It is always a sad scenario when a PC gamer’s graphics card craps out and dies on them, and it’s even worse when the card is a high-end model. Of course, the good news is that these components can be repaired and sometimes, all it takes is a hole to be drilled into it. Yes, really.
This was proven by German Techtuber and Repair Technician KrisFix, who both showed off his wizardry and his ability to repair an MSI Radeon RX 6900 XT by, again, drilling a couple of holes right into its PCB. Some units of GPU in question, powerful as it is, are afflicted with a rare issue, where the fans spin and the LEDs turn on, but there is no output. The root of this issue was determined to be a broken trace between the RDNA2 GPU core and a memory chip,
While it doesn’t need to be pointed out, trying to fix a broken trace on a PCB is no simple feat and for a card such as the 6900 XT, the difficulty is compounded further by the fact that high-end GPUs such as this are built with 15-layer PCBs, because said traces could be embedded deep within said PCB, and you’d have to be really, really precise with your detection and soldering work, so much so that it would be akin to an Act of God.
And that is exactly what KrisFix proved himself to be. Not only did he precisely manage to find the broken trace and drill with what we can only describe as extreme precision by hand – he was using a microscope when he pulled this off. Yes, the God tier comment was an exaggeration. Nobody is that good, especially without the tools of their trade – he also managed to run a solder wire through said hole, and then solder it down. Not only that, he also resoldered damaged capacitors on the board of the 6900 XT.
The obvious end result here is that KrisFix actually restored the previously broken 6900 XT to working order. Again, the issue with the GPU is rare but even if you do encounter it, we do not recommend that you even attempt to do what he’s done. Unless, of course, you have no love for hardware or you just have a destructive streak. In which case, go right ahead.
(Source: KrisFix via YouTube, Tom’s Hardware)
