You'd probably seen this somewhere else, and this isn't mine. Full credit goes to antipesto93 from OCForums, and Haste266 for the brilliant how-to.

I had a dying 7800GT on my hands, whenever it ran 3D games it started to chug and eventually BSOD. A week later, the card started having artifacts even on Windows, and a day after that it wouldn't even boot. So I heard of a crazy method where you literally place your graphic card in an oven, let 'em bake and plug it back in. This was obviously met with furore, and no one thought it would actually work. Nothing to lose, I popped it into my mom's baker.

It now works. Hard to believe, but it works.

Apparently the methodology is similar on how it is usually done at factories - the card is heated up to allow the solder contacting with the ICs on the board to melt and reform the bond that was weak in the first place (which might be the cause of artifacts/problems). A short time is only required, with a maximum of 8 minutes, and at a temperature of 200C.

So what do you need, and how is it done?

You'll need an oven capable of going up to 200C. Microwave ovens don't count. Some aluminium foil, a cookie tray, and thermal goop of your choice as well too.

First thing to do is to strip all bolts, nuts, screws, whatever fasteners you can find off the board. This includes heatsinks. Stickers may remain. Strip them off till you're left with the bare PCB. Be sure to remove all thermal tape (you might want to keep that for the after-baking session) and thermal grease. Cut up some aluminium foil about the size of your card, and place it on the tray. Then, ball up some of the remaining foil to use them as stands, as you don't want the card to get in contact with the foil below it. Be sure that stands are positioned at a connector/PCB, and the card should be facing down. DO NOT place any stands on any ICs/capacitors, most of them are probably surface mounted and would probably shift from its position during the cookoff, screwing your chance of revival even further.


The card, all cleaned and gutted


The oven awaits!

Finally when it's ready, preheat your oven to 200C. If your oven is fan assisted, switch it off. Once hot, put it into the fiery pits of hell oven and watch it burn for a good 8 minutes. Some even did it for 10. Just don't overdo it, and let the heat soak.


I did this at 8AM in the morning. Luv the smell of flux and heavy metals in the mornin'.


Xtra Crispy

After the toast, carefully remove the tray and place it to cool. If you can smell flux (the same smell in your Kemahiran Hidup cheapo projects), you're probably good to go. Air the place as well, you don't want to breathe in the bad stuff do we? Once cool, reapply the thermal tape and paste, reassemble back the card, plug it back in, say a little prayer (if you're an atheist, grab a beer. If you can't drink Ribena would do) then turn it on.

Hope it works for you. Mine did.

Solid type caps should be able to last the cookout better than the standard aluminium ones. Some even went to the extent of wrapping those caps with extra foil to protect them, but for me as long you aren't leaving the card there for a very long time it should be fine. So far, no reports of exploding caps to my knowledge.

Why bother about the caps if the card is dead to begin with?

About the residue, yeah there might be a health risk in that, I don't want flux on my choco cake either, it'll make it taste funny. Most stuff are RoHS compliant by now, but I wiped the oven interior just to make sure.

I was skeptical of that too, but nothing got warped/melted at all. Probably the quality is much better than the average plastic bag lol.

7800GT so far passed 5 hours of FurMark, damn now I know why people want your faulty GCs...

This post has been edited by colinwong89: Dec 9 2009, 04:32 PM

Putting it in the oven instead of a heat gun warms up the card evenly rather than a certain area.

If it's due to your GC why not try?

It doesn't actually change the solder into liquid during the baking phase, but softens it, allowing it to rebond. Heavy chips MIGHT fall off on the underside, but the bigger the chip, the more it is usually anchored to the PCB.

This post has been edited by colinwong89: Dec 10 2009, 12:16 AM

My 7800GT started spewing out artifacts again after a whole night of Furmark. Oh well, fun while it lasted.

Probably yes, as it's quite untraceable. Warranty stickers and labels might look a little crispy and slightly dark though. Don't smoke the card unless you don't have any other option.

This post has been edited by colinwong89: Dec 10 2009, 08:17 PM

I questioned the purpose of facing the chips downwards as well, but to be on the safe side I did it according to the guides, which most people followed. Also, I read around that lead-free solder melts at about 210C, the 180C melting point you mentioned only applies for normal solder.

My card's actually still working, only craps out during 3D sessions. Once the card dies or when I have more time, I'll try rebaking it up facing upwards.

Smoked my card again, this time taking 12 minutes, until you can even see the flux turn dark at a few solder points. The card now works in games now, but I wonder how long it would last.

Both, without the fan.

lol.