What is That??

Outback Bronze · Dec 10, 2018

Hi guys,

I noticed something on one of my video cards today. It has been running in a non liquid cooled environment.

It seems to be leaking from something? For me it looks like its coming from the thermal pads on the memory or the VRMs's or something?

Its kinda like an oil or fluid :confused:

Anybody seen anything like this before? Coz I haven't..

Cheers.

Vayra86 · Dec 10, 2018

WTF. That is a lot of fluid. My guess would also be thermal pads, and I see its an EVGA, were these pads applied later on as a fix?

RCoon · Dec 10, 2018

Oil from thermal pads. It is silicone, thus not corrosive nor conductive.

https://forums.evga.com/Some-type-o...-backplate-GTX-1080ti-sc-gaming-m2732177.aspx

Hellfire · Dec 10, 2018

Bloody hell, that's a lot of oil, My guessing is from the thermal pad.

Vayra86 · Dec 10, 2018

This comment is worth looking at (taken from link above)

And it again confirms I won't be buying EVGA anymore. I've not seen this elsewhere and it appears these are the standard issue pads used by them. (My reason for asking if you applied these yourself)

Outback Bronze · Dec 10, 2018

RCoon said:
Oil from thermal pads.

My thoughts exactly...

Will it effect the PCI-E slot if its between the PCB and the slot? Lose its connectivity etc?

Hellfire · Dec 10, 2018

Vayra86 said:
This comment is worth looking at (taken from link above)

View attachment 112264

And it again confirms I won't be buying EVGA anymore. I've not seen this elsewhere and it appears these are the standard issue pads used by them. (My reason for asking if you applied these yourself)

That and the fact EVGA are the only ones who suffer from it and don't do anything about it.

RCoon · Dec 10, 2018

Outback Bronze said:
My thoughts exactly...

Will it effect the PCI-E slot if its between the PCB and the slot? Lose its connectivity etc?

Yes, it will. Silicone is a bit tough to clean off. Keep it off of the slot pins. Other than that it doesn't matter where it is.

Hellfire · Dec 10, 2018

I'd recommend using 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean it up and letting it air dry before using again, It does look like it's started seeping into the pins.

Outback Bronze · Dec 10, 2018

RCoon said:
Silicone is a bit tough to clean off

So what's the best cleaning product you can recommend in this instance?

Hellfire said:
It does look like it's started seeping into the pins.

Hmmm can that damage the pins permanently if not attended to? Or is it too late so to speak?

Komshija · Dec 10, 2018

Oil from thermal pads? I doubt it. Do they even contain oil? :confused:

I would guess it's oil from the fans. Regular alcohol will do, like medical 70%. I clean my components with regular medical 70% alcohol, because in my banana country 90% or 100% alcohol is illegal. It does the job just fine and it's really cheap.

Hellfire · Dec 10, 2018

Komshija said:
Oil from thermal pads? I doubt it. Do they even contain oil?

I would guess it's oil from the fans. Regular alcohol will do, like medical 70%. I clean my components with regular medical 70% alcohol, because in my banana country 90% or 100% alcohol is illegal. It does the job just fine and it's really cheap.

It is a known issue with EVGA cards and is from the silicone rubber foam thermal pads they use.

Outback Bronze said:
Hmmm can that damage the pins permanently if not attended to? Or is it too late so to speak?

Clean it up as I said, and it'll be fine.

silentbogo · Dec 10, 2018

Just wanted to add one important thing: that thermal pad snot MUST be cleaned, if it's that bad.
In theory it's non-corrosive,non-conductive, and non-destructive, but just from my personal experience I had a few GPUs ranging from MXM Quadro K4100M and GTX460M to desktop HD7970s and GTX780s which all suffered from blackouts or artifacts due to thermal pad pee getting under VRAM chips. That Quadro was the worst of them all: it felt like it was deep-fried in baby oil, cause it was completely covered with thermal pads, from top to bottom on both sides to keep that 100W TDP under control. All it took is a nice isopropyl bath to get them all working. No reworking or chip-flipping, no soldering, no stupid "baking", just some alcohol and few minutes of drying. It's very rare, but it definitely does happen.

jboydgolfer · Dec 10, 2018

silentbogo said:
but it definitely does happen.

I second this. I've run into this on many occasions. It's not every card but maybe 4 out of 10 do it in my experience I will say I've never seen it this bad, generally it's just a sweat spot left on the PCB or on the memory chip

FireFox · Dec 10, 2018

Outback Bronze said:
It seems to be leaking from something? For me it looks like its coming from the thermal pads on the memory or the VRMs's or something?

Its kinda like an oil or fluid

Anybody seen anything like this before? Coz I haven't..

The same happened to me

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/what-is-this.248551/#post-3923088

Keullo-e · Dec 15, 2018

Knoxx29 said:
The same happened to me

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/what-is-this.248551/#post-3923088

LMAO, almost the same title in the topic. :laugh:

I've had only one EVGA cards (GTX 970 SC) and I can't remember did it have any "leaks"... but damn, wouldn't have guess that thermal pads spread stuff like that.

FireFox · Dec 15, 2018

I have noticed that newest Cards suffer from this issue.

Gorstak · Dec 15, 2018

Murica will invade your gpu soon...

eidairaman1 · Dec 15, 2018

I would switch brands of pad or use a thermal epoxy with thermal compound mix...

R-T-B · Dec 15, 2018

Knoxx29 said:
I have noticed that newest Cards suffer from this issue.

I have seen similar from my evga. It seems harmless, if a bit discouraging.

sam_86314 · Dec 15, 2018

I found some HP computers a while ago that had thermal pads under their SSDs with oily residue on them. It's not exclusive to new GPUs I guess.

FireFox · Dec 15, 2018

R-T-B said:
I have seen similar from my evga. It seems harmless, if a bit discouraging.

Indeed, i have seen many Evga GPUs for sale and most of them have oily residue, first Intel with the crappy Thermal paste and now Evga with low quality Thermal pad :shadedshu:

things couldn't be worse.

Vayra86 · Dec 15, 2018

Knoxx29 said:
Indeed, i have seen many Evga GPUs for sale and most of them have oily residue, first Intel with the crappy Thermal paste and now Evga with low quality Thermal pad things couldn't be worse.

Its been clear as day for a few years now that EVGA's quality is low... from missing thermal pads to shitty ones, to heatpipes that don't connect to... the list is endless.

'But they have great customer service'... lol

John Naylor · Dec 16, 2018

With EVGA, it's always something .... especially the SC series ....

Weak VRMs
Heat sink missed the GPU on 970s
Missing thermal pads
Reference PCB with AIB cooler

As far as customer service .... very polite but 20 support calls, 5 RMAs over 18 months before getting a card that ran at the specs on the box will try your patience.

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What is That??

Outback Bronze

Moderator

Vayra86

RCoon

Hellfire

Vayra86

Outback Bronze

Moderator

Hellfire

RCoon

Hellfire

Outback Bronze

Moderator

Komshija

Hellfire

silentbogo

Moderator

jboydgolfer

FireFox

The Power Of Intel

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.

FireFox

The Power Of Intel

Gorstak

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

R-T-B

sam_86314

FireFox

The Power Of Intel

Vayra86

John Naylor

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