What are these liquid/oil on my graphics card pcb?

Kurt Ricarde

Honorable
May 5, 2013
100
0
10,680
I just got my r9 280x from ebay and i saw some wet parts on the back of pcb.. It is slippery, a little bit sticky and smells like an oil.. When i installed the graphics card, it is working great and no problem at all..
Do you know what are these liquid thingy on my graphics card? Should I clean it? And should I worry about it?
2n04zdv.jpg
 

Kurt Ricarde

Honorable
May 5, 2013
100
0
10,680
Thanks for the replies, ill just contact the seller coz he told me when the card is not working or has some problems, just return it to him and he will send another one..
More replies will be much appreciated.. thanks
 

bignastyid

Titan
Moderator


He bought it used, not new. I wouldn't be to surprised to find a stain on a used Mercedes(especially if it was a used Mercedes I could afford).
 

BigBadBeef

Admirable
To be honest, according to what I see of the stains, it looks more like cooking lard than anything else! XD

Anyways, did your seller include the warranty card with which you can it to the original vendor if anything goes wrong?
 

Kari

Splendid
on the bright side the staining is on the parts of the board where there arent any components/solder joints... which also leads me to believe it is not flux residue (flux residue shouldnt be sticky/slippery either afaik). try cleaning it with isopropanol or something.

also there seems to be quite a lot of empty screw holes, what sorta cooler does it have on it?
 

Kurt Ricarde

Honorable
May 5, 2013
100
0
10,680
Other forums said that its normal and could be a thermal pad leaking and will not affect the warranty but im still not sure if thats really the problem. I really need your help coz I dont know if it can burn my graphics card on the next few days.. As of now, my card is working great, doesnt exceed 75 celcius on full load..

206iicg.jpg

wqrf9u.jpg

2d8i1he.jpg

2ztk2fn.jpg


I think the oil is coming from under the metal bar..
 

Kari

Splendid
thermal pad leakage seems very plausible, did little googling and found for example this thread
http://forums.evga.com/GTX-580-back-plate-thermal-pad-leaking-m1262613.aspx
and that metal bar is cooling the vrms so it will have a pad underneath it, so that is likely the source of the oily stuff.

also those new images you posted show some flux residue as well, white powder like stains... 2 separate things going on it seems, neither should really be anything to worry about :)
 

Kurt Ricarde

Honorable
May 5, 2013
100
0
10,680
Thanks for clearing that up.. I was really worried about that and the card was about to be replaced by the seller.. The seller was worried too because he sold almost 5 cards with the same issue..
Could overheating be the cause of those oils coming from the thermal pad?
By the way, what can i use to clean those oily stuff?
 

Kari

Splendid
Well if that Jacob guy at evga says it is normal I dont think overheating comes into consideration since overheating wouldn't be normal... Maybe that is normal 'feature' for some type/model of thermal pads... (thou I haven't personally ever seen it)

You could use isopropyl alcohol, it is widely used in the industry to clean the boards during manufacturing.

edit
Other names
Propan-2-ol; Isopropanol; Rubbing alcohol; sec-Propyl alcohol; s-Propanol; iPrOH; IPA