Broken thumb screw for pci express card - What to do

apostolis_kt · 1 Mar 2021 at 11:54

Hello,

As per title, I managed to break a Coolermaster thumbscrew that screws the GPU on my C700P Coolermaster case. Cant imagine how many nice words I threw at it...

At the moment i have only one of the 2 screws holding the gpu, and its a quite heavy one a Vega 56 Nitro LM+. Mobo apparenlty can hold the weight but still.

Any ideas on how to remove the broken bolt, as there is not much space to put a drill in there?

Mr Evil · 1 Mar 2021 at 12:38

You could take a rotary tool with a small cutting disc, cut a slot in it (possibly on the other end, if it sticks out further there), then use a small flat screwdriver to unscrew it.

PinkFloyd · 1 Mar 2021 at 15:55

Is there enough of the screw protuding on either side to grab with a pair of pliers? That would be massively preferable to a rotary tool imo. As that's a dual slot GPU I'd not be overly worried though unless you break the other screw or are are constantly tramsporting your PC around without much care.

apostolis_kt · 1 Mar 2021 at 16:02

Mr Evil said:
You could take a rotary tool with a small cutting disc, cut a slot in it (possibly on the other end, if it sticks out further there), then use a small flat screwdriver to unscrew it.

Thought of doing that, but need to buy the tool hehe. I will check how much the screw is protuding as might not be enough.

PinkFloyd said:
Is there enough of the screw protuding on either side to grab with a pair of pliers? That would be massively preferable to a rotary tool imo. As that's a dual slot GPU I'd not be overly worried though unless you break the other screw or are are constantly tramsporting your PC around without much care.

I will check that as well although it was a really pain to move the screw and thats how it broke so i dont see how easily i can put pliers and move the damn thing.

Transporting is a laughing matter this thing is sooo heavy it feels it will break my back moving it 1 meter so that wouldn't be much of an issue.

Worried mostly because i plan to put a 3080 or 3090 whatever i manage to get (hopefully not the 90 as i can't justify the price) and worried one screw wont be enough. Mobo has some extra heavy duty pci express slot i pressume to hold heavy gpus (x570 master) but still dont want it to bent or anything.

Was thinking to put superglue with a screwdriver but worried it might break the glue before getting it out and might even make a mess there. Ill post a pic of the back in a bit.

JohnG7 · 1 Mar 2021 at 16:05

How can it be a pain to look at the rear of your case and see if it the screw sticks out a few mm, you could reach round and touch it from that photo? :confused:

PinkFloyd · 1 Mar 2021 at 16:05

Well, if you get a 3090.... Most (if not all) of them are triple slot so you get an extra screw to hold it anyway!

apostolis_kt · 1 Mar 2021 at 16:12

JohnG7 said:
How can it be a pain to look at the rear of your case and see if it the screw sticks out a few mm, you could reach round and touch it from that photo?

Was talking how it was a pain to screw the thumbscrew, possibly it got on an angle and then broke I guess.

Here is the pic, there is no protrusion you can see it in the middle, oh well...

JohnG7 · 1 Mar 2021 at 16:15

Well at least you looked, pity it was not sticking out as far as the one bellow it, easy to grip with mole(vice)grips)

apostolis_kt · 1 Mar 2021 at 16:20

JohnG7 said:
Well at least you looked, pity it was not sticking out as far as the one bellow it, easy to grip with mole(vice)grips)

That is true if it was protruding i had options. Especially the inside side is flush. For all my years of pc building and playing with them, I never had a screw break, this one broke on second try and they are really fiddly to put.

PinkFloyd said:
Well, if you get a 3090.... Most (if not all) of them are triple slot so you get an extra screw to hold it anyway!

I didn't know that haha. That is my excuse to the mrs then! "Sorry honey cannot buy the 3080 one because it will fall off the pc i got to spend 1400+ to make sure it is secure!"

Drumroll · 3 Mar 2021 at 21:55

Some vertical bracket that may screw on random slots may be an option, like the PHANTEKS or Cooler master, if you really need.

Kurgen · 4 Mar 2021 at 20:43

according to the manual the motherboard tray is removable , then you can drill it out. Or not worry about it , i woudnt be.. or buy a GPU support and put it on the next slots

thepfy · 4 Mar 2021 at 21:25

Could you try driving another screw in to push the broken bit out?

apostolis_kt · 5 Mar 2021 at 10:12

Kurgen said:
according to the manual the motherboard tray is removable , then you can drill it out. Or not worry about it , i woudnt be.. or buy a GPU support and put it on the next slots

Actually that sounds like a good idea, always had a crappy case so never crossed my mind the motherboard tray is removable. I actually installed everything the old fashioned way inside the case haha - going from a crappo claustrophobic case to this beast I didnt feel I was constrained to put parts in it.

thepfy said:
Could you try driving another screw in to push the broken bit out?

After you mentioned it I did try but there are no threads to catch on.

Looking to get a screw extractor that is tiny and will most likely do what Kurgen said and take the tray out.

I wasn't planing to get it out but it bugs me so much. Will let you know how it went

apostolis_kt · 11 Mar 2021 at 09:34

Well the only good news are, I managed to get a 3090 even though I wanted a 3080, and i feel the buyers remorse so bad.

Bad news, I tried everything and couldnt get the screw out, whats worse, i broke a second one!!! Now the new card is held by one screw and if i go back to a 2 slot one i will have a problem.

I was lazy and didnt try to get the motherboard tray out because of not wanting to undo the aio and other parts, I thought the tools would help me drill out the screw.
The screw extractor came with a tiny drill attachment for the size and i tried that but, being a noob with a drill, it just wouldn't drill or would get moved out of the way and hit the metal next to the bolt i was trying to drill.
And thats when i got frustrated and said to skip taking it out and I was fine with one broken in. Little did i know I would break another one!

I must be doing something wrong, its those thumb screws, but honestly none i try goes in by thumb, maybe if i am lucky at the start but will have to use screwdriver to get them in and thats how i broke them i guess.

MikeTimbers · 11 Mar 2021 at 11:21

are you sure they're the right thumbscrews? sounds like they're the wrong thread size

apostolis_kt · 11 Mar 2021 at 11:57

They are the screws that where at the pci slots on the case.

Mr Evil · 11 Mar 2021 at 12:55

It should take very little force to screw one of those in - little enough that you should be able to get them most of the way in with only your fingers. It's cramped around there though, so it can be easier to use a screwdriver, but if you find yourself applying more force than you could with fingers alone, stop and try realigning things.

A tip to avoid cross-threading: After first positioning the screw in the hole, turn it slowly backwards. Hopefully, you will hear or feel a subtle click, which is the threads aligning. You can then turn the screw forwards normally.

Also, it's pretty common for the brackets on the back of PCIe cards to not line up perfectly with the screwholes on the case. You can use one hand to gently push the bracket towards the back to help keep things in place while you put the screws in.

apostolis_kt · 11 Mar 2021 at 20:55

Mr Evil said:
It should take very little force to screw one of those in - little enough that you should be able to get them most of the way in with only your fingers. It's cramped around there though, so it can be easier to use a screwdriver, but if you find yourself applying more force than you could with fingers alone, stop and try realigning things.

A tip to avoid cross-threading: After first positioning the screw in the hole, turn it slowly backwards. Hopefully, you will hear or feel a subtle click, which is the threads aligning. You can then turn the screw forwards normally.

Also, it's pretty common for the brackets on the back of PCIe cards to not line up perfectly with the screwholes on the case. You can use one hand to gently push the bracket towards the back to help keep things in place while you put the screws in.

Could be thats what happened, the card wasnt properly aligned with the case and messed up. But I did try to screw one bolt without a pcie card, just on the case to see if it goes in and honestly it wouldnt go in with just fingers. I also always go backwards until it clicks and then start screwing.

Oh well any tips on how to drill the broken screws?

m4rmite · 15 Mar 2021 at 07:40

Superglue a small screwdriver onto the top of broken thread. Let it dry and unscrew.
Don't let the glue touch anywhere else though

apostolis_kt · 15 Mar 2021 at 09:16

So took out the card tried with the screw extractor tiny drill part and then the actual extractor just would not do it. It barely made a whole in the screw and I managed to break the tiny drill part.
Fed up with it. I'll try the super glue approach next time I will be bothered, works with one screw so I won't be swapping cards for a while. Hope I am not stuck to 3 slot cards from now on.

Thank you all for your help though I really appreciate it