Did I kill my 7800GT?

[Elfear]

Hope you guys have some words of reassurance for me. I posted this in the 3D section but they suggested I post here since you guys are the gurus.

I tried to do my first voltmod tonight and the metal part of the resistor melted away on the side I need to solder on. It's the resistor for the vgpu mod. The one in this (http://www.vr-zone.com.sg/?i=2656&s=1) guide that you solder the 3k VR to.

Anyone know the value of the resistor that I ruined so I can get another one? Anyone know if this is fixable? What is the correct temperature to solder with for these volt mods?

[persivore]

Can you get any pictures of your card?
The component looks like a capacitor and not a resistor :). There is no way to get the true value of the capacitor without getting someone to remove it from their card and checking the capacitance :(.

For volt mods I use an 18w soldering iron. The power of the iron is more important than the temperature IMO.

[Elfear]

I'll try to get a good pick of the problem area. I'm not sure if my camera can get that kind of res though.

If you look at the second picture in the VR-Zone guide (http://www.vr-zone.com.sg/?i=2656&s=1), the part where the red line points to where you solder the positive of the 3k trimmer to, is where I melted the metallic portion of the resistor off. After talking with Viper John, it looks like the end of the SMS melted off and I should be able to replace it. I just need to figure out the value so I can get a new one.

Hope that was a good enough description to give you an idea of what I screwed up.

Also, I don't know if the soldering iron my friend uses has the wattage rating. It looks like it just has a temp scale you can adjust.

[Elfear]

Here is a pic of the damaged area.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4093/closeup4ee.th.jpg (http://img12.imageshack.us/my.php?image=closeup4ee.jpg)

[jl123]

Is the trace(solder pad) even there anymore? That doesn't make it impoossible to fix but you won't be able to simply solder a new one back on.

[Elfear]

How do I fix it if there's no solder pad left? I'm a little ignorant (obviously) when it comes to this stuff.

[jl123]

You just need to follow the trace from the burnt component and see if it goes down to that lower component. If so you could run a simple little jumper wire to repair the path. From the looks of it that trace connects what I have marked in the picture. Its a little difficult to see in the picture so you need to doublecheck where that trace goes to.

I'd be more careful this time or get someone else to do this for you. You're going to have one ghetto card if you keep burning solder pads off.

[Elfear]

Interesting. I'll definetely have someone else do it as my soldering skills are nil to nonexistant. Anyone want to make a few bucks and fix this for me?

Here is a pic of the same area on the good card, if that helps to see where the trace goes.

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/1484/closeupiii6hf.th.jpg (http://img375.imageshack.us/my.php?image=closeupiii6hf.jpg)

[flutie98]

You just need to follow the trace from the burnt component and see if it goes down to that lower component. If so you could run a simple little jumper wire to repair the path. From the looks of it that trace connects what I have marked in the picture. Its a little difficult to see in the picture so you need to doublecheck where that trace goes to.

I'd be more careful this time or get someone else to do this for you. You're going to have one ghetto card if you keep burning solder pads off.

yep that is correct checked with a DMM today on my eVGA 7800GT

[jl123]

On another card? :slobber: Rich man. :D

Looks like you have it figured out. What equipment are you using for this mod btw? A pic works. :)

[heater918]

Interesting. I'll definetely have someone else do it as my soldering skills are nil to nonexistant. Anyone want to make a few bucks and fix this for me?

Here is a pic of the same area on the good card, if that helps to see where the trace goes.

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/1484/closeupiii6hf.th.jpg (http://img375.imageshack.us/my.php?image=closeupiii6hf.jpg)

For repair contact Malves (http://www.malvescorner.net/). persivore is in the U.K. both could do the repair. There may be others here also :)

[Elfear]

On another card? :slobber: Rich man. :D

Looks like you have it figured out. What equipment are you using for this mod btw? A pic works. :)

Hardly. I found a killer deal for two 7800GTs. It only ended up costing me $50-60 to upgrade from my 7800GTX (paid $375 for it in June) which sounded like a worthy move.

My friend is actually doing the mod for me. I'm not familiar with all the equipment she has but it looked like she had an adjustable soldering iron, big magnifying glass, lots of different kinds of solder, lots of wire, etc. She really has a nice setup, she just wasn't familiar with video card PCB's I guess.


For repair contact Malves (http://www.malvescorner.net/). persivore is in the U.K. both could do the repair. There may be others here also :)


Looks like ViperJohn's going to help me out. Thanks for the suggestions though.