Got this broken 1660 Super for free. Fix or RIP?

[Kristos]

I got gifted this 1660 Super by Gainward. The card has the following issues:

 

• Resolution locked at 800x600
• Not detected by Windows and Afterburner. GPUZ partially detects it (see the pic below)
• Glitches

Now, I tried some simple fixes like wiping old drivers, cleaning the card etc but no luck at all. What else can I try before tossing it into the bin?

 

[Levent]

It has VRAM and/or VBIOS related issues. It is missing 3 power phases, someone probably had a go at it before you. You wont be fixing that.

[tkitch]

yeah, that looks like hardware is fragged.  RIP GPU.

[tishous]

Unpopular opinion, but you could try mining with it. It's not like any more damage can be done, not that mining damages GPUs anyway.

[Levent]

Just now, tishous said:

Unpopular opinion, but you could try mining with it. It's not like any more damage can be done, not that mining damages GPUs anyway.

You cant.

[tishous]

Just now, Levent said:

You cant.

Oh yeah I just saw the damage after posting. OP, that thing is now essentially ewaste unfortunately.

[mariushm]

Yeah, the card is hurting.

There's at least one capacitor missing on the opposite side of the 8 pin pci-e connector. That's most likely the VRM powering the ram, so if that vrm is unstable due to that missing capacitor, it could cause some issues.

But I suspect one of the ram chips is going bad, or it's bad....  I see what looks like flux residue around the ram chips by the pci-e slot, like someone tried to reflow those or resolder the decoupling capacitors near the chips.

 

Then you have the main vrm issues. I see only 3 phases, and I think the board originally had more than 3...

I'm not sure if the board had more than 3 because the 1660 doesn't consume that much power, around 125w including ram which eats maybe 15-20w .... so 100 watts is doable on 3 phases but unlikely.

The picture is taken from too far away but it looks from here that there was at least one more inductor between the lonely one and the other two, so maybe the power stage popped and the guy desoldered the power stage and the inductor to rescue it...