So how HOT! is your GPU then?

[IAmATeaf]

Friend of mine at work emailed me to say he's having problems with his PC, random lockups and the thing eventually died. Asked him to bring it into work and I'd have a look at it when in the office next. Below is what I was greeted with:

Transpires that the he had the PC against the left side of his desk which completely blocked the CPU blowhole, this blowhole blows air out which then resulted in a mat of dust so it eventually got completely clogged. The only other fan he has is in the front which again is set to blow out so the temps rose in the PC, enough to melt the fan mountings on the GPU and then eventually blow the card up. Having a P4 3.6GHz didn't really help.

Tested the system and everything else works which is a miracle in itself, have ordered him a new card but I thought I might try and repair his current card so if anybody has an ATI X700 PCI-E could they post a pic of the component that's burnt out, please

 

[Dutch Guy]

At least you did not have to look for a long time before finding the problem

 

[Teaf]

Heh

You could have probably smelled the problem before even looking at the card

 

[Margaret]

My GPU turned into a nuclear explosion when I was playing BioShock.

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone!" - Splicer.

 

[PhillyDee]

Wow, never seen that before. I like how the fan must still have been spinning enough to stretch its mountings.

 

[Kanifee]

were are the VGA pins on the back of the vga plug?

 

[Nymins]

were are the VGA pins on the back of the vga plug?

They are there, but the VGA plug doesn't need as many of the DVI.

 

[Corasik]

The only other fan he has is in the front which again is set to blow out.

Front fan's should always be set to suck air into the case, as all except a very limited number of passive PSU,s contain exhaust fans which blow out from the back.

Having blow out set on both front and rear just kills the airflow through a case. In an ideal world you should have an equal number of entry, and exhaust fans working together, to make air flow. Not fighting against each other trying to create a partial vacuum inside the case.

Likewise, the blowhole for the CPU, most cpu fans draw air from above, and push it down over the cpu cooler. The blowhole is supposed to allow cold air from outside the case to feed the cooler directly. Not just another exhaust for hot air. Thats a complete waste imho.

 

[Dutch Guy]

were are the VGA pins on the back of the vga plug?

It looks like it is DVI only

 

[Corasik]

were are the VGA pins on the back of the vga plug?

They will be compressed into a very small area just underneath the blue plastic. Most video card PCB's squeeze the VGA pins on the very edge of the board, so that either a VGA port, or a DVI port can be installed.

You can see the connections for the top DVI port on the PCB, but a VGA port is fitted instead, and its connections are concealed underneath the blue plastic.

 

[Th3D0n]

I thought I might try and repair his current card so if anybody has an ATI X700 PCI-E could they post a pic of the component that's burnt out, please

its ****** no point tryin to fix it

 

[IAmATeaf]

were are the VGA pins on the back of the vga plug?

Yep the VGA pins are on the back of the card - I think

 

[snowdog]

were are the VGA pins on the back of the vga plug?

Squeezed inside the blue plastic, my 6800GS does the same.