BFG card artifacts. Heat gun solution plausible?

[Xyos]

I have an old GTX 285 that I would like to install in another system. The only problem is the card artifacts like crazy. It was purchased through BFG tech (now out of business). Ive had to RMA the card once before in the past, but now its impossible since they are out of business.

Ive seen examples of people fixing artifacting problems by removing the heatsink/thermal paste and heating up the board with either a heatgun or an oven. Apparently solder leaks onto circuits it should not be touching creating connections where there should be none.

Now the card is by no means being used, so its not a problem if I ruin the card (obviously I dont want that ), but I figured since BFG is out of business and the card is just sitting around collecting dust I might as well try to fix it myself.

Has anyone done this and had any success? Can anyone provide alternatives to fixing the card myself? Thanks in advance

 

[Pallimud]

Watch this video and do what he does: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gb1ujGfp0M

Oven is a safe way to do it, best way really since you don't have warranty anymore.

Edit: this is the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVWDru1bub8&feature=related

Just make sure to remove everything from the card before baking, just need a screw driver.

 

[Xyos]

Now its safe to put food in the oven afterward right? I saw a few comments saying otherwise, but I dont think it would hurt anything right?

Thank you for the link. Im going to try it and maybe film my results

 

[Pallimud]

Lol, throw a pizza in there at the same time and see what happens

I think you probably want to air the thing out first. There are chemicals that would dissipate into the air that you'd probably want out of your oven. Keep it open for the duration that you're letting your card cool, that should be plenty to get anything out of it.

I hope it works. You have a good chance that it will, but depending on the issues, you might get no results. Record it and post it online if it works, motivates people (like yourself) to do it when they are stuck.

 

[Xyos]

Alright me and my brother finished the cooking process! Usually the card would have artifacts on the screen during boot and in the Bios, but after doing this method in the oven IT FREAKING WORKS! I used an old computer to test everything, and am running it through more tests (video, games, etc) but so far it looks like it worked!!!!

I made a video of me doing the process that Ill post here once I get around to uploading it. I cant believe such a weird fix worked!

On a side note I re-used the heat pads that were on the Graphics heat sink. I was wondering for future reference if it would of been fine to use thermal paste on the contact points for each chip on the card instead of the thermal pads. Also Ive never had much experience with "thermal pads". Are they as efficient as thermal paste?

 

[Pallimud]

Awesome! Really happy it worked

As for the thermal pads, you can use thermal paste instead. It is actually said that thermal paste is much better at conducting heat (from the card to the heat sink) then the pads, but the companies use pads because they are easier to work with. So, if you have it open in the future, you can do a swap and probably will help the temp by a degree or a few.

Hope the card keeps on chugging, always great to save some cash.

 

[Xyos]

So happy to put it to good use Here is a crappy video of my and my brother going through the whole process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeEPOlBA8jw

 

[Pallimud]

cool, very entertaining lol