Dead GTX 780, anything I should try before blasting the GPU with a heat gun?

Gakell

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Mar 4, 2013
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10,510
So a few months ago my second GTX 780 died, and I was going to try and do that last ditch fix of more or less cooking your dead GPU. But before I do so, I'd like to at least ask in case there's something specific I should do instead.

Specs for those who will ask eventually:
i7-4770k
1200W Power Supply
16GB RAM

Here's what happened:
This GPU was working in my PC in SLI with another GTX 780 for about 3 years now. One day, it just stopped working, at the time I remember there being a brownout or two happening some weeks prior, but nothing else out of the ordinary that would have indicated that it was about to die.

Afterwards, whenever the second GTX 780 was plugged into my Power Supply through the PCI-E cable, my PC would not start. The only activity I could see with it plugged in is if I turned off the power supply and drained the energy in the system, flip the switch on the PSU, and the lights and fans would spin for half, maybe a quarter of a second after pressing the power button, and then afterwards it won't even start at all.

My PC does work when I take the dead GPU out of my PC, my single GTX 780 has been chugging along but I wish to at least attempt to get my other GPU going.

I also tried taking my CMOS battery out of my motherboard and putting it back in, but that didn't do much. I took apart my dead GPU, cleaned out all the gunk from it from over the years that never got flushed out from air dusting just in case something in there was causing an issue, and I still had the same issues. I don't see any visible burn marks or discolourations in the card either.

So, anything else I could try? I was thinking of trying to blast the GPU core with a heatgun to re-set the solder in case that is the issue, but I'd like to avoid that if possible because doing that, or the toaster oven method is very dodgey and can sometimes cause more damage if it is repairable. But if this "fix" works, I only need it to last 3 to 6 months anyway, I'm trying to see if I can get a new Nvidia GPU when their new series drops sometime this year.

Or maybe is my GPU irreparable? Where the issue can't be fixed by the heatgun treatment, then should I just sell it for parts at a loss?
 


Seems like there is a short inside the GPU, that's why the system won't even start when it is connected - PSU detects the short, SCP kicks in and powers down the whole rig. Well, at least assuming it is nor the PSU cable that causes short (which is possible). So I would have to ask if you tried the card solo using the PSU cables that work with other GPU? If you did that, then I'm afraid the card is beyond repair.
 


I forgot to mention, but yes I have tried that, I still had the same result when I put the dead card in place of the working one.
 


In that case heat gun is not likely to help - though I doubt it can harm it more anyway.