XFX 5770 calcium deposits??

[nhoj09]

I have started to have trouble with an older 5770 from xfx freezing at an ever increasing frequency. I removed the card several months ago and noticed a white residue on the board which I tried to wipe off with no luck. About a week ago I removed the card again and it seemed as though the white deposits had grown in quantity.

I made a ticket with the XFX support team and after a few days they told gave me this response...

" that is calcium buildup from leftover water cutting when we made that board."

Does this make any sense? Could that be calcium deposits? I did a quick google search and came up empty handed for calcium buildup on GPU's.

See photos below.

Photo 1
Photo 2

[terrybear]

Looks more like oxidization then anything else ...

Are you the original owner of the card? was there any water cooling in your pc or the previous owners of the card ? Do you live in a very humid enviorment?

[Bond007]

haven't seen that before.

[frontier204]

See how it's gathering around the warmest parts / largest contacts of the board? It's likely flux or solder mask residue from the creation and assembly of the PCB. I'd be quite doubtful that it's actually calcium, as calcium + moisture (= form of salt water) would mess up your GPU quite badly.
Cleaning Question - White residue after cleaning... - All About Circuits Forum

I doubt that affects performance of the board, and it can usually be cleaned off with alcohol (if it's flux).
EDIT: I have similar residue building around the VRMs of my Gigabyte MA770-UD3 which I'm using with an OC'd Phenom 9950 (HOT processor) and the computer is still Folding@Home stable.

As long as you don't see something like this you should be fine: Horrible pictures of dead caps

[JD]

Yup I've seen the same residue on brand new cards even. It just wasn't cleaned well during manufacturing and I doubt it impacts anything. All my cards run fine.

[Shadowmeph]

I have seen that on older system like a few older ones I had even on older stereos radios TVs , I had always thought that it was some type of moisture damage but I guess the oxidization makes more sense.

[dandelioneater]

I noticed that same white gunk on my xfx 5770's a while back. It appeared to me at least to be flux residue left over from soldering. I noticed it on the solder side of the power connector and some other areas. IIRC, I used some alcohol (might have been lighter fluid actually ) and a stiff toothbrush to get it off.

[Soultribunal]

Board didn't get the best wash after comming out of the oven. Nothing to worry about, I've seen it many times to no ill effect.

-ST

[nhoj09]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Im the original owner, no water cooling and I have an overly dry home verses a humid one.

I tried cleaning with rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip, zero success.
Just wanted to make sure this is not an anomaly warranting a warranty replacement as its on the verge of passing the two year mark.

I think it maybe time to upgrade to a 7950 or 660 ti anyways!!