Where is the static coming from ?

But to answer your question . .no

Yeah not sure how static build up works really.
But thanks good to know 😀

smullyoz wrote on 2022-03-09, 02:26:

Yeah not sure how static build up works really.
But thanks good to know 😀

lots of places, especially if the humidity is high or the floor has carpeting, hot dry conditions can also cause static but where that card is sitting it wont ever be an issue.

Honestly it looks like a display piece, most collectors usually have at least one or two GPUs that dont work and are put on a shelf as a display item, working GPUs will generally be kept in ESD safe bags.

Great thanks.
No the card works i just rather have it there than hidden in a box somewhere thats all.

Just don't polish the glass with the lambswool bonnet on your car polisher.

smullyoz wrote on 2022-03-09, 02:47:

Great thanks.
No the card works i just rather have it there than hidden in a box somewhere thats all.

You can buy GPU display holders on eBay that use the PCI connector and slot bracket to hold the card up for display, it also doubles as a way to protect the edge connector and SMD components on the back on the card.

IIRC they are not terribly expensive either and the more fancy ones can have led lights in the base to light the GPU up.

As it's lying there: no, no risk of static. But it is lying on what looks like an insulating surface (varnished wood/chipboard). If so, under the right conditions (that car polisher on the glass, if air in the room is very dry, eg in winter) it could build up a charge relative to earth, and then if handled by someone with a different charge (either properly grounded with bare feet or leather footwear, or fully isolated with synthetic or hairy clothing generating a charge) you could get a discharge. But you'd really need to do your best, I suspect.

For that reason I'd prefer to keep it on a weakly conducting surface connected to ground. An unvarnished wooden plank in in an unvarnished cupboard would do the trick. Think Ikea Ivar, and then the older versions with metal, rather than plastic, retainer brackets at the end of the planks.

dionb wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:32:

As it's lying there: no, no risk of static. But it is lying on what looks like an insulating surface (varnished wood/chipboard). If so, under the right conditions (that car polisher on the glass, if air in the room is very dry, eg in winter) it could build up a charge relative to earth, and then if handled by someone with a different charge (either properly grounded with bare feet or leather footwear, or fully isolated with synthetic or hairy clothing generating a charge) you could get a discharge. But you'd really need to do your best, I suspect.

For that reason I'd prefer to keep it on a weakly conducting surface connected to ground. An unvarnished wooden plank in in an unvarnished cupboard would do the trick. Think Ikea Ivar, and then the older versions with metal, rather than plastic, retainer brackets at the end of the planks.

Heh its a GTX 285, thing is built like a tank, I suspect you would need a rather large static charge to actually harm it at which point you might actually be in danger too.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:38:

[...]

Heh its a GTX 285, thing is built like a tank, I suspect you would need a rather large static charge to actually harm it at which point you might actually be in danger too.

MIght be built like a tank, but those PCIe pins are just as electrically exposed as on the most fragile of cards. That's the path directly into the silicon, not via the outside.

dionb wrote on 2022-03-09, 10:14:

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-03-09, 08:38:

[...]

Heh its a GTX 285, thing is built like a tank, I suspect you would need a rather large static charge to actually harm it at which point you might actually be in danger too.

MIght be built like a tank, but those PCIe pins are just as electrically exposed as on the most fragile of cards. That's the path directly into the silicon, not via the outside.

Well once i tried to "destroy" a Nvidia 6600GT by Static. I tried hard...i tried evrything and it still always worked without problems...this dont count for HDDs...they get alot easier down. So it might be possible to get broken by static but thats not the common way to get these cards down...nowdays cards even harder to break i guess.

That depends. Are any children around on rubber shoes to grab it?
Then again, they might as well use it as a hockey stick, so never mind.

smullyoz wrote on 2022-03-09, 02:26:

Yeah not sure how static build up works really.

It's magic! No, actually, much like acne, but with electrons.

Peter.Mengel wrote on 2022-03-09, 13:41:

[...]

Well once i tried to "destroy" a Nvidia 6600GT by Static. I tried hard...i tried evrything and it still always worked without problems...this dont count for HDDs...they get alot easier down. So it might be possible to get broken by static but thats not the common way to get these cards down...nowdays cards even harder to break i guess.

You probably did kill it, it just hadn't figured out yet. That's the problem with ESD, it's not like a short that gives you smoke and instantly fails, it introduces microscopic vulnerabilities that can fail weeks, months or years down the line, when you can no longer easily relate the failure to the event. Look at it with a scanning electron microscope though and it looks like Zeus himself has been hurling thunderbolts at those traces, and it seems a miracle it didn't instantly fail.

Heh its a GTX 285, thing is built like a tank

Unlike GTX280, GTX285 has does not have back plate and various elements are open for potential static.

it introduces microscopic vulnerabilities that can fail weeks, months or years down the line

...or don't fail at all.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-03-09, 18:18:

Unlike GTX280, GTX285 has does not have back plate and various elements are open for potential static. […]
Show full quote

Heh its a GTX 285, thing is built like a tank

Unlike GTX280, GTX285 has does not have back plate and various elements are open for potential static.

it introduces microscopic vulnerabilities that can fail weeks, months or years down the line

...or don't fail at all.

Forgot about the no backplate on the 285 .. no idea why I own 5 of them .. two of them are the 2gb versions of OPs card.

I've found dead/dying caps kill these cards way before static will, at least thats my experience, bad solder joints being the other killer especially on 8000 series GPUs.

Caps eh? I have one (Not quite remembering if it's 280 or 285) in a box all taken apart, it was given to me acting dead and I couldn't get a peep out of it, was assuming I needed to reflow it, but since it wasn't hitting any spots for me for last decade it's just been sitting in pieces waiting for me to "do something" to it. Anyhoo, I have a cap meter now so I can check it out next time it's near the surface.

Nvidia G80-GT200 chips are mostly unrecoverable.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-03-10, 18:32:

Nvidia G80-GT200 chips are mostly unrecoverable.

Well you can always remove all plastic off the cards and throw them in a hot oven to reflow the entire board, I haven't tried it myself but its somewhat successful if reports are to be believed. IIRC they still dont last long after this due to the solder quickly breaking again, I know the 8000 series GPUs can be reballed but again thats professional level equipment there and I doubt many have it just sitting in their basements.

I would only ever try any of this on an Ultra class GPU (ASUS Mars also comes to mind but thats a complicated beast), the rest are simply not worth the effort, and even the 8800 Ultra is debatable but at least its rare enough to want a working one.

I know the 8000 series GPUs can be reballed but again thats professional level equipment there

Nope, reballing chip will not solve connection problem between crystal tiny FCBGA and substrate. And most affected GPU chips, supposedly, had exactly that failure. That's why it's unrecoverable.

I've treated hardware like shit for 100s of years, and I have never had anything die from ESD.