EVGA 780Ti SCACX: Blown SMD Capacitor... Fix?

[infinitemerald]

What a painful month. Picked up this EVGA 780 Ti SC ACX on eBay for $265 back in early May, ran stock with latest drivers, chugged along perfectly fine. Wasn't until the first week of December that I suddenly was getting stuttering and freezing out of nowhere (keep in mind card is clean inside out), and after an incredibly long week of frustration (reddit thread of troubleshooting), I determined that it was my card and not a system or software issue.

Finally, got a spark and "the smell", a puff of smoke, and immediately removed the card. After pulling apart the card, I found a blown SMD capacitor adjacent to the fan connector (see pic). I'm no expert on electronics, but that doesn't look like something that baking in an oven will fix.

Should've checked listing before buying, card was a warranty replacement and henceforth cannot be covered under EVGA's "lifetime warranty". So now I'm looking at a replacement card instead of buying the HD700s I was saving for. Stumbling through competitive Overwatch at 45fps/1080p/Med with my always-reliable GT 640.

I'm aware that I'm pretty much screwed now, but it's worth checking Tom's for experts on this before I set it on my shelf forever. Many thanks in advance.

 

[bailojustin]

the capacitor most likely had blown for a whole other reason that is most likely the cause, replacing the capacitor could cause more damage when you start it back up and the process repeats. but yes, you can replace a capacitor, can you take detialed photos of the capacitor up close and list the markings on it.

 

[weberdarren97]

Could I sift through endless online shops and try to find a replacement capacitor? Yes.

Could you put the replacement capacitor back on the board? You'll have to answer that one.

But there's a deeper question here... What made the capacitor fail in the first place? Was it just a faulty capacitor, or did something else cause it to fail? If there's something else that caused it to fail, replacing it would only be delaying the inevitable because the new one would eventually fail as well.

Repeating this process would likely cause further damage to any components directly connected to the PCB that draw their power from the PCIe power connector. From the diagram I found, that looks to be about everything except for memory management and display output signal management. Yes, your GPU die is directly connected to the power connector. Are you willing to risk killing the GPU itself all to replace a failed capacitor?

 

[infinitemerald]

the capacitor most likely had blown for a whole other reason that is most likely the cause, replacing the capacitor could cause more damage when you start it back up and the process repeats. but yes, you can replace a capacitor, can you take detialed photos of the capacitor up close and list the markings on it.

I cannot guarantee that there are markings on the individual capacitors, as the picture taken shows the only text that was visible to me, and I have good vision. I can grab a mag. glass and see if there's anything there.

(1) Could I sift through endless online shops and try to find a replacement capacitor? Yes.
(2) Could you put the replacement capacitor back on the board? You'll have to answer that one.
(3) What made the capacitor fail in the first place?
(4) Are you willing to risk killing the GPU itself all to replace a failed capacitor?

1) Yes. As long as it's relatively cheap, I could give it a shot.
2) I don't have any professional soldering equipment and have no experience with such a thing. No promises there, but I know relatives that have experience; if not I could go to a local electronics store to have it done.
3) Like I said, I have no clue. Card has been clean for the longest time; always stock or even underclocked, stock BIOS, clean/mess-free case, always ran latest drivers from Nvidia, temps/clocks never seemed extreme/extraordinary. Troubleshooted to determine what caused it to happen, didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the system, and the system still runs without issue. The reddit thread I linked covered I think every possible thing that could have been done to find out what caused the failure.
4) It's a paperweight/display piece otherwise, so may as well seal its fate.

Thanks for the quick responses. Inspecting the PCB again for text.

 

[weberdarren97]

the capacitor most likely had blown for a whole other reason that is most likely the cause, replacing the capacitor could cause more damage when you start it back up and the process repeats. but yes, you can replace a capacitor, can you take detialed photos of the capacitor up close and list the markings on it.

I cannot guarantee that there are markings on the individual capacitors, as the picture taken shows the only text that was visible to me, and I have good vision. I can grab a mag. glass and see if there's anything there.

(1) Could I sift through endless online shops and try to find a replacement capacitor? Yes.
(2) Could you put the replacement capacitor back on the board? You'll have to answer that one.
(3) What made the capacitor fail in the first place?
(4) Are you willing to risk killing the GPU itself all to replace a failed capacitor?

1) Yes. As long as it's relatively cheap, I could give it a shot.
2) I don't have any professional soldering equipment and have no experience with such a thing. No promises there, but I know relatives that have experience; if not I could go to a local electronics store to have it done.
3) Like I said, I have no clue. Card has been clean for the longest time; always stock or even underclocked, stock BIOS, clean/mess-free case, always ran latest drivers from Nvidia, temps/clocks never seemed extreme/extraordinary. Troubleshooted to determine what caused it to happen, didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the system, and the system still runs without issue. The reddit thread I linked covered I think every possible thing that could have been done to find out what caused the failure.
4) It's a paperweight/display piece otherwise, so may as well seal its fate.

Thanks for the quick responses. Inspecting the PCB again for text.

Many manufacturers put the part number on the cap itself, in which case you'll never find it because it literally exploded. Takes the saying "blown cap" to a whole new level. xD

 

[infinitemerald]

Welp. Turns out the capacitor didn't want to exist. Pictured [HERE] is the capacitor before I tried cleaning it off to find the SN, and [HERE] it is now. The black "cover" or whatever it is, seemed to scratch right off with my fingernail, and resembled the material of an old grill brick. It looks like there's a lot of scratches there, but the flash camera really brings the few out.

Found a reference picture of the PCB, but there doesnt appear to be any text/signage on the component that melted, other than "Q3" (or "Q18"). Perhaps the melted cap caused a short, and removing the covering may remove the short? It's a long shot and I'm smart enough to not be too optimistic and shove it in for a test.

 

[weberdarren97]

I'm afraid I can't help you replace it unless you can tell me a manufacturer part number. FYI, EVGA is not the manufacturer of the capacitor. They use many different brands across different products (sometimes on the same product), so I can't be sure which they used here until I get a part number.

I think we should just consider this card dead and move on.

 

[infinitemerald]

I'm afraid I can't help you replace it unless you can tell me a manufacturer part number. FYI, EVGA is not the manufacturer of the capacitor. They use many different brands across different products (sometimes on the same product), so I can't be sure which they used here until I get a part number.

I think we should just consider this card dead and move on.

That's what I think as well, haha. All I know is that apparently it uses the reference 780 Ti PCB design, but it doesn't seem that way from what I'm seeing. Thanks for your help anyways. Cheers.