YouTuber Resurrects a “Cancerous” Graphics Card After 10 Years in a Smoking Household
An impressive video now shows what hardware can look like that comes from a smoking household and has never been cleaned. Ten years of smoke have turned an Asus ROG Matrix GeForce 9800 GT into a tar-encrusted relic.
From horror show state to running system
A graphics card can take a lot, aside from a 12 volt 2×6 connector melting the GPU. But ten years in a heavily smoky room pushes even robust hardware to its limits. This is now shown by the case of an Asus ROG Matrix GeForce 9800 GT. The card wasn’t in good condition from the outside, but the real nightmare was revealed under the cover. The GPU was YouTuber Madness727 actually only cleaned routinely as part of a restoration. However, the thick layers of tar and dust, brown spots on the circuit board and the pungent smell of nicotine prompted Madness to make a whole video.
Watch on YouTube
The GeForce 9800 GT was a popular mid-range graphics card for enthusiasts in 2008 and was based on Nvidia’s G92 chip with 55 nanometer manufacturing. The ROG Matrix variant from Asus was considered a premium version with improved cooling and overclocking potential. However, after 17 years without any maintenance, the heat sink was completely clogged, the fan housing was discolored inside and out, and even screws and cables showed clear discoloration. When opening the card, Madness727 commented dryly: “I’m not blowing on it – it’ll give me cancer.”
Complex cleaning brings hardware back
The restoration process was correspondingly intensive. First, the technician dismantled the entire graphics card and cleaned the motherboard with a degreaser and a toothbrush. All components were thoroughly cleaned with water. Only the fan motor was treated separately with isopropyl alcohol. A blower was used to dry, followed by a heat gun for the chip, memory and heat sink. The bearing was then lubricated with bicycle chain oil. Fresh thermal conductive material on the GPU rounded off the preparation. Afterwards, the card looked practically new, with no visible scratches or damaged components, and worked perfectly again despite its age and years of use.
Successful test despite old age
In the test system with MSI Z390-A Pro motherboard and Intel Core i5-9600K, the restored graphics card achieved around 15 frames per second in the benchmark carried out in Crysis. These are quite respectable values for the 9800 GT with 112 shader units, 512 MB of GDDR3 memory and a memory bandwidth of 57.6 GB/s. According to Madness727, the refurbished graphics card will probably be sold to a collector, like other Matrix 9800GT cards before it. These variants are particularly sought after by retro gaming enthusiasts today as they are among the last high-end cards of the DirectX 10 era.
Preventive measures for hardware protection
The case impressively shows the damage cigarette smoke can do to computer hardware. The tar particles contained in tobacco smoke not only settle on surfaces, but also penetrate into the smallest gaps and can block fans or corrode contacts. Regular cleaning and a smoke-free environment significantly extend the lifespan of PC components. Experts also recommend removing dust from graphics cards every six to twelve months, paying particular attention to the fans and cooling fins. In smoking households, PC cases can also be equipped with dust filters.
