Seller Note “This card was tested in my PC and showed no power the fan didn’t spin and showed no display parts only”
Issues:
- Upon visual inspection (naked eye) the card appears in reasonable condition. However, a digital microscope reveals multiple instances of PCB damage (dislodged minor components, scratches revealing PCB tracks) – this card has been badly treated, the seller might not have realised this, so I didn’t give negative feedback.
- Initial multimeter measurements suggest at least one short.
- Assuming damaged components can be re-soldered, it’s hard to know the full extent of the damage at this stage.
- This could be a hard repair for my current skill level.
Pre Checks / Multimeter Only
| Test / Checks | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Visual Inspection Eye / Magnifying Glass | Scratches on heatsink | |
| 2. Visual Inspection Microscope | Missing components, PCB scratch | See below for list |
| 3. Check for shorts on 12v PCI, 12v PCI-E, 3.3v | OK | Couldn’t find any obvious shorts. |
| 4a. Resistance VCore (~0.5) | ~1Ω | |
| 4b. Resistance VMem (~60Ω) | ~198Ω | A bit high |
| 4c. Resistance 3.3v Rail (~960Ω+) | ||
| 4d. Resistance 5v Rail (~5KΩ) | ||
| 4e. Resistance 1v PEX Rail (~123Ω+) | ||
| 4f. Resistance 12v BUS (14.7kΩ ) | ||
| 4g. Resistance 1.8v Rail | 2.KΩ |
Power On / Test Rig Checks
| Tests / Checks | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Observations (e.g. PCB heat noticed, blank screen, power light on monitor, bios screen, o/s loaded, artefacts, ) | Heat in the VRM area when 12v applied from bench power supply. Vcore coils were especially hot. | |
| 2. Voltage VCore (~0.88v) | ~0.8v | |
| 3. Voltage VMem (~1.4v) | ~1.3v | |
| 4. Voltage PEX Rail (~1v) | – | |
| 5. Voltage 3.3 BUS | – | |
| 6. Voltage 12 Ext | N/A | |
| 6. Voltage 5v Rail | – | |
| 7. Voltage 1.8v Rail | 1.8v | – |
Missing Components
C675 (back, above PCI-E)
2 x Capacitor (back, top left corner, near C517)
R509 (back, left side, halfway down)
C507 (back, left side)
Apart from C675, which may prevent one of the PCI data lanes from working, all the other missing components appear to be those related to the 2 memory chips. Their values might be obtainable from matching to present capacitors/resistors on the adjacent memory chip.