Are those polymer capacitors? If so, I never seen one bulge is it shorted/exploded?

Compaq Sniffer wrote on 2026-08-21, 22:12:

Is there anything that I can do to fix either card?

Maybe.

The AGP 7800 and 7900 series use G71 GPU core, IIRC, and those are from the bumpgate era indeed. A re-heat of the GPU (be it with the same temperatures as a proper reflow or a lower temperature - it will vary between failed GPUs) can sometimes bring these back to life temporarily - with temporarily being anywhere from a few use sessions to a few years or more.

With the bumpgated GPUs, it's all about temperature and number of hot-cold cycles of the GPU. Generally, these GPUs can last much longer when...
- they are kept at lower temperatures, both idle and full load - even reflown ones. If you can keep them under 55-60C under full load, that would be better (but it's difficult and requires an aftermarket or self-made cooler or water cooling to do this.)
- the number of on-off cycles and idle-to-full-load cycles is reduced.

That being said, post images of both cards please.

Some "no-name" 7800 cards used crappy Sacon FZ electrolytic capacitors that look very much like polymer capacitors... but aren't!! In fact, these Sacon FZ (can be recognized by the "FZ" on their first like, followed by a random 2-digit number) are some of the worst electrolytic capacitors in existence.
The BFG card should be safe from these, as BFG generally used nVidia's reference design and reference-spec components. But the no-name Chinese-built cards very regularly use Sacon FZ or other crappy brands. So it would be good to see pictures of both cards, just in case.

Compaq Sniffer wrote on 2026-08-21, 22:12:

Also how do I attach images on this website? I'm used to VCF forum.

Log in and either click on the quotation marks of any post you want to quote or click on "Full Editor and Preview" at the bottom of the page. This will take you to a new page with a post/text editor. Right below the text box is a button/line that says "Attachments". click on that and upload your pictures. (Hint: make sure to select a proper license for your images, or your post may not post until you do that.)

BFG Nvidia GeForce 7800 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 AGP BFGR78256GSOC does indeed have one violet plastic wrapped electrolytic https://theretroweb.com/expansioncards/s/bfg- … gs-oc-256mb-agp + two others near molex. Replacing those is an easy cheap diagnostic step
As momaka said cant really fix bumpgate GPU once it goes, just temporary bodges with heatgun.

momaka wrote on 2026-08-22, 12:42:

Maybe. […]
Show full quote

Compaq Sniffer wrote on 2026-08-21, 22:12:

Is there anything that I can do to fix either card?

Maybe.

The AGP 7800 and 7900 series use G71 GPU core, IIRC, and those are from the bumpgate era indeed. A re-heat of the GPU (be it with the same temperatures as a proper reflow or a lower temperature - it will vary between failed GPUs) can sometimes bring these back to life temporarily - with temporarily being anywhere from a few use sessions to a few years or more.

With the bumpgated GPUs, it's all about temperature and number of hot-cold cycles of the GPU. Generally, these GPUs can last much longer when...
- they are kept at lower temperatures, both idle and full load - even reflown ones. If you can keep them under 55-60C under full load, that would be better (but it's difficult and requires an aftermarket or self-made cooler or water cooling to do this.)
- the number of on-off cycles and idle-to-full-load cycles is reduced.

That being said, post images of both cards please.

Some "no-name" 7800 cards used crappy Sacon FZ electrolytic capacitors that look very much like polymer capacitors... but aren't!! In fact, these Sacon FZ (can be recognized by the "FZ" on their first like, followed by a random 2-digit number) are some of the worst electrolytic capacitors in existence.
The BFG card should be safe from these, as BFG generally used nVidia's reference design and reference-spec components. But the no-name Chinese-built cards very regularly use Sacon FZ or other crappy brands. So it would be good to see pictures of both cards, just in case.

Compaq Sniffer wrote on 2026-08-21, 22:12:

Also how do I attach images on this website? I'm used to VCF forum.

Log in and either click on the quotation marks of any post you want to quote or click on "Full Editor and Preview" at the bottom of the page. This will take you to a new page with a post/text editor. Right below the text box is a button/line that says "Attachments". click on that and upload your pictures. (Hint: make sure to select a proper license for your images, or your post may not post until you do that.)

It seems my images are too big everytime I try to attach them.

I attached the dead video card picture but I don't know if it'll show or not it's giving me this error:
"Couldn't recompress the image to the maximum file size of 2 MiB. Please manually recompress the image."

If the image does show up it's that purple cap that's slightly bulged, it's not the solid aluminum cans, but the ones that looks like a EL.

Compaq Sniffer wrote on 2026-08-31, 18:30:

It seems my images are too big everytime I try to attach them. […]
Show full quote

momaka wrote on 2026-08-22, 12:42:

Maybe. […]
Show full quote

Compaq Sniffer wrote on 2026-08-21, 22:12:

Is there anything that I can do to fix either card?

Maybe.

The AGP 7800 and 7900 series use G71 GPU core, IIRC, and those are from the bumpgate era indeed. A re-heat of the GPU (be it with the same temperatures as a proper reflow or a lower temperature - it will vary between failed GPUs) can sometimes bring these back to life temporarily - with temporarily being anywhere from a few use sessions to a few years or more.

With the bumpgated GPUs, it's all about temperature and number of hot-cold cycles of the GPU. Generally, these GPUs can last much longer when...
- they are kept at lower temperatures, both idle and full load - even reflown ones. If you can keep them under 55-60C under full load, that would be better (but it's difficult and requires an aftermarket or self-made cooler or water cooling to do this.)
- the number of on-off cycles and idle-to-full-load cycles is reduced.

That being said, post images of both cards please.

Some "no-name" 7800 cards used crappy Sacon FZ electrolytic capacitors that look very much like polymer capacitors... but aren't!! In fact, these Sacon FZ (can be recognized by the "FZ" on their first like, followed by a random 2-digit number) are some of the worst electrolytic capacitors in existence.
The BFG card should be safe from these, as BFG generally used nVidia's reference design and reference-spec components. But the no-name Chinese-built cards very regularly use Sacon FZ or other crappy brands. So it would be good to see pictures of both cards, just in case.

Compaq Sniffer wrote on 2026-08-21, 22:12:

Also how do I attach images on this website? I'm used to VCF forum.

Log in and either click on the quotation marks of any post you want to quote or click on "Full Editor and Preview" at the bottom of the page. This will take you to a new page with a post/text editor. Right below the text box is a button/line that says "Attachments". click on that and upload your pictures. (Hint: make sure to select a proper license for your images, or your post may not post until you do that.)

It seems my images are too big everytime I try to attach them.

I attached the dead video card picture but I don't know if it'll show or not it's giving me this error:
"Couldn't recompress the image to the maximum file size of 2 MiB. Please manually recompress the image."

If the image does show up it's that purple cap that's slightly bulged, it's not the solid aluminum cans, but the ones that looks like a EL.

I wanted to mention that if you look up the 7800gs on Google, it is the stock card that comes up on Tom's hardware:

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce … 00-gs-agp.c3732

Mine is the same as that one. That one is the card that doesn't display video and has a bulged cap.

The one that is artifacting is the BFG GPU. The bfg is the OC card with the blue solder mask and copper heatsink. Like this one:

https://ebay.io/m/1f6EhR

Just wanted to make it clear these are two different gpus with 2 different problems.