Smoke from magic lingered last night, marking the end of it all.
Smoke from magic lingered last night, marking the end of it all.
Is there a way to fix this? You should keep both broken chips and take out the one inductor or remove all of them. When you touched the finger nail to the puffed chip, the epoxy began to break at the end. I’m not sure if I’d need to apply a conformal coating now.
The smoke originated from the initial component you noticed, the blown mosfet. It was positioned roughly at that distance along the card. Would eliminating the inductor clear it from danger? I’m uncertain about the difficulty of removal, assembly, and replacement. Since I don’t have thermal pads available right now, I’m considering using the leftover from the blown inductor to fill any gaps.
Yeah, dead power stages are often the easiest fixes if you're comfortable soldering and have a hot air gun. You can verify the problem by taking out the inductor and ensuring the VCore VRM isn't shorted. No need for a conformal coating; the stage will stay shorted but won't affect the VCore output. If you're not confident with soldering, consider a repair shop—you might get the card working again. It's possible both components failed at once, though that's rare. If the second rail died (check it first before powering on), removing the inductor won't help. Since it seems like a single-phase VRM, powering it directly won't work unless you use an E-power source like the Elmorlabs AMPLE-X1. Overall, power delivery issues usually point to hardware problems, not faulty silicon. Fixing it should cost around $5-10 if you have the skills and tools, though parts can add up and might make a repair shop more appealing.
It depends on your location. NorthridgeFix operates in California, while Krisfix is based in Germany. We repair failed fix boards, but there are no guarantees—these chips can fuse to the board and often become worthless. It comes down to what you value versus what it costs. The 2080s are no longer considered new.