Incoming Components Testing and Validation

Before PowerColor can begin manufacturing anything, it needs to know if it has all the parts that go into making them in the required quantities, and of the required quality. Most of the electronic components you find on PCBs are surface mounted devices (SMDs), which arrive either in reels or trays. The reel looks similar to a cinema film reel, where instead of frames, you have SMD components stuck onto them. These reels are fed to PNP (pick and place) machines that picks out each part, and place them onto its designated location. Trays are meant for larger devices that are too delicate to be shipped in reels, such as the GPU chip itself. But before the reels or trays can be fed to the PNP machines, PowerColor checks if the correct components have arrived at the material staging area, and if they're in the right quantity.


A machine is feed SMD reels, and it uses X-ray to determine the quantity of SMDs on that reel. It assigns a unique identification for that reel, which it prints on a barcode label and places on the reel. This will let all machines down the production line know exactly what's on that reel, so it can be optimally utilized.


A chemistry lab is set up by PowerColor to check if any of the individual input materials has hazardous substances on them as defined by the various global standards, such as RoHS. This step is crucial, as it lets the company isolate specific components that would otherwise be responsible for the entire finished product failing a hazardous materials test by a government testing agency, which could lead to an entire shipping lot being denied import—a very costly outcome. Also, if they switch out even one screw, or other minor component, they'll have to make sure that new components passes all validation checks.


Although not part of the assembly line, we took a brief detour to see the lab that receives graphics cards that have been returned by end-users as RMA. PowerColor engineers meticulously disassemble each returned graphics card to determine its exact cause of failure. The company can then decide what to do with the card—attempt to refurbish and supply as a refurbished graphics card; or salvage what it can. Across the room, we spotted trays of GPU ASICs salvaged from graphics cards sent in for RMA. If the GPU itself survives a testing/validation process, it would be fit for a refurbished graphics card.


Here we see an engineer attempt to give a GPU ASIC a fresh set of BGA pins (balls). We were surprised that this is a fully manual process. An RMA is extremely costly for the company, as not only did it have to spend money making the original graphics card, but also to bring it all the way back in the opposite direction of the supply-chain, so the company spends heavily on quality control that prevents manufacturing defects and their subsequent RMAs.


PowerColor doesn't manufacture its PCBs. There are companies that specialize in PCB manufacturing to PowerColor's exact device-specific design and specifications (such as their required PCB layer count, copper layer thickness, special surface treatments, etc). Bare PCBs have no components placed on them, just exposed pads for the various SMDs, mount-holes, and vias. Ideally, PowerColor would want incoming PCBs to be perfectly flat. A flat granite surface lets QA see this. PCBs with bends have to fall within a certain bend tolerance (in this case 1.18 mm), beyond which the PCB is rejected.