Strange GTX570 SLI failure - 2 cards die simultaneously - Crysis3?

[Mark R]

My brother's rig just died. Both GTX 570 cards died completely, 24 hours after installing crysis3.

He sent the following pic, which is apparently representative of both cards. I've never seen anything like this before.

Any ideas what could have caused this? This doesn't look like overheating to me, maybe some sort of corrosion, but the comp is in a closed case, with filter mesh over all openings.

 

[Arkadrel]

It looks like he used his "thumbs" to rub thermal grease around on the card

Yeah Ive never seen a card "dieing" that looks like that either.
But I suspect if you did rub thermal grease all over the back of a card it would die.

 

[DooKey]

I see dog or cat hairs on that card. Did one of his animals climb on the computer and take a piss?

 

[KentState]

It looks like he used his "thumbs" to rub thermal grease around on the card

Yeah Ive never seen a card "dieing" that looks like that either.
But I suspect if you did rub thermal grease all over the back of a card it would die.

That's not thermal grease. It's the melted solder from the contacts.

 

[railven]

Please post the RMA story, that is something I'd love to hear the manufacturer's excuse for. Woof.

How hot does his room/PC normally get?

 

[Durvelle27]

Crysis has murdered 2 hahahaha



But seriously ask him if his cards were overheating before

 

[notty22]

That's not simple over-heating. It's catastrophic failure over various components. There had to be contaminants on there.

 

[p_monks33]

I agree with Dookey, cats love to get on cases for the warmth. Maybe kitty sprayed in there or knocked something over on top of the case.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

that looks like the Vram area of the card. was he over-clocking anything in his system?

PSU sounds like a possible culprit

 

[Goros]

My guess is he pushed it too far for too long without adequate cooling or looking at temps.

Epic fail.

 

[amenx]

PSU sounds like a possible culprit

Yep, thats what it sounds like to me. I cant see 2 cards dying at the same time otherwise.

 

[Kenmitch]

Without card in hand out its hard to tell. Looks like liquid related to me in photos tho.

 

[Smoblikat]

Does he have a closed loop water cooler, like an H50?

 

[Mark R]

Without card in hand out its hard to tell. Looks like liquid related to me in photos tho.

Looked like that to me too.

The case is sealed at the top and sides - so strict front-to-back airflow. So liquid/animal damage seems unlikely.

There is no water cooling. System is aircooled and sounds like a hair-dryer when gaming.

The cards and CPU were moderately overclocked.

The damaged areas of the boards are the power areas, next to the power connectors. The VRAM area can be seen on the left of the picture and is unaffected.

He says that close up, it looks like "the solder has been sizzled off", whatever that means.

The rest of the comp is fine. It's currently running on integrated SB graphics without problem.

 

[paul878]

Yes, look like liquid spill on it, maybe the cat did it.

 

[PG]

Why are all the screw holes empty? I see threads below, so it seems screws were removed. If he took the heatsinks off, then when? Before or after they burned up?
If he took the heatsinks off, what did he use for thermal paste? Where did he put it?

 

[railven]

Wasn't it the GTX 570 that had some Quality issues back when they launched? For some reason I remember reading people not recommending the initial batch.

 

[Mark R]

The screws were removed after failure of the cards, as part of investigation.

 

[railven]

The screws were removed after failure of the cards, as part of investigation.

Ooohh, the plot thickens.

What did he find during the investigation and any more pics?

 

[jcniest5]

It seems a surge of his power supply may have killed them. His PSU is likely the culprit. It seems during heavy gaming when everything was drawing their max power, the PSU couldn't take it anymore, it had a surge and BOOM, the video cards, which draw the most power, take their dump during the surge.

 

[PG]

Well, the Crytek CEO tried to warn us all: http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/08/17/crytek-ceo-on-crysis-3-this-time-we-promise-to-melt-down-pcs/

 

[Kenmitch]

Well, the Crytek CEO tried to warn us all: http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/08/17/crytek-ceo-on-crysis-3-this-time-we-promise-to-melt-down-pcs/

Maybe send photos to them. They might replace them and use them as advertising propaganda.

 

[MrK6]

Wasn't it the GTX 570 that had some Quality issues back when they launched? For some reason I remember reading people not recommending the initial batch.

Yep. This might a continuation of that or something different. Either way, wasn't impressed with the QA on those cards.

 

[3DVagabond]

Wasn't it the GTX 570 that had some Quality issues back when they launched? For some reason I remember reading people not recommending the initial batch.

Two of them blowing at the same time points to an outside source causing it. Cards should be better protected than that though. The OCP failed to do it's job on both of them.

If it was caused by the PSU this is a textbook example of why (good) multi rail designs are better. And of course making sure you distribute the load across the rails.

 

[Fx1]

10$ says your PSU is the problem