GPU have lost contact with PCB, it's repairable, but right now it would be cheaper to just find another GTX 280.
I can also suggest to mod BIOS on all working cards and radically tone down GPU voltage for 3D. You will lose almost all overclocking capability, but cards will work much cooler and practically silent. That way they will last much longer.

This was a card that I just bought and was hooking up for the first time.....

I submited for a return / refund and purchased another one and will set it up when it arrives..

Thanks for the technical details though, that makes perfect sense....

Out of curiosity, if the seller doesnt want the card back, what is the process to fix it? I could give it a go...

Oven / hot air gun.

Ahh, that trick....that doesnt tend to hold for long though does it? LIke the "reflow" of the XBOX 360s and PS3s in the past.

Smack2k wrote:

Ahh, that trick....that doesnt tend to hold for long though does it? LIke the "reflow" of the XBOX 360s and PS3s in the past.

Oven.. probably not so much.

Hot air gun and squirting some no-clean liquid flux under the chip while you reflow the solder.. probably much more likely to hold up.

I have a PS3 that I reflowed over a year ago with the hot air gun on my rework station and it has not given me any trouble whatsoever.

Granted, it did work beforehand, but I took it apart to de-lid, clean, and re-apply new thermal compound at the same time in order to take care of the rampant overheating problem.

I have another PS3 that I need to do that to as well.

it's rearly the solder balls that break, its the die breaking from the substrate, it will happen again

There's also some chances that contact was lost between crystal and BGA on which it was mounted on. Such defect can't be repaired unless you replace the whole GPU.