk 163%, Work 150%
CPU: Intel Core i7-8086K - 123.7%
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080 - 173%
SSD: Adata XPG SX8200 NVMe PCIe M.2 480GB - 240.6%
SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB - 127.8%
SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB - 131.8%
SSD: Adata XPG SX8200 NVMe PCIe M.2 480GB - 332.4%
RAM: G.SKILL F4 DDR4 3200 C16 4x8GB - 102.6%
MBD: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI

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I doubt that those scrapes could've caused any damage to the motherboard - they'd have to go quite deep to cause serious damage. You should be safe to boot.

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@westmarch The 1st picture is what causes my concern. As for the second, It looks like from the pictures, it just scraped to cover on the DAC. As long as the DAC cover isn't bent in, it should be fine. As for the 1st picture, it would be hard to know what that copper is for. My guess is that it is a trace for the DAC as well. If there might be a problem, it may be that your rear audio may not work.

 

As for a recommendation for you, I would say it's up to you. I'm not going to give you a yes or no. I don't want responsibility for you ruining your board. I hope you can understand why.

 

Let us know if it works or what you decide to do.

 

 

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As long as the trace isn't CUT completely, you'll be fine.

 

If you're paranoid, feel free to put some electrical tape or scotch tape over that area, or some nail polish, or whatever would insulate the copper and prevent it from being oxidized.

 

It looks like just one trace is affected, so there's no risk of creating contact between that trace and another near it, and the area is small enough that oxides forming on the trace would not cause significant changes in the physical properties (increased resistance, noise etc)

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What would you guys do if you were me? I saved $15 buying it on sale. Should I just RMA and buy it again full price? I'm just grateful for any input/advice. I'm not holding anyone accountable for my actions.

UserBenchmarks: Game 147%, Desk 163%, Work 150%
CPU: Intel Core i7-8086K - 123.7%
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080 - 173%
SSD: Adata XPG SX8200 NVMe PCIe M.2 480GB - 240.6%
SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB - 127.8%
SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB - 131.8%
SSD: Adata XPG SX8200 NVMe PCIe M.2 480GB - 332.4%
RAM: G.SKILL F4 DDR4 3200 C16 4x8GB - 102.6%
MBD: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI

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That general area of the mobo where the copper is showing should only be for the audio. Should boot fine. See if audio works, if not, RMA again. Talk to support rather than submitting a ticket, I'd reckon depending on what mood the support rep is in they may just have you pay to ship the board out and might replace it free of charge anyways even though it was your fault.

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Sorry, but do you mean RMA with Gigabyte or Amazon?

UserBenchmarks: Game 147%, Desk 163%, Work 150%
CPU: Intel Core i7-8086K - 123.7%
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080 - 173%
SSD: Adata XPG SX8200 NVMe PCIe M.2 480GB - 240.6%
SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB - 127.8%
SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB - 131.8%
SSD: Adata XPG SX8200 NVMe PCIe M.2 480GB - 332.4%
RAM: G.SKILL F4 DDR4 3200 C16 4x8GB - 102.6%
MBD: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI

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Is there any risk of damage to my CPU or RAM?

UserBenchmarks: Game 147%, Desk 163%, Work 150%
CPU: Intel Core i7-8086K - 123.7%
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080 - 173%
SSD: Adata XPG SX8200 NVMe PCIe M.2 480GB - 240.6%
SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB - 127.8%
SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB - 131.8%
SSD: Adata XPG SX8200 NVMe PCIe M.2 480GB - 332.4%
RAM: G.SKILL F4 DDR4 3200 C16 4x8GB - 102.6%
MBD: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI

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