Question I need advice after a water spillage on my Gaming PC ?

[Drevos]

Hi everyone,

I'm in a bit of a panic and hoping for some advice after a mishap with my gaming system. I have a wooden desk with seams, and my PC is directly below one. I stupidly left a glass of water (not tap water) on the desk while the PC was on, and my cats managed to knock it over. All the water poured right into the top of the case.

It seems the water mostly landed on the RAM side, likely missing the CPU, SSD, and PSU, but definitely got in to my RTX 4090 GPU, where it pooled on the PCB.

Here's what I did immediately:

• Turned off the PC and disconnected the PSU. (The PC seemed to be working fine up to this point).
• In a panic, I poured 99% isopropyl alcohol on the affected side of the motherboard and the GPU to displace the water. (Mistake: I didn't remove the CMOS battery or all PSU cables first).

Since then, I have:

• Removed the GPU, RAM and the CMOS battery and disconnected all PSU cables from the motherboard
• Placed a fan blowing into the open case (both sides)
• Turned on a heater in the room to reduce humidity
• Further cleaned the motherboard and GPU with isopropyl alcohol (without disassembling them)

I plan to leave the fan and heater running until Saturday before attempting to power the system back on.
My questions are:

1. How likely is it that the water has already caused significant or critical damage to the system?
2. How likely is corrosion to set in, and what steps can I take to prevent it?
3. Did I likely damage anything by applying isopropyl alcohol before removing the CMOS battery or all PSU cables?
4. Will the isopropyl alcohol have dissolved the thermal paste on my RTX 4090? Do you think it will be necessary to disassemble the GPU to clean and re-paste it to avoid future issues? I'm very hesitant to do this as I've never done it before and am worried about damaging such an expensive card.

I'm incredibly worried as this is my dream PC, which I just finished building, and I absolutely cannot afford to replace it. Any advice or insights you can offer would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

 

[QyInvoLing]

Do you have a friend to get some parts to exam if your PC parts are broken?

 

[Misgar]

I absolutely cannot afford to replace

Do you have a home contents insurance policy? This might include accidental damage. With some policies you get "replacement as new", even for items several years old. Check your policy and keep yourfingers crossed they don't increase the premium next year.

How likely is it that the water has already caused significant or critical damage to the system?

Any contaminants present in the water (picked up from the desk surface) would increase its ability to conduct electricity and potentially cause damage. No way to know.

How likely is corrosion to set in, and what steps can I take to prevent it?

I've seen pictures of corrosion ("fur") on CPU and DIMM gold plated contacts (bizarre) in sub tropical countries with over 90% RH, but you've taken drastic steps to reduce it. There's still no guarantee that metal frames around CPU/GPU chips will survive without rusting. Depends on the quality of the steel.

Did I likely damage anything by applying isopropyl alcohol before removing the CMOS battery or all PSU cables?

No more so than the initial drenching in water, but I've no idea about the conductive properties of IPA when mixed with water and other contaminants. At least the CMOS battery powers only a few components, but nonetheless...

Will the isopropyl alcohol have dissolved the thermal paste on my RTX 4090?

I suspect the thermal paste will have survived. You'll know if the GPU starts to throttle due to lack of TIM when you switch on.

Do you think it will be necessary to disassemble the GPU

I'd be inclined to disassemble the GPU to aid the drying out process, but stop short of removing the heatsink. Water droplets can stay hidden in nooks and crannies for ages. If you damage the thermal pads on the RAM and VRMs during this process, you may need to replace the pads.

You might consider putting the GPU in an oven at a (sensible) low temperature (below 100C) for a few hours. Any sign of tampering with the screw heads on the GPU might invalidate the warranty.. I'm not sure. Many people repaste their GPUs. I haven't.

Similarly, remove the CPU to dry out the socket. Remove the mobo from the case.

In future, seal the gaps in your desk and put the cats on leads. It won't stop you knocking over the glass yourself. Good luck.

 

[Drevos]

Do you have a friend to get some parts to exam if your PC parts are broken?

Unfortunately, I'm the most comfortable with technology among my friends/family/acquaintances, I've just never had to deal with this issue.

 

[Drevos]

Do you have a home contents insurance policy? This might include accidental damage. With some policies you get "replacement as new", even for items several years old. Check your policy and keep yourfingers crossed they don't increase the premium next year.


Any contaminants present in the water (picked up from the desk surface) would increase its ability to conduct electricity and potentially cause damage. No way to know.


I've seen pictures of corrosion ("fur") on CPU and DIMM gold plated contacts (bizarre) in sub tropical countries with over 90% RH, but you've taken drastic steps to reduce it. There's still no guarantee that metal frames around CPU/GPU chips will survive without rusting. Depends on the quality of the steel.


No more so than the initial drenching in water, but I've no idea about the conductive properties of IPA when mixed with water and other contaminants. At least the CMOS battery powers only a few components, but nonetheless...


I suspect the thermal paste will have survived. You'll know if the GPU starts to throttle due to lack of TIM when you switch on.


I'd be inclined to disassemble the GPU to aid the drying out process, but stop short of removing the heatsink. Water droplets can stay hidden in nooks and crannies for ages. If you damage the thermal pads on the RAM and VRMs during this process, you may need to replace the pads.

You might consider putting the GPU in an oven at a (sensible) low temperature (below 100C) for a few hours. Any sign of tampering with the screw heads on the GPU might invalidate the warranty.. I'm not sure. Many people repaste their GPUs. I haven't.

Similarly, remove the CPU to dry out the socket. Remove the mobo from the case.

In future, seal the gaps in your desk and put the cats on leads. It won't stop you knocking over the glass yourself. Good luck.

Many thanks!

I'm a bit out of my depth when it comes to repasting/repading a GPU. I have the Gigabyte Gaming OC 4090, but I'm not finding info on the thermal pads' thickness or the quantity I should buy for this purpose. I'm inclined to go with Thermal Grizzly's phasesheet for the core, but I can't seem to find PTM7950 Honeywell pads, so I'm not sure which to pick (I'm skeptical of the generic ones from Amazon... perhaps Gelid Extreme?). Still, I'm not even finding the exact dimensions I should be looking for.

 

[BFG-9000]

One of the used computer repair places I shop at routinely runs motherboards and cards used by smokers through a dedicated dishwasher before resale, as nothing works better for nicotine stains or smells. Apparently this is a common practice and Der8auer even has a video on it.

The trick is they must be completely unpowered when this is done and until completely dry, or ions in the water will conduct electricity to places that it shouldn't go to. Mineral water can be far more conductive than tap water + the only completely insulating water is distilled. And dish detergent contains lots of salt primarily to help soften hard water so is very conductive, but the dishwasher rinses very well.

 

[Drevos]

Thanks for all your answers. Small update:

• I've disassembled the GPU and most of the motherboard.
• Using a bit of distilled water on a soft toothbrush, I went over both PCBs (both sides) to clean any impurities carried by the spilled water and wood.
• I then sprayed isopropyl alcohol (99.9%) across both sides of the PCBs to further dilute impurities and accelerate the drying process.
• I used compressed air throughout these steps to further accelerate drying.

There wasn't much distilled water used (just what was on the toothbrush, and a spray or two very minimally over the MoBo), so it should all hopefully be completely dried by tomorrow afternoon. I'll also use more compressed air to ensure there's no liquid left. After I repaste the GPU with a Kryosheet and reassemble the components, I'll try testing them in stages to see if they work.

I did notice two tiny heaps of what looked like grayish dust on the die side of the GPU. The water didn't really get to this side, and while it didn't seem like rust or corrosion (as it wasn't adjacent to specific metal parts), I'm unsure what else it could have been. It seemed unusual for regular dust to accumulate like that. I managed to clean it away easily, so perhaps it's not a major concern. Aside from those heaps, everything seemed fine: no trace of physical damage, corrosion, or other issues on either PCB – at least none that appear to be caused by water damage, as far as I can tell.

Any additional tips before reassembling and testing?

Thanks again!

 

[Drevos]

Update 2:

I tested the system for about an hour and seems to work fine, so that's good news. However, the GPU's memory temp is rather high (it reached 92°C after playing only 5 minutes of Cyberpunk).

I'm not sure this could be due to water damage, but seems to me more likely that I used thermal pads that were thicker than ideal (1.5mm). They seemed to be the right size, but maybe I was wrong. I'm not even sure the areas where I replaced them were actually over the memory, so I need to research that. If anyone has any idea what the layout is for the 4090, I'd greatly appreciate the info.

Anyway, perhaps if I replaced those with 1mm pads things would improve? Everything else seems to be functional, so it's only a matter of fixing that issue for now, if I can. Any further ideas are welcome.

 

[Flayed]

If anyone has any idea what the layout is for the 4090, I'd greatly appreciate the info.

Which make and model of 4090 do you have?

 

[Drevos]

Which make and model of 4090 do you have?

Gigabyte Gaming OC

 

[Flayed]

Gigabyte Gaming OC

 

[Drevos]

Thanks! You sure this is the Gaming OC? Doesn't look like mine, and the pad sizes seemed more uniform than in the image. The only other post I found about this said they were all 1mm except for a couple of tiny 2mm pads in the recessions. I guess I can try replacing the ones I changed with 1mm pads, though I'm no longer particularly sure that thickness would have caused the exact temperatures I was seeing (since the die and hotspot seemed great).

 

[Flayed]

Thanks! You sure this is the Gaming OC? Doesn't look like mine, and the pad sizes seemed more uniform than in the image. The only other post I found about this said they were all 1mm except for a couple of tiny 2mm pads in the recessions. I guess I can try replacing the ones I changed with 1mm pads, though I'm no longer particularly sure that thickness would have caused the exact temperatures I was seeing (since the die and hotspot seemed great).

It says it is Gigabyte RTX 4080 4090 Gaming. I assume the OC is just a binned chip?
I got it from a Russian Telegram channel that is all the information I have.

You want to make sure you have the right size pads for the power regulation part I think.

 

[Drevos]

It says it is Gigabyte RTX 4080 4090 Gaming. I assume the OC is just a binned chip?
I got it from a Russian Telegram channel that is all the information I have.

You want to make sure you have the right size pads for the power regulation part I think.

Thanks for the info! I'll try and see if I can make it work

 

[Drevos]

Final update (hopefully): I used thermal putty instead of pads. The PC seems to be running fine now. I haven't tested much, but everything feels stable, temps are better than ever, and I can find no issues resulting from the water spill.

I will update this thread if my system suddenly dies or if I encounter some problem likely related to the spill. Otherwise, seems I got lucky.

Thanks, all!