Re-flowing the solder on a GPU

Klo · 18 May 2017 at 15:06

Hi,

My graphics card has died, more out of interest than anything else I was wondering if anyone had any experience in re-flowing the solder on the card to make it work again (at least for a little)? I've watched and read a few tutorial, but interested to see if anyone had any tips or things to look out for. I don't really feel like burning down the house today!

Thanks!

wedrum · 18 May 2017 at 15:17

for it to last it needs to be reballed.
i would not bother tbh.

Klo · 18 May 2017 at 15:22

wedrum said:
for it to last it needs to be reballed.
i would not bother tbh.

Well given it's dead I thought it a fun little project. If it doesn't work, nothing lost (apart from lung cancer maybe), but if I can get another 30-90 days out of it or whatever, I can perhaps wait until Vega before buying a new one! It's only a AMD 7870, so high mid range from 5 years ago, nothing super high end.

wedrum · 18 May 2017 at 15:24

blast it with a heat gun then

Gregster · 18 May 2017 at 15:47

Klo said:
Well given it's dead I thought it a fun little project. If it doesn't work, nothing lost (apart from lung cancer maybe), but if I can get another 30-90 days out of it or whatever, I can perhaps wait until Vega before buying a new one! It's only a AMD 7870, so high mid range from 5 years ago, nothing super high end.

Strip the heatsink and clean off all the old TIM, make sure there is no plastic bits at all, place on a baking tray, pre-heat the oven to 200c (180c fan oven) and bake for 10 mins, let it cool, for an hour and then re-attach the cooler (using new tim) and fingers crossed, it will work. It has worked for many people but it isn't a long term fix.

LeMson · 18 May 2017 at 15:48

Try baking, it doesn't work now so nothing to lose

leemk · 18 May 2017 at 17:04

I baked my R9 270 in the oven , just to make sure it worked i baked it on gas mark 8 for 20 mins , all the round silver things fell off, needless to say never bothered testing it.

Gregster · 18 May 2017 at 17:07

leemk said:
I baked my R9 270 in the oven , just to make sure it worked i baked it on gas mark 8 for 20 mins , all the round silver things fell off, needless to say never bothered testing it.

You did it too long. The idea is to heat up all the 'silver bits' to the point that they are not melting off but more reflowing

leemk · 18 May 2017 at 17:11

Gregster said:
You did it too long. The idea is to heat up all the 'silver bits' to the point that they are not melting off but more reflowing

Hehe , realised that afterwards , and gas mark 6 is 200c

Gregster · 18 May 2017 at 17:41

Haha

deFiniLoGy · 18 May 2017 at 18:36

Actually I wanna ask for a while...

Would baking the card make the card smell like bacon?

Or will it make your bacon smell like the card... lol

AiiR · 18 May 2017 at 19:01

deFiniLoGy said:
Actually I wanna ask for a while...

Would baking the card make the card smell like bacon?

Or will it make your bacon smell like the card... lol

Personally, I wouldn't want to do this is the oven I used to cook the Sunday lunch due to fumes. :rolleyes:

0h_no_not_again · 18 May 2017 at 19:05

Totally doable in an oven or with a heat gun.

Since GPU's are generally double sided placement (components on both sides) you want to suspend the whole card it by the edges where there are no components.

Make sure the GPU is dead flat. Remove any stickers. Place whatever side up has any heavy looking surface mount (no pins through the board) components on. Sometimes things will fall off the back side, or you get R's and C's standing straight up (tomb stoning).

Put a layer or two of tinfoil on parts of the card (insulating it a bit), exposing a good 1cm around the GPU (front and back). This is important to protect any passives, like capacitors, which don't like being hot.

I would pre-heat the oven to 200C-220C, as you want to try and hit something close to a re-flow temperature curve such as the one given here:
https://hobbybotics.com/projects/hobbybotics-reflow-controller-v8-03/

Throw it in, leave it for ~300sec. Turn oven off, crack the door (I dunno how much, maybe 5cm and leave for 20 minutes. You want the temp to drop to below 150C pretty quickly, then let it sit for 20 mins to cool slow as. If you remove the GPU or throw the door wide open you'll likely crack components, solder or de-laminate the board.

Might be an idea to put the GPU at the back of the oven to prevent a draft from hitting it and fracturing all the components/solder

Have fun!

Klo · 18 May 2017 at 20:15

Thanks everyone for the instructions, it worked!

Hopefully it lasts long enough to see what Vega has to offer then it might be time for an upgrade.

Gregster said:
Strip the heatsink and clean off all the old TIM, make sure there is no plastic bits at all, place on a baking tray, pre-heat the oven to 200c (180c fan oven) and bake for 10 mins, let it cool, for an hour and then re-attach the cooler (using new tim) and fingers crossed, it will work. It has worked for many people but it isn't a long term fix.

Many thanks, pretty much what I did. Got a mild headache from the solder fumes but I'm sure that's fine right?

It's actually running cooler than before!

nomadd · 18 May 2017 at 20:31

Klo said:
It's actually running cooler than before!

Should've put the whole PC in, then.

leemk · 18 May 2017 at 20:47

AiiR said:
Personally, I wouldn't want to do this is the oven I used to cook the Sunday lunch due to fumes.

Never smelt anything when mine was overcooked.

Gregster · 18 May 2017 at 23:30

Klo said:
Thanks everyone for the instructions, it worked! Hopefully it lasts long enough to see what Vega has to offer then it might be time for an upgrade.

Many thanks, pretty much what I did. Got a mild headache from the solder fumes but I'm sure that's fine right?

It's actually running cooler than before!

Good stuff!

Dirk Diggler · 19 May 2017 at 00:03

Could someone explain what just went on in here!?

Why did it need this treatment, does solder deteriorate? I've never experienced this as the longest I keep a GPU is about 6 months!

Seriously, I'm interested.

AiiR · 19 May 2017 at 01:01

String said:
Could someone explain what just went on in here!?

Why did it need this treatment, does solder deteriorate? I've never experienced this as the longest I keep a GPU is about 6 months!

Seriously, I'm interested.

Over time, very small microscopic cracks can form in the solder that connects all the components on the PCB. Putting the card in the oven at a certain temperature softens the solder so it reforms and fills the cracks in which can fix the card.

Doesn't work every time, but has been proven to work in some cases as this thread demonstrates! I would only ever do it on a card that has no warranty left, and I'd be hesitent to use it in the same oven that I cook food in.

james.miller · 19 May 2017 at 01:25

Louis Rossman did a great video on reflowing called Reballing a Dead Horse, worth watching.