Nvidia Pascal GPU Diagnosing Guide (1060-1080ti)

'This guide is applicable for most cards from 1060 to the 1080ti, some vendors may create different PCBs or use different components but the general working principles for all of them should be the same unless specified. We will use a reference GTX 1080 as an example.'

This page is under construction.

The Card: (Figure 1)


*PCB Image courtesy of TechPowerUp*

Before doing anything it's a good idea to inspect the card for physical damage, especially cards that has no backplate can lose some components on the back due to poor handling.

After you made sure there is no physical damage to the card itself you can now move on with a multimeter to check the resistances of the voltage rails.

Step 1: Base Voltage Rails (12V, 3.3V)
The base voltages are the ones that get supplied to the card through the motherboard and the external 8pin power connector(s).

Start by measuring the resistances of the 12V rail coming from the PCIe slot (first 3 pins, see figure 1). The resistance varies from card to card and the value itself doesn't matter but it should be in the thousands to Mega Ohm range. Then the 3.3V rail through the 0 Ohm resistors and then lastly the inductor(s) for each external power connector (some cards have multiple external power connector and each of them have their own inductor you have to measure each of them individually)

If you get less than 100 Ohms on one or multiple base rails then you have a card with a short. The computer might not turn on in such a case because the power supply is protecting itself using OCP (over current protection). Solution: Check out this page dedicated to Base Voltage Rail Short on Pascal GPUs.

Otherwise, if you have no short then you can continue troubleshooting.

Step 2: Minor Voltage rails. (5V, 1.8V, VCore, VMem, and PEX)
Minor voltage rails are the ones created by the card itself using the base rails through either Linear Voltage Regulators or Step Down Buck Converter

Check the resistance of the output of those rails and compare them with Figure 1. VCore has such a low resistance on 1000+ series cards that you won't find it useful to measure its resistance. If you get lower resistance readings on one or more minor rails then you might have a short on those rails.

Solution: Check out this page dedicated to Finding And Fixing Shorts on Minor Voltage Rails.

Otherwise, continue with the guide.

Step 3: Powering on the card.
Assuming you have no shorts anywhere you can go ahead and plug the card into the motherboard and start testing (Alternatively, you can use a Lab Bench Power Supply and a riser to rest the card with it's much safer and it gives you much more freedom to move the card around to test).

Switch your multimeter to DC Voltage mode and start by measuring the base rails first, if they are present continue to the minor rails, if not, check out What are the Base Voltage rails for GPUs?

Minor rails have an order in which they get turned on. They're like a chain, if one link is broken the whole chain collapses.

The order in which they turn on in most pascal GPUs is as follows: 5V→ 1.8V→ VCore→ VMem/PEX.

For example, if 5v does not turn on, everything else in the chain won't turn on either.

If you're missing one of them, check their respective page:


 * 5V Rail on Pascal GPUs.
 * 1.8V Rail on Pascal GPUs.
 * Vcore Rail on Pascal GPUs.
 * Vmem Rail on Pascal GPUs.
 * PEX Rail on Pascal GPUs.

Step 4: No Video Out.
Everything is present but still no video out? You either have faulty Memory, Bios, GPU chip itself, or in some cases Straps.

If you've reached this point, the most likely culprit is the Memory. You can confirm this by powering on the card on the motherboard and plugging it in to the monitor, after a minute or so the monitor's backlight should turn on but without an image. This means you have one or more memory banks that are faulty.

Check out Nvidia Memory Testing Guide. If that is the case.

Your other hope would be the Bios, either it's not being read, or the bios chip is faulty or a component near it has gone bad. In any case, Nvidia Pascal Bios Troubleshooting is your best bet.

The last thing that could be wrong with the card and is still worth repairing is the Straps, it is highly unlikely that they are the problem if nothing else is the problem, it's worthwhile to check them out.

If everything else is working as they should but still no video out then unfortunately you have a faulty GPU core. Best use for that card is as spare parts since getting hold of a GPU chip by itself is very hard and expensive and replacing it is a very advanced procedure that requires a BGA rework station and it's out of reach for many people.