How screwed am I? (liquid damage)

[XcS Dead Deer]

Well, long story short, my computer I built (with an Antec DF-85 case), managed to get water damage. A little liquid managed to get through the top part of the case, through the fan, and into the system while it was running. Needless to say, the computer immediately shut off. It was a miniscule amount, but apparently it was enough. When i opened the case, there was a small moisture spot on the top of my NVIDIA 570 GPU. I looked over the motherboard and saw no moisture on it at all (unless it evaporated already). My build is as

-NVIDIA 570 gpu
-Intel I5 2500k
-Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Generation3 motherboard
-Corsair 850w psu
-8GB Corsair DDR3 RAM

Basically, is there any hope that anything isn't fried, or should I start looking to immediately replace my components? Somebody I talked to, who has about 30-40 years of experience in computers said that he's seen something like this twice, and both times the CPU was ok. Anybody else have experience with this, and can tell me what to expect?

 

[seumas_beathan]

Cpu should be fine, if its only on the gpu then i dont see why anything should be wrong, the only thing i can think is that it got on to the mobo

 

[FinneousPJ]

If it's only on the GPU then obviously it may have been damaged, but hopefully nothing was. Let it dry off properly and see if it still works.

 

[XcS Dead Deer]

If it turns out that water did get on the Mobo, what should I expect there? Obviously a new Mobo and possibly a new 570. Would the RAM be done as well?

 

[13thmonkey]

accidental damage on house insurance? just let it dry out for a good 24-48hrs, and see what happens.

 

[davcon]

I spilled half a Rockstar in my Antec 902's big boys mouth once.
He was thirsty !
Rig shutdown and within a ms i turn off the psu power button.
Removed the ram and gpu and cleaned the rest up.(mobo)
Had it up and running in about 2hrs.
Been fine ever since,i'm using it for this post.
I have 7 fans running in the case and i guess that helped out alot.
To this day, whenever i clean it, i still find reminders of the mishap.
Rockstar Mocha is sticky and i find little droplets in unbelievable places.
My case now resides on a side table instead of the floor.

 

[XcS Dead Deer]

UPDATE-

This morning i tried to turn it on, and nothing happened. I noticed that there was a decent amount of residue on the 570 GPU, so I removed it from the PCIE slot and reseated the RAM. I plugged her back in, pressed the power button, and she lit up for maybe 1/10 of a second then immediately turned back off.

I inspected the motherboard and didnt see any splotches. There was a little bit of dew on the 2032 button cell battery, so I moved the case to a different area and opened it up. I'm going to try to find some cleaner for the 570. I'll probably wipe down the motherboard too for safe keeping. Any other ideas/inputs?

 

[gamerk316]

Boot without the GPU and see if you at least POST. If you do, then the mobo is *probably* stable. But its sounding like the GPU is basically done...

 

[diellur]

With a Z68 mobo, you should be able to boot and use the CPU's IGP. If that all works OK, then at least you know the majority of your system is fine.

As for the GPU, let it dry out, and get some pure alcohol to clean off any residue. Then plug it back in and give it a go.

 

[Blandge]

I once had half a can of coke spill into a computer from the top. I spent 3 hours cleaning it out with a q-tip and alcohol. After giving it about 72 hours to dry out, it booted up just fine and ran for over 3 years before I had to replace the video card.

The majority of the system may be salvagable, but it sounds like your GPU is FUBAR.