Is this the reason my card won't start? (See pic)

[Apa]

Short story:
Harddrive was giving error (during boot, in windows, Everest S.M.A.R.T diagnostic, speedfan, seatools etc) so I took it out. Everything worked fine, but suddenly one of the cards VRMs temps goes through the roof (105~ C) so I disassemble the cooler (twin turbo) and reattach it. Windows doesn't boot.
Safe mode works, I uninstall ATi drivers. Windows still won't boot, but safe mode works. After many restarts the monitor stop showing anything so I remove the card and add a PCI card. Everything works as long as the HD4870 ain't in the PC.
Saw this mark which wasn't there when I first added the cooler, so did I damage the GPU when I disassembled the cooler to reattach the VRM cooler?

I really hope I didn't kill my card because I really can't afford pretty much anything until early June, and I was hoping on being able to afford a TV rather than a graphic card because the HD4870 meets all my requirements...


Help

 

[cadaveca]

good chance, yep.

 

[xrealm20]

Honestly, I've had a chip that size on an old AMD Athlon (read thunderbird) and it killed the processor.

I haven't had any experience with chips on GPU's though.

 

[douglatins]

OMG man, major wreckage

 

[Apa]

So it's pretty much dead?

Odd though that the PC still could boot and show picture for a while after that had happened.

 

[cadaveca]

Sounds like it shorted, if VRM temps jumped. Maybe the paste held a charge for a bit, then blew out.

 

[Apa]

Ugh I have been having extremely bad luck with my PC this month... First my monitor break (2493HM), then my 750GB drive and last but not least my HD4870 :/

 

[xrealm20]

sorry to hear that man -- hopefully this will be the last issue you will have with your PC --- they say bad things come in threes.

 

[sweeper]

I've seen that damage on AMD CPU's and ATI GPU's and both died. My ATI X1950XT had a very similar chip in the corner and did the same thing yours is doing. I had an AMD CPU that had a chip and would boot but once windows started things were corrupt. Man, sorry to hear this. Esp on a 4870!

 

[HillBeast]

It could be a number of things. If the VRMs shot up in temperature, they could have been damaged, but the chip on the die could be causing it too, however I had a P3 with a chip much bigger than that and it went fine.

My advice would be: get a new card, something like a Vapor-X 5870 so you don't need to custom cool it and risk killing it. I nearly killed my old HIS 5870 cooling it right.

 

[OneMoar]

yep its done might as well take a hammer and finish the job

 

[wolf]

put the cooler back on and write BRICK'D on it with a permanent marker, then keep it on your desk as a constant reminder of a worst case scenario.

 

[Apa]

My advice would be: get a new card, something like a Vapor-X 5870 so you don't need to custom cool it and risk killing it. I nearly killed my old HIS 5870 cooling it right.

Yeah been looking at different HD5850 cards. However I've always been careful when applying coolers. Not being too rough, always balancing the card right and making sure the screwholes lands exactly on the right place etc. Not really sure how I managed to do that crack.

A Hd5850 should do fine, even with its stock cooler.


Seen some people bending off the GPU from their dead cards, drilling a hole in them and putting them on a chain to keep as a necklace. Perhaps I should do that?

 

[sweeper]

RMA it... My brother did that with an MSI board that he got to much thermal paste in the cpu socket and the board isn't even being manufactured anymore and they fixed it and sent it back.

 

[Apa]

RMA it... My brother did that with an MSI board that he got to much thermal paste in the cpu socket and the board isn't even being manufactured anymore and they fixed it and sent it back.

Alas I have no warranty on the card. I traded it for my 9800GX2 which didn't fit my case too well. Bad luck it would happen on the one card without warranty I've ever owned in my life. But that's life. Stupid mistakes are done and we learn from them. C'est la vie.

When it comes to high-end I'll stick to buying them in a decent store from now on, like I always have, with this card as an exception

 

[HillBeast]

I traded it for my 9800GX2 which didn't fit my case too well.

That's a bit of a shame. The 9800GX2 is a brilliant card. I had one... until it died on me. You may find that it is something like a cluster of shaders that are damaged seeing as how it can boot and it goes into safe mode, but it just can't go into Windows because to is starting to use more of the core.

It really is a bit of an annoyance that AMD/ATI hate heat spreaders because they really do make things alot better when it comes to build quality.

 

[exodusprime1337]

Ugh I have been having extremely bad luck with my PC this month... First my monitor break (2493HM), then my 750GB drive and last but not least my HD4870 :/

how old is the card.. did you purchase from somewhere you might have a warranty left on it. I had a 7900 gtx do that to me in one of my servers that i built and because it came with a lifetime warranty they said they'd get me another one. Well turns out they don't have anymore left at evga so they sent me a 9600gt.. wasn't a bad deal lol

 

[HillBeast]

how old is the card.. did you purchase from somewhere you might have a warranty left on it. I had a 7900 gtx do that to me in one of my servers that i built and because it came with a lifetime warranty they said they'd get me another one. Well turns out they don't have anymore left at evga so they sent me a 9600gt.. wasn't a bad deal lol

When my old Core 2 Duo motherboard got killed by water damage, they couldn't find a replacement for it so they gave me an i7

 

[Apa]

how old is the card.. did you purchase from somewhere you might have a warranty left on it. I had a 7900 gtx do that to me in one of my servers that i built and because it came with a lifetime warranty they said they'd get me another one. Well turns out they don't have anymore left at evga so they sent me a 9600gt.. wasn't a bad deal lol

Far as I know... 2 years old maybe? Tops. My guess is 1 and a half year old. On sapphires website it says they don't handle RMAs. I traded the card with some random dude on a Swedish hardware site at least 6 months ago (I don't remember when exactly) so no possibilities with RMAing the card to the store he bought it from.

This really happened at a bad time but in roughly 1 month and a week I can buy a new card. Have my laptop 'til then. At least it can handle CoD 4 at a little higher than medium settings
However the TV I wanted to buy will have to be a 42" instead of 46 as I originally planned. Aint really rich and I really don't get many opportunities to spend money like this but I guess it's alright. Now I got a reason to upgrade hehe.