This summer, we told you about a problem encountered by some graphics card users: PCB cracking. JayzTwoCents covered this phenomenon, which mainly concerns Gigabyte cards. According to NorthridgeFix, ASUS is also a victim of these cracks.
ASUS graphics card PCBs crack too!
If we are to believe the technician, he received a nice package containing no less than 19 RTX 4090s suffering from a cracked PCB. Very often, the break occurs at the rear of the PCIe connector (at the hook used to lock the card to the motherboard slot ) which, under the weight of the heat sink, eventually breaks. It has to be said that, given the card’s power consumption, manufacturers have not taken any risks and have fitted outsized heatsinks. The latter are so imposing and exert so much stress that the printed circuit board ends up breaking or cracking in the best-case scenario.
Once again, one way to avoid or limit this problem is to fit a graphics card support. This will limit the stress on the PCIe slot. Alternatively, a vertical support with a riser should also do the trick. In any case, when moving the configuration, beware of shocks and vibrations.
Incidentally, it’s not unlikely that these 19 RTX 4090s, from the same customer, come from pre-assembled machines. During transport of the PCs, with the vibrations/shocks associated with the road, the PCB ended up breaking.
In any case, in this kind of situation, repair is not always possible. When it is possible, it’s not always easy. If a track has been severed, the PCB must be sanded down to expose the track. Then copper is used to re-establish the connection, and fiberglass/resin is used to stiffen the circuit again. In any case, this is not an inexpensive operation and will require a qualified technician.
