Broken 5870 - Anything worth salvaging?

[GoogalyMoogaly]

So, I decided I was going to watercool my 5870.
It had been working fine, but I decided not to leave it alone ("If it ain't broke, tweak it!!")
The result was that after I fitted the EK waterblock it all looked lovely. The process had it's tricky moments but I was quite pleased. So I plugged the card in, connected up the tubing, leak tested it, all good. Turned the PC on and the monitor went to standby
Did a bit of fiddling, tried different DVI ports, different power cables, everything I could think of but the card doesn't want to work. Took it out, re-atached the air cooler. Still didn't work. Different PC, noting. lent it to a friend, no luck either.

So basically I have a dead card that, other than not actually working, seems in perfect condition.
Is there anything worth salvaging from it? Anything worth trying to sell?

It's one of the really early Sapphire reference 5870s with reference cooler. Before I broke it it ran lovely and didn't strike me as being loud.

Is there a market out there for the reference HSFs?
Do people buy the faulty cards to use for spare parts?

Cheers.

 

[Purgatory]

Is it still under warranty ? If so put it back together with the ref cooler and see if sapphire maybe nice enough to fix it, try to RMA it 1st. Also have a good look at the card for knocked components or thermal paste shorting parts of the circuit board. Also worth a shot to try it without a cooler on quickly, you may have over tightened the screws shorting something or cracked a circuit line and this is causing it to play dead. Check for circuit breaks near the screw holes, if you find a break a soldering iron may bring it back to life.

 

[spleenharvester]

Could always reflow it too if you're certain it's died.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Is it still under warranty ? If so put it back together with the ref cooler and see if sapphire maybe nice enough to fix it, try to RMA it 1st. Also have a good look at the card for knocked components or thermal paste shorting parts of the circuit board. Also worth a shot to try it without a cooler on quickly, you may have over tightened the screws shorting something or cracked a circuit line and this is causing it to play dead. Check for circuit breaks near the screw holes, if you find a break a soldering iron may bring it back to life.

Not actually sure about the warranty. I bought it as part of a pre-built system that had 1 year warranty, I guess it could have longer warranty direct with Sapphire, not sure how I'd find out.

Could always reflow it too if you're certain it's died.

Is this the infamous 'oven trick'?

 

[panyan]

Is this the infamous 'oven trick'?

yep

 

[d_brennen]

I had a 4850 die in a similar fusion. Changed the stock cooler for an AC Twin Turbo and it refused work at all. Done many cooler swaps so Im sure i didn't do anything wrong. Put the old cooler back on and RMA'd it to Sapphire...

 

[Cleeecooo]

Martini1991 just RMAd a card to sapphire which had had a block on it. Said it was fine.

Try emailing/calling sapphire regarding warranty. They usually have 3yrs and the 5870 hasn't been out 3 I dont think!

 

[Purgatory]

Not actually sure about the warranty. I bought it as part of a pre-built system that had 1 year warranty, I guess it could have longer warranty direct with Sapphire, not sure how I'd find out.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/support/?cid=3&psn=000203&lid=1


RMA/Warranty
Sapphire VGA products carry a 2 year warranty with all enquires carried out through your initial place of purchase. This can only be carried out by the original purchaser Please contact your Dealer/Reseller for Warranty / RMA service. They will require proof of purchase which includes the original invoice/documentation.