)I RMA'd it anyway, but got it back and was told it had gotten wet. I hadn't been aware of that, but examining it proved that this was true. Somehow my water cooling must have had a tiny tiny leak - one power connector pin was completely green.
So I cleaned it, asked God to make it work (yeah man!), plugged it into my 2nd computer and believe it or not, it worked flawlessly again - even with my amateurish soldering job!
Looks like the card just had to dry and get cleaned. Now I just hope it will not continue to rot at some hidden area I cannot see or reach.
Lucky me.
