Reball Failing GPU, Ball Size Reuse Replace Upgrade?

I have a failing GPU in my alienware 13 r2 it got so bad I was forced to reflow to restore some functionality though it's already showing early signs of failure. I plan to use it until complete failure and do a proper Reball of the integrated GTX 965M, I am experienced in soldering and computer repair though this would be my first reball.

What I need to know are:

What Size ball to use?

Should I reuse the original GPU or replace it? Pros and cons?

I know that the GTX 970m has the same pin pattern as the GTX 965m, my main concern is that the 2gb of Vram would make such a replacement useless/unnessarry/impossible. Any thoughts or experience? Links etc appreciated.

 

@Khenglish is the only one I know that has experience with this sort of thing, maybe he can help you out

 

Thanks I would love to talk with anyone who has experience, hope to hear from him soon

 

If I remember right the solder ball size is .5mm. I always just use .45mm though. Solder ball size is usually written on the stencil.

Usually just heating a card does fix it. The problem is people often do not heat hot enough. How hot did you heat it?

 

Unfortunately I have no idea, enough to cause some foggyness to appear on the surface of the gpu, no smoke which i have heard might actually be a good sign? of flux and oxides burning off from the solder?
If simply heat produces lasting results then I'm all for it. I am back home now so this time I will have means to monitor temp and more resources at my disposal.

What would be ideal temp, time, pressure? Buildup the heatsink with copper? I've heard all sorts of nonsense not sure how much is necessary.

 

NEVER APPLY PRESSURE WHILE HEATING. Heatsink must be removed.

Hold 230C for around 5 minutes. If the card has not been used much lately you will need to bake the moisture out of it, or else it will literally pop like popcorn. Heat for 4h+ at 100C to remove moisture.

 

Thank you for the, info. if/when my first attempt at heating fails I will use this exactly. Thank you for clearing things up.

If that doesn't work as a long term fix you'll be hearing from me again for some more tips on doing a Reball for my Gtx 965m. I'm stubborn, I've got too much time on my hands and I'd love to have the bragging rights if this becomes necessary.

The way I see it is I can attempt to repair my useless GPU, and have a chance at it working again. Or I can do nothing and use Intel HD graphics. Even if I fail at fixing the GPU I end up in the same place as doing nothing. But I atleast gave myself a chance at a fully functional laptop.

I have received much discouragement and belittlement by people over at Tomshardware on the topic and it seems everyone is an expert at advising against it without ever having done these things or knowing the processes. Thank you for not being like them, I will redirect all of my future questions over here.

 

Get flux, it does wonders, as Kenglish said, DONT put pressure, actually, dont touch the gpu at all when heating it or you can bump the die out of place and short everything do to the balls turning into a puddle of solder under the GPU.

Also, get flux.

You will need a decent hot air gun, pre-heat by having the air gun at 20-30cm from the board for a couple minutes doing circular motion to bring everything up to around 60-80ºC around the GPU.

There are lots of videos on youtube on how to do this, watch a couple, make questions here if you have any doubt.

 

You can preheat the card using the oven. Reflow ovens usually they preheat to around 150C and hold for 1-2 minutes, then heat to full temp. You can mimic this with a regular oven or toaster oven (I recommend toaster oven for faster heating), just the heat up time is slower.

You do not want to just drop the card in with the oven at full temp. That will heat it up very quickly, possibly unevenly. Uneven heating is your worst enemy.

Also put the card on a flat surface. If it's on a metal grill, the grill can squish the solder on backside memory, giving you a new world of problems.