7970 Combusted

[Tencntraze]

Well specifically it seems like a capacitor blew. I turned on my computer after work and saw a fairly large flame coming off of my 7970, which had otherwise been running very well the past several weeks. The card is WC'd, but as it had been working fine for a while I'm not sure what could have brought this about. Has anyone had this happen? Hoping warranty covers this...

 

[Don Karnage]

Well specifically it seems like a capacitor blew. I turned on my computer after work and saw a fairly large flame coming off of my 7970, which had otherwise been running very well the past several weeks. The card is WC'd, but as it had been working fine for a while I'm not sure what could have brought this about. Has anyone had this happen? Hoping warranty covers this...

If you put a waterblock and overclocked it you voided your warranty

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Water block I understand but how could they know it's been oc'd?

 

[Nintendesert]

Water block I understand but how could they know it's been oc'd?

People don't waterblock stock speed cards. :whiste:

 

[Joseph F]

Learn to solder, and replace the busted cap. It will take you a minute, or so, plus the time it takes to disconnect/reconnect the water loop.

 

[tulx]

Learn to solder, and replace the busted cap. It will take you a minute, or so, plus the time it takes to disconnect/reconnect the water loop.

A bit smarter - take the card to someone who actually can solder. You do NOT practice soldering on expensive videocards. Let alone yours.

Good PC/electronics workshops would be a sensible place to start.

 

[psolord]

Well specifically it seems like a capacitor blew. I turned on my computer after work and saw a fairly large flame coming off of my 7970, which had otherwise been running very well the past several weeks. The card is WC'd, but as it had been working fine for a while I'm not sure what could have brought this about. Has anyone had this happen? Hoping warranty covers this...

You can just replace the original cooler, make sure all bolts are non chipped and correctly installed and no stickers are missing. Take it back to the shop and say it stopped working and deny any interference on your part. Chances are that they will just install it on a machine, see that it doesn't work and issue a replacement. I really doubt they would open it to see if there's a paste change or something.

If you are overly honest though and you don't feel like cheating on poor AMD that sold you a 500$/€ card, then take it to a technician.


The forum does not welcome encouragement of fraud in any kind, including RMA fraud.

We do not ask you to believe in honesty as we do, nor are we forcing you to be "overly honest". We are only saying such statements do not belong in our forum. Please refrain from posts like these in the future.

Moderator jvroig

 

[Soundmanred]

Watercooled and OC'ed = not warrantied.
Don't be a Tweakboy, have some integrity.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Watercooled and OC'ed = not warrantied.
Don't be a Tweakboy, have some integrity.

Lol

 

[3DVagabond]

If you put a waterblock and overclocked it you voided your warranty

Watercooled and OC'ed = not warrantied.
Don't be a Tweakboy, have some integrity.

That's not always true. Contact them for RMA. Tell them the truth. See what happens. There have been plenty of people who have gotten warrantied even if they've changed coolers and/or overclocked. Although don't be too shocked if you find out hat your card wasn't defective and you might have damaged it yourself.

 

[Tencntraze]

Thanks for the responses all. Oddly enough, the card actually wasn't OC'd when this happened, though I had done so in the past. Definitely don't want to shell out $500 to get a new one (and in fact just wouldn't and would wait until prices dropped a lot, whenever that is).

Got back into town yesterday when this happened, and leaving again tonight for another trip so will have to hold off on doing anything about this.

 

[blackened23]

Learn to solder, and replace the busted cap. It will take you a minute, or so, plus the time it takes to disconnect/reconnect the water loop.

His card also caught fire. I would RMA it and raise hell if the manufacturer or point of sale gave any gaffe. I'd probably raise hell anyway... Just put the original shroud back on, the manf has no way of confirming any type of overclock.

 

[blackened23]

Watercooled and OC'ed = not warrantied.
Don't be a Tweakboy, have some integrity.

Have some integrity? There is no reason one of his capacitors to blow, there is no reason for him to not RMA. Water cooling doesn't rule out an RMA or void a warranty automatically, the manufacturer has no way of verifying the shroud was removed - and still that is no excuse for having shoddy parts and a capacitor blowing. I would be absolutely pissed if the point of sale or manufacturer gave any crap about RMA'ing it.

 

[Rvenger]

Some companies don't mind if you change the cooler anyways. Just slap it back on and RMA.

 

[guskline]

It can't hurt to inquire from the support division of the Manufacturer what you should do. If they ask if it had been water cooled and/or OC'd and you say no, that's a lie.

 

[KingFatty]

I tend to sympathize with going the RMA route, if it turns out that the card originally shipped with a faulty capacitor that inevitably blew up in your face like this.

Could someone even cause a capacitor on a healthy card to blow up by overclocking it? I thought a healthy card would throttle itself before it blew itself up, even if you attempt to abuse it by overclocking etc.

Or, maybe the waterblock was installed improperly and shorted out the circuitry to blow up the capacitor, in which case it seems the RMA route would be bad karma.

Do you have a picture? What did the flame/explosion look like?

 

[Don Karnage]

From what the op posted in the first post hes had the card overclocked for several weeks. Imo the overclock blew something.

I really don't understand this board sometimes. I was crucified for saying I would rma my 3570k if I blew it up but everyone is giving this member a pass.

 

[exar333]

From what the op posted in the first post hes had the card overclocked for several weeks. Imo the overclock blew something.

I really don't understand this board sometimes. I was crucified for saying I would rma my 3570k if I blew it up but everyone is giving this member a pass.

Its always worth a chance to be honest. If they take the card back, it's in their right. If they refuse, that's their right too. As long as the OP is honest, I support him trying to get a replacement.

 

[Rvenger]

Companies do offer good will service to retain a customer. Especially how sensitive the enthusiast market is right now. Intel is an exception now since we really don't have a choice if you want performance.

 

[philipma1957]

Companies do offer good will service to retain a customer. Especially how sensitive the enthusiast market is right now. Intel is an exception now since we really don't have a choice if you want performance.

good point as there are a lot of gpu cards/ manufacturers to pick from.

 

[Mistwalker]

Its always worth a chance to be honest. If they take the card back, it's in their right. If they refuse, that's their right too. As long as the OP is honest, I support him trying to get a replacement.

This. Even if the RMA is refused, soldering on a new cap is worth a try, and like Rvenger says--if the manufacturer cares about customer service they'll likely just allow the replacement.

And since when does simply being honest = "overly honest"? Some people...

 

[JohnnyChuttz]

I would:

1. Try to RMA
2. Try fixing it myself
3. Suck it up and buy a new card.

In that order.

 

[jvroig]

THIS IS A MOD WARNING THAT ALL OF YOU SHOULD READ.

I'm not here to judge people based on "goodness" or "honesty", but I am here to enforce the forum rule that encouragement of fraud of any kind is not allowed in the forums. Like piracy, it is something the management of this forum wishes to not be associated to its name.

With that said, whatever the terms of the warranty are, that is the rule. End of story. It is an open and shut case, and interpreting it to whatever is more convenient or beneficial to you is something that we are not inclined to accommodate.

Encouraging any behavior that expressly goes against the manufacturer's warranty terms will be regarded as encouragement of fraud, and is infraction-worthy.

Do you disagree with our interpretation of what is RMA fraud? Fine. But don't post it in AnandTech Forums. You are free to believe in your own version of RMA fraud, and free to conduct yourself as you see fit in handling your own RMA concerns. Again, just don't post about it here, or encourage others to act similarly. There is no place for such posts in this forum.


Moderator jvroig

 

[T_Yamamoto]

So. The mod has spoken!

Just fix the cap

 

[DaveSimmons]

There is still the option to be honest about the water cooling and OC, then ask for an RMA. No fraud, and at worst they say no.

If they say yes and let you RMA then a fix is certain unlike doing your own soldering.