Scratched GPU PCI Connector - Any Fix?

[bsb123]

Hello everyone, first thing i want to say is that thank you for taking the time reading this thread.

Here's what happened,

Bought a 7870 GPU recently, turns out to be scratched after i looked at it (PCI connector?), not sure if it was my doing or if it came like that but i personally believe it wasn't my doing. Regardless RMA'ing to Gigabyte doesn't work i don't think and or returning to the store doesn't work too i don't think as they'll say it's the customers fault. The scratch is only on one teeth, i'll try to get a pic up of it tomorrow but doesn't look like a deep scratch though, (crosses fingers that it isn't..)

Have some problems when trying it on my rig, BSOD a few times which leads to 0XA0000001 code which is because of bad GPU drivers but the main problem is that it freezes randomly after the GPU drivers crash. When the drivers crash the game runs perfectly fine, no artifacts or anything just straight up freeze and stalls.

Now my bet is that the scratch on the GPU is most likely the one effecting the GPU to be causing all these issues, i'm wondering if there is a fix for the scratched PCI connector. I tested the RAM and what not, no errors on memtest.

I've included a random picture to get an idea of what i'm talking about but i'm sure most of you guys know. (The gold teeth thingy, LOL)

EDIT: Temps are good, running two games at the same time and it's only at 50c MAX.
It might be driver issues but i'd like to fix the scratch if possible!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR READING!

 

[bsb123]

Bump .

 

[sl4y3r]

Try doing a complete driver wipe with Driver Fusion and install the latest drivers and see if that helps. Also please mention your full system specs.

 

[chugot9218]

Bumping is against forum rules FYI. I don't think this is something you could fix your self unless you have access to soldering materials and whatever material that is, I would assume gold. As long as it can make contact it shouldn't make a difference, the scratch would basically have to remove all of the contact in a part.

 

[bsb123]

Try doing a complete driver wipe with Driver Fusion and install the latest drivers and see if that helps. Also please mention your full system specs.

I did that and it's completely random, i used driver sweeper. I played for 4 hours with no problems but previous to that i froze within 10-30 minutes.

i5-3570
Gigabyte 7870
Gigabyte B75M-D3H
G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL (2 X 4GB)
Intel 330 Series 120GB
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
Corsair Professional HX650W
Zalman Z11 Case

Didn't know about the bumping rule, sorry about that.

 

[sl4y3r]

It's mostly not the card. It could be RAM. Is your M/B BIOS up to date ?Try 1 Ram module at a time.

 

[Kari]

small scratches dont matter, it would need to go all the way through the metal layers from side to side and be somewhere at the top of the strip to cut off the connection from that strip.
There is copper layer at the bottom which makes the bulk of the strip, on top of that there is thin layer of nickel and at the very top is a very very thin layer of gold to prevent oxidation.
Also there will be small scratches from just inserting the card into the slot...

 

[sl4y3r]

Yup as ^ mentioned, as long as no tracks are scratched on the board you should be good.

 

[bsb123]

Well a quick update now, i exchanged the GPU and when the tech tried it on a test rig it didn't even boot anymore, he said it was DOA even though it worked until i pulled out the card.. Weird huh..

Either way i got an exchange and so far it's working perfectly. It turns out there was 2 gold teeth that was scratched right beside each other, they looked somewhat deep after looking at it thoroughly.. I guess it was a deep enough scratch because the new GPU which is the exact same model doesn't have any problems despite me installing the same drivers and what not.

I guess the scratches were somewhat harmful enough to effect it reading the drivers hence the driver error BSODS?

*CROSSES FINGERS THAT IT WORKS PERFECTLY* Been good for 1-1.5 days now.

PS: THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP BTW.

 

[sl4y3r]

Had to be something else, was it an Open box piece? If not thats very strange, But isnt that what computers are about ? Glad to know you got it fixed.