What is wrong with my curved videocard?

portafreak

n00b
Joined
Feb 3, 2020
Messages
3
Hi,

I have bought a used MSI RX580 OC Armor that worked fine for a couple of weeks until I have noticed that it was overheating while playing (88-90 C).
I have put some new thermal paste and the temperature is back to normal, however for some reason if the card is not installed
at an angle like in the photo, the BIOS will not detect the card. I have the same problem if I put the card in another PC.
The PCB is curved. I made an attempt to straighten it by installing a plexiglass but the card will not be detected (hence the spacers).
I can still play games, but sometime the system will reboot because the card is not detected.
It seems like a bad contact somewhere. I have looked at the card but nothing is suspicious.



Has anybody have any idea what could be wrong? Could it be bad solder under the GPU?

ytuqfh79yse41.jpg
 
You probably made it worse by trying to straighten it. As the PCB layers settle so will the traces and wires. Trying to straighten it may have put stress on those elements and may have caused some to fracture. Typically sag like this will not affect the operation of the card itself, but it may cause poor contact between the cooler coldplate and GPU over time. The OC Armor design is just bad because the cooler offers no support from the IO plate which will cause sagging like this.
 
I had the problem even before trying to make a custom backplate. If I support the card underneath after it is installed, the BIOS cannot see the card anymore. The design of those card is indeed really bad.
 
You should prop it up with a brace like this on the cooler, not the PCB. Get rid of those spacers.
1580842051501.png
 
Hum I have seen these online but I have never thought about suporting it by the cooler. I'll give it a try.
 
You say you repasted the gpu. Im going to assume it didnt do this before you put new paste on? Im pretty sure you have it screwed together wrong. Just take it apart again slowly until you see it straighten back out. When it does, thats where you missed a hole or screw.
 
Should also clean the pcie pins. The force to support it can affect the pins in the slot
 
I'll typically use zip-ties attached to the top of the case to support the back end of the GPU card. If I have to remove the card, scissors and new zip-ties make it simple.

Sag is bad.
 
Did you re-seat/paste the gpu with or without the back brace? If you put the heatsink back on the curved board, then tried to flatten, that may be your problem. Try flattening the board, then re-attach the heatsink. And support the board afterwards.
 
And this, kids, is why longer, heavier GPU setups should always have a metal backplate from the factory.
 
Wow that is some serious bend in that card....thats about the worst Ive ever seen. No backplate for support, heavy cooler, best combo for the win.
 
i wouldn't even consider buying a card these days without a very nice back plate.
 
That's a boomerang, mate.

The last time I saw card sag that bad was on a beater 4870 I modded with a giant aftermarket Thermalright heatsink. It worked up until some trace inside severed and it shot a resistor across the case. Assuming something similar is going on there where a trace or solder point is making terrible contact due to your card slowly turning into a horseshoe.
 
Last edited:
And this, kids, is why longer, heavier GPU setups should always have a metal backplate from the factory.
A backplate is not a guarantee of no sag. I had a GTX 970 that had a full metal backplate and it still sagged over time. Not as bad as this, but still. On the flip side I've had video cards with heavy coolers and no backplate not sag at all. The primary issue with this video card is the cooler isn't attached to the I/O bracket, as I mentioned above.
 
A backplate is not a guarantee of no sag. I had a GTX 970 that had a full metal backplate and it still sagged over time. Not as bad as this, but still. On the flip side I've had video cards with heavy coolers and no backplate not sag at all. The primary issue with this video card is the cooler isn't attached to the I/O bracket, as I mentioned above.

This. Here is a pic of the card in the cooler test rig. Backplate alone means nothing.

JPEG_20190916_194238.jpg
 
Back
Top