Help! Corrosion on Heatsink

[TheDarkestZero]

So there are white stuff on top of my gpu heatsink. I personally think that it's somekind of corossion and I don't know how to get rid of it. I've tried some metal solutions but nothing works. Have any suggestions? 

 

Thx in advance

[Jurrunio]

Can you get some onto your finger by scraping on it?

[TheDarkestZero]

18 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Can you get some onto your finger by scraping on it?

Well yea i guess? It scrapes off into somekind of a dust.

[Jurrunio]

15 minutes ago, TheDarkestZero said:

Well yea i guess? It scrapes off into somekind of a dust.

then it's more likely to be dried off thermal paste.

[Canoe]

Is the metal pitted where you scraped some off?

Use something like a wooden popsicle stick to carefully scrape off a larger area to see.

[Wilicious]

That doesn't look like corrosion to me, could you try using a qtip with isopropyl alchol to rub it off?

[TheDarkestZero]

1 hour ago, Canoe said:

Is the metal pitted where you scraped some off?

Use something like a wooden popsicle stick to carefully scrape off a larger area to see.

No, the metal stays intact, just a bit scratched since i scraped it with a metal piece of some sort.

[TheDarkestZero]

54 minutes ago, Wilicious said:

That doesn't look like corrosion to me, could you try using a qtip with isopropyl alchol to rub it off?

I'll try

[TheDarkestZero]

1 hour ago, Jurrunio said:

then it's more likely to be dried off thermal paste.

How do u clean it?

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, TheDarkestZero said:

How do u clean it?

scrubbing with rubbing alcohol, could be hard for those in between fins

[TheDarkestZero]

35 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

scrubbing with rubbing alcohol, could be hard for those in between fins

Still there, doesnt work

[Benx]

7 hours ago, TheDarkestZero said:

Still there, doesnt work

This is way too much material to be thermal paste. However I have never seen corrosion like this on a card. What conditions was it ran in? Is it exceptionally humid or did it get wet. It looks like wet plaster got split all over the card, its even on the heat pipes. Did you have it near any work being done like house repair, cement, etc. Again I have never seen this before.

[Benx]

7 hours ago, TheDarkestZero said:

Still there, doesnt work

I did a quick google is it by chance a gtx 770 acx? The pic is from a post on the evga forum. edit: the forum was responed too by evga stated that it was enviromental damage.

 

[ZzLy]

On 2/26/2020 at 9:52 AM, TheDarkestZero said:

So there are white stuff on top of my gpu heatsink. I personally think that it's somekind of corossion and I don't know how to get rid of it. I've tried some metal solutions but nothing works. Have any suggestions? 

 

Thx in advance

I don't think you can do anything about this, and aside wrong raising thermals by a couple degrees it shouldn't be a big issue. Also, is this a Sapphire card? I've heard that this is a common issue on some Sapphire cards.

[Cylon Agent]

Are you in a tropical/high humidity environment? This looks like a combination of mold and light corrosion. It's too much and too diffused to be thermal paste. I would use 99% isopropyl alcohol and q-tips to clean it. If you can remove the heatsink, even better, in which case id pretty much wash the thing in alcohol. 

 

To keep it from getting worse/returning, I'd place a couple of those small desiccant "dry" packs (can get a bag of them cheap online) tucked away in your case.  In any case, if it is a mold of some kind you should definitely try to remove as much as you can since it might make the metal quite brittle over time. 

[TheDarkestZero]

50 minutes ago, Cylon Agent said:

Are you in a tropical/high humidity environment? This looks like a combination of mold and light corrosion. It's too much and too diffused to be thermal paste. I would use 99% isopropyl alcohol and q-tips to clean it. If you can remove the heatsink, even better, in which case id pretty much wash the thing in alcohol. 

 

To keep it from getting worse/returning, I'd place a couple of those small desiccant "dry" packs (can get a bag of them cheap online) tucked away in your case.  In any case, if it is a mold of some kind you should definitely try to remove as much as you can since it might make the metal quite brittle over time. 

 

3 hours ago, ZzLy said:

I don't think you can do anything about this, and aside wrong raising thermals by a couple degrees it shouldn't be a big issue. Also, is this a Sapphire card? I've heard that this is a common issue on some Sapphire cards.

 

20 hours ago, Benx said:

I did a quick google is it by chance a gtx 770 acx? The pic is from a post on the evga forum. edit: the forum was responed too by evga stated that it was enviromental damage.

 

So this card is a second hand Zotac 1070Ti Mini, i got it for a really cheap price (ofcourse it's because of the white stuff and the copper pipes being worn out). I don't really know the environment it used to be in, but i thought that i could clean the white stuff and polish the copper pipes. I tried using a brush and some metal solutions, alcohol, etc, but nothing works (the copper is now shiny tho). I've also changed the thermal pads and paste, now the temps are 55-70ish and the card works fine. I just can't figure out on how to get rid those white stuff.

 

Sorry bad grammar 

[Cylon Agent]

35 minutes ago, TheDarkestZero said:

 

 

So this card is a second hand Zotac 1070Ti Mini, i got it for a really cheap price (ofcourse it's because of the white stuff and the copper pipes being worn out). I don't really know the environment it used to be in, but i thought that i could clean the white stuff and polish the copper pipes. I tried using a brush and some metal solutions, alcohol, etc, but nothing works (the copper is now shiny tho). I've also changed the thermal pads and paste, now the temps are 55-70ish and the card works fine. I just can't figure out on how to get rid those white stuff.

 

Sorry bad grammar 

I see. Have you any reason to suspect this card could possibly have been used in some mining operation? I've known of people renting warehouse space for mining and sometimes not ideal environmental conditions. The cheap price has me suspicious. Anyway, only other thing i can think of is to use a polishing attachment on a rotary tool like a Dremel. I am assuming it functions well and its great that you changed the thermal paste. 

[ZzLy]

2 hours ago, TheDarkestZero said:

 

 

So this card is a second hand Zotac 1070Ti Mini, i got it for a really cheap price (ofcourse it's because of the white stuff and the copper pipes being worn out). I don't really know the environment it used to be in, but i thought that i could clean the white stuff and polish the copper pipes. I tried using a brush and some metal solutions, alcohol, etc, but nothing works (the copper is now shiny tho). I've also changed the thermal pads and paste, now the temps are 55-70ish and the card works fine. I just can't figure out on how to get rid those white stuff.

 

Sorry bad grammar 

If the temps are fine and you can't normally see the corrosion, then there's no issue right?

[RonnieOP]

Take it to the sink and clean it with water and a green scotch pad.

 

From the pics it doesnt look like it would be too hard to clean up.

 

Then let it dry and re install it.

[TheDarkestZero]

Thankyou guys for the support, i've given up on cleaning it. The card works normally and the performance is quite normal. The only problem is ofcourse the looks. But it's okay.