My buddy in Milwaukee swore by the 'freezer trick' for a dead graphics card

He said to wrap a dead GTX 1080 in a towel, leave it in the freezer overnight, and it would magically work again. I tried it on a client's card last month, and it booted for maybe 20 minutes before completely frying the board. Now I have to explain why there's condensation damage. Does anyone have a better last-ditch method for a card that's already a total loss?

2 comments

2 Comments

ellis.charles1d ago

That freezer trick is a total gamble with condensation. Honestly, if the card is already dead, you're just risking a bigger mess for maybe a few extra minutes of life. Sometimes you just gotta call it a total loss and move on.

west.alice23h ago

Total loss" feels a bit dramatic for a graphics card. It's already broken, so the worst case is it stays broken. I've seen that trick work long enough to pull data off a drive, which isn't nothing. The condensation risk is real, but if you seal it in a bag first, it's not like you're making a puddle inside your PC.