New GPU getting Black Marks on Contacts

[Andrew Ray]

So I have had this GTX780 since July and re-installed it a couple of times for some practical reasons. Anyway, I took it out yesterday and thought most of the contacts were fine, but then I noticed small black dots/lines on them similar to the problem in this thread (pictures): http://www.overclock.net/t/1290300/gpu-pcie-contacts-wearing-down
I contacted the person who started that and he told me eventually they wore down more and the black stuff was actually the PCB underneath, ultimately leaving him with a dead card. Has anyone seen this problem before and should I just get an RMA now or wait until I have problems? I will be paranoid about it if I just use it until I notice a problem to be honest. Also, what could cause this problem? Thanks!

 

[ldewitt]

I would take a CLEAN pencil eraser and try "erasing" the marks off to clean the contacts off i've seen this before but i thought it was just from reseating the card/ Or RAM alot. Usually it took the black marks off when i ran a CLEAN pencil eraser along them and blew the access off. After make sure not to touch the contacts with your fingers to avoid getting the oils on your fingers on the contacts.

Hope it helps.

 

[smeezekitty]

Those are pretty common. I think it is caused by slight corrosion caused by current flow.
Most cards develop it and I wouldn't be too concerned.

 

[Andrew Ray]

Cool. I am going to assume it is slight corrosion as you said. The person I talked to who had the similar problem showed some steps he took that temporarily worked, one of which involved...sanding them. So I am going to assume he just sanded it down to the PCB.

 

[ldewitt]

Cool. I am going to assume it is slight corrosion as you said. The person I talked to who had the similar problem showed some steps he took that temporarily worked, one of which involved...sanding them. So I am going to assume he just sanded it down to the PCB.

LOL yeah he just had a faulty card and made it worse sanding it, that's what caused his card to die out. I just pulled my GPU out last night to move it to another PCI slot to install a blower fan and i noticed the slightest "black" marks on my contacts also and i've only seated this GPU once or twice when i got it. The problem that he sanded it is that it takes off the copper contacts so that they cant make contact with the PCI pins.

 

[smeezekitty]

No don't sand it. You have a very good chance of sanding through the tiny traces that connect to the copper contacts.
Those are very hard to fix yet relatively delicate.

 

[Andrew Ray]

Oh trust me, I am not stupid enough to sand one of the most sensitive parts of the thing =]