When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works .
u/External_Length_8877 explained how their GPU died in the first place. It was a pretty easy deduction since they found a capacitor knocked out of place, between the card and the radiator. Fallen capacitors can't just be put back; you need a proper replacement, which in this case would be a 16V, 270 μF hard polymer capacitor, no longer than 3mm.
Since the actual capacitor is not that easy to find in the region, the OP's father came up with a temporary solution instead. His son tells us that, aged 55, Alexander has been working as an electrician and a welder for the past 35 years, so he carries a lifetime of experience with him. Today, he works as a brigadier maintaining power lines in Serbia. His son describes him as a "real family man" who knows how to work on pretty much anything. Apparently, that list includes highly delicate graphics cards as well.
Alexander used a different, cheaper, and larger capacitor to replace its fallen comrade. It sticks out from the card, yet it works. Some people in the comments even said it fits the Gigabyte's variant's futuristic aesthetic, but the capacitor itself isn't suited for long-term usage because of its higher resistance, which would let the clocks run unchecked.
Moreover, the Redditor's father also replaced the old thermal paste with a "special" one that is designed for the high-voltage lines he works on at his job. They replied to a few comments saying the GPU's peak temp during gaming doesn't exceed 80°C. That may sound high, but keep in mind that everyone has different ambient temps. As we mentioned, the new capacitor also has significantly higher resistance than the original one, so perhaps that contributes, too.
Fully-functional RTX 3070 16GB gets frankensteined into existence by harvesting dead PCBs and RX 6800 XT's VRAM chips
Ingenious modder converts countertop ice machine into an RTX 3060 GPU cooler with a beer fridge thermostat
Scammers in China sell $222 RTX 4090 with fake GPU die made out of plastic instead of real silicon
Oftentimes, we just have to look inward to find inspiration, and this story is surely serving as bonding material for the Russian father-son duo. OP is still trying to find the right component, so this serves as only a temporary solution to what is a $120 problem otherwise.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News , or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/ingenious-father-fixes-dead-rtx-3070-with-a-jerry-rigged-capacitor-from-an-old-radio-saves-worried-son-usd120-in-repair-costs-gpu-works-better-than-before-now#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/subscription
- Colibrì proof-of-concept gains frontier-level 1.5-TB AI model — novel approach runs on only 25GB of RAM and shows promise for local AI setups
- Intel preps 28-core Nova Lake-S CPUs for Dunlow workstation platform — Entry-level Xeon chip features LGA1954 socket
- Intel's midrange Core Ultra 5 245K is down to its lowest price ever at just $179 on Amazon — save up to 42% on a solid gaming CPU with 14 cores and PCIe 5.0 sup
- SK hynix and TetraMem collaborate on experimental chip to bolster energy efficiency for edge AI devices — memristor-based in-memory SoC research leaves performa
- NVIDIA BioNeMo Agent Toolkit Brings Accelerated AI to Life Sciences Researchers in Claude Science
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.