REPAIR: small piece fell off Nvidia gtx970 GPU. Fixable? (with pics)

[agehall]

• proof that a part came off
• proof that you didn't remove the heatsink which covered this part

And proof that this part is on the opposite side of the PCB  . FIY all GPUs are loaded with parts on both sides.

From what I can tell - the part in question must have been covered by the heat sink. I don't really see how one would damage that chip without first removing the heatsink tbh.

[wraper]

• proof that a part came off
• proof that you didn't remove the heatsink which covered this part

And proof that this part is on the opposite side of the PCB  . FIY all GPUs are loaded with parts on both sides.

From what I can tell - the part in question must have been covered by the heat sink. I don't really see how one would damage that chip without first removing the heatsink tbh.

Now I see op wrote under the plastic shroud. If there is an opening to poke with a screwdriver, maybe. Anyway, this does not look like tightly populated place and is somewhere almost at the edge of PCB.

[technogeeky]

• proof that a part came off
• proof that you didn't remove the heatsink which covered this part

And proof that this part is on the opposite side of the PCB  . FIY all GPUs are loaded with parts on both sides.

 

• No, it's not. It's visible in this picture, already linked above. It's clearly on the front side of the board.
• FYI, it's FYI, not FIY.
• And no, not all GPUs have parts on both sides. The cheapest GPUs (god forbid we go back to PCI or AGP) are sometimes empty on the back. I doubt anything from ATI or nVidia is this way, but no matter, it's irrelevant.

[technogeeky]

• proof that a part came off
• proof that you didn't remove the heatsink which covered this part

And proof that this part is on the opposite side of the PCB  . FIY all GPUs are loaded with parts on both sides.

From what I can tell - the part in question must have been covered by the heat sink. I don't really see how one would damage that chip without first removing the heatsink tbh.

Now I see op wrote under the plastic shroud. If there is an opening to poke with a screwdriver, maybe. Anyway, this does not look like tightly populated place and is somewhere almost at the edge of PCB.

Yeah, I do agree about this, though. A really unlucky screwdriver drop could probably pop off such a chip.

[Armadillo]

Oops! OP don't seems to be responding..... I think he is not interested in warp experience after all, FIY.

[Ian64]

Oops! OP don't seems to be responding..... I think he is not interested in warp experience after all, FIY.

Stand by
I tend to stay away from PC screen in the weekend, already spend way too much time in front of it.
To answer a few questions:
- the card was mounted in the PC. Has been working for 1 1/2 years
- The missing U16 pad is on the bottom side (once card mounted) and under the fan shroud. Close to the edge.
- Problem happened after I swapped out an SSD so I might have bumped it but not hard for sure. Didn't see or hear chip fall off.
- for warranty purposes: I have never taken the card apart, never overclocked it
- card had 1 year store warranty, 3 years manufacturer. After they re-sent it back from Gigabyte, the store tech told me "don't but Gigabyte anymore, I see it all the time"
- there's no ebay here in poor old NZ. The local version (Trademe) is pretty bad. Postage overseas would be a killer. We tend to fix stuff for this reason.
- if anyone got the same card, can you take a peek at the chip?

I have attached some more pics with a wider angle

[strawberry]

It could be some on board serial temp. sensor, can't see other reason to place/trace this thing all over the board. U16 power pins are 2 & 5