Think I broke my gpu

I know this isn't really the site for this but we have some smart people here so fuck it.....anyway. I have a nvidia gtx 660. I took it apart few months ago to clean for dust. Didn't know about thermal paste and didn't have any to reapply so I was like fuck it. Just put it back together with the glue that was on there. My card performance didn't get any better or worse. Still kept getting all these damn kernal crashes. But I could still pretty much play any game. It would just crash more. So I got some thermal glue. Opened it again yesterday, cleaned the old glue out and reapplied. Apparently I put wayyyyy too much on it. Bc now the card worked but my computer kept stuttering. Like it would take forever for it to do stuff then it would start moving all nice and fast again. So I took the gpu out again cleaned it and reapplied using the dot method. Putting a bb sized dot and putting it back on. Problem still persists. My computer works fine without the gpu in it. Any suggestions as to how this can be fixed before I office space my gpu.

Does gpu stand for (gangsta puter utensils)?have you tried throwing it against a wall? Or squeezing it really tight and yelling cus word's at it so intensely that you get spit all over it?

Lol, graphics processing unit. Smart ass.

Well obviously no one cares (all good I get it...weed site) but I fixed it. Took apart, washed in hot water. And let dry out COMPLETELY. Then reapplied thermal paste, put in. Works like new. I've spilled a lot of beer on my keyboards (piano and typing) and found out that washing electronics out is cool as long as it's 100% dry when you put it back together.

Interesting, did it fix the kernal issue as well?

You probably drowned the Silicon in thermal grease. Which does the opposite of what it would normally do. Exchange heat. Had an old 580 a while back. Had to open that up. Discovered the thermal grease had practically dried up. After applying a small dob of Arctic Silver. She was almost good as new.

Great time to update your card

start saving ...lol

fjbudboy said:

Interesting, did it fix the kernal issue as well?

Click to expand...

In windows that's impossible, it's one big kernel issue.

@ OP
Some thermal paste is conductive enough to cause issues when it drips on the pcb.

And thats why I use an air compressor.... clean as new, and no tearing apart, lol.

Flagg420 said:

And thats why I use an air compressor.... clean as new, and no tearing apart, lol.

Click to expand...

If you aren't buying new gpu's bi yearly. Then you should be changing your gpu's thermal grease. That means a tear down.

Avg PC lasts 3 yrs, a well built one 5.... why bother.... if the GPU burns before the system is old, the GPU is still outdated, get the newer version....

Flip it upside down, protect the board thermally but expose the gpu and re-flow the chip with a heat gun... Otherwise just buy a new gpu or better yet gpu and motherboard