How to repair your 4870x2 using an oven.

When my 4870x2 died (artifacts in BIOS and OS) and I figured out I had no warranty to rely on, I decided to use the oven trick. I know it sounds like a great hoax, but this really works. The entire 8800 series are being revived like this but the procedure for the ATI cards differs slightly, that's why I thought a guide would be useful.

This method of repairing is used to refix the solder connecting the mem to the board, over time small fractures can cause the card to fail, this trick helps to undo those fractures by melting the solder back into place.

Obviously this is a last resort measure, make sure you double check with your supplier and manufacturer whether you might be eligible for warranty on your card. If not, proceed as follows:

1 Remove the heatsink















2 Remove the backplate






























3 Remove the thermalpaste (using q tips and 96% alcohol or pads





















4 Don't worry about the DVI ports and 6-pins connectors, they can stand the heat.
5 Place the card on balls of aluminium foil, make sure they are level when resting the card on them.
















6 Preheat the oven to 220 (218.3 if you can :) degrees or 425 Fahrenheit.
7 Put the card in the oven (seriously) Wrap the tray up as well if you plan to do baking with this oven anytime soon
















8 Take the card out after 7 minutes
















9 Let cool for about two hours, best to do this in the oven with the door open, don't move the card around.
10 Open a window

After two hours simply replace the pads or thermal paste, mount the heatsink and fans and you are ready to go!

Since the 4870x2 has quite a number of components to cool I have included a pic showing you which parts need paste or pads. So that's all the parts with blue pads in this picture and the two chips of course. Whether to use pads or paste (or both) differs per heatsink.