GPU overheat.. fatal?

[braka]

Hi, about a year ago my computer would start freezing up while playing games. I took off the case and the back of the gpu was burning hot... not taking too much care I figured I would decrease my game playing and hope the GPU held out.

One day the card crapped out, no display at all. I figured the card finally was done. Took the card out and removed the heat sink, it kind of peeled off and what looks like melted thermal paste is around the GPU. Is there any way to ressurect this card or is it done for?

Also, next time I buy a GPU how can I prevent this from happening? The GPU fan was still functional...

 

[Demalii]

is that the compound on there.. or is that like black fried gpu stuff? lol either way it looks like crap and if it doesn't work, it's dead.. it looks worse than fried eggs

 

[jseber1982]

To me it looks like smoked gpu sausage

 

[ShoobieRat]

Buy your g-cards from manufacturers who put good factory heatsinks on the cards. Don't overclock the card without buying a better heatsink to put on it first.

 

[braka]

A couple more pics to add to the horror show...

So I'm thinking the thermal paste that wicks the heat to the heatsink melted and adhered to the heatsink? The gpu mounting is back, that shiny stuff is either adhesive or possibly melting something.. Not good either way.

 

[ShoobieRat]

The chip itself would melt long before the actual housing of the chip did. Most likely what you're seeing is plastic and thermal compound.

When chips "melt," they don't actually ooze off and fall on the floor of the case in a puddle. The silicone inside (the actual architecture of the chip) melts at a much lower temperature than the metal/ceramic housing.

Most common signs of heat damage to the actual case itself are cracks, and chips that have flaked off. The housing itself won't actually melt until long after the chip has stopped working.

 

[braka]

Ahh ok, thx

 

[DoomUK]

That is scary .

 

[braka]

I'm still a bit confused as to what was the cause of the overheating.. the card had been working for a year or two before it crapped out..

 

[ShoobieRat]

Cards age.

Plus you have to factor in:

Power surges,
Dust,
Cooling system degridation,
and the number 1 reason for cards eventually going black: usage.

As games and programs become more advanced, gpu's have to keep up. This makes them work harder, which puts more strain on the card, so they get hotter on average than they used to.

Back when I bought my current GPU for my gaming machine, the hardest games were like HL, Unreal (original), and Wolfenstein 3D. Now I'm using the same card to run HL2 demos, UT2004, DOOM3, etc, and the card is sweat'n. It's gonna roast itself, soon, but that's okay. I'm upgrading soon.