The Oven Trick

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Don't know if you guys already know this trick, but I recently discovered it and I think it's awesome.

Basically if you have a GPU thats failed in some way (won't post, artifacts etc.), you can fix it by putting it in the oven.

Here's how you do it:

1: remove heatsink and thermal paste
2: preheat oven to 200'C ( NO HIGHER!)
3: lay foil over the oven rack
4: make 4 balls of foil, about 4cm high,
5L when the oven is heated to its correct temperature, put the graphics card on the 4 balls, one on each corner )
6: leave for around 6-10 mins, NO MORE THAN 12 OR IT WILL MELT
7: let it cool off in the oven (turn it off and open the door)
8. Enjoy!

How does it work?

Basically the solder joints in the card can get brittle over time and develop micro-fractures. These can stop or weaken an electrical signal. Typically the tiny solder joints on the bottom of RAM chips are the earliest victims. The PCB has a bit of flex to it, but the chips do not, and that can exasperate the issue. So, the idea here is to melt all those tiny joints and let them re-harden into a like-new state.

Credit to jason4207.

Anyone wanna give this a try? Loads of testimonials online confirming that this REALLY DOES WORK!
 
Makes sense , i guess . I really wouldnt want to try this though - only as a last resort to the last resort
 
The tinfoil shiny side up or down?
Tinfoil balls shiny side inside or outside?
 
Just googled and found another forum of ppl appluading this.

Well, I have an apron and a freshly poked 8800GTX...

Hard drives in the freezer, GPU in the oven, dinner at 6!
 
i think the tinfoil is just to protect the card, so not sure it matters which side up or down :)

but if i had to choose i'd go shiny side up!

i think it is quite a last resort, but u'd be amazed how successful its been for loads of ppl
 
Is this suppose to be a permanent / semi permanent fix or like the freezer trick, just to get it going as a temporary measure?
 
romark: permanent fix, but apparently the problem can sumtimes reoccur over an extended period of time - at which point u can oven it again :D
 
Hmmm...
Don't have a fooked graphics card myself to try, but I know of a friend who has an old broken one, and he is the sort that would be all too willing to try for the hell of it :D
 
I tried it this weekend on a 7900gt - it worked for about 10 minutes then the card overheated and died again :D I'm debating re-doing it though heh.
 
nihilist said:
Just googled and found another forum of ppl appluading this.

Well, I have an apron and a freshly poked 8800GTX...

Hard drives in the freezer, GPU in the oven, dinner at 6!
Click to expand...

:D

When can we rock up for some crispily fried chips? :D

The reason for this sort of thing is the new lead-free type of solder in use. Lead gives a bit of flexibility to the solder, without lead it's more brittle, and prone to breakage. GPU components (and others) do expand and shrink with usage (when they get hot/cold) and this causes the solder to break up.
 
Heard about this a long time ago, and it was also posed on gpureview too.

Some blokes use this trick to fix failed card's as working cards...such scums...

You will need to ensure you get better cooling else the card will fail again very quickly, many old gpus get hotter than they did new for some odd reason.

Anyways, it works though!!! :D
 
my 4870x2 isn't broken yet, but i've got a feeling this might boost some performance if it can get a broken 0 fps card to go to 30fps

anyway, i've got some pies that need reheating as well, so...
 
I wouldn't try it on a card that's working fine :O

lol cerebrus see i told you it works :D

If you could keep that card cool enuff it would be a permanent-ish fix :D
 
This is the layman's form of a reflow oven used in surface mount electronics. The reflow tries to fix dry joints which can occur from repeated heating/cooling or initial bad joint formation.
 
Well it definitely worked but the board ran a lot hotter than before - nameite is right about that. Maybe I'll try it again this week and do a better job installing the fan on it - the problem is it only has a puny little cooler.
 
cerebus said:
Well it definitely worked but the board ran a lot hotter than before - nameite is right about that. Maybe I'll try it again this week and do a better job installing the fan on it - the problem is it only has a puny little cooler.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm still wondering, if I do the 'trick' and it works, whether I want to spend money on an aftermarket cooler, perhaps I should just sell it pre/post-baked :D

I have a Radeon 5850 on pre-order though.
 
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