Cooling Thermal Pad Application Opinion's

Hi guys, a bit of back story first.

Sold this 4870X2 on the 2nd of February after having it running under water but fitted the air cooler prior to selling and tested it before shipping and it worked no problems at all.

Now after about 2-3 weeks I heard back from the chap saying he'd had problems getting it working so I said for him to send it back and I'd refund him.

The card finally got back to me yesterday and I just had a look and it and it's obvious the card has been opened up (to fit a watercooling block possibly, he showed interest in my waterblock which was also up for sale but someone else bought this through buy it now).

He's used a mixture of TIM on the GPU's and thermal pads over all the memory chips, VRM's and Interconnect chip.

Now the first issue is that the thermal pads don't look like they've been applied correctly to me anyway and it looks like the backing that comes on thermal pads has not been removed proir to fitting and there's also quite a bit of TIM that's leaked onto the circuit board. I tried removing the backing but it seems like it may have been baked on when the card's been powered up and has had some heat running through it.

I just wanted to ask what everyone else thought of these proir to messaging the guy and telling him this may be the issue. Pic's are below.







(Noticed with this one, the memory chip has next to nothing on it and the thermal pad on the underside of the cooler above has all of 2 tiny spots of white TIM on them with the backing on top [Which is paper thin]).

 

I hope you haven't refunded him, this is why scansure exists. hopefully it can be fixed.

 

Well I wasn't planning on it, I mean if the card was in the conditon I sent it to him in (the reason I opened it in the first place) then I wouldnt have had a problem, but I wish he'd tested first and told me then before going ahead and opening it up.

I know a few people who've had problems with they're 4870X2's shorting with waterblocks (me included) so I don't know if he's just duffed it and trying to get his money back, who know's.

 

Personally, I wouldn't have accepted that as a refund. The guy obviously knows jack-**** about applying TIM and thermal pads. He's just as likely to have run around in socks on his carpet, and then touching the board. If you are going to mess with expensive electronics, you better know what the F you are doing.

 

I haven't refunded him yet, I just wanted to get an opinion as to whether the pads installed properly so that when I send it back to him I can at least say 'this may be where your problem is...'

 

Oh okay

Just tell him to stop messing around, and get clear on how to apply thermal pads and TIM properly

 

Christ just slap it back in a jiffy bag and send it back, then demand postage as they have clearly wasted your time.

Also never except returns after a week, that allows for the item to arrive and to be tested, after 2-3 weeks he could have fired it up, overclocked it and fried it for all you know.

 

He's fubared it up royally. Any changes he made to the item after receiving it are on his own head. Return and do not refund.