My god what have i done to my gtx 780 ti?! Help

[TheMadHatta]

So i got a gtx 780 ti with the evga super clocked setup that has the ACX air cooler on it. I was lucky enough to receive an NZXT kraken g10 early on since i pre ordered in the first week of december.

I ran into trouble with the screws being too short, another person on another forum helped me figure out that we need to remove the black rubber mini washers to get enough room which worked great, but i have another g10 on the way and another identical 780 id like to not ruin if i have indeed ruined this first one X(

Sorry for the lack of grammar...

So heres some pics, but first ignore the fact that the thermal paste isnt spread properly due to the acx cooler plate barely getting in the way which i might mod/fix. Im also including a photo of my normal cpu/gpu cleaning and heatsink replacing/swapping kit, the cloths are non alcoholic(wet) and lint free(dry and or both?) so i use those along with the arcticlean.










There is a clear trading card protector(hard) in this last pic, thats what i use for tinting the cpu surface, or at least i used to since ive moved from AS5 to prolimatechs PK3.


So what happened, is the card shot?
I believe (from what i read) that those are capacitors and i have to use some sorta non conductive thermal compound which the pk-3 is, and all those lil things around the gpu were caked in whatever the original compound evga used with the ACX coolers.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Im no expert but that doesnt look good.

Im not sure what you expect us to say when we are blatantly going to ask you if it still works?

 

[barnsley]

Yep. RIP. Looks like they got fried from static or something. personally I'd never have used the wipes.

 

[Rogster]

have you tried cleaning it all up & putting the stock cooler back on to see if it works?? looks like bacon has been cooking in that corner

 

[SuB]

If you ran that GPU with the paste applied like that.. then it's been over-cooked.

That looks like an exploded cap or other component due to heat. I'd almost say it looks like the GPU has boiled it off and killed it.

That paste is nothing like properly applied. If you've run that card like that then I'm not surprised that it's exploded like that at all. This card is more than likely dead, and you're gonna have to take it on the chin, no-one will accept that back as an RMA either (before any of you even suggest it, that's fraud).

That right there is an ex-780Ti dude

 

[SparkleDJackson]

whatever you do do not do what you have don to the next one. leave it stock or return and get one you can get a proper block for and do it right. i usually do a test fit with new components to see what is required to get a good spread of paste. this isnt spread at all. does the acx have a proud section for making contact with the chip because that silver ring around the outside looks pretty much flush. i cant image the thing was even rigid the way the paste is. was it just flopping about on the card.

 

[TheMadHatta]

of course i cant rma it lol, like id dare, but thanks for being so politely straight forward sub, and no im not being sarcastic.

i figured it was shot, weird thing is with the g10 the card still lets me boot up and run windows, it kept rebooting but im able to hang out in win7 normally, i bet ya anything itll crash the sec i run 3dmark tho.

how can i prevent this from happening on my other 780 or any other card for that matter?

on a side note, yes theyre bunked, saw smoke when i booted up, and i thought it was my cable routing so my dumb a** went and booted again, more smoke and burnt smell, and tried a 3rd time to locate it each time messing with cable routing cutting zip ties etc, thinking maybe it was under the acx cooler plate... X(

as for the thermal paste yeah i was mentioning it was not properly done since the acx cooler plate which i thought didnt block the g10s waterblock or what have you, actually is blocked partially but just barely by the acx coolers base plate, i had tested it with AS5 and no heatsinks but with the plate and the paste spread out perfectly but i can see now thanks to this whole ordeal that yeah.... pretty f***ed lol

anyways, what do you guys think about the base plate installed tho with the g10, say it didnt get in the way of the waterblock (like if i took dremel to the 4 tiny parts that get in the way, 99% of that base plate would remain intact, this way the g10 when properly installed cools the card well, the plate cools the vram and vrm and heatsinks are even applied on the base plate directly on top of the thermal pads that are between the vram & vrm and the underside of the acx cooler base plate... do you guys see any holes or possible problems in that last wall of text?

my plans atm are to install my other unopened kraken x40 on the card that still works after taking the dremel to the acx plate from the busted card, then to get another 780 ti probably with the acx cooler since its the same price on amazon and then do the same with that card...

opinions opinions opinions, bad or good, i need opinions, and of course ty ty ty for everything guys =)

 

[SuB]

the silver shim will be exactly the same height (or slightly lower) than the core. the issue here looks like it's colliding with the black metal plate, which has basically knackered it because it's cooked itself off.

 

[barnsley]

my plans atm are to install my other unopened kraken x40 on the card that still works after taking the dremel to the acx plate from the busted card, then to get another 780 ti probably with the acx cooler since its the same price on amazon and then do the same with that card...

opinions opinions opinions, bad or good, i need opinions, and of course ty ty ty for everything guys =)

Get a basic 780ti, I know EVGA do a cheap one with their blower cooler. No point on getting the ACX if you're going to put a kraken on it...

 

[TheMadHatta]

whatever you do do not do what you have don to the next one. leave it stock or return and get one you can get a proper block for and do it right. i usually do a test fit with new components to see what is required to get a good spread of paste. this isnt spread at all. does the acx have a proud section for making contact with the chip because that silver ring around the outside looks pretty much flush. i cant image the thing was even rigid the way the paste is. was it just flopping about on the card.

ill include some new pics and edit one of my posts if someone doesnt reply before then, youll see that there are 4 posts going towards the gpu itself from the acx base plate, if the card had not come with the acx cooler what would have happened is the heatsinks would have gone right on the vram and vrm and the g10 block would fit perfectly onto the gpu... that was my first time using pk3, ive been using AS5 for ages till recently when i read how outdated and bad of a rep its getting on forums, ive read theres no such thing as too little thermal paste (i call BS but could be half true about AS5) and ive read theres no such thing as too much paste, i just didnt know how much was needed since every one says grain of rice and i did way more, and im not used to the thicker pk3 and no tinting of the surfaces, donno if tinting works for other thermal compounds besides arctic cools line of compounds/pastes

 

[ShaunB-91]

Holy moly, that poor 780Ti!

 

[SuB]

Don't dremel anything near that card you'll get shards of conductive metal all over the place. I'd honestly give this up as a bad job and put it down to experience

 

[TheMadHatta]

you can see a bit of the metal on one of the 4 posts (the right one) it got rubbed raw from the cooler....

but im wondering if the block is still okay cuz its not bent or anything and thats so far away from the gpu itself, do you guys think the g10 & its block are still good to go?



heres more pix including one of the still working card in the build im using to type with right now...

 

[Meladath]

Looks totally ballsed to me. Send it back, hope you kept the warranty sticker and put it back on right. No idea why you bought anything other than the stock card if you have intentions of watercooling? Bound to run into problems like that imo.

Hope you get a refund

 

[Remmy]

At least we have a thread for this kind of stuff...

http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=55166

 

[TheMadHatta]

lmao had no clue we had a fml thread, im gonna be using that plenty with my awful luck... its been rather good lately.... till well you know QQ lol

The warranty sticker was never tampered with and is still on the back of the card itself, i can easily reassemble it and then contact evga about it i did register it the day i got it so i have the warranty, i just dont think they will quite care about me if i send them the card in that condition even with the original cooler... although it does still work with that cooler, just too much heat and it shuts 'er down...

whats the vote, should i even try sending it in?????

 

[SuB]

Looks totally ballsed to me. Send it back, hope you kept the warranty sticker and put it back on right. [...] Hope you get a refund

You're encouraging illegal behaviour...

Consider this a warning, unless you're joking..

@OP: DO NOT stick it back together and send it back... serious fraud if you do... EVGA aren't stupid and will see the damage on the gpu, the surrounding components AND the metal bracket, it won't take much to figure it out.


Ontopic: The cooler looks fine, but I still wouldn't risk putting it any where near your other GPU, and I wouldn't cut the metal bits off either. It's not compatible without modification and those modifications are going to break your other card.

 

[Dicehunter]

I'm curious as to why you removed the ACX cooler in the first place, It does a good job of cooling, I know it dumps the air inside your case but if you have good ventilation that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Silverstone-Z]

It looks like the die was never properly cleaned in the first place, leaving a bunch of thermal paste behind around the die. As "non-conductive" as the previous paste might have been... it could have shorted something. Go above and beyond to make sure the part you're dealing with is cleaned 100%.

As far as "tinting," it needs to be done with GPUs.
CPUs are arranged in a way that their cores are centralized or located in a certain manner. GPUs use a lot larger piece of the die.

 

[JR23]

Ok now i'm beginning to understand where the Poseidon fits in the graphics card market.

Just accept you truly noobed it sell the cooler and card as spares and find a better solution that's actually compatible. I will help you out and buy the EVGA fans off the ACX cooler if you want. It's a sad day for hardware

JR