First Mod....... failed

[Killer Munkey]

Well i went out to mod my r9700pro and in the process of remvoing the heatplate over the voltage control chips the heatplate ripped off one of the chips :( :(

I used a sodering gun to heatup the plate before i tried removing it but i guess it wasn't enough.

This is my first computer product i've wrecked out of user error so i guess i've been lucky so far. So as for now i'll stay away from mods for a long time till i get the money to try again.


Head on over to the graphics forum to help me pick out a new g card with my budget

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[harleybro]

Sorry to hear about the mishap. Hopefully when you get up the courage to try a mod again it will go smoothly for you next time.

[Snafu]

I know it doesn't help you now but for future mods go pay a visit to www.blackviper.com (aka Viper John) and see if his site, ideas or services can help you out. He is the best with ATI mods and a God on ATI cards in my books.

[boshuter]

Snafu..... I think you have Black Viper and Viper John confused.... AFAIK they are not the same person. Here is a link to Viper Johns site for the ATI mods. He is a great guy, always willing to take the time to help someone out. Viper John's ATI Mods (http://www.imageevent.com/marginjohn/viperjohn)

[harleybro]

yeah boshunter I saw you had mentioned he helped you with some stuff awhile bk. I emailed him bk and forth a few times. He was very helpful and even recommended against modding my card through him since I was getting good clocks as it was. :thumb:

[Snafu]

Uh oh - I'll have to send John an apology :o

Thanks for that

:beat: guess that's why I'm in the cellar

[BB_One]

Sorry to hear of your mishah Killer Munky, better luck next time is frankly all I can think of saying. But thinking to myself, I hope I do not experience similar when time comes to mod my X850.....ouccchhhh

[Killer Munkey]

the crappy thing is I gotta wait for my income tax return to get to me, so i might be without a main rig for 3 weeks :|

o well. I won't have the nerve to try to mod again for a while cause this destoryed the confidence i built up.

My friends at school here are having a fun time making fun of me for wrecking my card and for even trying to mod it in the first place (i'm the computer expert in the group) but their buying my alchohal tonight :D

[Snafu]

Definitely go see Viper John. He can sell you a kit or even mod and test it for you. Then you can ask who is laughing when they are being fragged to bits :D

[AceGoober]

Can ViperJohn repair the card he has?

[Snafu]

Never hurts to ask. The worst that will happen is he says "no".

[boshuter]

Those surface mount chips can be replaced if it didn't tear a trace on the board or hurt the chip. I had to put some surface mount components on a X800XT I had and it can be done with a regular soldering iron if you are fairly competent with one. It would be much easier with regular surface mount equipment though ;) I don't know if VJ does that or not, he just helped me ID the components I needed and I ordered them and did the repair myself.

[Killer Munkey]

i emailed viper john. we'll see what he says.

and the chip is a surface mount one, the actual chip itself is a little damaged, some leads are there but some are still on the board. If i got a brand new chip of the same kind i could do possible do the repair myself, it'd be tough but good practice for me being that i'm a electronic major.

[Killer Munkey]

he said he'd take a look at it, so i'm maling him my dead card. hopefully he can fix it

[Snafu]

Cool :thumb:

I hope he can help you out!

[Rukee]

I know the feeling, I just trashed two BFG 6800 GT OC PCI-e cards trying to take them sub-zero.
Seems BFG has some sort of thermal something going on that wacks out the core as soon as they go frozen. Just mounting them up and booting trashed them, no volt mods, no OCing, nothing. Sent them in for RMA and they denied saying the cards were missused.

[LostInSpace278]

Thats weird. I had a friend who put water blocks on his 2 6800 GT OC cards. In order to get them to fit, he had to break off some HS rods. Needless to say he was in a hurry and one of the blocks leaked. Trashed both of them, and he still got an RMA out of it.

[BB_One]

Wow! thermal something that wacks the core?? wow! something fishy, let alone how could they claim they were abuse?

Freaken expensive one that one.....hope u intend to fight that one.

[Killer Munkey]

i woulda cried if i fried 2 6800 ultra cards. those make my 9700pro look like chump change. fight them and make them take a rma

[Rukee]

I had an AGP BFG 6800 that did the same thing, as soon as it went sub-zero, within 30 secs of being into windows, the screen just went to all checkerboard effect with diffrent colors. They did RMA that one. My quess is they figured out what trashed it, and if it`s not by design, then I think they figured out what happening anyway.
I`d say it`s a trap on my end, they claim missuse, I respond with something like I never did anything but AS5, then they can call me a lier and disclose this specific damage only happens when frozen and they have proof, or whatnot....thus proving I lied to them giving them another reason to keep denying.

[Killer Munkey]

viper john got my card and got it working again for 56$ total, which is a lot cheaper than buying a brand new card to use. but i found it hilarious when he commented about my card.

heres what he said:


As far as modding the card I do not think the out come would justify the expense. Thiscard has
a absolutely terrible core and OC's like crap at only 336/330 stock. That is so far below the
average for a 9700Pro with Samsung RA-GC2A chips that I can barely believe my eyes. It is by
far the worst stock OC'ing R300/RA-GC2A card I have ever seen and it is all due to a really bad
core (that includes the memory OC as it is the cores memory interface that is killing it as well.

While modding would help it some it is still going to be like a 3 legged race horse trying stumble
out of the paddock and onto the race track.

lol, I have the worst 9700pro core he's ever seen :lol: :lol:

[BGP Spook]

Good to hear viper john got it working again. :thumb:

[Urlyin]

Killer when you get it back look how clean the solder job is ... he does some really good work ... :yup:

[Killer Munkey]

Not sure if i'll get a look at it cause its underneith the heatplate again, he said he reattached it. But anybody who can resoder those small mosfets back on must have a really steady hand.

[Snafu]

It is really awesome news to hear he was able to help you out KM. If anyone could do it it would be VJ.

However, I am sorry to hear about the news with your 9700pro. On teh upside of it all now you have an excuse to flog it on fleabay and get your self a new card and hopefully one that you can clock the heck out of it :D

[harleybro]

Hey congrats on gettin the card running again. Sorry to hear about it being the worst card though. I had contacted him about my 9800pro awhile bk once he found it was the 256mb version he said I would be better off to get a new one even though I have ran the core up to 490 just can't break 396 on mem lol.

[Killer Munkey]

got the card back in the mail and it works great. Soo clean too, i wonder what he uses to clean the entire card off with

[Android Vageta]

viper john got my card and got it working again for 56$ total, which is a lot cheaper than buying a brand new card to use. but i found it hilarious when he commented about my card.

heres what he said:


As far as modding the card I do not think the out come would justify the expense. Thiscard has
a absolutely terrible core and OC's like crap at only 336/330 stock. That is so far below the
average for a 9700Pro with Samsung RA-GC2A chips that I can barely believe my eyes. It is by
far the worst stock OC'ing R300/RA-GC2A card I have ever seen and it is all due to a really bad
core (that includes the memory OC as it is the cores memory interface that is killing it as well.

While modding would help it some it is still going to be like a 3 legged race horse trying stumble
out of the paddock and onto the race track.

lol, I have the worst 9700pro core he's ever seen :lol: :lol:

I think we have the same card here bro. Mine can run 351core for about 30mins then from theres its ever decreasing the core to rid of artifacts till I get to about the level of your card. Sucks huh?

[AceGoober]

Even though I haven't had the pleasure of speaking with Viper John, I figured Viper John would be able to help you out in your predicament. It definitely never hurts to ask a Pro for help. :D :thumbs: Speaking of which, I need to replace my soldering iron. Need to get a hold of another Weller 5 to 45 watt adjustable 3 prong grounded unit again. Those are the best I have found so far for doing electronic repair.