What in god's name happened to these thermal pads?

[Evelynn]

Ordered a GTX 690 off eBay. Haven't tested it for functionality yet, was listed as working and from his personal PC (100% seller feedback).
I opened up the card and was greeted to what seems to be thermal pads that have literally turned into dust or ashes.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before?

 

[Space Lynx]

never seen anything like that, your best bet would be to take a clean toothbrush you don't mind throwing away, lightly damp it with 91%+ isoproyl alcohol, brush it all away - repaste with fresh paste, and maybe buy some cheap thermal pads to replace all the thermal pads. edit: if you don't know how to refurbish an item though, you should probably just contact the seller to mail it back for a refund.

or return it for a refund, that's all I can think of. your options are those two imo

 

[Evelynn]

never seen anything like that, your best bet would be to take a clean toothbrush you don't mind throwing away, lightly damp it with 91%+ isoproyl alcohol, brush it all away - repaste with fresh paste, and maybe buy some cheap thermal pads to replace all the thermal pads. edit: if you don't know how to refurbish an item though, you should probably just contact the seller to mail it back for a refund.

or return it for a refund, that's all I can think of. your options are those two imo

Thanks for the toothbrush tip, I'll go ahead and do that. I've been using a papertowel until now.
These pads just vaporized or something. I'm taking the entire card apart because there's even fragments inside the heatsinks.

I have some thermal pads laying around that should do the job. Hopefully the card still functions.

 

[Space Lynx]

make sure its soft thistle toothbursh, you don't want medium or hard, just want to gently "dust" haha

 

[Evelynn]

More weirdness but the anti-vibration dampening pad seems to have met the same fate. It's shredded to dust all over the acrylic panel.
This is the weirdest GPU purchase I've ever made.

There isn't a single spec of dust on the fans or heatsinks whatsoever. It's almost as if it's brand new.

 

[R-T-B]

This looks like a card that may have been in a partially exposed (as in to bad quality/outdoor air) mining rack, but can't be certain. It's odd for sure.

 

[Toothless]

That old girl needs a full bath. Did some dirty dancing at its last home.

 

[Evelynn]

That old girl needs a full bath. Did some dirty dancing at its last home.

Spent the last few hours giving her a bit of love. The thermal pads I have now are a little too thick unfortunately, but I'll leave them on just to see if it's functional.

Updated / Edit: And she lives!

 

[droopyRO]

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before?

I guess i'm too late to say to snort that s**t ? Nice job cleaning that monster of a card.

 

[Macro Device]

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before?

Yes. Had quite the similar thing on an HD 6950 (or HD 5850, don't remember) about five years ago. Almost dustless room with very low humidity + 100% load all the time = thermal pads get torn apart.

I don't understand why you bought a 690 but you do you. Congrats on having a working device in clean condition after all.

 

[P4-630]

I don't understand why you bought a 690

Reliving the e-peen of 2012....

 

[Evelynn]

Reliving the e-peen of 2012....

Honest to god I always wanted a 690 when they first released, I found this one for roughly 50 USD on eBay (free shipping too).

If I had the money, I would purchase a 2080 Ti Lightning Z, but they're very rare and very expensive. They made a 10th anniversary Lightning Z which is even more rare, it comes in silver.

 

[OneMoar]

690 runs so hot it generates its own snow to cool

 

[A Computer Guy]

Ordered a GTX 690 off eBay. Haven't tested it for functionality yet, was listed as working and from his personal PC (100% seller feedback).
I opened up the card and was greeted to what seems to be thermal pads that have literally turned into dust or ashes.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before?

Were they dry? Something like that started with my rx 5700 reference card a few months after I got it. I went to put a water block on it and the pads were dry and crumbling. Someone probably hit is with an air blaster and the pads crumbled into the card.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before?

never seen anything like that

Same here! I've seen some strange things in my years, but never anything like that. I wonder what caused it.

Updated / Edit: And she lives!

Excellent! Dodged a bit of a bullet there. Does it benchmark ok?

 

[InVasMani]

The cooler on that GPU looked so good.

 

[silentbogo]

This looks like a card that may have been in a partially exposed (as in to bad quality/outdoor air) mining rack, but can't be certain. It's odd for sure.

Nah, more likely the previous owner never opened the card, since it was working fine. Maybe occasional cleaning with compressed air was enough to keep it going, and a decade later pads dried up and crumbled.

Updated / Edit: And she lives!

Congrats on reviving the legend!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Nah, more likely the previous owner never opened the card, since it was working fine. Maybe occasional cleaning with compressed air was enough to keep it going, and a decade later pads dried up and crumbled.

That could be it.

 

[R-T-B]

That could be it.

I don't usually operate on cards this old so I'll defer to silentbogo on this one.

 

[Evelynn]

Same here! I've seen some strange things in my years, but never anything like that. I wonder what caused it.


Excellent! Dodged a bit of a bullet there. Does it benchmark ok?

Benchmarks! (1080p)
Card is overclocked but the voltage and power limit isn't touched.
+150 core / +400 mem - I think the memory can go a tad bit further. It's Hynix GDDR5.

Last two screenshots are FF14 using High (Desktop) @ 1440P. It has almost perfect SLI scaling. You can get a locked 60 even in heavy city areas with a ton of dynamic lighting at night. It runs the game at a higher framerate than my spare GTX 980.

 

[LabRat 891]

Ordered a GTX 690 off eBay. Haven't tested it for functionality yet, was listed as working and from his personal PC (100% seller feedback).
I opened up the card and was greeted to what seems to be thermal pads that have literally turned into dust or ashes.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before?

I'd say solvent (acetone, etc.) or UV-C / O3+NOX damage, but...

More weirdness but the anti-vibration dampening pad seems to have met the same fate. It's shredded to dust all over the acrylic panel.
This is the weirdest GPU purchase I've ever made.

There isn't a single spec of dust on the fans or heatsinks whatsoever. It's almost as if it's brand new.

The acrylic would be DECIMATED if it was (most) solvent-damage, or oxidative damage (the PCB would be badly discolored too)

Spent the last few hours giving her a bit of love. The thermal pads I have now are a little too thick unfortunately, but I'll leave them on just to see if it's functional.

Updated / Edit: And she lives!

AWESOME!

My 'goofy but plausible' guess, is some micro-organism really likes thermal pads.

Aftering thinking about it, my final guess is someone dishwasher'd the card, cooler mounted.

IIRC, given enough hot water and agitation, all the silicone oil and/or plasticizer will leach out of the pads. Not impossible the oil more/less got 'replaced' with water, and the pad water-logged.
Then, when the card was actively air-dried, the pads just disintegrated.

 

[wolf]

Honest to god I always wanted a 690 when they first released, I found this one for roughly 50 USD on eBay (free shipping too).

What a deal! I'm on the hunt for all manner of older GPU's but the Dual GPU cards are high on my list, so far only have the 295 and 590. A Mars card would probably make me sploosh but they'd also be very expensive.

Well done.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I've seen this before and it happened on the GTX 690 that I used to own myself. The pads they used back then weren't of the highest quality, over time with the thermal load the "oily" part of the compound is going to leak out and dry, leaving only the rubbery part which over time will also turn into dust.

You gotta keep in mind these graphics cards are 11 years old by now. Thermal pads aren't often replaced by people even when they actually do maintenance on their cards, if this has been thermally cycled since 2012 and never opened before, then there's your answer.

Lots of contact cleaner spray, isopropyl alcohol, new set of pads and it's mint again

 

[de.das.dude]

looks like it aged and got brittle. thermal paste goes brittle too after it dries out.

i would just replace it all. I wouldnt send it back for a refund, as seems like this was never opened ever before and honestly thats a good thing.

 

[Calenhad]

Looks like I have to dismantle and check the GTX690 I bought yesterday. At least it boots and works properly without melting.