Dead 4850?

[666slacker]

Hi!

Assembled my new computer yesterday. Everything worked fine. Today I made the final step of my build: exchanging the stock cooler on my HD4850 with a Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 rev2.

The installation of the S1 went smoothly, put the card back in the computer and turned it on. My screen was black and wouldn't turn on. Removed the card. Made sure there was no excess cooling paste and tried again, still dead.

Removed the S1 and replaced the stock cooler. Screen still black. But with the difference that the fan on the 4850 ran at full speed. There is also a red led on the back on the card that shines with steady light (don't think it was on when the card was working).

So is my card dead? Any suggestions what to do?

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Did you remember to plug in the power leads for the card?

 

[666slacker]

Yes. Also tried another PCI-E power connector with the same results.

 

[Qbah]

As unlikely as it sounds, try to look for physical damage to the card. I saw a few times people that could swear on their both grandmas they were extra careful when doing stuff like that and then asked if a small scratch is bad for example (showing a pic with the PCB plowed through with a screwdriver :shocked: ).

 

[solofly]

I killed a card once while removing stock cooler, anything can happen... Did you try another video card just in case? If you have, it seems you might need a replacement.

 

[chizow]

Yep, I'd inspect the core for physical damage. Chipping/cracking is a risk with GPUs with exposed cores without IHS if you're not careful.

 

[Mucker]

The S1 rev 2 has tiny black spacer washers that should be placed between the sink and the card. If they were not used, I suppose it is possible to crush the core.

The directions do not include that info which is mind boggling.

Another thing is that the S1 is not guaranteed to work with the 4850 by Arctic Cooling. People such as myself take the risk knowing that tolerances could be off a bit.

 

[tigersty1e]

Could static electricity killed the card?

 

[Jessica69]

Originally posted by: Mucker
The S1 rev 2 has tiny black spacer washers that should be placed between the sink and the card. If they were not used, I suppose it is possible to crush the core.

The directions do not include that info which is mind boggling.

Another thing is that the S1 is not guaranteed to work with the 4850 by Arctic Cooling. People such as myself take the risk knowing that tolerances could be off a bit.

Don't know where you got that info, but you're dead wrong. The 4850/4870 is listed on AC's website as being supported cards by the S1 Rev. 2 cooler.


From AC's website for the aforementioned cooler:

Application:
ATI:
Radeon HD 4850/4870, Radeon HD 38xx series, 36xx series, 2600, 2400, X1950, X1900, X1800, X1650, X1600, X1550, X1300 series

Now, I don't know about you, but when a company lists a product as being an application for a particular item, that certainly implies it does indeed work on that application. So, it sure looks like it works on a 4850/4870 to me when it's on AC's application list...........

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=147


As for not mentioning the spacers needed for use between the cooler and the card, it's right there in the instructions.....plain as day.

Under the section of the installation instructions for the S1 Rev. 2 cooler, step 3 says specifically, " 2) Stick the spacers firmly to the corresponding mounting holes of the cooler as shown. (This refers to fig. 2 in this section.)"

The figure plainly shows that the spacers are to mount on the mounting plate and fit between the mounting plate and the gpu/video card. Nothing left out of the instructions at all.


The .pdf link to the instructions is here:
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/...n_Accelero_S1_rev2.pdf

So, you're two for two in fail.......care to try another?




To the OP.......very sorry to hear your card died like that. I'd almost bet, since the AC cooler is most likely not the culprit in this, that you may have indeed accidentally shocked the card with static, like tigerstyle suggested.

I have an Asus 4850 the I removed the stock cooler from and tried test fitting an EK 3870 full cover waterblock onto.....of course, when I tried the test fit, the mounting holes...other than the ones immediately surrounding the gpu.....didn't line up at all, unfortunately.

So, put the stock Asus air cooler back on and it fired right back up and is in operation right now. I'd really think it got shocked somehow......

And I know you're not a noob in building, but you did completely remove the power from your motherboard and then discharge the board before you removed/replaced the card, right? Just tossing out off-hand suggestions.......

 

[666slacker]

Thanks for all your comments.

I tried the card in another computer with the same results.

There is no physical damage to the card as far as I can see. I did use the black spacers. And the cooler was a good fit for the card. I didn't have to force anything.

Static electricity is always a possibility, altough I used antistatic strap during the whole build.

Well guess I learned my lesson. No more aftermarket gpu coolers for me...

 

[shangshang]

Sorry to hear this. But looks like your card is dead. I don't think it's electrostatic. It's more likely that you damaged the PCB while removing the OEM heatsink or putting the Accerlo on. You're not the first guy to kill his GPU replacing OEM heatsink. Many guys also killed their CPUs while replace heatsinks too. RMA it!

last week I made a comment in another thread about how many 4850 RMAs are going to be coming because of people trying to replace the crappy OEM heatsink that ATI used. I was chided. People told me to stop hatting on ATI. Sorry to see that you're the first case-study of the point I was trying to make.

My suggest to people is DON'T buy an aftermarket heatsink. With the prices of video cards falling so fast due to a price war, just keep your current 4850 for a few months, and by then, the GT260 or 4870 will be under $200! Why the hell would you want put out $35+ for a damn heatsink when you should just wait a few months and put that money in UPGRADING to better card. It amazes me that guys would buy a 4850 for $150 AR, and then go out and spend anthother $35+ (an additional 20% over the price) for a chance to overclock a card that maybe (just maybe) give them a 5% increase.

 

[666slacker]

Originally posted by: shangshang
My suggest to people is DON'T buy an aftermarket heatsink.

Well people wouldn't do it if the cards came with good coolers attached from the start. I sure wouldn't mind paying an additional $10-20 for a card if it had an effective/quiet cooler.

I have replaced the coolers on all the graphic cards I have owned (all ATI/AMD btw). This time it wasn't to reduce noise, the 4850 cooler was very quiet, but I was worried about the cooling capabilities of the stock cooling. My worries about the card killed it. Oh the irony....


Well I guess it's RMA time.

 

[Mucker]

Originally posted by: Jessica69

Originally posted by: Mucker
The S1 rev 2 has tiny black spacer washers that should be placed between the sink and the card. If they were not used, I suppose it is possible to crush the core.

The directions do not include that info which is mind boggling.

Another thing is that the S1 is not guaranteed to work with the 4850 by Arctic Cooling. People such as myself take the risk knowing that tolerances could be off a bit.

Don't know where you got that info, but you're dead wrong. The 4850/4870 is listed on AC's website as being supported cards by the S1 Rev. 2 cooler.


From AC's website for the aforementioned cooler:

Application:
ATI:
Radeon HD 4850/4870, Radeon HD 38xx series, 36xx series, 2600, 2400, X1950, X1900, X1800, X1650, X1600, X1550, X1300 series

Now, I don't know about you, but when a company lists a product as being an application for a particular item, that certainly implies it does indeed work on that application. So, it sure looks like it works on a 4850/4870 to me when it's on AC's application list...........

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=147


As for not mentioning the spacers needed for use between the cooler and the card, it's right there in the instructions.....plain as day.

Under the section of the installation instructions for the S1 Rev. 2 cooler, step 3 says specifically, " 2) Stick the spacers firmly to the corresponding mounting holes of the cooler as shown. (This refers to fig. 2 in this section.)"

The figure plainly shows that the spacers are to mount on the mounting plate and fit between the mounting plate and the gpu/video card. Nothing left out of the instructions at all.


The .pdf link to the instructions is here:
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/...n_Accelero_S1_rev2.pdf

So, you're two for two in fail.......care to try another?




To the OP.......very sorry to hear your card died like that. I'd almost bet, since the AC cooler is most likely not the culprit in this, that you may have indeed accidentally shocked the card with static, like tigerstyle suggested.

I have an Asus 4850 the I removed the stock cooler from and tried test fitting an EK 3870 full cover waterblock onto.....of course, when I tried the test fit, the mounting holes...other than the ones immediately surrounding the gpu.....didn't line up at all, unfortunately.

So, put the stock Asus air cooler back on and it fired right back up and is in operation right now. I'd really think it got shocked somehow......

And I know you're not a noob in building, but you did completely remove the power from your motherboard and then discharge the board before you removed/replaced the card, right? Just tossing out off-hand suggestions.......

I got that info from AC's site about 10 days ago when it wasn't there. Thanks for straightening me out though....you da woman! :roll:

and the spacer info is not in my instructions.....really glad you corrected my ass though :beer:

 

[lavaheadache]

Originally posted by: 666slacker

Originally posted by: shangshang
My suggest to people is DON'T buy an aftermarket heatsink.

Well people wouldn't do it if the cards came with good coolers attached from the start. I sure wouldn't mind paying an additional $10-20 for a card if it had an effective/quiet cooler.

I have replaced the coolers on all the graphic cards I have owned (all ATI/AMD btw). This time it wasn't to reduce noise, the 4850 cooler was very quiet, but I was worried about the cooling capabilities of the stock cooling. My worries about the card killed it. Oh the irony....


Well I guess it's RMA time.

people are going to flame you in 5...4...3...2.....

 

[shangshang]

Originally posted by: lavaheadache

Originally posted by: 666slacker

Originally posted by: shangshang
My suggest to people is DON'T buy an aftermarket heatsink.

Well people wouldn't do it if the cards came with good coolers attached from the start. I sure wouldn't mind paying an additional $10-20 for a card if it had an effective/quiet cooler.

I have replaced the coolers on all the graphic cards I have owned (all ATI/AMD btw). This time it wasn't to reduce noise, the 4850 cooler was very quiet, but I was worried about the cooling capabilities of the stock cooling. My worries about the card killed it. Oh the irony....


Well I guess it's RMA time.

people are going to flame you in 5...4...3...2.....

ugh flame him for what? Trying to fix an overheating issue that every 4850 owner has voiced their opinion on? Oh yea my 4850 crashes often in game when temps go above 93C. Between changing the stock heatsink and flashing the 4850 BIOS, I'm sure there will be more than a handful of dead 4850s in the coming weeks, if not so already.

My recommendation to people, if you're gonna change heatsink or flash the bios, do it while your store's exchange period is still in effect. Beats RMA! I got all my flashing done, so I'm set for now. Hehe.

Just RMA it, and then Ebay it in 3-5 months when NV releases their GT200 sereis on 55nm, thereby creating another round of pricewar. Wee fun!