Weird substance on GPU

Corey Clak · February 2, 2023

Hey all, I recently took the risk and bought a second hand RX 6700xt of Ebay.

It's works all good but when I first held it it had white powdery substance on it.

Recently I opened my pc to add another m.2 and now it's oiley.

Ofcourse I'm going to clean it with Alchol. But any idea what it could be?

And in your opinions anything to worry about. Thanks

Edited February 2, 2023 by Corey Clak

johnno23 · February 2, 2023

possibly just a residue from some type of cleaning agent that the seller used.

I have seen cards that were cleaned with a silicon spray etc the sort of thing people use in cars similar to cockpit spray.....that can leave a dammed nasty residue later if it is not wiped properly after application but it look clean and shiny for a few weeks.

as long as the card is sound and working well just clean it up a bit as you mentioned and you should be ok.

Corey Clak · February 2, 2023

Thanks!

Birblover12 · February 2, 2023

To me it kinda looks like corrosion from batteries or an extremely stripped bolt/screw which that makes no sense, so I'm guessing it's just residue of some kind. As long as it's not all inside the card itself a simple alcohol wipe should do the trick. Would also get a compressed air can and give it a thorough cleaning, as it looks like it's inside the cooling fins aswell.

Applefreak · February 2, 2023

28 minutes ago, Corey Clak said:

Thanks!

There shouldn't be anything on the GPU itself that would be oily in nature. I would tip on some foreign substance like from vaping. There is the possibility that the seller used contact cleaner to remove dirt. There are 2 kinds of contact cleaner and one leaves a oily residue that is supposed to add a layer of corrosion protection to certain components. Shutdown the computer, take the card out, get cotton cloth and wipe the sticky oily parts with isopropyl alcohol. You can also use alcohol based disinfectant if you can't find anything else. However your pc may start to smell different afterwards.

Corey Clak · February 3, 2023

Yeah will do thanks, thermal wise it never gets above 70.

So inside wise apart from the fins it doesn't seem to be affecting it. But It just seemed weird.

OscarMike · February 5, 2023

i mined on a card for a year and altho i blew the dust out of it regularly having it running for a year caused the thermal pads to excrete a wierd oily substance. it was a good card. still is. but having it run at a constant temp for one year straight caused the build up. it was an evga card and they used a type of thermal pad which does not degrade fast. the pads were in very good condition for a gtx 1080. most pads will break (when you remove the cooler) or become kinda crumbly after years of use. but these pads were nicely intact. almost rubbery. only downside was that they produced that oily stuff. i tore the card down and gave the pcb a good wash with iso along with the rest of the components before selling it off. i would never sell a card with residue all over it.

if the card is working fine i wouldnt worry too much about it. i personally would tear it down give it a good clean and repaste it but thats up to you.