Spilled Coffee on my Graphics Card - Need help please!

[Jetster]

Do you turn the heat off on the dish washer?

The reason I ask is its a pain to clean a MB. Sticking it in the washer would be nice in some cases

[cdawall]

Yes you turn the heat off

[Mussels]

i know that nvidia cards put out a lot of heat, but using one to warm your coffee is just insulting (to the coffee)


as others have said - you need to clean it and have it dry. heat is bad, as is powering it up while still 'dirty'

[de.das.dude]

Originally Posted by BUCK NASTY

WTF, Put the PCB or the cooler in the Dishwasher? Neither should not come in contact with a liquid(this is why he is in this position). Um, the card was on when the coffee hit it, so the damage is done, if any. Turning it on after a brief cleaning will not do any additional harm other than exists already.

lol. W1zzard taught me this
he does it too

atfirst i was also like

make sure that your PC is drained off of any charge. if the capacitors still have charge in them, it WILL short when you put it in the washer.

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by de.das.dude

if the capacitors still have charge in them, it WILL short when you put it in the washer.

Most motherboard caps don't hold enough to keep a charge more than a couple seconds, internal resistance helps with this. Just an FYI.

Definitely make sure to take out the clock battery if you're doing a mobo though.

[Mobix]

Originally Posted by NeoCrisis

First off DO NOT put the video card in the dish washer or submerge the entire card in any kind of liquid. If the warranty sticker on the back of the video card gets damage and is not legible it WILL void your warranty.

Get some isopropyl alcohol on a cotton cloth and clean off the sticky residue from the area.
Take some clear unblurry pictures of the card and have them ready to be emailed.
Contact EVGA support, if you are in North America they have 24hr tech support and would be able to help you setup and RMA.

Liquid damage isn't usually covered by warranty but if the damage isn't severe you'll be covered. Unfortunately you wont know for sure until their RMA dpt inspects it.

Isn't the stained sticker kind of a giveaway?

[Lazzer408]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

The extremely small amount of chlorine and the extremely short exposure time won't lead to any oxidation.

I've run plenty of PCBs through the dishwasher, mostly motherboards though, only one graphics card, and they all come out just fine. And there isn't any soap residue, the whole point of the dishwasher is to be very effective at removing all residue. Your dishes don't come out covered in soap residue, do they? If they do, you need a new dishwasher(or use less soap).

And yes, obviously this will likely destroy any stickers on the card, so the warranty will be totally gone. But with the warranty sticker already covered in coffee according to the original post the warranty is gone already. EVGA isn't going to warranty the card with the sticker totally brown like that.

It doesn't need to be powered. The oxygen in the atmosphere reacts with... oh nevermind. This is gradeschool chemistry.

[Morgoth]

put the card in hot coal that wil fix it for sure!

[Animalpak]

i think is the PCI 16x connector on the motherboard that is full of coffe... You have to get a new motherboard sorry man

[Steevo]

Go buy a gallon of deionized water and get a plastic tub and old tooth brush.


Remove the cooler and give it a scrub.


When done give it a few shakes and either put it in the oven on some tinfoil for a couple hours at 180F to dry it or use a hairdryer. Reapply thermal compound and reattach cooler.

[itsakjt]

Nothing will happen. Just take some Isopropyl Alcohol and clean the PCB. No need to remove the heatsink. The Coffee stain will go with the IPA. Then check you card and let us know.

[de.das.dude]

Originally Posted by Steevo

Go buy a gallon of deionized water and get a plastic tub and old tooth brush.


Remove the cooler and give it a scrub.


When done give it a few shakes and either put it in the oven on some tinfoil for a couple hours at 180F to dry it or use a hairdryer. Reapply thermal compound and reattach cooler.

deionsed water? that even exist? lol. cause as soon as you expose it to the atmosphere it will get ionised. lol.

and the sticker wont be stained if you dont scrub on the sticker. nothing happens. i have washed my GTS 450, my old 4650 and a friends 5450 before. they are all cool.

just use water that is pure water, not salty hard water or iron rich water. in that case its best if you can get some distilled water.

[Jack1n]

Will removing the stained sticker void your warranty?

[Mobix]

Originally Posted by Jack1n

Will removing the stained sticker void your warranty?

Removal and or Defacing of Serial/Part number sticker(s) on ANY EVGA products WILL void ALL warranties. All products ship from EVGA with a serial sticker. I'm guessing that's a yes

[HammerON]

Never considered putting pc parts in the dishwasher
I learn something new everday

[Jack1n]

any progress? maybe you should just send it to EVGA as it is.

[Frag Maniac]

I say get some denatured alcohol. It's cheap (as little as $7 a quart), is stronger than isopropyl, leaves no residue, and evaporates much quicker. Along with that (if you don't already have them) you can get a small fine bristle paint brush or foam trim brush and a good rag to clean and blot. All can be had at your local woodworking or DIY home store.

The key thing is carefully cleaning around that which needs to remain undamaged.

[Mobix]

Thanks for the replies.

Is there any way to get rid of the brown stain on the sticker? would isopropyl alcohol like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SERVISOL-I...242#vi-content be of any help?

[Frag Maniac]

I would leave that sticker alone, don't even get it wet, period. It looks like the digits and bar code are still legible, you want to keep it that way.

And again, denatured alcohol is better than isopropyl. It's pure with nothing to leave a residue. Also, spray cleaners are convenient, but they can also cause spray to go where you don't want it to.

[Rei86]

Originally Posted by de.das.dude

deionsed water? that even exist? lol. cause as soon as you expose it to the atmosphere it will get ionised. lol.

and the sticker wont be stained if you dont scrub on the sticker. nothing happens. i have washed my GTS 450, my old 4650 and a friends 5450 before. they are all cool.

just use water that is pure water, not salty hard water or iron rich water. in that case its best if you can get some distilled water.

Think he meant distilled water.

But yeah buy some gallon jugs of Distilled water, warm it up a little, take apart the card and scrub way with a soft toothbrush.

If air drying let it dry for a good 48+ hrs.