• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.
  • The forums have been upgraded with support for dark mode. By default it will follow the setting on your system/browser. You may override it by scrolling to the end of the page and clicking the gears icon.

1080Ti exploded (twice)

Joined
Nov 1, 2008
Messages
4,213 (0.69/day)
Location
Vietnam
System Name Gaming System / HTPC-Server
Processor i7 8700K (@4.8 Ghz All-Core) / R7 5900X
Motherboard Z370 Aorus Ultra Gaming / MSI B450 Mortar Max
Cooling CM ML360 / CM ML240L
Memory 16Gb Hynix @3200 MHz / 16Gb Hynix @3000Mhz
Video Card(s) Zotac 3080 / Colorful 1060
Storage 750G MX300 + 2x500G NVMe / 40Tb Reds + 1Tb WD Blue NVMe
Display(s) LG 27GN800-B 27'' 2K 144Hz / Sony TV
Case Xigmatek Aquarius Plus / Corsair Air 240
Audio Device(s) On Board Realtek
Power Supply Super Flower Leadex III Gold 750W / Andyson TX-700 Platinum
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero / K400+
Keyboard Wooting Two / K400+
Software Windows 10 x64
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R15 = 1542 3D Mark Timespy = 9758
Hi all,

Does anyone know what the components circled below are? They are right by the power plugs on the card so I'm assuming they have something to do with power delivery.
They, quite literally exploded showering my case in sparks. After the first time, the card still botted up and ran fine, but after the second set blew up, I thought it best to pull the card from my rig.
Also, does anyone have any idea what would cause these components to fail in such a spectacular fashion?

This happened just outside the 3 year warranty I had on the card, so I'm looking to see whether it is fixable at all.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20210403_182814~2.jpg
    IMG_20210403_182814~2.jpg
    2.6 MB · Views: 644
Ceramic capacitors it seems, what's your PSU ?
 
I’d just eBay it as not working. I think you’re on a hiding to nothing and could just end up damaging your motherboard.
 
Last edited:
you can try to find a video of pcb revew of buildzoid and see if he mentions them, or probably send him a good picture and see if he can help you
 
It's part of the VRM assembly, I think those are MOSFETs so one or more of the phases blew up. The circuit is meant to still work even after one phase gives out but this puts more load on the other phases and eventually those give out as well.

It is fixable but you shouldn't have powered it on back after, it can kill other components as well.
 
It's part of the VRM assembly, I think those are MOSFETs so one or more of the phases blew up. The circuit is meant to still work even after one phase gives out but this puts more load on the other phases and eventually those give out as well.

It is fixable but you shouldn't have powered it on back after, it can kill other components as well.
Thing is, the question become why did the mosfets blow up? Were they faulty, or something down the line?

I still think it's best to bin it or keep it on a shelf as an ornament, or eBay it as not working. He won't be able to properly troubleshoot it as he needs the proper test tools along with the schematic and these are surface mount components which require specialised equipment to remove and solder on a new one. And again, any kind of mistake could damage the motherboard and other components.
 
Ceramic capacitors it seems, what's your PSU ?
PSU was a Andyson Titanium for most of its life. When it blew up first time it was with the Andyson, second time in a rig with a corsair 650w.
I don't think that's the problem though, when it blew, something shorted and ocp kicked in shutting the rigs down each time.

I’d just eBay it as not working. I think you’re on a hiding to nothing and could just end up damaging your motherboard.
I'd like it repaired considering the cost. I've given it to a repair place, but if they don't know how to fix it, I want to figure out whether it's worth spending time sending it to multiple places to have them look at, or whether it's likely a too hard fix.

It's part of the VRM assembly, I think those are MOSFETs so one or more of the phases blew up. The circuit is meant to still work even after one phase gives out but this puts more load on the other phases and eventually those give out as well.

It is fixable but you shouldn't have powered it on back after, it can kill other components as well.
Ah... I had it running about 2 months after it first blew up :( 75% power target though.

Thing is, the question become why did the mosfets blow up? Were they faulty, or something down the line?

I still think it's best to bin it or keep it on a shelf as an ornament, or eBay it as not working. He won't be able to properly troubleshoot it as he needs the proper test tools along with the schematic and these are surface mount components which require specialised equipment to remove and solder on a new one. And again, any kind of mistake could damage the motherboard and other components.
I'm not going to repair it myself. I d on nt have the skill (by a long shot).
I'd just like to know what the likelihood of it being repairable are..
The shop I gave it to were able to fix a heavily water damaged laptop mobo, but the components on this are different.
I was hoping it was just a common resistor or capacitor that had blown.
If it's mofsets, then I'm not sure they'll be replaceable :(

I've no idea why they blew up... Heat wear maybe. The power should be stable, but it was in a rig where the FSP PSU ultimately failed (again a month out of warranty :( )

It's part of the VRM assembly, I think those are MOSFETs so one or more of the phases blew up. The circuit is meant to still work even after one phase gives out but this puts more load on the other phases and eventually those give out as well.

It is fixable but you shouldn't have powered it on back after, it can kill other components as well.
Are the mofsets those smaller components? If you look closely, u can see which ones are burned.
 
Last edited:
If you are losing Phases this could be a sign of overheating or poor quality PSU, but if I was to take a wild guess, I would put this down to poor quality contact with the thermal pads in this area.

I say get a meter & check those blown capacitors, ie is it on the High or Low side.

Also I can't tell, but it looks like you have a burnt trace layout to the left. Need to upload a better clearer photo as zooming in is too blurry.

EDIT: Should be able to get replacement parts at Mouser (I think).
 
Thing is, the question become why did the mosfets blow up? Were they faulty, or something down the line?
Who knows, they have a limited lifespan.

Are the mofsets those smaller components? If you look closely, u can see which ones are burned.
The MOSFETs are those small black chips, the capacitors are the round ones and the those grey squares are inductors.

I was hoping it was just a common resistor or capacitor that had blown.
If it's mofsets, then I'm not sure they'll be replaceable :(
It makes no difference, they can all be replaced if you find the correct part.
 
Last edited:
Hmm, you were "brave" to run it after 1st blow :) and very lucky that a "chain reaction" didn't happened before/with 2nd blow. So, be very carefull about repairing person to not happen this (i.e. damage mobo)
 
The MOSFETs are those small black chips, the capacitors are the round ones and the those grey squares are inductors.
And neither of them were what OP was pointing at, which are these tiny things in a row of 10, two of which are blown up, these are ceramic surface mount capacitors. Now, why they did blow up is another question, and i don't have answer for it.
 
And neither of them were what OP was pointing at, which are these tiny things in a row of 10, two of which are blown up, these are ceramic surface mount capacitors. Now, why they did blow up is another question, and i don't have answer for it.

To me it looks like he circled exactly where some high side mosfets are.
 
@silkstone Yeah, handing it off to - hopefully - professionals is your best bet. I wouldn't be able to fix it, either. Let us know how you get on. :)

And it's a bad state of affairs when new graphics cards are so hard to get and ridiculously expensive that it's worth repairing old ones, isn't it?

If my 2080 SUPER died out of warranty, I'd have to drop back to my trusty MSI 780 Ti. Lovely card, but really underpowered now. Incredibly, NVIDIA did actually add DX12 capability to it, as promised, long after it was obsolete, so I can run the latest Modern Warfare on it, albeit at not very high framerates.
 
Thing is, the question become why did the mosfets blow up? Were they faulty, or something down the line?

I still think it's best to bin it or keep it on a shelf as an ornament, or eBay it as not working. He won't be able to properly troubleshoot it as he needs the proper test tools along with the schematic and these are surface mount components which require specialised equipment to remove and solder on a new one. And again, any kind of mistake could damage the motherboard and other components.
I'm not going to repair it myself. I d on nt have the skill (by a long shot).
I'd just like to know what the likelihood of it being repairable are..
The shop I gave it to were able to fix a heavily water damaged laptop mobo, but the components on this are different.
I was hoping it was just a common resistor or capacitor that had blown.
If it's mofsets, then I'm not sure they'll be replaceable :(
To me it looks like he circled exactly where some high side mosfets are.
Yeah
It's not the big black chips that are blown. The smaller yellow/gold ones are. They are barely viable in the photo and I used bad circling.

And neither of them were what OP was pointing at, which are these tiny things in a row of 10, two of which are blown up, these are ceramic surface mount capacitors. Now, why they did blow up is another question, and i don't have answer for it.
It does seem strange that the caps would blow and end in a shower of sparks.
I'm guessing just high Temps.

@silkstone Yeah, handing it off to - hopefully - professionals is your best bet. I wouldn't be able to fix it, either. Let us know how you get on. :)

And it's a bad state of affairs when new graphics cards are so hard to get and ridiculously expensive that it's worth repairing old ones, isn't it?

If my 2080 SUPER died out of warranty, I'd have to drop back to my trusty MSI 780 Ti. Lovely card, but really underpowered now. Incredibly, NVIDIA did actually add DX12 capability to it, as promised, long after it was obsolete, so I can run the latest Modern Warfare on it, albeit at not very high framerates.
Yeah.. It's not my main rig, I have some spare rigs, but would be pissed if it was my 3080. However 1080ti's go for about $800 where I live now, so worth repairing.
 
@silkstone this just came to mind: if the shop says they've repaired the card, make sure that you see it working in their PC and running a game or benchmark for a few minutes before parting with any money. These reasons:

- proof that it actually works.
- if it goes bang, it will have taken out their PC, not yours.
- they can't claim to have repaired it to a working state if they haven't tested it, so no excuse not to demonstrate the repair.

And since it's repaired, I wouldn't run anything super stressy on it like Furmark or anything, either. You don't wanna tempt fate.
 
@silkstone this just came to mind: if the shop says they've repaired the card, make sure that you see it working in their PC and running a game or benchmark for a few minutes before parting with any money. These reasons:

- proof that it actually works.
- if it goes bang, it will have taken out their PC, not yours.
- they can't claim to have repaired it to a working state if they haven't tested it, so no excuse not to demonstrate the repair.

And since it's repaired, I wouldn't run anything super stressy on it like Furmark or anything, either. You don't wanna tempt fate.
Thanks..
Good points. I'm not going to keep it any of my expensive rigs, but I have an older Amd 1600 at work that it'll go in.

I'd donate it to my daughter, but she has a mini itx case :(
Maybe, if it runs stable for a few months, I'll give her an upgrade.
With the shorting, the ocp on the psu's kicked in both times. I dont think there's a huge risk of it blowing other components, but I dont want a house fire either.
 
With the shorting, the ocp on the psu's kicked in both times. I dont think there's a huge risk of it blowing other components, but I dont want a house fire either.
Thing is, depending on the nature of the fault, it can take out the motherboard without ever tripping the PSU. This is why it's critical that you see it working stably, with no glitches or artefacts in the shop's rig first.

We don't really worry about these things when using new parts, or old known good ones, but there's always this underlying risk.
 
despite it being outside the warranty period, you might be able to reach out to the manufacturer, & they may offer to repair it for a fee.

its better than the alternative, of no GPU, unless you have a spare card of course.
 
Back
Top