Coffee spilled on graphics card, but still working

[Dubyah Bush]

So, I was out of the house and my wife and kids spilled coffee on my pc. My front panel is fried as it's on top of my case. The rest of the coffee got onto my hard drive and the front of my Sapphire R9 290x Vapor-X gpu. She cleaned up the coffee on all outer surfaces. My hard drive is fine, but when I disconnected my gpu to check on it, coffee poured out of it. I cleaned it as best I could, but didn't actually take the card apart. After plugging everything back in after a dry time, everything seems to be working normally. A friend of mine said that I should still take the gpu apart because any residue could possibly damage the card, is this true considering the residue that's left is probably light patches of sugar and it's already running with it on there.

 

[timeconsumer]

Caffeine overclocks your GPU right?

But in all seriousness, yes it's likely any residue can cause some issues. Coffee is acidic and can cause components to oxidize faster. I would clean it with isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush for starters.

 

[i7Baby]

Once its dried out it should be fine. You can remove it and try and wash out residue with eg isopropyl alcohol - which will dry pretty quickly.

My guess though is if it's working now then it should be fine.

 

[fall0ut3]

OP just disassemble all your affected components and put them inside a sink filled with isopropyl alcohol (mixed with water of course! Don't want to put too much; the ratio is like 3 cups of alcohol per 1 cup of water not sure) and let it sit there for a good hour. That should cleanse it all

 

[fall0ut3]

Caffeine overclocks your GPU right?

But in all seriousness, yes it's likely any residue can cause some issues. Coffee is acidic and can cause components to oxidize faster. I would clean it with isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush for starters.

hahaha "you don't need 60 fps when playing drunk"
HAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHHA I'm stealing this

 

[Dubyah Bush]

OP just disassemble all your affected components and put them inside a sink filled with isopropyl alcohol (mixed with water of course! Don't want to put too much; the ratio is like 3 cups of alcohol per 1 cup of water not sure) and let it sit there for a good hour. That should cleanse it all

I think I am doing something in between all of the solutions. i7 said it should be fine, which it could very well be fine until it dies of old age, but I am worried about corrosion from any sugar or just acidity left over from coffee...I don't have any thermal paste, so I will disassemble everything just short of the heat sinks and clean it with alcohol and q tips I suppose.

 

[fall0ut3]

OP just disassemble all your affected components and put them inside a sink filled with isopropyl alcohol (mixed with water of course! Don't want to put too much; the ratio is like 3 cups of alcohol per 1 cup of water not sure) and let it sit there for a good hour. That should cleanse it all

I think I am doing something in between all of the solutions. i7 said it should be fine, which it could very well be fine until it dies of old age, but I am worried about corrosion from any sugar or just acidity left over from coffee...I don't have any thermal paste, so I will disassemble everything just short of the heat sinks and clean it with alcohol and q tips I suppose.

BTBTBTBTBTBTBT

 

[timeconsumer]

hahaha "you don't need 60 fps when playing drunk"
HAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHHA I'm stealing this

Funny cause it's true.