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8800GTX oven method - phosgene gas risk?

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388
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You can google Phosgene. I read someone in one of the youtube baking vids saying theres a risk of Phosgene gas being released during the heating process. I've yet to find any solid evidence of how this gas is released from a graphics card board at high temperatures, does anyone here know of any truth to this? and if there is any risk to health present and to future use of food being cooked in the oven? I am hesitant to attempt the oven cook procedure for my faulty 8800GTX because of this now.
 
Okay I'll admit my chemistry knowledge is flaky and insubstantial at best, but how is phosgene formed in the context of a really hot graphics card? Is it there already (for what?)? Is there a substantial source of chloroform in the card or something? :p
 
Yeah think I will try it...

I found more on it from the youtube comments, seems from what someone is saying (and it it appears they know what they are talking about) there is no risk from this gas.

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overclockeador (2 months ago)

That's cool, but did you know that this generates Phosgene by the melt of the weldings?, if I were you, I wouldn't use that oven anymore, at least for coocking (because phosgene can kill you


neilbalanay (2 months ago)

fa real man..are you serious?mom used it recently..does it mean that we r'all gnna die..where did you get this info


overclockeador (2 months ago)

Search info about the phosgene, it can be generated by the melting of the weldings treated with Chlorine (the most of the weldings). So, if you breathe the smell of that graphic card in the oven, probably, you're contaminated with phosgene (and can cause severe lung damage). I'm not kidding, it's dangerous.


cyrix1986 (1 month ago)

I used to work in electronics. There is a lot of difference between solder reflow (which is what this process is) and welding. completely different alloys and method involved. And, nearly all cards 6 years old or newer are RoHS compliant. if you look on your card you can see the logo for RoHS. This means no lead or other environmentally dangerous elements. The fumes after reflow may smell bad, but you would need direct prolonged exposure (years) to large amounts of fumes to have any effect


IHaveAPodXTLive (2 months ago)

@neilbalanay I wouldn't worry about it. Hundreds upon hundreds of people have done this and reported their results on message boards and youtube. I have yet to see anybody complaining about lung issues or random deaths while making meatloaf.

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ok I've cooked my 8800gtx today following the advice in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_taI-CkPD3M

took heatsink fully off

preheated to gas mark 6 for 10-15 mins, face down in baking tray on foil sheet, one end with foil ball under (the pci-e power connectors) to make the card level. Cooked for 10-12 mins in middle of oven, felt extremely funny when I was putting the card into the oven lol

was very easy to do, the smell was quite bad though so had to have doors/windows open during/after for about 15 mins-30 mins and had oven door open after and I tried not to breathe any of that air. I let the card cool for about 30 minutes inside living room with windows open a little bit then put some mx2 on the gpu and put the heatsink back on.

put card back in machine, started ok first time, now in windows xp desktop (dont have to be in safe mode anymore not to crash) and no crashes, went in left 4 dead 2 and played a full vs game and no crashes or any weird behaviour - no coloured dotted lines/stripes on screen anymore, no black flashes or lock ups, it appears the card is behaving better than it was before the oven treatment as I kept having major crashes before in game. I may not tax it too much so will stick to medium settings even though my card can handle games on high at my res.

Not sure how long this will last but it might have got some more months use out of the card I hope before i make my mind up once nvidia come with their offerings and see what the prices do on both sides when I hope to move to 40nm then.

If anything bad happens I'll let you all know :)
 
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So.. I've had 3 months of use out of the card (along with some strange crashes in l4d2 at times) and am now back in safe mode with the sets of blue/yellow (depending what is on screen) of vertical lines, unable to run in full desktop mode as it crashes, blinking on and off, garbled junk on screen etc.

I am thinking of cooking it again tomorrow, I was going to wait to see how the gtx 460 and gtx 465 performed (have read the xbit article).. and still have 5770/5830/5850 on my radar. Sticking to my 19" lcd monitor at 1280x1024.

and oh yeah, I guess the gas never soft killed me in the end.
 
So.. I've had 3 months of use out of the card (along with some strange crashes in l4d2 at times) and am now back in safe mode with the sets of blue/yellow (depending what is on screen) of vertical lines, unable to run in full desktop mode as it crashes, blinking on and off, garbled junk on screen etc.

I am thinking of cooking it again tomorrow, I was going to wait to see how the gtx 460 and gtx 465 performed (have read the xbit article).. and still have 5770/5830/5850 on my radar. Sticking to my 19" lcd monitor at 1280x1024.

and oh yeah, I guess the gas never soft killed me in the end.

Do it. I baked my 8800gtx twice and it was fine although it only seems to last for two months inbetween baking and borking again.

It did run a bit hotter after the second baking but I don't think I put enough TIM on the chip when putting it back together.

It's now my backup card if the 5770 ever goes **** up.
 
You can google Phosgene. I read someone in one of the youtube baking vids saying theres a risk of Phosgene gas being released during the heating process. I've yet to find any solid evidence of how this gas is released from a graphics card board at high temperatures, does anyone here know of any truth to this? and if there is any risk to health present and to future use of food being cooked in the oven? I am hesitant to attempt the oven cook procedure for my faulty 8800GTX because of this now.

It will give off alsorts of toxic fumes, no way in hell would I do it.
 
It will give off alsorts of toxic fumes, no way in hell would I do it.

As said before, the cards all conform to regulations and thus it is pretty safe to say the fumes they give off are not toxic in any reasonable amount.

a. Not like a graphics card is big, or that any more than a tiny proportion of it will give off fumes- might smell funny, but swimming pools smell of chlorine, thats poisonous yet the amount does no harm.

b. You aren't burning it- so you arent gonna get many fumes anyhow.
 
I'm sorry but its stupid to assume its ok. Heating up a PCB will produce fumes and leave a residue in the oven. It could cause god knows what type of health problems.
 
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