A YouTuber has restored an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT graphics card to a brand-new state after years of neglect in a smoke-filled home. The footage is shocking, with sticky brown dirt completely clogging the GPU cooling system. Without his intervention, this collector’s item could have ended up in a bin, as cleaning up the mess required a lot of time and dedication.
After receiving the Asus ROG Matrix 9800 GT card, the situation was clear to YouTuber Madness727. He had to dismantle the whole card to clean each nook and cranny. Judging by its discolouration and odour, the 17-year-old card is believed to have lived in a smoker’s room. After years of pushing nicotine-saturated air through its fins, the card became very sticky, gathering enough dust to clog the fan.
These layers upon layers of dust and grime have covered the PCB and cooler, requiring a good old bath to clean it off, with a good amount of toothbrush scrubbing. For those worrying about water damage, as long as there is no electricity going through the card, you can soak it in water as much as you want. However, after finishing, a thorough drying session is required to remove all moisture and avoid short-circuits and corrosion. It’s also recommended to use a dust blower to push any remaining water out from beneath the RAM chips and GPU. The only part you should leave alone is the fan motor, since washing it will remove its grease and potentially damage it.
That said, because of the fan’s state, Madness727 had to do something, so he removed the blades from the motor and cleaned them with water and soap, after which he added a lubricant to reduce friction and noise. The entire process can be watched in the video below.
After drying everything with the help of a heat gun to ensure no water residue was left, the YouTuber started reassembling the card. He also applied new thermal paste, as the original application was completely dry. Once reassembled, the difference was drastic. The card went from orange/yellow, especially the PCB, to a factory-new matte black. Even the serial number sticker survived. Without the before pictures, you wouldn’t have guessed its previous state.
Aside from its new look, the card was also back in working order, delivering around 16fps in Crysis, which was especially hard to run back then. If there is anything to learn from this it’s that smoking isn’t just bad for your lungs, but for your PC hardware too, and it’s also important to clean your rig now and then. If you can’t be bothered to clean the inside of your case, at least remove the dust accumulated on the case filters regularly; plus, a quick dust off with compressed air can go a long way. Treat your hardware well, and it will serve you for longer.
