Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

[goodpsusearch]

I got today 4 GV-NX66128DP cards for free that seem to have the same problems.

They are based on GeForce 6600 VPU and they use passive cooling...

In 2 of 4 cards there are some caps bulging. The bulging caps are 1500uF 6.3V KZJ. What is the maker of these caps? Are they quality ones or not? Why they failed?

1 of the 2 cards without bulging caps has 1500uF 6.3V Rubycon MBZ instead of KZJ.

At the back side of the cards there are signs of liquid... I didn't have a clue what this could be until I read this:

"Silent-Pipe Technology
Fast heat spreading without a sound: Heat pipe is filled with liquid material to transmit the heat generated from the heat source side: GPU side, to the other side of a graphic card. Heat is to be brought by vaporized liquid to the other side of the pipe, then for capillarity force, water from cooled steam will go back to the heat source side to begin its thermal trip again, hence, Silent-Pipe enables a graphic card to run quiet and fast to meet the needs of users who has a preference for tranquility at work."

Well, it seems it's not filled anymore LOL

Now what I can do to repair these cards? Should I clean up the boards from liquid and then test them in a motherboard to see if they work?

Photos of every card's up and down side attached...

[c_hegge]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

KZJ Are made by Nippon Chemi-Con. They are a Japanese brand which is generally reliable, but they have problems with the KZG and KZJ series. I'm not too sure what you could do to fix a water/liquid damaged card, though. wait for one of the other members to fill me in there.

[yyonline]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

KZJ are made by Nippon/United Chemicon. A usually reliable brand, but KZG and KZG series have some issues failing early.

I highly doubt the liquid leaked out of the heat pipe. It's possible, yes, but I've never seen it happen in the 10 years I've been doing computer repair (unless someone tried to modify the cooling, but that's another story). The heat pipe liquid is usually soldered into a copper tube. The residue you are seeing on the back is probably residue which has leaked out of the thermal pad interface material, not the heat pipe. This thermal gap pad is in between the card components and the heatsink. It just happens as it ages. In fact, even a brand new thermal gap pad feels a bit oily to the touch. I usually just clean off the residue. It's hard to replace the thermal gap pad material. You can't just use thermal paste, as there's a gap to fill between the components and the heatsink. Replacement gap pad is rather hard to find. I have a few sheets of it, but I use it sparingly as it's hard to come by. If you care to search for a supplier for gap pad, I use some Thermagon and Bergquist products. I had some luck getting them to send me sample sheets, which is what I use to this day. I've never found a good source for small quantities of the stuff.

Short version: I'd replace the failed KZJ with Rubycon MBZ or MCZ, or something similarly reliable. The residue is likely from the thermal interface material, not the heat pipe. So I wouldn't worry about that too much. As long as the heat sink gets warm with the card running, it's likely transferring heat just fine. If you want confirmation, unscrew the heatsink screws, and see if the residue is centered around the pads between the card and the heatsink.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

Thank you for your answers!

yyonline, it seems you are right...

The liquid traces on the boards don't fit with the leaking pipe theory, on the contrary they lead to the thermal pad that is placed among the heatsink and the board...

I just removed that heatsink from 1 of the cards to confirm that and to test every cap's capacitance and esr with my micro esr 4 meter.

Bellow the thermal pad some tiny smd parts are placed. How come they don't get shorted by the pad?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

Ideally the pads are non-conductive.

Chemicon KZJ & KZG have heat failure issues.
A video card is a BAD place for them.

Also looks like you might have Nichicon HM [the black/white with a X stamp].
Those made from 2001-2004 were defective due to a manufacturing error.
Date code would be in the format H0344
- '03' = year 2003
- '44' = week 44

The meaning of 'H' is a super-secret and will only be divulged if you provide the winning numbers for next week's Power Ball.
.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

I cleaned the liquid from the cards and tested all of them at that system: intel motherboard, Pentium 4 Prescott 3.06GHZ HT and 512mb ddr2 533mhz.

I ran 3DMark2001, 3DMark03 & 3DMark05 many times, demo and benchmark mode and didn't have any problems with any of them, even with the bulging ones!

They get extremely hot though, so I decided to attach a small fan and see if it helps. Well, it helped very much and the system didn't get noisy, so I kept the card with the Rubycon MBZ caps in that pc.

Now, searching for replacement caps for the others that have Nippon Chemicon KZJ, these are the lowest esr caps that I was able to find at rs site:
http://gr.rsdelivers.com/product/pan...f/5260976.aspx
Are they suitable?

Also looks like you might have Nichicon HM [the black/white with a X stamp].
Those made from 2001-2004 were defective due to a manufacturing error.
Date code would be in the format H0344
- '03' = year 2003
- '44' = week 44

The meaning of 'H' is a super-secret and will only be divulged if you provide the winning numbers for next week's Power Ball.
.

They are Nichicon HM A0527 A0515 & A0517.

[c_hegge]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

That is a 2005 date code, which ARE defective.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

Indeed they may be defective as 2005 is the year they fixed the problem.

On the card there are 3 very small caps that are G-Luxon, definitely bad caps too.

But recapping a graphics card is not the easiest thing for me, I don't have an appropriate solder iron (30W with thin needle), so for the moment I will replace only the Nippon Chemicon KZJ caps. Can anyone tell if Panasonic FMs (http://gr.rsdelivers.com/product/pan...f/5260976.aspx) are suitable?

[yyonline]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

The FM capacitors are taller than the current capacitors (10x12.5 mm vs 10x20 mm). The extra tall caps may interfere with the card in the next slot, if there is one. Otherwise, the FM capacitors will work fine.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

I haven't seen enough reports of bad 2005 vintage HM that couldn't be attributed to a bad PSU or heat issues which can blow any kind of cap.
As I recall I've only even heard of it twice.
- One had a questionable PSU and the other was from a Dell toaster-oven case.

If you find any then post them here.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4654
.

[stavr0]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

A note for any other owners for this card. In my case, the system is failing
frequently with a black screen, so they will eventually become unusable.

Gigabyte nVidia 6600LE - 6.3v 1500uF KZJ

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

I replaced the KZJ caps on one of those cards.

This was my first time recapping a multilayer pcb and it wasn't easy at all.

I used a 40W "top electronics components" soldering iron that I bought some days ago for 7€

The hardest part was to remove the remaining solder from the pcb holes.

I am very lucky that the thing worked after so much heating.

For replacement caps I used Panasonic FM 1500uF 6.3V esr 0.019, while the original caps were KZJ 1500uF 6.3V esr 0.018.

I think it is okay.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

Good job!

Yup, 40 watts is a little 'light' for most thick boards.

[mikeyles]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

I also had similiar experience with a Gigabyte GV-R577SL-1GD ATI HD 5770 with silent pipe passive cooler graphics card purchased in 2010. It only lasted till late 2013 (intermitent display issues) and has a total of 3 bulged and small leak started on 6.3V 1500uf KZJ capacitors.
I can confirm they are junk.


cheers mikeyles

[c_hegge]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

Yup. a Passive cooled GPU is pretty much guaranteed to kill them. Recap it with a few of these (https://www.badcaps.net/store/produc...roducts_id=147) and it should be right.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

and put there a silent fan

[stj]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

i would use poly's on a passive card.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP passive cooling failure

The temps are so high that the gpu is going to fail eventually.

I got 9 x GV-NX66128DP cards 2 months ago from the university recycling pile. Only 2 worked ok.

With the other cards the system would not boot at all or boot without video or show artifacts. I strongly advice putting a fan on passively cooled gpus unless they are entry level, generating little amounts of heat.