News Video Allegedly Shows Crypto Miners Jet Washing Nvidia RTX GPUs

[tmwrnj]

Assembled PCBs are washed in water at the end of the manufacturing process to remove flux residues - typically a detergent mix followed by a deionised water rinse, with either spray or immersion washing. Outside of a few specialist applications, solvent-based PCB cleaning is obsolete for environmental and safety reasons. Search online for "aqueous PCB cleaning" if you'd like to learn the details.

I am not at all worried about this video. It is perfectly safe to wash PCBs in water or water-based solutions as long as they are properly rinsed in a deionised solution. If they aren't properly rinsed, there will almost certainly be visible mineral stains on the board. I would happily buy a video card that has been cleaned in this manner, assuming that those stains aren't visible. I'd want to lubricate the fan bearings and re-paste the GPU die, but I'd do that to any used card.

 

[ramtough]

If you were to dip the cards in anything, better it be 80 proof alcohol; some hand sanitizer is 80% proof. Once you pull it out, within an hour the card will be dry. An ethanol molecule (C2H5OH) is about three times as large as a water molecule (H2O); so damage is less likely. Also surprisingly it will be less reactive than water with various components on the board. But water + pressure is about as dumb of an ideal is I wonder what happens if put my hand in a lake while a lightning bolt strikes. The key lies in putting both the card and alcohol bowl in the fridge separately, two hours later you can than safely dip, even shake a little while submerged for no longer than 6 seconds. Then shake externally and let dry for an hour. Plug and play. You should be able to repeat this process about 50 times. So I theorize.

 

[Chung Leong]

And if the team that owns/owned these GPUs were to hire 'some dudes' to clean and repackage, how meticulous do you think these random low income people would be?

And why would a random low income person film himself doing his job? Why would anyone post a video of what's ostensibly a normal routine on the Internet? And doing so anonymously?

There's no need to perform any such cleaning in the first place. Used graphic cards are typically sold online. Buyers don't get a chance to reject a card because it's a little dirty. A seller trying to clear thousands of cards isn't going to photograph and post individual ad for each of them.

This story is off on just about every level. It's fake news.

 

[Dilbert_1]

This is why I make my own GPUs. That way I know what goes into them.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

This is why I make my own GPUs. That way I know what goes into them.

Don’t do drugs kids

 

[USAFRet]

And why would a random low income person film himself doing his job? Why would anyone post a video of what's ostensibly a normal routine on the Internet? And doing so anonymously?

There's no need to perform any such cleaning in the first place. Used graphic cards are typically sold online. Buyers don't get a chance to reject a card because it's a little dirty. A seller trying to clear thousands of cards isn't going to photograph and post individual ad for each of them.

This story is off on just about every level. It's fake news.

"normal routine"?

And 1/2 of utube is made up of idiots filming themselves doing something stupid.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Uh I would say 9/10 og youtube is idiots

 

[jasonf2]

I have 40+ years experience in electronics. NEVER, EVER use water of any kind, no matter how cautious you "think" you are! WTAH (What the actual heck)? I can't even! And the people on here trying to still justify it in some manner, "if done cautiously," are just plain wrong. Argue with me all you want, it's a "hard No" for me! OMG! Just because you think certain components may be sealed? What about tiny water that maybe didn't dry, in the GPU processor pin-holes? I don't care if you have 30,000 GPUs, NEVER clean with water! Approved electronic cleaning solutions are the only way to clean; period. Wow, just wow.

You do realize that it is common practice to ultrasonically clean PCBs in a ultrasonic pure water bath as part of the production process and refurbishment of industrial parts?

The issue here isn't the use of water. It is what has to be done to use water to clean electronics. First off the water has to be spot on pure. So distilled or really good RO. Second you don't want to cause mechanical damage to traces or mounted components (That is why they use ultrasonic baths not pressure washers.). Third the stuff you are removing pollutes your water, so you either have to filter it back to pure and maintain minimum trace or continuously use freshly prepared water, which is tough in a bath without multiple rinses and proper TDS testing and I highly doubt they were using distilled water in that pressure washer. Fourth and probably the most important is you have to dry the components out properly. In process this is done in a kiln at increased controlled temperature and humidity for the proper amount of time. If you do all of that the dried component should be clean and free of residue and no problems. Leave just a little bit of water in there or water wasn't pure (leaving salt residue) and bad things happen.

 

[InvalidError]

The issue here isn't the use of water. It is what has to be done to use water to clean electronics. First off the water has to be spot on pure.

For the initial wash, it doesn't matter how pure your water is since it will be immediately contaminated on contact anything it washes by definition - it wouldn't be washing if nothing was being removed from whatever it is you are cleaning into whatever the cleaning solution is, that is the process' explicit purpose. You only need that water to be clean enough to remove far more crap than it is likely to leave behind. Then you rinse that off using water clean enough to keep residues to an acceptable level. It doesn't have to be distilled/RO, especially on the first wash.

 

[USAFRet]

Pressure wash = 'Wasn't there a capacitor in this space?'

 

[USAFRet]

So used PC hardware is the order of the day.

And with that, comes risk.

Be absurdly careful in what you buy, and you may be OK.

The other 98% of people that buy used/cheap stuff.....oh well...too bad for them.

 

[InvalidError]

Pressure wash = 'Wasn't there a capacitor in this space?'

Most domestic pressure washers aren't powerful enough to do that even using a single-point spray pattern and these photos show them using what probably is the widest fan pattern their nozzle can put out from a fair distance away. I doubt the water jet is anywhere near powerful enough to damage components unless they were already defective and about to come off the board anyway.

 

[Rob1C]

Talk about taking a bath !

 

[LolaGT]

Not many people watch very old PCBs/motherboards being restored to working condition. (I've watched many vintage PC resto videos)
The first step is typically a bath and scrub in soapy tap water when gunk is thick from years of never cleaning, rinse and let dry for 48 hours.
No one has ever thrown a nasty grimy KB in the dishwasher? Common practice for many years. They almost always work fine after letting dry thoroughly for a couple days. Many very nasty biohazard KBs have been saved that way.

If, and again, if one was going to take a chance on a mining GPU it being washed in water would be way down the list of worries.

Anyone jumping up and down yelling how this is terrible are overreacting to something they know nothing about.

 

[escksu]

Not many people watch very old PCBs/motherboards being restored to working condition. (I've watched many vintage PC resto videos)
The first step is typically a bath and scrub in soapy tap water when gunk is thick from years of never cleaning, rinse and let dry for 48 hours.
No one has ever thrown a nasty grimy KB in the dishwasher? Common practice for many years. They almost always work fine after letting dry thoroughly for a couple days. Many very nasty biohazard KBs have been saved that way.

If, and again, if one was going to take a chance on a mining GPU it being washed in water would be way down the list of worries.

Anyone jumping up and down yelling how this is terrible are overreacting to something they know nothing about.

Yes, I give my old dusty hardware a rinse with soap and water too!! Motherboards, GPUS... I just remove all the heatsinks, plates etc... then use some mild detergent and a brush.... After cleaning, its literally good as new!! Just take take not to brush on the paper labels.

Another thing is remember to remove the CMOS battery!!

Fro drying, water tends to be trapped beneath those BGA chips. So I just use hair dryer to dry it.

From my experience, you can't really kill a motherboard if its not completely dry. It just won't boot or keep having errors... After properly drying it, it will be ok.

 

[escksu]

Most domestic pressure washers aren't powerful enough to do that even using a single-point spray pattern and these photos show them using what probably is the widest fan pattern their nozzle can put out from a fair distance away. I doubt the water jet is anywhere near powerful enough to damage components unless they were already defective and about to come off the board anyway.

Some are!! Esp. those Karcher/Bosch high pressure washers that comes with its own pumps. But anything directly from tap isn't powerful enough.

 

[Chung Leong]

And 1/2 of utube is made up of idiots filming themselves doing something stupid.

Because the Internet crowd is addicted to stupid stuff to such an extent that stupid stuff has to be created deliberately to satisfy the demand.

 

[jasonf2]

For the initial wash, it doesn't matter how pure your water is since it will be immediately contaminated on contact anything it washes by definition - it wouldn't be washing if nothing was being removed from whatever it is you are cleaning into whatever the cleaning solution is, that is the process' explicit purpose. You only need that water to be clean enough to remove far more crap than it is likely to leave behind. Then you rinse that off using water clean enough to keep residues to an acceptable level. It doesn't have to be distilled/RO, especially on the first wash.

Mechanical issues aside , which are enough to never use a pressure washer, a high quality RO feed would still be my choice. The water jet is going to mechanically put that water into places it shouldn't go and may not be easily diluted, even with a water bath. Anything coming out of the gun would be "pure" (ultra low tds) and should help reduce the number of rinse baths you need. Regardless it doesn't matter. If water were going to be use those cards should be torn down, shrouds and fans removed and water bathed/kilned, not sprayed off with a wand assembled in a rack. This whole feed just gives another reason that buying a used GPU isn't a good idea.

 

[heyscot1]

As well as jet washing GPU filled servers, a video shows a selection of GPU PCBs in an ‘ozone water’ bath.

Video Allegedly Shows Crypto Miners Jet Washing Nvidia RTX GPUs : Read more

Two things from The Peanut Gallery:

1. Philips Respironics made a Total Recall(TM) of most of their sleep apnea machines after it was discovered that giving the machines an "ozone bath" broke down the polyurethane on the hose connections and released carcinogens into the lungs of the users. I doubt these have anything that's polyurethane, just found it interesting.

2. I will never buy another NVIDIA GPU after Jensen Huang's comments that high graphics card prices are here to stay. Paying $1200 for a GPU used to be the equivalent of buying an entire top-end system sans graphics card. It's ridiculous and greedy. If AMD follows suit, then I'll just stay old + out of touch, but given NVIDIA's revenue was up 61% in 4Q 2021 to a record $5,000,000,000, with fiscal 2021 revenue up 53% to $16,680,000,000, this is pure greed at the expense of PC enthusiasts.

 

[InvalidError]

If water were going to be use those cards should be torn down, shrouds and fans removed and water bathed/kilned, not sprayed off with a wand assembled in a rack. This whole feed just gives another reason that buying a used GPU isn't a good idea.

If you have 100 000 of these things in various states of griminess to take apart, you'd probably want to hose them down with sufficient force to get the worst stuff off before touching them first. Most of those cards have already paid for themselves, a couple of extra DOAs to cut decommissioning costs is a fair price to pay.

 

[jasonf2]

If you have 100 000 of these things in various states of griminess to take apart, you'd probably want to hose them down with sufficient force to get the worst stuff off before touching them first. Most of those cards have already paid for themselves, a couple of extra DOAs to cut decommissioning costs is a fair price to pay.

I am not disagreeing. I am just stating the right way rather than the cheapest way. Again just another reason not to buy used mining cards period.

 

[jasonf2]

Two things from The Peanut Gallery:

1. Philips Respironics made a Total Recall(TM) of most of their sleep apnea machines after it was discovered that giving the machines an "ozone bath" broke down the polyurethane on the hose connections and released carcinogens into the lungs of the users. I doubt these have anything that's polyurethane, just found it interesting.

2. I will never buy another NVIDIA GPU after Jensen Huang's comments that high graphics card prices are here to stay. Paying $1200 for a GPU used to be the equivalent of buying an entire top-end system sans graphics card. It's ridiculous and greedy. If AMD follows suit, then I'll just stay old + out of touch, but given NVIDIA's revenue was up 61% in 4Q 2021 to a record $5,000,000,000, with fiscal 2021 revenue up 53% to $16,680,000,000, this is pure greed at the expense of PC enthusiasts.

It is more than likely not "Ozone" and something lost in translation If it is someone is really putting ozone in there it is a mistake. Ozone, while an awesome disinfectant, creates a crazy high ORP figure and is highly corrosive. It also does nothing for TDS, which needs to be as near to zero as possible. It is great for spot water disinfection, because it is so reactive, has a crazy short half life (minutes), and kills organics like no other but I equate it more to something like a super high power short term chlorine bleach. The sleep apnea machines need that ability to be sanitized, old GPUs not so much and all you will do is cause card corrosion. The fact that it attacks an organic polyurethane is a no brainer. Something more akin to PFAs are needed to hold ozone.