nvidia 9800gt dying

[georgectr]

Hey everyone,
It's been more than 3 years with my lovely graphics card, but I think it's come to an end. Here are 2 huge photos of it. There are some cracks in all of the transistors (I think).
http://i42.tinypic.com/wofn5.jpg

closeup to the problem
http://i39.tinypic.com/2w3rtlf.jpg

I've been looking for a new graphics card but I can't seem to find something that will to my system specs.
I've been considering these 2 options
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_460_DirectCu/32.html GeForce_GTX_460
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GeForce_GTX_550_Ti_Cyclone_II/27.html GeForce_GTX_550

They both seem nice but my power supply seems to be a problem here. Some sites say that they require 12v x 24A but my power supply doesnt have that much power. Here is an image of my PS too
http://i41.tinypic.com/2ebzqmh.jpg
Maximum voltage and current seems to be 12V and 18A. What are my options here can anyone help? I don't want to change my Power supply unit.

 

[newtekie1]

You actually have +12v x 26A on that unit.

Also, those are leaking caps, if you know how or can find someone else who knows how, they can be replaced.

 

[brandonwh64]

560TI if you can afford it or 7870

 

[_JP_]

Have you considered a Radeon HD 7770 or 7750?
They use very little power and have good performance, although the price being a little high since they're recent.

Also, those are leaking caps, if you know how or can find someone else who knows how, they can be replaced.

+1

 

[xxdozer32]

i say go with the 460

 

[georgectr]

I havent considered ATI cards, I'm happy with NVIDIA. But I'll look into the cards you mentioned, if my PS can handle those I'll check them.

I don't know anyone who can handle leaking caps, but I'll try to find some people.

 

[brandonwh64]

It should handle a 460 1GB

 

[georgectr]

Have you considered a Radeon HD 7770 or 7750?
They use very little power and have good performance, although the price being a little high since they're recent.

+1

hd 7770 seem a bit too pricey for me, HD7750 is OK, It just opened up a possiblity

 

[Bambooz]

Those 3 blown up capacitors are Sacon FZ series. I'm suprised they lasted this long, as they normally don't even make it longer than one year. They're notoriously bad, and commonly found on low-end cheapo cards. XFX and EVGA liked to use them for anything but their highest-end offerings at one point, which ended up in f*cktons of semi-dead cards.

If the card is still showing signs of life (you get an image) and you're handy with a soldering iron (or know someone who is), replacing them would cost you maybe 4-5usd incl. shipping.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Id first do the soldering and replace the caps, I however love soldering haha so i would do it if it were me. I mean your already looking for a new card, so if you mess up on soldering then you don't have much to lose.

I mean soldering caps is pretty easy. Just stick the cap wires through the holes. Melt some solder(need a special soldier with a specific core material can't think of the name right now) onto the iron then put it up to the wires near the PCB and the solder should seep in. Then you can just trim the excess cap wires.

 

[georgectr]

it's dead now

I went and paid around 12$ and replaced 3 capacitors. When I got back home one them blew up. Smoke covered the computered and luckily nothing else got damaged. Now the computer does not boot up with the graphic cards on. I think I'm buying a new card hd 6850, 7750 and gtx 550 ti are on the table now. I know they do not have equal horse power. Wish me luck.

 

[newtekie1]

It sounds like he didn't replace the caps with the right ones, can you post up a picture of the new caps? Not that I think you should go any further with the card, I'd give up on it at this point too just to save the hassle, but I'm just curious if he used the right caps when he replaced them.

 

[Easy Rhino]

sad day indeed. the 9800gt is/was a great card at a very reasonable price 3 year ago. you did your best to resuscitate her but in the end she was meant for greener pastures. on the bright side you can buy a new gpu!

 

[Black Panther]

I went and paid around 12$ and replaced 3 capacitors. When I got back home one them blew up. Smoke covered the computered and luckily nothing else got damaged. Now the computer does not boot up with the graphic cards on.

Hmm, what power supply do you have?

Also, did the caps blow while you were gaming?

 

[georgectr]

Here is the photo for the new capacitors, the one that blew up is the bottom one.
http://tinypic.com/r/2l0pwn/5

I bought a zotac gtx560 for 200$, it will probably arrive on wednesday. I'll try it and if my computer doesn't boot up I'll have to replace the PSU.

my PSU is here http://i41.tinypic.com/2ebzqmh.jpg

It blew up as soon as I powered up. Never even got to the BIOS screen. It kinda failed to power up at first so I pulled out the plug waited for some time and then tried again. That's when things went bad.

 

[DarkOCean]

Did you repected polarity when changed the caps? they tend to explode when not.

 

[georgectr]

Did you repected polarity when changed the caps? they tend to explode when not.

I googled to learn what that meant. I gave it to some guy to repair it. Helooked like he knew what he was doing so I don't really know if he was careful enough to do that but I'm guessing it is an important step so he probably did it right.

 

[AsRock]

Don't see any cracks but i do see that solder is bad and looks like some off them fell off even which i have only seen happen on a very old ATI 9800

Have you considered a Radeon HD 7770 or 7750?
They use very little power and have good performance, although the price being a little high since they're recent.

+1

I was thinking more 5770\6770 due to them being much cheaper even more so if he\she can get one second hand.

BTW what PSU do you have ?.

 

[newtekie1]

Did you repected polarity when changed the caps? they tend to explode when not.

It looks like they did, but it looks like they didn't use that good of caps to do the replacement. It is very likely that the capacitor that blew was bad before he even put it on.

When I replace blown caps I like to go one step up on the voltage rating, so 25v in this case, it helps prevent them from blowing again, especially if I only have lower quality caps available to do the job.

 

[_JP_]

It looks like they did, but it looks like they didn't use that good of caps to do the replacement.

Right you are. Beryl = Cheap Chinese Caps.