GPU short-circuited by thermal paste

[Tifredall]

Hello,
A friend came to me with his GPU. He tried to put the Accelero Xtreme III on it but the card wouldn't power on.
So I opened it and I saw a mess... He did put thermal paste but way two much and it went on everything that was close to the main chip... The thermal paste was AS5 (capacitive but not conductive if I remember correctly). Is it worth to try to clean his mess or the card is dead and there is no chance it would work again?

Thank you for your help.

 

[ss202sl]

So if it's broke, then what's the harm in trying to fix it??? It's not like you can break it "more". I'd try to clean it with some q-tips(or lint-free cloth) and alcohol

 

[Tifredall]

Thanks for your reply.
I started cleaning it but he put so much of that thermal paste that it went between the small pieces beside the chip. And q-tips/cloth wont go there so the cleaning is really long that's why I wanted to know if a short-circuit always means dead GPU or it have a chance to work after cleaning it.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Arctic Silver 5 isn't conductive, so you won't have a short circuit. It's hard to say to say how much of an impact AS5's capacitance will have, hopefully can reduce the effect by removing as much of it as possible.

What GPU does he have?

 

[Tifredall]

R9 290x that was working fine before he tried that. Well, in that case, I'm gonna continue to clean that and see the result! Thanks! ^^