Artifacts and System Crash after cleaning GPU

[Dread-Reaper]

Hey all, I just recently cleaned up and reapplied the thermal paste and pads my GPU (Zotac RTX 2080 Super) and now when I turn on my PC I either get a screen covered in visual artifacts or my system simply resets. I've tried reseating the GPU and RAM, made sure there was no thermal paste on the areas around the GPU chip, updated my drivers and checked the connection to my PSU.

I tried experimenting a bit and found out that if I uninstall my display drivers with DDU, that I am able to load into W10 normally, but the PC would always crash if I simply opened the "Display adapters" tab in device manager. Now I'm a bit perplexed as to whether this is a hardware issue or software issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated, because I really don't want to buy a new GPU.

[ˢᵈˣ FatCat]

Try go to safe mode, if the artifact still there, oven time
Or i heard if the artifact at the Bios , and at windows fine meaning cable DP / ports

[_I_]

did you use new thermal pads for the gpus vrm mosfets and gpu memory?

pads too thin would not contact the heatsinks, too thick wont hurt they can squish quiet a bit

[Set-115689]

You cover the entire gpu die?

As mentioned correct pad size.

Did you blow out the gpu before opening? Meaning did you maybe let the fans spin and generate a current that went into the gpu?

Could be capacitance. Might get lucky and be able to clean the gpu with electronics cleaner/isopropyl alcohol.

If you cleaned the gpu did you use high % isopropyl alcohol? Rubbing alcohol (70%) has water and might require longer drying.

With gpus it's better to only repaste when needed.

You wear gloves? Seems to be debatable.

Paste electrically conductive? Liquid metal?

Cpu model? Cpu have graphics?

Card plugged in? Check from psu and to the card.

[_I_]

and make sure the gpu fans are plugged in
gloves not needed when cleaning them

double check the power connectors, the mobo can only give it 75w, which is enough for desktop but not games

[Dread-Reaper]

Originally posted by ˢᵈˣ FatCat:

Try go to safe mode, if the artifact still there, oven time
Or i heard if the artifact at the Bios , and at windows fine meaning cable DP / ports

I can go into safe mode just fine, there are no artifacts or crashing when I do so. It seems that Microsoft's Basic Display Drivers are forced on in Safe Mode, which makes me thinks it's a driver issue. There are no artifacts when posting or in the BIOS, they only appear when windows is loaded in.

Originally posted by _I_:

did you use new thermal pads for the gpus vrm mosfets and gpu memory?

pads too thin would not contact the heatsinks, too thick wont hurt they can squish quiet a bit

Yes, I changed the thermal pads, I asked my GPU manufacturer (Zotac) and they said 1.55mm or 2.00mm is fine, I went with 1.55mm.

Originally posted by Set-115689:

You cover the entire gpu die?

As mentioned correct pad size.

Did you blow out the gpu before opening? Meaning did you maybe let the fans spin and generate a current that went into the gpu?

Could be capacitance. Might get lucky and be able to clean the gpu with electronics cleaner/isopropyl alcohol.

If you cleaned the gpu did you use high % isopropyl alcohol? Rubbing alcohol (70%) has water and might require longer drying.

With gpus it's better to only repaste when needed.

You wear gloves? Seems to be debatable.

Paste electrically conductive? Liquid metal?

Cpu model? Cpu have graphics?

Card plugged in? Check from psu and to the card.

The PC was off for a week before I took out the GPU and changed the thermal paste/pads. I used 70% alcohol when cleaning and the left the PC off over night while sleeping before attempting to turn it on. This is also my first repaste since getting the card in 2019, I wore a static wrist strap while doing it and used Coolermaster Mastergel Pro V2 for the thermal paste. My CPU is i7-9700KF, it does not have an integrated graphics processor.

Originally posted by _I_:

and make sure the gpu fans are plugged in
gloves not needed when cleaning them

double check the power connectors, the mobo can only give it 75w, which is enough for desktop but not games

Checked power connection many times, I can't even load into windows proper, let alone play games.

[The 3 Whites]

> I used 70% alcohol when cleaning

to low alcohol. i would try using a hairdryer to really dry the card.

also maybe the card is not correct put in pci slot

[Set-115689]

Originally posted by Bloodbath:

> I used 70% alcohol when cleaning

to low alcohol.

Let the card air dry vs hairdryer. Card is probably dry.

[Dread-Reaper]

Originally posted by Bloodbath:

> I used 70% alcohol when cleaning

to low alcohol. i would try using a hairdryer to really dry the card.

also maybe the card is not correct put in pci slot

Like I said, it dried over night, which was like 7-8 hours. It's also in the exact same PCI slot that it's always been.

[Set-115689]

Maybe try a different gpu pressure profile? Might try to repaste it?

[Dread-Reaper]

Originally posted by Set-115689:

Maybe try a different gpu pressure profile? Might try to repaste it?

Pressure profile? I tried repasting again too.

[Dread-Reaper]

Well, managed to get into Windows proper using the basic microsoft display drivers. Checked my GPU in device manager and it's showing an Error 43. After googling it I can only conclude that my GPU is bricked, which is nice, because I also just discovered that one of my RAM sticks died and a capacitor fell off my motherboard just today. What rotten luck.

[BurakZG]

Was there any reason you attempted re-pasting?

[Carlsberg]

I know that there people who will disagree but there is no reason to ever repaste a gpu, exception would be if you were to seperate the cooler and why would you do that? cleaning? no need to seperate them for that imo.

If its not broke....

[Set-115689]

Your gpu might not be bricked. Might just need to be reassembled or cleaned a bit then repasted.

[BurakZG]

This topic should be pinned, preferably to foreheads of all "re-pasting advisors", to remind people that:
- you should NEVER touch original termal paste, if there is no real reason to do it
- the only reason to reapply thermal paste is when the system is really overheating and the cooler needs to be repaired or replaced.

@Dread-Reaper My comment is not addressed to you, I really feel sorry for you and understand you had enough bad luck today.