Hi all,

This morning I woke up to find my computer with a black screen. I booted my computer up, and my screen has lines going through it. I bought the card last august and overclocked it a bit, but it has been stable with great temps for over a month.

I want to ask if anyone knows a fix I can do, or is the card done for?

Thanks and hopefully I can find a solution to this, and if I can't, I appreciate your help.

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Cruncher/Learner in progress.

The card has no burnt marks and does not smell like it was burnt

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Cruncher/Learner in progress.

..screen has lines going through it

I am sorry to say that, but this is typical for a bad (or badly connected) chip. Sometimes it can be fixed by BGA reballing (heating the chip, desoldering and soldering again) but the worktime and equipment needed does not pay for a relatively low priced card like this one. And there is no guarantee that it will work thereafter.

What you can try at home without any special equipment is the "baking oven" method where the entire board (without the cooler) is heated to 200°C, trying to fix the dry soldered joint (if any). There are many Youtube videos available which you can refer to ... but don't expect too much from this procedure. Well, the card cannot be more than dead anyway.

Edit: new RoHS compliant solder have a reduced share of lead, increasing the melting temperature. Therfore it may be even neccessary to use 215°C for some boards. Needless to say that the capacitors on the PCB don't like to be heated in this way for a long time.

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I would love to see HCF1 protein folding and interaction simulations to help my little boy... someday.

..screen has lines going through it

I am sorry to say that, but this is typical for a bad (or badly connected) chip. Sometimes it can be fixed by BGA reballing (heating the chip, desoldering and soldering again) but the worktime and equipment needed does not pay for a relatively low priced card like this one. And there is no guarantee that it will work thereafter.

What you can try at home without any special equipment is the "baking oven" method where the entire board (without the cooler) is heated to 200°C, trying to fix the dry soldered joint (if any). There are many Youtube videos available which you can refer to ... but don't expect too much from this procedure. Well, the card cannot be more than dead anyway.

Edit: new RoHS compliant solder have a reduced share of lead, increasing the melting temperature. Therfore it may be even neccessary to use 215°C for some boards. Needless to say that the capacitors on the PCB don't like to be heated in this way for a long time.

I tried the heating method before and it failed. I guess I'll save up for another one. Thanks again.

I just want to know why this happened though out of nowhere :/

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Cruncher/Learner in progress.

If you purchased the 960 second hand, you never know how the first owner treated it. But anyway those cards can fail, after one year or ten years, that is hard to predict.

May I ask how much you are going to spend for a new one? And how much did you pay for the 960 last year?

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I would love to see HCF1 protein folding and interaction simulations to help my little boy... someday.

If you purchased the 960 second hand, you never know how the first owner treated it. But anyway those cards can fail, after one year or ten years, that is hard to predict.

May I ask how much you are going to spend for a new one? And how much did you pay for the 960 last year?

I paid about 200 US dollars for it at Best Buy last August. I tried contacting the maker of the card, PNY, but they need the receipt which I don't have anymore. I even tried going through the credit card history and couldn't find best buy.

I'm not sure how much I'm going to put to buying a new GPU as of now, but I know for sure that I will never buy another PNY product again. Knowing me I'll probably get myself another GTX 960 made by Evga after this weekend or so, maybe.

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Cruncher/Learner in progress.

I'm still skeptic though on getting a new one

I just don't want to have this happen to me again so soon

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Cruncher/Learner in progress.

Don't buy that old card, buy something 16 or 14nm. 1060 or 1050ti

Don't buy that old card, buy something 16 or 14nm. 1060 or 1050ti

Thanks. I'm going to go with the 1060 3GB on Amazon instead. I don't feel comfortable buying a used GPU anyways. It costs 196 dollars. What a great deal! Considering I see it around 300 dollars elsewhere.

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Cruncher/Learner in progress.

Just be aware the 1060 3GB isn't just less memory compared to the 6GB version. It runs a bit slower and also has fewer CUDA cores.

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Just be aware the 1060 3GB isn't just less memory compared to the 6GB version. It runs a bit slower and also has fewer CUDA cores.

i thought it runs faster on gpugrid though compared to the 6gb

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Cruncher/Learner in progress.

Just be aware the 1060 3GB isn't just less memory compared to the 6GB version. It runs a bit slower and also has fewer CUDA cores.

i thought it runs faster on gpugrid though compared to the 6gb

I'm no expert but I don't see how that's possible with fewer cores running at a slower speed. Although the speed seems to depend on which card you get.

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Join us and #crunchforcures. We are now also folding:join team ID 236370!

Just be aware the 1060 3GB isn't just less memory compared to the 6GB version. It runs a bit slower and also has fewer CUDA cores.

i thought it runs faster on gpugrid though compared to the 6gb

I wouldnt be too much worried about this. The 1060 3G is just slightly slower than the 1060 6G. Depends also on the CPU and memory clock rates of the particular card. If you want to crunch, the 3G is fast enough in my opinion. But if you want to play games as well,the 3G will bottleneck your GPU in the near future. Unfortunately Nvidia charges hefty 60$ for the 6G memory size.

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I would love to see HCF1 protein folding and interaction simulations to help my little boy... someday.

Correction: Unfortunately Nvidia charges hefty 60$ SURCHARGE for the 6G memory size. In comparison with the 3G variant.

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I would love to see HCF1 protein folding and interaction simulations to help my little boy... someday.

I paid about 200 US dollars for it at Best Buy last August. I tried contacting the maker of the card, PNY, but they need the receipt which I don't have anymore.

That is normal. Most GPU partners don't provide direct support.

I even tried going through the credit card history and couldn't find best buy.

One more idea in order to get your Money back. I think that Best Buy customer Service will send you a copy of invoice if you tell them the serial number of your card. The Serial number should show up in their ERP records and therefore is a clear proof that you purchased it from them.

Don't tell them yet that the Card is defective, just that you lost your invoice. Otherwise they possibly will be not very cooperative. Once you have this copy in your hand, you may contact Best Buy again for the warranty claim.

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I would love to see HCF1 protein folding and interaction simulations to help my little boy... someday.

This morning I woke up to find my computer with a black screen.
I booted my computer up, and my screen has lines going through it.

This is usually caused by a broken soldering contact (as Joerg said), or a cut in the wiring of the PCB (perhaps on an internal layer). Both could be caused by thermal expansion and/or warping/bending the card by its own weight plus the weight of the PCIe power cable(s). The standard cooler assembly has a cast aluminum frame for stiffening the card (and as a heat dispenser for the RAM chips). Custom made coolers usually miss this component. When this kind of card is installed in a horizontal position, it should have some support on its "loose" end (a stick of proper length).

When this kind of card is installed in a horizontal position, it should have some support on its "loose" end (a stick of proper length).

Buying a backplate is also a good idea ... unless already installed. This one takes some mechanical stress off the PCB if properly attached to the Slot bracket. That is why the huge 2,5 Slot wide Gainward/Palit Pascal cards (1060 6G/1070/1080) come with a backplate ex factory. They have to.

When you look at the Palit/Gainward design of the GameRock/JetStream/Phoenix series, you see that the mechanical concept is quite elaborate. The same applies to EVGA Cards e.g. the 1070/1080 FTW. Whereas I dont understand why Gigabyte (3X Windforce) did not bolt their backplate to the slot bracket. It apparently is rather an ornament (and short protection of course) than a bracing. Also MSI (Gaming X Series) does not really utilize the backplate in this way unless I am mistaken.

Back to topic ......... Logan, did you succeed in getting an invoice copy?

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I would love to see HCF1 protein folding and interaction simulations to help my little boy... someday.

No such luck, but it doesn't matter anymore. I came to a conclusion and I'm giving it one last try.

I bought a gtx 750ti on eBay mainly for use of gaming lightly and personal uses. I'm going to install a copy of windows XP too so I can do occasional crunching. It should be here next week.

I will make sure to not take off the backplate and keep it on for good grip of the card.

Are there any other recommendations for me to prevent the same issue? I do not know how else to keep the card so it doesn't hang too loose.

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Cruncher/Learner in progress.

Are there any other recommendations for me to prevent the same issue?

yes, buy a NEW Zotac GPU (maybe a favorable 1050ti), register and get 5 years warranty for free --> no more trouble...

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I would love to see HCF1 protein folding and interaction simulations to help my little boy... someday.

Are there any other recommendations for me to prevent the same issue?

yes, buy a NEW Zotac GPU (maybe a favorable 1050ti), register and get 5 years warranty for free --> no more trouble...

That sounds like quite the deal, but I have no need for a really strong GPU like that.

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Cruncher/Learner in progress.