Graphics Card GPU Frankenstein-ing

[The Log Man]

Hey all! I’m new here and wanted to ask a question that I haven’t been able to find much information for elsewhere. 

So I bought a broken 1070 ti a few weeks ago hoping to repair it and use it. It wasn’t until I got it that I found that the board itself was burnt. I got it as what I hoped to he a cheap replacement for my current 1060 3gb but I don’t think I can fix or work around that burn in the pcb. So, I was thinking that I could possible desolder and resolder the gpu die and memory chips from the 1070 ti onto the board of my 1060. I have decent enough knowledge of soldering but is this operation at all possible? And if so, what would I have to do to make sure it works properly??  

[Loki0111]

It is technically possible to rebuild broken boards. That said a burnt board is not worth rebuilding, odds are you may have damage to the traces. It could be scavenged for componets.

 

Unless you have the gear and know what you are doing this is a dubious endeavor to be getting into outside of a fun hobby.

[Lord Nicoll]

10 minutes ago, The Log Man said:

Hey all! I’m new here and wanted to ask a question that I haven’t been able to find much information for elsewhere. 

So I bought a broken 1070 ti a few weeks ago hoping to repair it and use it. It wasn’t until I got it that I found that the board itself was burnt. I got it as what I hoped to he a cheap replacement for my current 1060 3gb but I don’t think I can fix or work around that burn in the pcb. So, I was thinking that I could possible desolder and resolder the gpu die and memory chips from the 1070 ti onto the board of my 1060. I have decent enough knowledge of soldering but is this operation at all possible? And if so, what would I have to do to make sure it works properly??  

No, the GPU packages on the cards are different. You could maybe take the GPU die and put it onto a 1070 that has a good PCB but a dead core however you need a very expensive soldering machine to do, BGA rework on that scale really can't be done by hand. 

[The Log Man]

9 hours ago, Loki0111 said:

It is technically possible to rebuild broken boards. That said a burnt board is not worth rebuilding, odds are you may have damage to the traces. It could be scavenged for componets.

 

Unless you have the gear and know what you are doing this is a dubious endeavor to be getting into outside of a fun hobby.

Well the burn in this board is near the cooler’s fan header so I think it would be possible to bypass fixing it or just seal it off somehow. The board I have is an EVGA reference 1070ti. I included a pic of what the board should look like (from NVIDIA) as well as the burn on my own card. Would this be something I could fix or just seal up and bypass?

 

Also, the r33 inductor looks burnt out so I want to replace that too. I just can’t seem to find where to buy an exact replacement. Where would I get one and what SKU or manufacturer name is it?

[Loki0111]

Yah whatever traces may have been under those components I'd expect to likely be completely shot. Those caps are likely done near it too.

 

Its one thing if you are replacing a cap or a transistor. Its another when you have a block of components burn and melt the board.

 

Unfortunately unless its possible to safely bypass that entire area of the board I think that board is done.

[Mark Kaine]

You can basically only buy another 1070 that uses the exact same board and hope the board isn't damaged also. 

 

Then you can begin your frankensteinering

 

 

I don't think it's worth it unless you have a lot of time on your hands.

[The Log Man]

4 hours ago, Loki0111 said:

Yah whatever traces may have been under those components I'd expect to likely be completely shot. Those caps are likely done near it too.

 

Its one thing if you are replacing a cap or a transistor. Its another when you have a block of components burn and melt the board.

 

Unfortunately unless its possible to safely bypass that entire area of the board I think that board is done.

yeah I just don’t know if I can bypass that area. and if I can, I don’t know what I’d have to do to block it from shorting or what I should remove, if anything. any tips or recommendations on videos / sites to look for?

[The Log Man]

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

You can basically only buy another 1070 that uses the exact same board and hope the board isn't damaged also. 

 

Then you can begin your frankensteinering

 

 

I don't think it's worth it unless you have a lot of time on your hands.

yeah I know that it would work to get another 1070 board but I also know that manufacturers use the same boards across multiple different gpu SKU’s. that leads me to think that I would be able to move the gpu and ram chips over without problem. what, if anything, would make that cause problems / not work?

[Loki0111]

2 hours ago, The Log Man said:

yeah I just don’t know if I can bypass that area. and if I can, I don’t know what I’d have to do to block it from shorting or what I should remove, if anything. any tips or recommendations on videos / sites to look for?

Nothing specific. I haven't done any of this type of work since I was in college and a bit during my first real job doing power supply rework.

 

I can say that is not an easy fix even for an up to date professional.

[BTGbullseye]

22 hours ago, The Log Man said:

Looks like the shunt resistor exploded... That's a fairly serious failure. There's no telling what other components were fried because of it. You may have destroyed VRM components that look completely fine, or even a dead GPU core.

[The Log Man]

8 hours ago, BTGbullseye said:

Looks like the shunt resistor exploded... That's a fairly serious failure. There's no telling what other components were fried because of it. You may have destroyed VRM components that look completely fine, or even a dead GPU core.

How could I test the components? I have a multimeter but no experience using it. I just know that you can use one to test the components on the board. And if nothing is damaged, what would be worth salvaging and what could I do with them? maybe get a custom replica pcb printed and make a new card?? And on that, where would I find the exact resistors and capacitors and inductors n such? Sorry for too many questions haha I’m just trying to make this unfortunate $100 investment worthwhile. 

[BTGbullseye]

2 hours ago, The Log Man said:

How could I test the components? I have a multimeter but no experience using it. I just know that you can use one to test the components on the board. And if nothing is damaged, what would be worth salvaging and what could I do with them? maybe get a custom replica pcb printed and make a new card?? And on that, where would I find the exact resistors and capacitors and inductors n such? Sorry for too many questions haha I’m just trying to make this unfortunate $100 investment worthwhile. 

You'd actually be spending way more money than the card was worth when it was brand new to try and do anything worthwhile with the destroyed GPU.

[The Log Man]

3 hours ago, BTGbullseye said:

You'd actually be spending way more money than the card was worth when it was brand new to try and do anything worthwhile with the destroyed GPU.

well damn, guess I’ll just try to sell it again on ebay

[Lord Nicoll]

The fact the shunt resistor is gone (that measure the current the card is drawing from the 12v rail, then uses that to measure board power limit, without it, the card won't work as that shunt resistor is the only source of 12v for the card) something serious happened, possible a shunt resistor mod gone wrong. From the looks though I think that's the motherboard's PCIe 12v shunt, if it was shunt modded it shouldn't have been touched. Repairing that card would not be an easy task, the burned area needs to be ground out, and traces then need to be restored by jumper wires if even possible. The 12v from the PCIe slot will need to by brought by thick guage wires to the shunt area, a replacement shunt put in, then the sense lines from the that resistor need to be brough to the chip monitoring the voltage drop across the shunt, then the other end of the shunt connected to the power plane. Only then will you know if anything else is dead. 

4 hours ago, The Log Man said:

well damn, guess I’ll just try to sell it again on ebay

If that sounds like too much, it's because it is for a GTX 1070 Ti. Maybe a 3090 or 3080, 2080 ti etc, but a 1070ti is just not worth it imho unless it OC'd to like 2250-2400 on air, then there is a chance an XOC guy would buy it for hardware cups on HWbot.