Question Did I destroy my GPU from trying to watercool it ?

Jun 5, 2023
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So I just got a 2080 ti blower card and was running super hot so I decided to custom water cool it like I have on all of my previous cards. I was modifying the watercooling bracket and while moving it, it slightly scratched the very edge of the card, where no traces or capacitors were sitting but of course still got worried as this is a 350 dollar card. I kept going with the cooler modding anyways and decided to test the pc with the gpu outside of the case, thought I plugged everything into the card that I needed to but when I went to turn the pc on there was no signal. Then realized that I’m slightly slow and didn’t plug in the pcie extension. I then decided to work with the card back in the case and in the motherboard directly, and got no signal. I then went on to replug everything and reset the pc multiple times, to no avail.

When I plugged my DisplayPort directly into the motherboard WITH the gpu it worked fine, so I decided that maybe it was because my integrated graphics switched on because earlier on I had powered on the gpu without plugging it into the pcie port. I switched off the integrated graphics, turned the pc off, plugged DisplayPort back into the gpu and again, to no avail. I proceeded to have a grown man hissy fit as I thought I’ve destroyed a 350 dollar card literally just from the slight scratch that happened. After cooling off I went back at troubleshooting and plugged in my old gtx 1060, and it works. I have little hope that I can get this thing working and it took me a long time to put all this money to the side to get the card, so any help would be so greatly appreciated.

Do note that the card works but when I don’t run the pump for the cooler (to test if its powering on or not) it doesn’t get as hot to the touch as before when it was working and didn’t have the pump on (this was an accident) (also saying this because maybe I really did strike something that was important for supplying power to the core). the stock fan also still works when plugged in to the card.
 
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Deleted member 2947362

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I guess the question is how deep and where is the scratch ? at the very edge of the card is kind of hard to picture? without a picture.
 
Jun 5, 2023
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Honestly I don’t think that’s it. There’s nothing visible that’s there at all. I’m narrowing it down to it being that one of the screw holes from the backplate scratched something while I was working on it as I wasn’t able to remove one screw but had all the rest removed which allowed the backplate to move freely just a tad
 
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Deleted member 2947362

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If your 100% sure it's not deep enough to have cause any damaged then I guess it's a complete strip down and full inspection of hardware maybe the water block was to tight? I really don't know.
 
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Deleted member 2947362

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yup can damage the GPU's die in extreme cases and if uneven load could crack the die.

A lot of young budding PC builders today don't realise how easy the have it when compared to the days when the CPU's die was exposed directly to the heat sink and trying not to damage the CPU die while fitting the heat sink

The sheer terror of having to force down using a flat headed screw driver and trying to get that darn spung steel heatsink locking clip to lock on to the Super Socket 7 (ZIF) CPU socket and praying the screw driver doesn't slip and destroy the motherboard! all the time worrying your not cracking/chipping/crushing the CPU die and that's also while trying not to damage the little plastic locking notch's on the CPU's socket the steel clip has to lock on to.

It was a real dramatic experience for some of us lol

ahh the good o'l days.
 
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Jun 5, 2023
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thanks for your help man I really do appreciate it. so, I’m assuming there’s no coming back from a cracked die right? also, what made you determine that it was that? Was it that it still powers on and gets hot but no signal? I mean at least to me it makes sense as there’s really no other way I could have damaged this darn card.
 
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Deleted member 2947362

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No I'm not saying that's what the problem is, It was just an extreme example.

what makes it's not easy to determine the problem is not having the hardware directly in your hands to inspect.

I would just tear down the system and inspect everything the best I can, rebuild checking everything to try and determine what's gone wrong, where and can it be corrected.

Try a different GPU in the system

Test the GPU that's not working in the current system in another system just to test if GPU will still boot, stuff like that.

Not much else you can do.
 
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