GPU Repair

Epos7

Gawd
Joined
Aug 31, 2015
Messages
892
I've had an EVGA RTX 2080 since launch, and I think it may have had hardware issues from the beginning. It never performed as well as it seemed it should, and I recently figured out the boost clocks don't work.

Originally I mistook the poor performance as thermal throttling, so I installed an Arctic Accelero III on the card. The Accelero III worked fairly well, however the card still underperformed as the boost clocks don't work. I contacted EVGA, and they asked that I send the card back, however in the process of removing the Accelero III I damaged one of the VRMs as I had used the included thermal epoxy.

This is obviously my fault, and I have replaced the card with a 2080 Super, chalking it up to an expensive mistake. I would still like to recover some value from the 2080 if at all possible, so I'm wondering if there are any options for repair. It seems the card would need two fixes - the VRM and whatever hardware issue causes the boost clocks to not work. It seems very unlikely that the card is anything more than a paperweight at this point, but I thought I'd throw it out there on the off chance there is something I can do.

Thanks!
 
I've had an EVGA RTX 2080 since launch, and I think it may have had hardware issues from the beginning. It never performed as well as it seemed it should, and I recently figured out the boost clocks don't work.

Originally I mistook the poor performance as thermal throttling, so I installed an Arctic Accelero III on the card. The Accelero III worked fairly well, however the card still underperformed as the boost clocks don't work. I contacted EVGA, and they asked that I send the card back, however in the process of removing the Accelero III I damaged one of the VRMs as I had used the included thermal epoxy.

This is obviously my fault, and I have replaced the card with a 2080 Super, chalking it up to an expensive mistake. I would still like to recover some value from the 2080 if at all possible, so I'm wondering if there are any options for repair. It seems the card would need two fixes - the VRM and whatever hardware issue causes the boost clocks to not work. It seems very unlikely that the card is anything more than a paperweight at this point, but I thought I'd throw it out there on the off chance there is something I can do.

Thanks!
Can you post a photo of the damage? Also, where are you located?

The damage you caused may or may not be repairable, depending on what exactly you ripped off, and what came with it. The boost clock issue seems to be a documented thing, at least on the 2080 Ti reference boards*, and is the result of a defect in one of the chips on the board.

Edit: *Apparently a separate issue from that memory defect they had in the first couple of batches that produced the funky space invaders pattern.
 
if a vrm got removed, easy enough to fix if a board repair place gets their hands on it. Probably not going to get fixed by a novice solderer. For future reference, the thermal epoxy usually breaks itself free in the freezer.
 
I'm in the US. Attached a picture of the VRM. Nothing pulled off the board, but the casing is cracked.

I put the card in the freezer overnight then used some pliers to gently twist the heatsinks off. Thought it had worked pretty well until I noticed the crack the next day.

20200428_235806 (2).jpg
 
That Choke can be replaced reasonably easily by someone competent in desoldering
 
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I'm in the US. Attached a picture of the VRM. Nothing pulled off the board, but the casing is cracked.

I put the card in the freezer overnight then used some pliers to gently twist the heatsinks off. Thought it had worked pretty well until I noticed the crack the next day.

View attachment 242834
The component in question is called a choke, or inductor. It's a part of the VRM, but does not require cooling under normal circumstances. The smaller, flatter components to the left of it in the photo are the power stages, and it's those that actually require cooling.

The visible damage here is absolutely repairable. I could probably do it for you if you're local to me in Central Texas, or if you care to send the card to me, but there are probably shops closer to you that could also do it, if you don't care to send this card to a stranger from the internet.

Can you post another photo from the top down, so we can read the labels on the components?
 
The component in question is called a choke, or inductor. It's a part of the VRM, but does not require cooling under normal circumstances. The smaller, flatter components to the left of it in the photo are the power stages, and it's those that actually require cooling.

The visible damage here is absolutely repairable. I could probably do it for you if you're local to me in Central Texas, or if you care to send the card to me, but there are probably shops closer to you that could also do it, if you don't care to send this card to a stranger from the internet.

Can you post another photo from the top down, so we can read the labels on the components?

Ahh, thanks for that info 🙂

Here is a top-down view:
20200504_113250.jpg


Good news that it sounds like the choke could be replaced!

My next question is can I return it to EVGA after fixing the choke? Fixing the choke would likely get me back to square 1, where the card was performing about like a 2060 Super.
 
Ahh, thanks for that info 🙂

Here is a top-down view:
View attachment 243045

Good news that it sounds like the choke could be replaced!

My next question is can I return it to EVGA after fixing the choke? Fixing the choke would likely get me back to square 1, where the card was performing about like a 2060 Super.
That's really a question for EVGA, but I doubt it. They'd be able to tell that it had been repaired unless the person you have work on it is a ninja. They're not supposed to be able to void the warranty over unrelated issues, but they almost definitely will try, and it's not worth getting lawyers involved over one graphics card.

On the other hand, a bit of googling indicates that some folks were able to fix this with a BIOS flash, so you may be able to avoid the need to send it in if you can get the hardware working.
 
That's really a question for EVGA, but I doubt it. They'd be able to tell that it had been repaired unless the person you have work on it is a ninja. They're not supposed to be able to void the warranty over unrelated issues, but they almost definitely will try, and it's not worth getting lawyers involved over one graphics card.

On the other hand, a bit of googling indicates that some folks were able to fix this with a BIOS flash, so you may be able to avoid the need to send it in if you can get the hardware working.

Thanks, that's as I suspected.

I did try the BIOS flash before starting the return process and removing the Accelero III. Unfortunately did not have any luck.
 
Thanks, that's as I suspected.

I did try the BIOS flash before starting the return process and removing the Accelero III. Unfortunately did not have any luck.
If you decide not to try to have it repaired, I might be interested in buying it from you. I make threads here about repairing damaged cards, and this sounds like it might be an interesting candidate.

You could probably make even more selling it on ebay, though. Some people will pay a shocking amount for non-working graphics cards.
 
If EVGA sees that you tried repairing there's no way they will be ok with that and for numerous reasons
 
If EVGA sees that you tried repairing there's no way they will be ok with that and for numerous reasons

Depends on the quality of the repair. If the repair looks like a chimp went at the card with a heat gun cranked to the blazes of hell, or thrown the card in an oven in a misguided attempt to fix failed BGA joints, then they'd most certainly reject the card. I have RMA'd stuff that I've personally repaired that had an unrelated fault and haven't had any issues, but I know how to rework board level components properly.

I think the choke on the OPs card is 470nH, which are readily available, it just needs the right package type and from the same manufacturer to match the other chokes. Some of the other chokes look suspect as well, like the pick and place machine assembling the card didn't use enough solder paste.
 
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