GTX 1070 - tiny component fell off while cleaning card

[Ruben Piccard]

Hello,

 

Ik got a bit of a problem with my GTX 1070 graphics card.

While i was carefully cleaning the cards backside with a brush, a very small component fell off. It was a tiny square opject. Then i noticed one of the components was weardly twisted on the graphics card. It still held on to one of its pins. I tried to carefully bend it back in place but it fell off while trying. Here are some pictures of the parts and the place they originated from on the graphics card. The number of the component that fell off is 0542. I assume that the card will still work since the component could already have been lo0se before i cleaned it for the first time. But i can't be sure.  I have the card for about 2 years now.

 

What can i do to fix this problem? Is the part important or not? What is your view on this problem?

 

Thank you for reading. I would appreciate your opinion.

 

 

[Levent]

Its a transistor. Not only that, solder pad also came apart. If card doesnt work, you are in a heap of trouble.

[AndrewCC]

1st thing: Do NOT plug that card back in. Every component is important on it so you can't randomly cut bits off. You run the very high risk of irreversably damaging other components on the board. if you try to run that thing.

If you don't have the tools and the knowledge to solder it back on yourself, or don't know someone who does, take it into a computer repair shop, along with the little part that fell off and have them solder it back on.

[Levent]

2 hours ago, AndrewCC said:

1st thing: Do NOT plug that card back in. Every component is important on it so you can't randomly cut bits off. You run the very high risk of irreversably damaging other components on the board. if you try to run that thing.

If you don't have the tools and the knowledge to solder it back on yourself, or don't know someone who does, take it into a computer repair shop, along with the little part that fell off and have them solder it back on.

First of all, important doesnt mean necessary you can knock smd caps off and your card would work just fine, so that statement is wrong. You cannot solder that transistor back as its emitter pin no longer has a solder pad. Worst case scenario, this card simply wont work.

[AndrewCC]

5 seconds on Youtube will get you lots of results of how you can fix/get around a missing solder pad and still solder the components back on. It's still the best chance to make the board run properly and not risk further damage.

[GamerDude]

Out of sheer curiosity, can you enlighten us on what brand of GTX 1070 that is? I wanna know so I will know what to avoid, I have a Leadtek GTX 1080 and is fine after a few clean up, like you, I use a brush, a smaller paint brush to be precise. Also, I have a PowerColor HD7970 from a ways back, and it's working just fine (it's an unused card that I'd clean and try out from time to time.

[Mark Kaine]

2 hours ago, GamerDude said:

Out of sheer curiosity, can you enlighten us on what brand of GTX 1070 that is? I wanna know so I will know what to avoid, I have a Leadtek GTX 1080 and is fine after a few clean up, like you, I use a brush, a smaller paint brush to be precise. Also, I have a PowerColor HD7970 from a ways back, and it's working just fine (it's an unused card that I'd clean and try out from time to time.

This usually  shouldnt happen , its either a manufacturing defect or OP "cleaned" it a bit too harsh (not saying they did, but thats a possibility)

 

PS: or they used cheap solder, but then you would not only need to know manufacturer and model but also manufacturing date… basically this can happen with any manufacturer Im afraid. Like 1-5% failure rate is completely normal and expected. And QA is a shit job lol, they dont see everything!

[GamerDude]

9 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

This usually  shouldnt happen , its either a manufacturing defect or OP "cleaned" it a bit too harsh (not saying they did, but thats a possibility)

 

PS: or they used cheap solder, but then you would not only need to know manufacturer and model but also manufacturing date… basically this can happen with any manufacturer Im afraid. Like 1-5% failure rate is completely normal and expected. And QA is a shit job lol, they dont see everything!

Still, I would like to know for my own edification. I've had a good number of GPU's through the years, I think I started out with a GF TNT Riva (nVidia) and 9700 Pro (ATi/AMD), built CF and SLi systems along the way. I've never had a card die on me other than the PC VEGA64 Red Devil (RMA'ed and replaced with new card, still doing a righteous job at gaming in my 2nd rig), but I've never had one where the a component dropped off the card before. That is just unacceptable.......

[Mark Kaine]

12 minutes ago, GamerDude said:

Still, I would like to know for my own edification.

Yeah i understand. Its really a bit weird… the small white one doesnt actually need much force to get knocked off (still a little bit) but the black one shouldnt come off easily, which is why im thinking manufacturing defect .

 

Now if thats a no name card, then sure, but if its a brand like MSI, Asus, etc, then this really doesnt say much.

 

Good thing is OP still has the parts, it shouldnt be too difficult to solder them back for someone who knows what theyre doing.

 

[Ruben Piccard]

9 hours ago, GamerDude said:

Out of sheer curiosity, can you enlighten us on what brand of GTX 1070 that is? I wanna know so I will know what to avoid, I have a Leadtek GTX 1080 and is fine after a few clean up, like you, I use a brush, a smaller paint brush to be precise. Also, I have a PowerColor HD7970 from a ways back, and it's working just fine (it's an unused card that I'd clean and try out from time to time.

I have a EVGA card 1070 sc i have used it for 2 years now i bought it from a previous miner. might that be the cause of the defect?

[Levent]

11 hours ago, AndrewCC said:

5 seconds on Youtube will get you lots of results of how you can fix/get around a missing solder pad and still solder the components back on. It's still the best chance to make the board run properly and not risk further damage.

And? lack of power to somewhere or filtering of some data line is not going to damage anything or catch anything on fire. Fixing a solder pad is easy if you know what you how to find where trace ends end up. For someone who never held up a soldering iron, doesnt own a fine tip soldering iron, mod wire, electrical knowledge and a multimeter this aint a "5 second video on youtube" fix.

  

1 hour ago, Ruben Piccard said:

I have a EVGA card 1070 sc i have used it for 2 years now i bought it from a previous miner. might that be the cause of the defect?

Nope, this is on your cleaning. You were most likely too harsh with the brush.

[AndrewCC]

@Levent

I'm curious.. do you think that the manufacturer just put unnecessary parts on the board? Why would they do that? If it's on there, it's required for the PROPER functioning of the board. And running it without is a RISK.

And I did say that he should take it into a repair shop if he lacks the tools or the knowledge to repair it himself. I only brought up Youtube to show that the lack of solder pad is not something that makes a repair impossible.

 

 

[Ruben Piccard]

After a few months i felt confident enough to test the card. Result: it worked just fine. Benchmark results were also pretty good. Thanks to everyone for your opinions and help. We now know that the component that fell off isn't that essential to the functionality of the card.