MSI 6970 Lightning big problems

[Radu Ionel]

My MSI 6970 has problems with cooling, temperatures do not stabalize and games are crashing suddently.The games did not crash anymore when i reduced the frequency, but the card temperatures are getting hother with each day when gaming.
I found the problem yesterday after two weeks of using the card,the heatsink is not tighten properly,in one side the screws pull the haetsink closer to the chip and in the other it is almost a gap,i found this when i made a inspection of the card but did not see it first,the heatsink made a click sound when i was looking at it,then i realised the problem was at the screws that hold the heatsink to the chip.
My question is,could the card have a permanent damage picose of this,if not could i repare it myself.I did not mentioned i bought the card second hand.

 

[thismafiaguy]

After tightening the screws, has the card had any more issues? The only way to tell if there is permanent damage is to see if the card will still run normally, with acceptable temperatures and stock clock speeds. If you haven't experienced any further issues after tightening the screws, I would say the card is okay and you don't really need to worry.

 

[Radu Ionel]

I want to do that,but i can not, the guy from where i bought it gave me a month waranty and he can give me another card like this one, i will try to ask him if he allows me to tight the screws.I have some experience in the electronics, audio domain, and i think it could be a problem if the thermal pad of the card is somethink like the one is used at power transistors, i do not mean the thermal paste but the grey silicon insulator, if it is the same it can not be used after the semiconductor has been taken of, it would stil work but with a ~ 30 % efficency.

 

[Radu Ionel]

I will tighten the screws whithout the aprobation from the guy i bought the card, if i get a an answer that the games are crashing only picose of the temperature and not from something else.

 

[Radu Ionel]

The problem is solved i had taken the cooler of and found some silver termal paste dried out i replaced it with ceramic thermal paste, the white one, and the card works great no more problems, i am happy.

 

[thismafiaguy]

Great! Sometimes it really is that simple, glad you got your card fixed.