If you’re facing the prospect of having to send your Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 off for a repair, one YouTuber is issuing a stern warning to properly pack your pixel pusher, or risk it becoming unrepairable.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 is the best graphics card for ray traced performance, and if you’re going to spend anywhere up to $2,000, or sometimes even more, on a single component, you better take good care of it should you ever need to ship it off for a repair.
YouTuber NorthWestRepair has posted a troubling video that shares how frequently, and easily, damage can occur to a GeForce RTX 4090 during shipping if proper packaging isn’t provided. This issue isn’t isolated to the Nvidia flagship, but it does serve as one of the most egregious examples of someone not looking after their incredibly expensive components.
In the video, which is effectively a PSA (public service announcement), it’s warned that graphics cards should be shipped as securely as possible to avoid them becoming nothing more than a donor for other cards. During transit, pads on the PCB can easily become torn, rendering the card unrepairable.
If you need to ship your GPU for repair, it’s best to secure it in the same box that you purchased it in as these are the most suitable and secure. Alternatively, NorthWestRepairs recommends at least two inches of foam or bubble wrap be placed around the card to secure it against any possible impacts it faces in transit.
While it’s claimed that such damage can make these cards unrepairable, it’s not strictly true given that NorthWestRepair would go on to repair the MSI RTX 4090 seen in the above video by using a donor card with a working PCB. This, however, is entirely reliant on the repair shop having such donor parts to hand, otherwise the unrepairable comment rings true.
In short, if you’re going to spend thousands on a graphics card, you should be spending an extra few dollars properly securing your precious pixel pusher in the event it needs to be shipped for repair.
If you’re in the process of planning a custom build, you can follow our guide on how to build a gaming PC to help you from start to finish.