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I F***ed up my 6800 GT today

I

imported_golden

Junior Member
This is my first time OCing anything, and I was trying to be carefull doing anything to it. I have 2 BFG 6800GT is SLi running at 52/51C so not bad I thought. They were both water cooled with Danger Den NV68. ( some guy had his 6800GT's cooled at 33C) So I thought mine were a little hot but still better than some others.
I OCed only a little bit from 370/1000 to 387/1020. BFG'sa re already OCed but I kinda messed with it a little.
So here I am running Prime95 testing my RAM that I just OCed, while watching TV at full screen (proboblly a bad Idea).

I was doing some cleaning at the same time near the case, and all of a sudden I smell burnning from the case, like over cooked BBQ.
I looked in there and sniffed around, touched the water block, and ram. Nothing was burning.

So I went over to the Graphics card and the heat strips on the GTs are always HOT- naturally I didnt think it was my GPU, and the next thing I know my monitor went blank!!! i thought "oh s**t, I fried my CPU"

I reboot the pc and nothing showed on the screen. even tho I still heard the windows start up sound, I thought ok the CPU was fine, so it must be the Graphics.

I then switched the connector to my second Vid card and everything worked fine on that card.

I got a message saying that "your system is SLI capable, please check graphics card in socket or put in a SLI compatable card"

I kinda knew there and then my card was gone.

Being a noob, I dont know wether I should try to revive the card or toss that one and get another bfg 6800GT or jsut stay with one GT for now???

Im at a loss here 🙁 🙁 🙁
 
We would need more info on your system to help you troubleshoot.

Such a small OC should not have damaged anything. But your temps are VERY VERY high for watercooling, i would guess that the waterblock wasnt seated on the GPUs very well, or that you didnt use any thermal grease between the block and GPU surface. Was the memory on the 6800GTs cooled by anything? You also mentioned running Prime95 to test your ram that you just OCed, you may have cooked your PSU, not the cards.

I would try both cards individually in each PCI-E 16x slot to do early troubleshooting. If both cards work individually in both PCI-E 16x slots, then you have a power supply issue. Make sure you use the power connector from the card you know for sure is working when you are testing them individually.

 
i think the problem lies in ur watercooled setup. ive never seen somebody fries something when using watercooling setup -_-;;

oh if ur feeling lucky, u can try to rma the card. but i dont recommend it since u've violated bfg's agreement =)
 
this is the water block for my 6800GTs:
http://www.frozencpu.com/images/products/detail_hires/ex-blc-186.jpg
Its HUGE, got half an inch thick copper base which covers the GPU and all the memory. and they are both connected at the top with an inch tube, so it flows directly from one to the other.

I put some Arctic silver 5 on all the ram and GPU before I attached that water block.
and Yes I was running prime95 to test out my new RAM OC. I dont think it was the PSU I freid becuase it wasnt hot at all ( Eneramax 600W)

Testing them individaully is going to be a pain in the a**, as u can see from the water cooling set up I have. ( disconnecting the water blocks, which means drainning the reservoir, reconnect tubes...etc etc. ) I'll give it a try soon after I figure out the easiest way to do it.

 
I dont think RMA will work, I've had these for over a month.
Maybe you guys are right about my water cooled setup. Right now the dead card is still connected and its cold where the water block comes in contact with it. The one that is working is a bit warm to the touch ( at 48C )

btw: my CPU temp is at 29-33C (water block is cool to the touch)

Since you guys mentioned that it could be a contact problem, maybe I put a little too much thermal paste on the RAM and not enough on the GPU...that could be the problem, cause the arctic silver stuff is really really THICK (hard to spread).

Heres a picture of my setup, click on the picture
Sorry about the size, I dont know where I can post a bigger picture.
 
Thermal compound should be spread as thin as possible. It should only take a drop the size of a grain of rice to cover a whole GPU.
 
Originally posted by: golden
cause the arctic silver stuff is really really THICK (hard to spread).
Click to expand...

Sounds like your supply of Arctic Silver was bad. It should be easy to spread and have a consistency close to that of automotive grease. If it was that thick, it sounds like it ended up acting more like a heat insulator than heat conductor which caused your card to run abnormally hot.
 
Power supplies dont neccesarily need to be hot to die. Capacitors can blow causing the smell you described (burnt electronics / ozone type smell).

I understand your headache about the watercooling changes 🙁 see my sig.
 
Originally posted by: Creig
Originally posted by: golden
cause the arctic silver stuff is really really THICK (hard to spread).
Click to expand...

Sounds like your supply of Arctic Silver was bad. It should be easy to spread and have a consistency close to that of automotive grease. If it was that thick, it sounds like it ended up acting more like a heat insulator than heat conductor which caused your card to run abnormally hot.
Click to expand...


AS gets thick as it ages, but ive found that it cools just as well, its just harder to spread.

Whatever they suspend the silver in seems to dry up over a long period of time.
 
Originally posted by: Acanthus
AS gets thick as it ages, but ive found that it cools just as well, its just harder to spread.

Whatever they suspend the silver in seems to dry up over a long period of time.
Click to expand...


I've noticed that thickening effect over time after it's been applied, I've just never had it thicken while still in the tube.

 
Originally posted by: McArra
Artic 5 is conductive, maybe short-circuit in the memos area?
Click to expand...

I would seriously check into this if your speading it around whne you apply pressure to the top (connecting the waterblock) it will force the extra stuff outward toward the rest of the board. If you smell burning its probably toast though. Have you looked at the card though I have never Fried something and not be able to see the damage.
 
The AS5 I used was alot thicker than the regular white thermal paste Im used to. I thought that was better because it was thicker. I spread that AS5 corner to corner on all the ram and gpu. maybe I put a little too much - but it should overflow and still cover all of the ram and gpu. Maybe Im mistaken.

I haven't checked the card yet, cause its just a B***h to take out. I will later today and take some pictures of it.

Some guys also told me I can get my card replaced by BFG, because they realize how bad the factory cooling is, and switched to water, that guy got a new card.
 
I just took out the card that was not working, everything looked normal, no burn marks, the GPU itsself was still shiny. could it be something else?

and also, I just tightened the screws on the working GPU block and the new temp is 40C down from 50C.
 
Originally posted by: golden
I just took out the card that was not working, everything looked normal, no burn marks, the GPU itsself was still shiny. could it be something else?

and also, I just tightened the screws on the working GPU block and the new temp is 40C down from 50C.
Click to expand...

Have you tried the cards individualy in the working slot? maybe one of your Pci-e slots is dead.

 
Originally posted by: golden
The AS5 I used was alot thicker than the regular white thermal paste Im used to. I thought that was better because it was thicker. I spread that AS5 corner to corner on all the ram and gpu. maybe I put a little too much - but it should overflow and still cover all of the ram and gpu. Maybe Im mistaken.
Click to expand...

Application Instructions for Premium Silver Thermal Compound

Caution:
While much safer than silver greases engineered for high electrical conductivity, Arctic Silver thermal compound should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. The compound is slightly capacitive and could cause problems if it bridged two close-proximity electrical paths.


For ALL Arctic Silver versions:

Put a small amount of Arctic Silver onto the center of the heat spreader/CPU Cap as shown in the photo.

Only a small amount of Arctic Silver is needed

P4:
Slightly less then the size of an uncooked grain of short-grain white rice or 1/2 of a BB.

Athlon64:
About the size of one and a quarter uncooked grains of short-grain white rice or 2/3 of a BB.

Once the heatsink is properly mounted, grasp the heatsink and very gently twist it slightly clockwise and counterclockwise one time each if possible. (Just one or two degrees or so.)
 
Originally posted by: golden
The AS5 I used was alot thicker than the regular white thermal paste Im used to. I thought that was better because it was thicker. I spread that AS5 corner to corner on all the ram and gpu. maybe I put a little too much - but it should overflow and still cover all of the ram and gpu. Maybe Im mistaken.
Click to expand...

you DO NOT want it to overflow at all, especially on the memory. AS5 is slightly capacitive and from what i understand, putting it near memory where there are a lot of traces is not such a good idea. on the gpu there should be no problem, again you do not want too much on there and you dont want it to overflow. I would def check the memory, if the as5 leaked out there is a good chance it may have fried the memory. good luck

and yes maybe RMAing the card is fraud, but hey, it is worth a shot in my book, i think you have every right to call and see if they will replace it, it is up to them to catch these things if they dont want it happening.
 
Originally posted by: Regulator07
Originally posted by: golden
The AS5 I used was alot thicker than the regular white thermal paste Im used to. I thought that was better because it was thicker. I spread that AS5 corner to corner on all the ram and gpu. maybe I put a little too much - but it should overflow and still cover all of the ram and gpu. Maybe Im mistaken.
Click to expand...

you DO NOT want it to overflow at all, especially on the memory. AS5 is slightly capacitive and from what i understand, putting it near memory where there are a lot of traces is not such a good idea. on the gpu there should be no problem, again you do not want too much on there and you dont want it to overflow. I would def check the memory, if the as5 leaked out there is a good chance it may have fried the memory. good luck

and yes maybe RMAing the card is fraud, but hey, it is worth a shot in my book, i think you have every right to call and see if they will replace it, it is up to them to catch these things if they dont want it happening.
Click to expand...


Attempting to steal $400 is a good idea?

Dont do it, espcially after its posted here, some asshat will report it.
 
Yeah being a noob - I learned the hard way.
It took me the whole day to test this thing out, so what I did was, I took out the card from SLi mode and tried both PCIe slots, they both work.

Then I tried it with the dead card on both PCIe slots, and non worked. So now I know it had to be the Graphics card.

Im runnign one GPU water block now, took one out, the water seems to flow pretty fast (but what do I know) Right now the GPU is idle at 44C...still pretty hot I think. It used to be at 52C just last night.

I reaplied the thermal compound, not too much this time, it din't overflow on the ram but it did on the GPU.

I think Im going to have to call BFG soon to see if I can get a new one.

Besides the point, someone else told me after they saw my pic that my pump was way to small (swiftech pump) to pump water fast enough through all that and my radiators are not enough for the CPU and 2 huge GPU/RAM coolers.

What do u think I should do about the water cooling setup??
 
Btw, I don't think anyone stated this but BFG has a lifetime warrenty. They can't determine if you overclocked or not, as long as you don't flash the bios. You will indeed get a new video card back if you RMA but you have to ask yourself, is it fair that I am stealing from a company because of my own mistake? Good luck with the card and I hope everything goes well.
 
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