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Any suggestions? (Dead XFX 6570)

Duff-Man

Duff-Man

Duff-Man

Soldato
Joined
24 Jun 2004
Posts
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Location
Manchester
I decided to build a new PC for my Dad, for his birthday, as his laptop is very slow to use these days. Nothing too fancy - a nice micro-ITX case (Lian Li), with an i3 2100, 4Gb and an SSD. From OcUK of course.

He won't be gaming on it, but he does some low-intensity CAD work from time to time, so I thought a 6570 would be a nice addition. I went for the XFX because it was fairly short (15.1cm - or so google led me to believe!), and a thin single-slot design, since vertical height is very limited in the case.

Anyway, when it arrived it came with a massive passive cooler that overhangs the PCB significantly, instead of the stock cooler, making it over 20cm long - a couple of millimeters too long to fit in the case. I didn't have time to send the card back under DSR as I'm heading up to see him tonight, so I took it into work yesterday to chop a couple of fins from the overhanging heatsink using a bandsaw.

I checked the card beforehand in a PC at work, and it was doing fine (30mins of Furmark and <60C temperatures isn't too bad for a passively cooled card). Post-surgery though, it won't display an output at all... Clearly I've damaged something... I can't think what I've done to damage it though. I completely covered the PCB region first to protect it, the card was never clamped, and I didn't touch any of the "delicates" on the back of the PCB. Obviously I can't return the card with a chunk of the heatsink missing (and nor would I, since its clear I damaged it somehow). So, at this point I have nothing to lose with it.

Does anyone have any bright ideas about things I can try - or even as to what could have caused the failure? I'd try the oven trick, but somehow I don't think dodgy solder is the issue...


edit:

Reference XFX 6570:




... and the passive version I received, with the cut I made indicated:

 
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The vibration of the bandsaw could have loosened something? Just guessing but I have to say lol Duff.

You are braver than I, as you would never see me take a saw to a PC component.
 
gregster said:
The vibration of the bandsaw could have loosened something? Just guessing but I have to say lol Duff.

You are braver than I, as you would never see me take a saw to a PC component.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I suppose vibrations are the most likely answer. The PCB is fairly well removed from the part of the heatsink I cut though, so I figured it would be okay.

I guess I would have been a bit more cautious if it were a £400 gaming card, but with a £55 card I was willing to take the risk. Guess it backfired. Damn my impatience :p
 
I'll give it a shot at some point - just wondering if anyone has any other options that I've not considered.

Like you say, I have nothing to lose. At the moment it's just a rather expensive paperweight :p
 
I hope you get it fixed mate. I know it was only £55 but that's an expensive paperweight you have.

Hopefully somebody will have a better soloution.
 
I certainly wouldn't have used a bandsaw, a disc/bench sander is easier to remove a few mills & far less stressful on the card.

Have used this method to lower the height on memory & graphic cards in the past.
 
Tried re-seating the cooler?

Also are you sure that it's the video card? Maybe you plugged the DVI/HDMI cable into the motherboard instead.
 
iBSOD said:
Tried re-seating the cooler?

Also are you sure that it's the video card? Maybe you plugged the DVI/HDMI cable into the motherboard instead.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I tried re-seating the cooler. I removed it mainly to check that I hadn't cracked the GPU heatspreader or anything.

The card didn't work in the machine I tried previously, nor in the mini-ITX box. The mini-ITX box will give an output through the motherboard, but only when the GPU is disconnected. With the GPU inserted I get no signal from either output.
 
Sweet Duff :D

It was a long shot but glad you got it going lol

Edit:

You teach me how a GPU works and I will teach you how to fix a sawn up one :D
 
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Yeah - I'm pretty chuffed. I was holding out literally no hope for the oven trick. It barely seemed worth the effort of re-installing the card, given how much faff it involves in a small case like this.

When the POST screen flicked onto the monitor I couldn't believe my eyes... Now I guess I wait to see how long it lasts!
 
Duff-Man said:
Yeah - I'm pretty chuffed. I was holding out literally no hope for the oven trick. It barely seemed worth the effort of re-installing the card, given how much faff it involves in a small case like this.

When the POST screen flicked onto the monitor I couldn't believe my eyes... Now I guess I wait to see how long it lasts!
Click to expand...

Should be good for quite a while I would imagine, as the card is new and all you did was put back a loose solder/chip.
 
:D
Tell Me with your intelligence you did not to remove the Heatsink FIRST !!

They use nasty cheap Alloy for those heatsinks so it will make loads of mess which will fly everywhere....More than likely shorting something out !

Suggest you buy a lotto ticket today, while your on a run ;)
 
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