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My 980 Ti Matrix Blew Up :(

Dicehunter
Level 10
So I got my shiny new 980 Ti Matrix today, Took out my 980 Ti Classified, Installed the Matrix, Plugging in both 8 pin cables.

Booted the computer and it ran ok for around 2 minutes after I reinstalled the driver to make sure it was a good clean installation and 2 minutes after whilst I was reading some emails BOOM, A bright white flash from the GPU, Loud pop and smell of smoke, Bear in mind I hadn't touched the GPU i.e clocks volts etc...

I took the Matrix out and when it decided to blow up, It sprayed black dust onto the inside of the case window.

I put the 980 Ti Classified back in and everything works fine, Obviously I'm now taking it back as it's completely faulty but what could cause something like this ?




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10 REPLIES 10

Korth
Level 14
Surprising that the 980Ti still appears to work. You're describing cooked silicon so I'd expect the GPU chip or a GDDR5 chip has blown apart.

It could be caused by a poor TIM application, or even by no TIM at all. It could be caused by a failed electrical component in the VRM circuitry, bad regulator or faulty cap or cracked trace or something. It could have been dud chips, bad silicon or microregulator failure or something else wrong inside the chip package. It could be caused by an electrically open (shorted) contact. It might even be a badly-sealed heatpipe leaking away. Whatever the cause, it's likely located on the GPU card itself and not caused by the motherboard or the PSU - although the motherboard or PSU (or anything else plugged into them) could have suffered damage from this violent event, they would be electrically compromised in my mind until proven to work properly with another GPU card.

It's also surprising that such a card could have possibly passed factory QC. Unless you connected something wrong. It might be best to check your PSU outputs with a voltmeter before another card cooks.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Dicehunter
Level 10
Nope I put everything in correctly, Securely seated in the PCI-E lane, Both 8 pin cables securely clicked into place.

I put in a 980 Ti classified with the same cables and it's working fine so it was just the card that went boom.




Vlada011
Level 10
If you uninstall driver and all OC software than it's pure accident.
I always uninstall and Afterburner with driver update and special hardware upgrade
because he start automatic after driver installation and could apply last saved setting from profile if you install same series.
Really bad because so nice card is finished... I would be deeply sad for days and weeks...

Vlada011 wrote:
If you uninstall driver and all OC software than it's pure accident.
I always uninstall and Afterburner with driver update and special hardware upgrade
because he start automatic after driver installation and could apply last saved setting from profile if you install same series.
Really bad because so nice card is finished... I would be deeply sad for days and weeks...


Before installing the Matrix I uninstalled the driver and MSI Afterburner, Not a big issue though as I just got a reply from the place I bought it they will exchange it on Saturday with a new one for me 🙂




Dicehunter
Level 10
Workmate of mine just sent me this, He got his Matrix from the same store this morning, Could it be a faulty batch ?


84'c at 100% fan speed at stock clocks/volts doesn't seem right.






Vlada011
Level 10
100% fan speed and 90C is definitely problem.
Only is question where...
Maybe after simple paste reinstallation temps drop on 70C and maybe is problem hardware overheating.

I would keep Matrix on 75% fan speed with little opened case panel and I would expect arround 78-82C...
Maybe that's not true but I think because clock and power consumption, etc...
that would be normal expected temp, and arround 75C with 80% fan speed without case panel, on open...

Vlada011 wrote:
100% fan speed and 90C is definitely problem.
Only is question where...
Maybe after simple paste reinstallation temps drop on 70C and maybe is problem hardware overheating.

I would keep Matrix on 75% fan speed with little opened case panel and I would expect arround 78-82C...
Maybe that's not true but I think because clock and power consumption, etc...
that would be normal expected temp, and arround 75C with 80% fan speed without case panel, on open...


Well I got the faulty Matrix replaced and now have a fully working Matrix 🙂

Temp in the Witcher 3 with a 1:1 fan profile never goes over 58'c at 1440P max settings with around 60FPS.




Vlada011
Level 10
Nice, that's best possible news.
You can try for few weeks to install BIOS from Matrix Gold.
Or if card don;t want to accept BIOS to re-write settings with BIOS Editor.