Vaping Juice condensation Maybe killed my 1080

[platinum87]

Right so long story short, My PC was, or still is partially, completely soaked in vape juice.

This is after years of vaping (and some smoking also).

So what happened today is my screen went green entirely. Feels like the GPU is acting up.

I cleaned it as best i could, no more dripping juice inside the case etc.

It worked fine again, and i was hopeful, unfortunately, just gaming now my screen went white and it could not turn on. Error code on my Maximus VIII was B2, which is either the ram or the GPU according to google.

I have removed the 1080, as it would not start up again.

I guess everything seems to be fine with the card outside. I will see if that is true the rest of tonight and tomorrow before trying to put it back in.

My main question is, if the fault is e-liquid all over the GPU, if i were to disassemble it, clean it with alcohol etc and put it back together, will it be fine, or is it a case of when its broken its done and there is no going back?

The next question is, if i consider the original 1080 to be overpowered, what GPU would you recommend?

 

[platinum87]

Cleaning it is a depends. If the juice is conductive it could be causing a partial short somewhere, possibly pulling a line down to ground where it shouldn't be, and removing it would help if that hasn't caused damage. If power is applied through the juice it may have corroded components on the card which again cleaning could help unless it's damaged a component. Too hard to say if it's worthwhile or if it's even caused the damage. If you don't think you'll get warranty on it then what is there to lose?

Will not be bothering with warranty, I bought it in 2016 or so, Most likely expired, nothing to lose sure, no idea how i will even remove the coverings lol, looks like i need a bent screwdriver

Please dont tell me you have your PC at head height on a desk next to you whilst doing your vaping etc.
PC's have fans in them. They suck in air. I dont think I need to say anything else.

Yes exactly. Everything would be fine if i just cleaned it say once a month. Its been years.

However it does not matter where in the room the PC is, over enough time it will get in.

I said this over a year ago.

If you have an air cooler, it condensates on that and then drips onto the GPU. I no longer vape in the house for this reason.

I do have a balcony, but ultimately i do it for a while and then just smoke or vape in my room eventually.


I'm looking at a RTX 2060, I will probably order one in the next couple days, unless any recommendations, Dont really want anything cheaper as, it will be lasting for years (or until vape juice death).

 

[platinum87]

My window is permanently open, I prob smoke 15ml per day or so.

My phone camera is near dead also would be too low quality you to show anything.

I have taken apart the 1080. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RQEqwz-HZ8

2min 34 sec of that video, where you see that white LED strip, looked like someone spat there almost exactly like that mental image you have

All other parts of the card were clean.

It does not appear to be corroded at all, I smoke 80% VG, all other stuff is flavoring no idea what is part of that, except its PG based.

All in all it seems to act like oil, certainly it does not dry up i do not see any corrosion whatsoever.

I have cleaned it with tissue and earbuds as best i can and have put it back together.

I'm not in the mood to test it until 8pm or so as i have things to do. I don't have any IPA.

Didn't touch the thermal paste just put it back as is, i believe it should be fine.

I guess if it does not work i'll order a 2060?

 

[platinum87]

not re-applying paste after taking apart wont do the card any favors, breaking the bond will affect the cards temp and you'll likely see high or very high temps to the point the card may overheat and your screen will go black, its always good practice to use paste after taking coolers off to avoid any problems.



likely the gpu is overheating so you need to take the card apart again and re-apply thermal paste, probably the stuff that was applied has dried up, check the pads too, if any are dry they need replacing too.

if the above doesn't work it could also be down to a bad display out on the back of the card, easiest way to check is move the display cable over or if you have a spare try that as the cable your using could be on the way out too.

I'm pretty sure it will be fine. However i have not tested the card since i have disassembled it. Certainly it has not overheated so far.

The lack of a photo does seem strange, considering phone cameras from a decade ago are good enough.
I literally sit breathing out vape directly onto my monitor so it all bounces off it, and there is none on it what so ever after the couple of years ive had them. The dust on top of it is dry too. External window is the only place i get build up of any residue. The worst I had it was after about 7 years (my blinds are always shut) and my friend asked if i got the build up, and i discovered that I do, but it still wasnt dripping.forming droplets. Thats with a similar amount (~12ml a day, of 50/50 vg/pg to 100vg, mixing my own).

but its irrelevant to the actual question about fixing the gpu, so doesn't matter beyond being a weird thing to make up if thats the case, or something going wrong if its not made up. Sub ambient cooling would cause it, because thats so common

I hope it works out op, with no IPA, do you have any TIM cleaner? thatll do the job too. or acetone (nail varnish remover). basically any solvent that will evaporate without leaving residue. As for not repasting, while it can technically cause issues with temp, it should still work "ok" enough at least for testing purposes.

Its strange people would think i am making this up. As i have said the quality on my phone camera is extremely bad its damaged, glass smashed etc, in addition i have cleaned it now.

From cleaning the GPU, it was fine, literally only that one place where the LED strip is is where the juice was, it is not evenly distributed over the entire card.

My best guess is that it has dripped from the radiator directly above (corsair 115i CPU cooler).

The level of vape fog was that i cannot see through the glass to read the corsair logo on that cooler, or even " HX750" which is on the PSU, about 1 inch from the glass.

I had cleaned that many times. And yes i figured this will end up being a problem, the dripping did catch me by surprise.

Anyway i will get back to work now, and test the now cleaned GPU in a few hours.

If it crashes again, i will just buy a 2060 right away and hopefully OCUK can get it delivered by the weekend.

 

[platinum87]

Have you considered its not actually 'vape juice' but the coolant from your 115i?

The front of the case, fans + the mesh, the state they were in, is consistant with vape juice overload, coolant does not fit.

In addition, the drip must explain it, the card is cut out where the LED is, allowing for droplets to soak in there and hit the PCB below it.

If you put VG in the fridge it becomes super thick, but at higher temperatures it behaves like water.

My theory is a build up which is stable in the radiator drips when gaming or higher temperatures occur.




I did the above and got the temp to 70

Currently temperature is 35degrees, fans are not running at all.

The temp was at a max fan speed of 55%.

A 2nd run went to 67 , Seems stable using those settings above.

I cannot remember my temps but this appears to be normal from what i can gather.

Two runs of superposition is not enough obviously, so just assume i will be gaming a minimum of 6-8hours per day, while spending the rest of the time just on the PC.

If i do not post further it means everything is fine.

I hope this has amused you.

Further information to those who also vape. Keep in mind normally i would be working 6 days per week. I've been furloughed since 6th April (with even reduced hours 2 weeks before that).

So i can assume the amount of vapor is probably triple than what it used to be, causing it to finally be enough to actually drip on the card.

 

[platinum87]

Right so to update, played DOTA2 all last night, went to sleep very late, played a couple of games this morning.

Went to the kitchen, came back, screen was black.

Took it apart again, cleaned it again as best i could, put it back, seemed to work.

Screen went white pretty quickly, didn't get into any game.

Have now ordered a 2060 from OCUK, and have officially, given up on this 1080.

If anyone wants the card, you can have it. If you are willing to pick it up at notting hill gate tube station.

 

[platinum87]

So don't leave us all hanging or anything! What was the exciting conclusion? Did your 2060 sort it in the end or has your mighty plumage taken out more than you thought?

Looking over this thread recently, to update.

1) The 1080 is sitting in the box here, 2060 works well, lucky i bought it before cryto mining explosion.

2) Vape juice killed my PSU, (Corsair HX 750i), probably one month or so after... bought a exact one immediately (only 1 in stock on OCUK), the old one is also sitting in a box.

Good thing is, as its modular, i didn't touch any cables, just swapped out the PSU itself.

I considered making a thread about that but couldn't be bothered.

3) Now i vape out of the window in the kitchen, or close enough

 

[platinum87]

Did you ever try the 1080 again after swapping the PSU? Maybe the PSU had just gone unstable all along?

The problem with the PSU occured a bit after, where i would turn my PC off, windows shuts down but everything stays on, like it didnt get the signal to turn off, it also began making clicking sounds.

Eventually it just did nothing except make regular clicking sounds

i've said it before and i'll say it again .. if your house is not properly ventilated thats the problem not vape .. 8 yrs and not a single problem and i'll do 10ml in a night easy ..
but did have a few corsair psu's die on me when i smoked 4 in a row ... 1 was doa fresh from the factory

Yes sure, but few people have the sort of ventilation that would be good.

I would need an extractor fan, ducting, and put the end of the ducting out of the window, then blow into it, that would be good,

I might have been going way more than 10ml, not really sure, i buy 1L bottles of juice. Lets say 20ml of 80%VG as a rough guess.

Keep in mind this all occurred quickly as i was furloughed, which means i am sitting on my desk 16+ hours per day non-stop constantly vaping

 

[platinum87]

why would you need an extractor fan ? i don't and yes i was furloughed too .. many a day well most days sat at my pc vaping away on one of 6 mods ..
and nothing no build up anywhere .. going thru 100ml+ of juice a week you can not say it was the juice it could have been just the psu and corsair don't do good psu's
in my honest opinion. you really don't know what caused it or why it happened ... but the vape to you did .. so change the way you vape ?higher mg less ml ..
i vape at 10mg 70/30 ..

Most likely, as i moved my entire PC to clean it turning it on its side etc, i moved vape juice inside the PSU over a component that then failed.

Not sure why you are so adamant the vape juice is not the culprit, it is, if you have no residue then great.

You are right, of course my ventilation is bad, but i dont understand why you are questioning the extractor fan, there is literally no other option aside from magic.