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