Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 Burned Up This Morning

[Bobs Yerunkle]

I had the 7970 in a rig with two other 7970s. Last night at some point it the rig shut off.
This morning the computer wouldn't boot. I thought the psu went wonky.

Unplugged. Replugged. Etc. Determined the Gigabyte was causing the problem.
Moved the card to an empty machine. Set it up. Turned it on. Flames and smoke and crackles!
What a way to start the morning.  

Card was only 15 days old so plenty of warranty/return actions available. Hooray!

Anyone care to venture a guess from looking at the photo?
http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y416/stumbling-orangutan/IMG_1264_zpscb4b4dce.jpg




Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7970 OC 3GB GDDR5 DVI-I/HDMI/2x Mini-Displayport PCI-E 3.0 Graphics Card GV-R797OC-3GD

All in good fun I say.

[Charles999]

What temperature were u running at?  I have mine running at 100c and it hasn't burned up in over 3 months!  I hope it doesn't wait til 2 years..heheh

[Bobs Yerunkle]

What temperature were u running at?  I have mine running at 100c and it hasn't burned up in over 3 months!  I hope it doesn't wait til 2 years..heheh

75C- 77C. Open crate rig. I don't think it was a temperature issue.
Maybe the voltage regulator heatsink (I think that's what that is.) got a little too close to the board and shorted.

I suspect it is a random event and not a widespread problem.

[ct1aic]

Perhaps a assembly defect... It's why warranty exists. Good luck for your future new 7970 card...

[SkyNet]

Was this on a powered riser?

[Bobs Yerunkle]

Was this on a powered riser?

Regular riser.
Everything had been working fine.

[ssateneth]

Was this on a powered riser?

powered riser this, powered riser that... everything thinks the solution or the problem is weither or not the riser is powered or not. It's starting to piss me off.

[zvs]

Where was this riser manufactured?

China, Taiwan (another part of China, that has its own special name), Singapore, or Indonesia?

[Bobs Yerunkle]

Where was this riser manufactured?

China, Taiwan (another part of China, that has its own special name), Singapore, or Indonesia?

I'm pretty sure it was a guy named Ralph. Riser Ralph they call him. From a little village outside of Hong Kong. He's known locally as an artisan when it comes to risers.

[notlist3d]

Where was this riser manufactured?

China, Taiwan (another part of China, that has its own special name), Singapore, or Indonesia?

I'm pretty sure it was a guy named Ralph. Riser Ralph they call him. From a little village outside of Hong Kong. He's known locally as an artisan when it comes to risers.

Lol here is a guy good for a laugh.   How much does Riser Raplh charge?

[ryantc]

I guess it's just a defect product and successfully bypass their QA
or maybe a bug walked in and short the circuit

[crazyates]

That looks like one of your VRMs blew up. That's not the actual GPU core, but actually farther towards the end of the board, correct?

That doesn't really surprise me. These Gigabyte cards are known for running the VRMs really hot, as there's only a TINY little heatsink on the VRMs, and the air that cools that tiny little heatsink has already passed through the main heatsink and warmed up a bit. I had to struggle with my Gigabyte 7970 to keep the VRM temps below 100C, and this included undervolting, high fan speeds, stick on heatsinks on the back, and a fan blowing on those extra heatsinks. See here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=102167.5

[Amph]

vapor x are way better

my 7950(1100/1250) with 30.7 ambient temperature, is sitting at 70° with 50% fan, vrm at 79°

[crazyates]

vapor x are way better

my 7950(1100/1250) with 30.7 ambient temperature, is sitting at 70° with 50% fan, vrm at 79°

Well a 7950's VRMs naturally run cooler than a 7970's VRMs, so that's kinda pointless in this thread.

[sonikku13]

After putting new thermal paste on my GPU, VRMs, and VRAM, and cleaning the dust out of my heatsink, my temps are now 75C on the core and 86C on VRM1, when overclocked to 1150 MHz at 1.25 V on the core and 1750 MHz at 1.6 V (default voltage) on the memory. Before, they were 85C on the core and 91C on VRM1, when overclocked to 1125 MHz at 1.2 V on the core and 1750 MHz at 1.6 V (default voltage) on the memory. VRM2 remains a nonissue. Ambient temperature is 25C. This is a reference 7970 using the stock cooler, and the fan is at full blast.

In the future, always replace the thermal paste on your GPU, VRMs, and VRAM, and make sure your heatsink is dust-free. It'll keep your temps down.

[Bobs Yerunkle]

That looks like one of your VRMs blew up. That's not the actual GPU core, but actually farther towards the end of the board, correct?

That doesn't really surprise me. These Gigabyte cards are known for running the VRMs really hot, as there's only a TINY little heatsink on the VRMs, and the air that cools that tiny little heatsink has already passed through the main heatsink and warmed up a bit. I had to struggle with my Gigabyte 7970 to keep the VRM temps below 100C, and this included undervolting, high fan speeds, stick on heatsinks on the back, and a fan blowing on those extra heatsinks. See here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=102167.5

The area of the burn is to the right of the silver heat sink (I think that is where the voltage regulators are). I vote for a fluke component failure or a short circuit involving the heat sink.

In any case, it was neat and I am glad I was there when it happened.

http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y416/stumbling-orangutan/cooler3_zps32bd9385.jpg
(not my exact card but layout is the same)

[crazyates]

Ah ok. Your first pic is a lil dim, and not a good angle. You wanna take the heatsink off, and take a better pic? Yes, you can usually take the heatsink off and repaste it without voiding your warranty.

[SpaceCaptainKangaroo]

Moved the card to an empty machine. Set it up. Turned it on. Flames and smoke and crackles!
What a way to start the morning. 

you mining litecoin or bitcoin ? Have card like that in one of my miners, and scared it is going to catch fire too ! have not seen gpu burn like that before.

[Bobs Yerunkle]

Ah ok. Your first pic is a lil dim, and not a good angle. You wanna take the heatsink off, and take a better pic? Yes, you can usually take the heatsink off and repaste it without voiding your warranty.

My curiosity was outweighed by my desire for a refund so the card is already on its way.
This mystery will have to be like Sasquatch or Nessie.

[sprint347]

I run that card mining ltc 1045/1500, stock volts, ~65c for 2 months @~650khash

Runs alot cooler and faster than the XFX DD I had. No problems... Yet!