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Knocking bits off a 7900GS (With pictures!)

Darg

Darg

Darg

Soldato
Joined
6 Sep 2006
Posts
6,302
Location
London
Okay, basic rundown of my current problem:

I have had my 7900GS for about two months now. Bought off a guy in MM and it turned up with a slightly bent PCB but worked fine so no real complaints there.

Anyway I got a P5N-E Sli (on my third now after the first two died) and I was trying different ways of fitting a 80mm fan to blow onto the Noctua NB I had installed.

One of these was simply hooking the fan onto the rear thumbscrews of my VF-900 gfx card fan. This worked perfectly and I was very happy after all the hassle I had trying to use plastic ties to get it hooked on to the Noctua NB.

Anyway on one of the several taking on and taking offs of this fan I knocked a resistor or capacitor off of it. I found it after I took the card off the P5N-E motherboard so at first I assumed it was from the faulty motherboard. Now it didn't kill the card straight away. I had it on my old Asrock motherboard and it was working away okay for a while but I started getting random crashes whenever I tried to use 3D apps and then they started happening in just windows and eventually my computer just refused to boot.

This is my first question:
Is this a resistor or a capacitor and does it matter which way round I soldered it? (and yes I know I'm not the best solderer but these are tiny :o )
resorcapki9.jpg




This is on the back of a memory section as you can see here:
resfaroutjw4.jpg


Second question:
Could this have permenently damaged the graphics card even after soldering it back on?



Okay.. I was trying anything I could think of to try and get the machine to boot. On one of my rummagings i managed to knock off a capacitor from around the power socket area. I soldered it back on after much effort and it seems to be stuck on the correct areas okay. Still no luck though and the machine still gives the 1 long and 3 short beeps of graphics card doom.

Capacitor:
deadcapcr1.jpg




Okay now I spell like burning and my heads a bit woozy from inhaling solder fumes. What I want to know is.. can it be saved? Should I try soldering the little guy on the other way round?

Is it time for a 2900XT?
 
i have no idea, but shall lend my support, get the newer faster card, you know you "need" it ;)
 
I know how to solve your problem, stop fumbling around in your motherboard case. I cant think how you can "knock" a capacitor off, they are quite sturdy. I am careful to the point of paranoia when handling my pc components with regards to electro-static discharge. Again I cant fathom how clumsy you have to be to start disintegrating your graphics card. Did u realise when u break it u have to wait a week for a replacement, and by replacement I mean new one; an RMA could take a month or more in bad cases.
 
Tom|Nbk said:
Oh dear.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry i killed your card :(


Thanks megatron. Actually I barely nudged the capacitor. It was always a bit loose since I got it in the post (it was only wrapped in bubble wrap). The other capacitors seem to be sturdy but that one was always a little dodgy.

As for the fan, it seemed like a great idea at the time :o
 
Done that a few times to a X800XT, but managed to solder them back on and it still works. :)

I also did this a few years back to a 9800Pro after attempting the "freezer-trick", which didn't work quite how I'd planned...

9800prooopsha8.jpg


never even attempted to fix that. :D

Oh well, always a good excuse for an upgrade.
 
I loved my 9800Pro, it's still purring away to itself in my gfs computer.

My 7900GS seems doomed though. I did my best with the soldering but it just doesn't seem to have worked. My dad said that those resistors can melt inside if you even try to solder them on yourself. and the capacitor got boiling hot even though I was only touching the base with the soldering iron.

Luckily though he brought home an old X600 from someone that didn't want it anymore in his work. Anyone know how these fare roughly?

Equal to my old 9800Pro?

And it seems my new P5N-E Sli motherboard is working for the time being. The fan on the X600 is killing my head though. Whiney as hell. Think I'll order the 2900XT tomorrow.
 
Those SMD components don't usually matter which way around they are connected - I've resoldered the 1mm ones before with success... however from a rough guess I'd say you applied heat too long and killed something else on the board...
 
Possibly Rroff, I was trying to be careful with the heat but our soldering iron is a pos and I needed to hold it against the solder at times to make it melt.

I've stuck a spare Zalman NB heatsink on the X600 to get rid of that incredibly annoying whiny fan. Got a 80mm fan blowing over the HS and memory atm and it seems to be running okay. Any way of checking temps on these cards? AtiTool doesn't show up. I didn't bother downloading CCC just the drivers. Would that show temp?

EDIT:

And also, I don't want my Zalman VF-900 cooler to go to waste. Can anyone tell me which, if any, of the newer cards could use it to get cooler/quieter. Am I right in thinking that all the DX10 cards so far need extra heatsink parts for VRMs or whatever?

What about the 1950XT/Pros?
 
So with your track record you started modyfing the x600 without having a backup card :) I admire your bravery.

I would just cut my losses and go order a new card, be it the 8800 or the 2900 its up to you mate. Although the fans on the 8800 are nice and quiet so you shouldn't have to go mod the card and possibly kill another gfx card ;)
 
It was quite simple to unclip the fan and heatsink from the card and the NB HS was able to fit on perfectly.

Can you recommend the 8800GTS 320? I see you have one yourself. Can it play all latest games at maximum settings? What's the fan like when it revs up high?

And what's it like for overclocking?
 
Darg said:
It was quite simple to unclip the fan and heatsink from the card and the NB HS was able to fit on perfectly.

Can you recommend the 8800GTS 320? I see you have one yourself. Can it play all latest games at maximum settings? What's the fan like when it revs up high?

And what's it like for overclocking?
Click to expand...


BFG 320 OC are nice cards mate :) just bought one for my GF
 
I'd probably just go for the cheaper Asus and overclock it myself. What are the differences apart from the warranty and the overclock?
 
I went with the cheapest of them all the OCUK, and its nice for me every game I thrown at it so far I had at the highest settings (1440x900 res as thats max for my TFT).

The fan is much quieter than my old HIS 1950 card, I haven't tried to overclock it yet as I don't need any more power right now :)

Save your money get the OCUK one :D
 
Trixxy said:
Done that a few times to a X800XT, but managed to solder them back on and it still works. :)

I also did this a few years back to a 9800Pro after attempting the "freezer-trick", which didn't work quite how I'd planned...

9800prooopsha8.jpg


never even attempted to fix that. :D

Oh well, always a good excuse for an upgrade.
Click to expand...
lol wtf is that looks like its goona take off in a mo :O
 
bit harsh! you know it doesn't work, so you are kind of hiding the truth, just say you cannot get it to work and want to get rid of it.
 
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