Question Dead GPU repair

[DnkDestroyer]

Hi everyone, my GTX 1060 6gb stopped outputting video to my monitor. Upon opening the the gpu, i found a humongous amount of thermal paste that had been slathered on by the manufacturer. Could this be the source of the problem?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Unlikely. Most modern pastes are not conductive nor capacitive, meaning they won't cause it to stop working.

Make sure your PSU didn't kick the bucket and no components are burn on the GPU. Do you have a warranty?

 

[Darkbreeze]

humongous amount of thermal paste that had been slathered on by the manufacturer.

Unlikely. They generally use thermal pads, or when they don't and they use paste, they wouldn't do that. More likely is somebody else did that and you bought it from them, or they did it and returned the card, and then it was shipped to you. Something. Very unlikely to ever see something like that from the manufacturer.

 

[DnkDestroyer]

i know my psu is fine, as i have installed an older gpu that works ok. No, none of the gpu components look burnt, and no i dont have a warranty

 

[DnkDestroyer]

The friend that I bought it off hadn't opened the lid. He did buy it with a prebuilt system, though.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, somebody repasted that card, because you would not find huge amounts of paste slathered on coming off any assembly line. If anything, you might find TOO LITTLE thermal interface material before you'd find too much. Somebody has done something with that card whether they want to admit it to you or not.

 

[DnkDestroyer]

whoever assembled the prebuilt pc might have messed with it

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Nah, that usually doesnt happen.

 

[DnkDestroyer]

Anyway, is there a possible fix for the gpu? could the paste have caused it?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Anyway, is there a possible fix for the gpu? could the paste have caused it?

As I said, very little modern pastes are capacitive so the paste likely didn't cause it.
Could try this if you have a heat gun or spare oven that you wont cook food in again: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Tempor...raphics+Card+by+Heating+it+up+in+an+oven/2240

 

[Darkbreeze]

It is VERY likely that it already had a problem, which is WHY they slathered the paste on. If the person you bought this from bought the prebuilt system or the card used, and there is no warranty, then not much you can do.

You can try cleaning it all off using isopropyl alcohol and reapply the paste, but chances are good that's not going to make a difference if the card is failing to work at all.

Trying to reflow is a fools game.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

It can work, it usually doesn't. If you are willing to try it it really cant hurt as long as you dont inhale the fumes or use your cooking oven.

You could try removing the paste.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, it CAN work, IF the problem is that there are solder points that have broken away from their connections. Rarely these days is that the issue when it comes to a non-functional card though unlike back in the day when there were a slew of poorly soldered cards because of cheap Chinese solder that was used which had a lot of impurities in it. Mostly those issues have been rooted out and card failures tend to be from other things. But anything is possible.

Heck, I saw a guy carrying about twenty pieces of 20ft long 3" pvc pipe on top of his Subaru yesterday, strapped down. So I guess nothing is impossible given a deep enough desire and the right circumstances.