ASUS GeForce 9800GT brought back from the dead: cleaned after 10 years in smokers home

If you've ever wondered what an older-gen graphics card would look like after 10 years of being in a house where there was a heavy smoker, this is the result: a crusty old ASUS ROG Matrix GeForce 9800 GT, which a YouTuber brought back to life. Check it out:

NVIDIA released the GeForce 9800GT graphics card back in 2008, with a custom ASUS ROG Matrix 9800GT purchased by a user, and found by "Madness727". He pulled the cooler apart to discover that the heatsink was totally clogged, the fan shroud was stained inside and out, with thick layers of tar mixed with dust, brown stains on the PCB, and a really strong smell of cigarette smoke, obviously.

In order to bring the card back from the dead, he washed out the heatsink, shroud, and smaller parts with some running water mixed with degreaser and a toothbrush. The PCB was cleaned with degreaser and isopropyl alcohol, and then everything was dried using a mix of a towel, blower, and heat gun.

ASUS ROG Matrix 9800GT before (left) and after (right)

The fan motor was cleaned and restored with isopropyl, the bearing re-lubed (using bike chain lubricant), and some new PTM/thermal material was placed on the GPU.

In the end, it truly looks like a new card as the cooler and shroud have no visible scratches, and get this... even the sticker survived this ordeal, as well as all of the MLCCs and resistors on the PCB. After 17 years, and around 10 years of being in a heavy smoker's room, the ASUS ROG Matrix 9800GT worked first shot, even pumped out 16FPS in Crysis.