[SOLVED] Ugh! Card died. New card prices outrageous. Advice on possibly fixing old card.

[Mugsy]

My video card died. An old Asus GTX670. New card prices are insane, so I'm considering possibly trying to fix it and could use some advice from anyone who's attempted it.

I'm not a novice. I've built a dozen PC's, but don't ask me to solder (well, maybe a little.)

I have no idea what happened. I was browsing the web when suddenly the screen went pink, the graphics corrupted, and the PC froze. When I rebooted, I was in 640x480 and the card was not recognized as anything more than a generic VGA card. Assuming it went bad, I tried an old generic card. When I turned on my computer, it wouldn't even POST. So I put the old card back and it still refused o POST. I took the computer to a service center and they confirmed the card is bad.

I could replace it with another used GTX670 (or something similar) for about $100, but that's still not cheap.

The card doesn't have a "burnt" smell and there's no obvious physical damage (no excessive dust build-up either.) Diagnosing what's wrong might be a problem, but I feel like the card is salvageable.

So what do you think? Do I waste $100 on a used "identical" card, pay the exorbitant cost of a more modern replacement, or attempt to fix it myself (and possibly ruin it for good and any resale value as an eBay "for parts" listing?)

TIA.

 

[USAFRet]

Some things can be fixed. Other things, cannot (easily).
The first thing is to determine exactly what is wrong.

The second thing is....can you fix it?
"...but don't ask me to solder " does not bode well.

 

[Lutfij]

I'd go as far as try first off to see if the PSU isn't the culprit here, since most artifacting issue start with either the drivers being corrupt, with there being a thermal issue(overheating) or that the PSU decided to delver less power than the entire system needed. I don't think you have any choice with the latest cards since they will be hard to find even if you have the money to spend on said concurrent GPU's. As for repairing, you will need to scour each square inch of the board to see if there's any blown or burnt out capacitor or SMD but the issue could very well be a dead GPU which isn't easily repairable.

 

[jay32267]

" I tried an old generic card. When I turned on my computer, it wouldn't even POST. "

I would have expected this to work if the card was good....so I find this odd.

...but regardless....I think most likely the card isn't worth trying to salvage.
A component probably failed...and this may have caused other components to fail....and tracking all of this down (which components failed)...and obtaining the components...and repairing it...and even then....you might miss something....is going to be one big hassle and I still think the odds of it working at the end aren't all that good. Not only that...replacing surface mount components is a pain in the as%.

 

[Mugsy]

Thx for the replies. The generic replacement card I tried was old & untested, pulled from an old build years ago, so it was probably dead too.

I have no idea why this stopped the computer from posting, but the tech simply replaced the gpu and the computer worked again, so it's not the PSU or motherboard.

Just the Bench test cost me $43. Replacing the card for a "decent" used replacement could cost me another $300 (if I'm lucky), so I wondered if the 670 (still a respectable speed card) was recoverable. Probably not (at least not with my minimal engineering skills.)

 

[Eximo]

GTX770 are selling for $125 on ebay pretty regularly. About the same or a little more for GTX960.

Not terrible as a stop gap.

GT1030 are occasionally available for $100.

Coming soon:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1622396-REG/msi_g10302pc_geforce_gt_1030_2g.html

 

[InvalidError]

At the bottom end of the "fix difficulty ladder" would be conductive dust bridging a signal trace to power or ground enough to disrupt it and could be fixed by vacuuming, brushing or blowing the dust off.

 

[Mugsy]

At the bottom end of the "fix difficulty ladder" would be conductive dust bridging a signal trace to power or ground enough to disrupt it and could be fixed by vacuuming, brushing or blowing the dust off.

Good idea! I'll try that.

Searched around looking for a replacement card. Prices are insane. Cards that went for $250 a year ago now selling for $600 new. It's nuts.