replacing led's on gigabyte pcb gpu

[RamboOC]

Im doing a build log soon and one of the things i want replace are the led's on the pcb, i want to replace the green ones with blue
where can i buy some

 

[Remmy]

It will be quite fine work with a soldering iron so you'll need a fine tip.

The LEDs you need are called surface mount device/surface mount technology (SMD/SMT) LEDs as opposed to through hold LEDs, and you should find some if you Google that.

SMD components come in various sizes, so try to accurately measure the ones you will be replacing to help you order the correct size.

Depending on your location, you should be able to get these types of components from like likes of Rapid, Farnell, Digikey etc.

SMD components are cheap as chips anyway, so you could order a selection of sizes or specs or whatever, and see which would suit the application best.

On my next build I want to replace the green through hole motherboard LED, it drives me insane, but I've never though about replacing SMD LEDs before

 

[ShaunB-91]

And if you measure it, have your rig powered off, unplugged it if has metal on it!

 

[SuB]

And if you measure it, have your rig powered off, unplugged it if has metal on it!

That sounds like the voice of experience ?

I have to say I'll be mega impressed with the solder work if you do this would love to see you how you do it I can think of loads of stuff I want to do this to! Do post piccars

Do they light up with the more power is used or something? Not seen these on any PCB's that I have

 

[ShaunB-91]

That sounds like the voice of experience ?

Nope but I reckon its something I'd possibly forget to do myself until afterwards and think fffffffff.

 

[tinytomlogan]

This would be a job for a pro tbh - otherwise my spidey senses are telling me there are borked GPU's in your future

 

[Remmy]

SMD soldering is quite hard, but there's good guides on YouTube. Probably shouldn't post links but there's a great 3 part soldering tutorial by Dave Jones from the EEVBlog, the SMD section is part 3.

 

[Feronix]

Kudos if you pull this off

...Dead GPU if you don't :s

 

[SPS]

Is there not a backplate available?

 

[Silverstone-Z]

Get a fine soldering tip. It's a relatively simple and straight-forward job if you have a steady hand. I've replaced SMDs on many different things, mostly consisting of automotive gauge clusters. However, if you don't feel 100% confident in your abilities, don't do it... unless you can afford to throw away the item in question.

My source for 99.9% of my LEDs is Mouser Electronics. www.mouser.com
Be sure to get the polarity correct if applicable when soldering it on.

Edit: I have a soldering tip that I ground down to an extremely fine point for precision work like this. Find a fine soldering tip and grind it down even more. Just a suggestion for you.

 

[Wraith]

I don't envy your future task, I replace blown 50Ohm R9 resistors on GHD hair straighteners and they are the size of half a grain of rice so not a job I enjoy doing.

 

[RamboOC]

Now I see that this can be difficult, and I never used a solder on such a small component. I don't have money for new GPU so I don't want to risk it too much as I need to upgrade my CPU, so I think I will stick with the green LEDs.
However I think I will replace my motherboard light as it looks like a much easier job.
Yes, there are 12 LEDs on my PCB, and 1 lit led indicates that 1 power phase is being used (my GPU has 12 power phases. The more power GPU uses, the more power phases will become active, so it sort of can indicate load

Thanks for the input

 

[Wraith]

Could you not make a dark blue acrylic back plate instead? It would glow through as a blue-ish colour. Just a thought.

 

[SuB]

Yes, there are 12 LEDs on my PCB, and 1 lit led indicates that 1 power phase is being used (my GPU has 12 power phases. The more power GPU uses, the more power phases will become active, so it sort of can indicate load

You realise the potential for a blue => green => yellow => orange => red power meter type thing is quite high there?