Resurrecting an old HD7970?

[MinorJ]

Hi everyone,
this is a project I would really like to become a reality since the HD7970 has been one of the best graphic cards I have ever had (specifically it was the Sapphire HD 7970 3G D5 MBA with blower fan). It made me really happy some years ago running without any effort many games that required so much power and for that it did not deserve an unexpected death like happened. It was a normal day, I was playing Skyrim, all maxed out obviously, at regular temps 60-70 °C (although back then I had a smaller case but never exceeded >80 °C) until I went to sleep. An usual shutdown, no errors, no noises, everything seemed ok. The following morning I powered on the PC, LEDs turned on, fans started running but... nothing, no screen, no video signal, no BIOS, no POST. It looked suspicious so I waited 2 minutes or less and then I pressed the reset button. Same things happened, I thought it was a power problem so I disconnected the power cable form the PSU and waited 2 more minutes. It didn't work. At that point I decided to remove the 7970 and to boot up with the integrated Intel HD 4000. The BIOS showed up, the PC POSTed too, so I realized it was a graphic card problem. From that moment I tried anything I could do:

• Reinstalling drivers
• Using another GPU (GTX 650 and the current RX 580 I have) like I said to determine if it was a problem caused by another component
• Clearing CMOS
• Using different CPU, RAM sticks and MOBO. After making all those changes and plugging back the 7970 suddenly one DDR3 4GB stick died, don't know if it was related to the GPU
• Switching PSU (from 500w to 600w to be sure)
• Plugging it in a new completely different computer
• Switching BIOS
• And at the end as a last attempt, I flashed the BIOS 2 (60% sure it was the second) to the R9 280x BIOS version (don't blame me for that, I was just trying anything to make it work again)

3 years have passed, but I've never asked for any help until now and maybe someone with a lot more experience than me could know something that I don't know. How could it have happened? Why? Is there anything I can still do to try?
Is there something like a diagnostic tool used for the MOBOs I could use for the GPU instead? I would not risk burning and killing some other component. Otherwise I could assemble a benchmark station with older components anyway.

Thanks for reading!

 

[eidairaman1]

Hi everyone,
this is a project I would really like to become a reality since the HD7970 has been one of the best graphic cards I have ever had (specifically it was the Sapphire HD 7970 3G D5 MBA with blower fan). It made me really happy some years ago running without any effort many games that required so much power and for that it did not deserve an unexpected death like happened. It was a normal day, I was playing Skyrim, all maxed out obviously, at regular temps 60-70 °C (although back then I had a smaller case but never exceeded >80 °C) until I went to sleep. An usual shutdown, no errors, no noises, everything seemed ok. The following morning I powered on the PC, LEDs turned on, fans started running but... nothing, no screen, no video signal, no BIOS, no POST. It looked suspicious so I waited 2 minutes or less and then I pressed the reset button. Same things happened, I thought it was a power problem so I disconnected the power cable form the PSU and waited 2 more minutes. It didn't work. At that point I decided to remove the 7970 and to boot up with the integrated Intel HD 4000. The BIOS showed up, the PC POSTed too, so I realized it was a graphic card problem. From that moment I tried anything I could do:

• Reinstalling drivers
• Using another GPU (GTX 650 and the current RX 580 I have) like I said to determine if it was a problem caused by another component
• Clearing CMOS
• Using different CPU, RAM sticks and MOBO. After making all those changes and plugging back the 7970 suddenly one DDR3 4GB stick died, don't know if it was related to the GPU
• Switching PSU (from 500w to 600w to be sure)
• Plugging it in a new completely different computer
• Switching BIOS
• And at the end as a last attempt, I flashed the BIOS 2 (60% sure it was the second) to the R9 280x BIOS version (don't blame me for that, I was just trying anything to make it work again)

3 years have passed, but I've never asked for any help until now and maybe someone with a lot more experience than me could know something that I don't know. How could it have happened? Why? Is there anything I can still do to try?
Is there something like a diagnostic tool used for the MOBOs I could use for the GPU instead? I would not risk burning and killing some other component. Otherwise I could assemble a benchmark station with older components anyway.

Thanks for reading!

What typically happens is vrm circuits fail, trying to determine where the fault is at is like searching for a needle in a haystack, the next is the gpu die or memory chips.

@buildzoid tweaks around with cards often. Might be good to get in reach and see if he might be able to help.

7970s needed better vrm cooling or even actually have it installed.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrwObTfqv8u1KO7Fgk-FXHQ

Since your card suddenly failed it certainly won't be fixed by a bios flash. Bios flashing unless directed by Sapphire to do so does not fix anything.

If Buildzoid cannot help from his youtube channel, take the gpu heatsink off and backplate/pcibracket and sell them online.

 

[coonbro]

test the card in another compatable supporting computer and see if the same maybe the cad just failed if it works with drivers then ???

funny my last sapphire did not last 2 months but the replacement 7850 from powercolor [not to say there great in any way ] been a little work horse and to me the 7000 series cards from AMD was one of there best line even under support .;

also my buddies sapphire 7700 [I think] did not last as well .; for us sapphire was the go to brand for ATI/AMD cards in the past 3 bad cards in a row kinda changed that .

thin is with any hardware say you got a 3 year warrantee on it that's about all you can expect and thing over that is just a + . then you see how many guys report having to RMA there stuff with in the warrantee times .;.;.;lol.;.;.;...

things are only good wile they last my friend 1 min or 100 years

 

[Sasqui]

thin is with any hardware say you got a 3 year warrantee on it that's about all you can expect

Gotta wonder what XFX would do. (If it was one of their lifetime warranty deals)

 

[coonbro]

I think like the rest that offered that its a thing of the past now - a xfx 7850 just was 2 year

well shut my mouth the 7970 black shows to be lifetime - wow, wish I seen that deal back when I was buying these cards . I took that for granted wwhen I seen all the 2 year stated on there other cards like the one above .; looks like only the black /DD edition had lifetime ??? core don't /2year

ya, with that in play maybe check it out maybe get a newer release RX card back as a replacement [ next best offered series] .

that's worth a quick e-mail to support

figured like evga that use to offer lifetime and now just run of the mill 3 year . so far I dont see any of there latest xfx cards with over 2 year yet maybe the 7000 series was the last of them with lifetime ? [all good things do come to a end ]

thanks for pointing that out on some XFX series

http://www.xfxforce.com/en-us/support/xfx-warranty

 

[buildzoid]

Check if the card has all it's voltages working. If it doesn't then it's just a matter of fixing a faulty VRM. If the voltages are present but the card doesn't work then there's probably something wrong with the die and any of those issues are generally not repairable(at least not permanently).

 

[eidairaman1]

Check if the card has all it's voltages working. If it doesn't then it's just a matter of fixing a faulty VRM. If the voltages are present but the card doesn't work then there's probably something wrong with the die and any of those issues are generally not repairable(at least not permanently).

I see your Youtube, thats why I mention you lol

 

[MinorJ]

I'm sorry for this extreme delay, but I had a lot of work and other stuff to do. Anyway, today I had some free time and I started to disassemble my 7970 to look at its PCB better but I didn't find anything strange. I'm sure you know more than me, so if you want to have a look too, here are the images.

Spoiler: Imgur

First 3: front, last 3: back
Watch them here

 

[eidairaman1]

I'm sorry for this extreme delay, but I had a lot of work and other stuff to do. Anyway, today I had some free time and I started to disassemble my 7970 to look at its PCB better but I didn't find anything strange. I'm sure you know more than me, so if you want to have a look too, here are the images.

Spoiler: Imgur

First 3: front, last 3: back
Watch them here

Yeah those aren't hi-rez enough, they look blurry.

Sometimes Damage doesnt show on surface but has occurred internally.

Might be time to get a new card

 

[MrGenius]

First, you might try giving the board a thorough cleaning. I can see areas where there's quite a bit of dusty crud built up. Which could potentially be causing a short. Probably not the problem. But maybe.

Second, replace the caps. They're the most likely thing to die with age(and/or normal usage). Specifically those shitty "fake" solid caps(which I haven't seen used on a decent quality graphics card in the last 15 odd years). Marked with the Xs.

 

[AsRock]

I think like the rest that offered that its a thing of the past now - a xfx 7850 just was 2 year

well shut my mouth the 7970 black shows to be lifetime - wow, wish I seen that deal back when I was buying these cards . I took that for granted wwhen I seen all the 2 year stated on there other cards like the one above .; looks like only the black /DD edition had lifetime ??? core don't /2year

ya, with that in play maybe check it out maybe get a newer release RX card back as a replacement [ next best offered series] .

that's worth a quick e-mail to support

figured like evga that use to offer lifetime and now just run of the mill 3 year . so far I dont see any of there latest xfx cards with over 2 year yet maybe the 7000 series was the last of them with lifetime ? [all good things do come to a end ]

thanks for pointing that out on some XFX series

http://www.xfxforce.com/en-us/support/xfx-warranty

Double lifetime ended with 6000 range, single life time was with only the DD cards which i believe ended with the 390X.

I am hopeing they can get it back soon .

First, you might try giving the board a thorough cleaning. I can see areas where there's quite a bit of dusty crud built up. Which could potentially be causing a short. Probably not the problem. But maybe.

Second, replace the caps. They're the most likely thing to die with age(and/or normal usage). Specifically those shitty "fake" solid caps(which I haven't seen used on a decent quality graphics card in the last 15 odd years). Marked with the Xs.
View attachment 100717

Not a bad idea to check the caps.


Could all so check the HDMI plug too, trying one of the other connectors on the card.