Is there anything worth salvaging? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: Alex_Baker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2021, 03:50:22 pm
content: I recently bought a broken GTX 1060 3G on ebay for a price that I do not want to share. I knew it had some damage/burnt components, but the VRM heatsink hid the extreme damage that is a hole burnt almost all the way through the PCB.I think it goes without saying that this card is e-waste at this point and I lost my money, but I just want to know if there is anything worth saving from this card.[ Specified attachment is not available ]

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2021, 05:03:50 pm
content: Use it for a soldering exercise. Unsolder and thenresolder the connectors, for example.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 09, 2021, 05:18:34 pm
content: GPU chip and RAM likely are fine with such sort of failure, and its what's worth the most on such card. So this card still has significant value as a donor.

author: ignislion
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2021, 07:11:24 pm
content: Mosfets. Inductors. Ram\Chip if it is alive

author: TMM
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2021, 11:15:43 am
content: I'd salvage the power inductors and heatsink/fan if I was keen. Rest goes into the trash.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2021, 11:41:49 am
content: If you've got the storage space, and intend further adventures with similar second hand graphics cards, keep it for parts, intact till you need it to save time locating the used part, and avoid wasting time desoldering stuff you'll never need. Trust me, you do *NOT* want to becomeDavid Sparks!Otherwise I'm with TMM - sh!tcan it, although it *MIGHT* be worth recycling it as art!Art option:Get a shallow wooden box, a somewhat larger nice picture frame, a smallish flat on one side magnifying lens and a windscreen chip repair kit, to build a cautionary wall hanging display case:CAUTIONDo *NOT* bidon Ebay tat!with the magnifier lens bonded to the glass over the damage!

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2021, 12:44:45 pm
content: You can easily sell it at ~$100 for parts as is with a burned hole. Someone in Russia will fix it/reuse the chip.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2021, 10:58:42 pm
content: GPU and RAM itself will still be worth a bit.

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2021, 08:24:15 am
content: New RAM chips of that type may be worth quite a bit, but soldered to a board the value is quite a bit lower.Desoldering is quite some stress to the parts and it need reballing before using them again. There is also a real chance the parts are damaged from excess voltage during the failure.Unreliable parts are not what you want in a circuit that used multiple of these chips.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2021, 08:42:45 am
content: Quote from: wraper on July 09, 2021, 05:18:34 pmAs a GTX 1030? The card is only useful to display desktop, I would argue that most CPUs have more capable graphics integrated.Most used computer stores sell working cards for like 20 EUR.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 11, 2021, 09:34:18 am
content: Quote from: tszaboo on July 11, 2021, 08:42:45 amIt's GTX 1060

author: Alex_Baker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2021, 06:38:12 pm
content: My original intent with this card was to put it in a small storage server I have built with various parts, it has a few random terabytes of hard drives and two xeon x5675s in it. I mostly store video on the server so I wanted to do some video editing with the CPUs, but I wanted a GPU to make everything go smoother.As for the initial failure, It looks like the original short was on the input side of the VRMs, so my hunch is that when the short happened the card just shut down immediately without causing any damage to the core or memory, but since the computers PSU didn't shutdown immediately the short kept burning for a few seconds before it OCP'd.If anybody has any quick and dirty methods of making sure that the core is not completely toast let me know. Also, if I were to sell this as a donor board(I likely won't), where would I sell it? I don't see anything of the sort on ebay.oh, and the cherry on top is that that original fan on the heatsink of the card had a blade missing, which was shown in the listing but I didn't notice it until It arrived. Had I seen the missing blade I probably wouldn't have even have bought the stupid thing!

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2021, 10:11:41 am
content: If resistance across Vcore is more than 0.1 Ohm and resistance over RAM Vdd more than 80 Ohm, then most likely they are alive. Due to very low resistance over Vcore, it may be troublesome to get sensible reading.

author: Alex_Baker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2021, 01:32:39 am
content: I don't have a meter that is accurate that low on the resistance scale, when the probes are shorted together it reads anywhere between 0.6 and 0.2 ohms depending on the weather,I don't think it is worth my time at this point for me to do anything with this card other than stick it in my junk bin, I just wanted you people on the internet to tell me if there was anything I could do with the card before I but it in my junk bin.Ultimately I learned my lesson, I was hoping to get a card that had simple common MLCC failure like that popular thread on a 1070, but instead I spent almost 75 bucks on a paperweight, don't make that mistake!

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 14, 2021, 10:44:13 am
content: Quote from: Alex_Baker on July 14, 2021, 01:32:39 amYou should be able to sell it for $50+ easily, maybe even more than you paid for it.

author: Pete66
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2021, 09:36:25 pm
content: Stick it in your junk bin. One day you may need some mosfets or other component on there.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2021, 10:58:03 pm
content: Quote from: Pete66 on July 14, 2021, 09:36:25 pmhow often do you stick $100 bills in your junk bin?

author: Alex_Baker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2021, 06:31:54 pm
content: QuoteHey! don't rub it in! LOLI try not to do it very often! I cant afford to.I have already stripped a bunch of things off of the board, so at this point I don't think it has any value to neither me or anybody else. Thanks for everybody's comments at least!I really need to get better at soldering on stuff like this, I really struggled to get enough heat into the giant copper traces/planes to get stuff to come off the board.

author: Pete66
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2021, 06:47:57 pm
content: Quote from: Rasz on July 14, 2021, 10:58:03 pmYou should read the original post before you respond:"I think it goes without saying that this card is e-waste at this point and I lost my money,but I just want to know if there is anything worth saving from this card"I think I answered the question.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 15, 2021, 07:14:26 pm
content: Quote from: Pete66 on July 15, 2021, 06:47:57 pmBeing non-repairable, does not mean it isn't worth money. OP simply doesn't know any better. For example, there is no other way to get GPU chip for replacement other that salvaging from other card or buying salvaged by others. Card with damaged PCB is worth more than card with damaged GPU. Latest post from OP where he said that he removed some components, significantly decreases it's value though. I would be very skeptical buying PCB which was ravaged by others.

author: Alex_Baker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2021, 04:19:34 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on July 15, 2021, 07:14:26 pmI would be skeptical of buying a GPU that had damage at all, especially if there was a failure in the VRMS, who knows if the GPU is fried or not, there is no way to test it except for hedging your bets and putting it on a new board.But what do I know, I am not in the repair business. I will take your word that it still had some value, though I think that point is long gone now.

author: bobbydazzler
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2021, 03:29:49 am
content: Anything related to the switching stuff is probably worth saving - inductors/chokes/mosfets. I'd leave the rest maybe one day you find someone who needs the gpu die/ram.

author: JacobPilsen
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2021, 05:15:01 pm
content: Maybe there's still a chance to repair that card.If you carefully mill the burned area to a healthy material.Then you could start figuring out which paths were interrupted.Are the four chokes due to four different voltages, or is it a four-phase converter?

author: Alex_Baker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2021, 06:11:13 pm
content: I think it is a four phase DC-DC converter.I appreciate your interest and your suggestions but I am not going to repair this card, for several reasons.