EVGA 7900 series cards artifact/bsod fix?

[OldGuy]

GUESS WHAT

 

I got another Superclocked from RMA... I'm loosing count how many it's been

 

AND IT DOESNT WORK

 

That's just insane David. Is it DOA? RMA'd from the manufacturer?????

[UncleDavid218]

That's just insane David. Is it DOA? RMA'd from the manufacturer?????

No, it works fine in 2D mode and most games, but F.E.A.R., BF2, and 3DMark03 just won't run. It artifacts, the screen flickers, and eventually locks up. For as much faith in EVGA as somebody like me has, I'm beginning to feel scammed. It's not their fault that they got some bad memory, but come on, this is ridiculous. If you can't get a product out that works as it is supposed to, that is false advertising in my opinion. It's been SIX MONTHS.

 

EDIT: Yeah, they've all been directly from EVGA

[OldGuy]

No, it works fine in 2D mode and most games, but F.E.A.R., BF2, and 3DMark03 just won't run. It artifacts, the screen flickers, and eventually locks up. For as much faith in EVGA as somebody like me has, I'm beginning to feel scammed. It's not their fault that they got some bad memory, but come on, this is ridiculous. If you can't get a product out that works as it is supposed to, that is false advertising in my opinion. It's been SIX MONTHS.

 

What blows most is that they don't seem to be testing these cards...whatever is in the box on the shelf ready to ship is what you get for a replacement. Like they are just crossing their fingers and "hope" you get a good one instead of taking the time to MAKE SURE that you the paying customer is taken care...Honestly they must have more rejects than good cards to replace them with and they are just sending out something to placate people for awhile...

 

Anybody that has had to go through two RMA's should be upgraded to a thoroughly tested, guaranteed good card that's at least a notch above the original...Probably dreamin' I guess

[UncleDavid218]

That's for sure. Why is EVGA making us, the end user, pay for RMA shipping? I called and they said it was costing a lot of money. I don't doubt it!

 

But give me something worth my fryking hard earned money!

[OldGuy]

I'm pretty happy with my current setup but I really would like to change out the factory cooling...BUT...I want ZERO hassles come the day these fail and I can't help but feel they eventually will...

 

Best of luck getting a REAL replacement that works...

 

Oh and I ike the way they told you it's costing them alot of money...Are you supposed to feel sorry for them? No . Sherlock! Come up with a real solution instead of putting bandaids on the problem....just keep shipping cards out till the customer gets a good one or gives up. Great strategy

[jumpman]

BFG 7900gt oc here...didnt try Deep freeze yet, but F.e.a.r does not run, and Trackmania Sunrise shows artifacts.

 

Oblivion, Flatout, GRAW, Hl2 and others run perfectly.

 

I tryed another vidcard...an MSI 7900gt, and it runs just fine.

 

Im starting to think that ill have best results with mainstreem manufacturers than Gamer's choice ¬¬.

 

anyway...im RMAing this Piece of . on monday...im really dissapointed.

 

i tryed the PCIe frecuency thing and it does nothing on my setup.

 

PS: If i have to RMA this thing again, ill switch to ATI...screw Nvidia.

[XenoS]

Be sure to post some benchies...I'm curious to see how a 7950 compares to two 7900gtx's.

I'll be happy to post some benchmarks when I get my 7950 GX2. While I do have nmbers from my 7800GT to share, I won't be able to give you any 7900GTX numbers based on my rig though since neither card would work properly, whether in an SLI configuration, or each solo. The only single time in which I managed to get one of them to finish a run of 3DMark05 was when I was experimenting with using two power supplies; an Enermax 600W Noisetaker to supplement my Aerocool 620W ZeroDBA (both good supplies from my experience). The score for a single BFG 7900GTX OC came out about a little over 1600 marks lower than the score for my one eVGA 7800GT CO, proving something is clearly wrong, probably having to do with the video memory as many whom have the exact same issues listed in the first post tend to suggest. And before someone points out that this may point at my power supply being the culprit, rest assured that it isn't the reason for my troubles as I thoroughly tested this hypothesis, which was my very first and before I found this thread. This included changing the load balance which didn't help either sadly. Too bad, actually, since this would have been a lot easier to fix lol. Anyways, if you're interested I did find this really good thread while looking up quad-sli recently, where another DFI Street member posted his experiences with an eVGA 7950 GX2 on nearly the same rig as I have (same motherboard, nearly the same monitor). Lucky I found it actually as I almost made the mistake of paying a bit more to try out quad-sli, which clearly would not have worked. Whew!

 

GUESS WHAT

 

I got another Superclocked from RMA... I'm loosing count how many it's been

 

AND IT DOESNT WORK

David, I feel for you man. I wholeheartedly agree with what OldGuy said; that it sounds like they aren't testing the cards they send out as RMA replacements before hand to make sure they work 100%. However, I'm not entirely sure this would be completely effective. About half the folks I've seen on the various tech forums complaining about the issues that all brands of 7900 series cards are having don't always know there is something wrong right away. The cards can work for a couple of days before breaking down suddenly, and in some cases they may work fine for up to a week. I still think, like most, that it has something to do with video memory perhaps, but this might point to heat as being part of the cause as well. There is a poster named 'Cheetah gamer' in the Nvidia forums, for example, who claims that there are two IC's on the 7900 series which do not have any kind of passive/active cooling at all, are related to the video memory, and get hot enough to burn a persons finger. I think I read about it in this thread (yup, see post #37). It is regrettable in some small way that I am not getting two new 7900GTX cards to play with, as I have some copper sinks perfect for the job, and that I would have attached before using the cards for the first time. Might be worth trying when and if you get another RMA'd card. Certainly can't hurt to try anyways.

[likewhoa]

That's for sure. Why is EVGA making us, the end user, pay for RMA shipping? I called and they said it was costing a lot of money. I don't doubt it!

 

But give me something worth my fryking hard earned money!

 

You're not talking to the right people. You need to contact Jacob Freeman at EVGA and he will setup Cross-Shipment for you without a problem. Dunno if cross-shipment will work for customers outside the US.

 

After some searching, I'm starting to see now that this problem with the Nvidia 7900 series actually affects a lot of people, and is regardless of brand.

 

You're 100% correct that this affects ALL Nvidia 7900 Series Cards and it doesn't pertain to EVGA cards but since EVGA cards are the most highly OC cards around and most serious Overclockers prefer EVGA over others because of their quality of service and support, most of the complaints started with them.

 

EVGA in my opinion has done a great job at supporting it's customers due to these problems with the card's memory dimms and everyone should give them more credit. well atleast those that complaint alot

[jumpman]

Ive just throw 3dmark06, and just like you guys said...it didnt passed Deep Freeze.

Monday RMA...damn.

[Vanne]

I was having issues after going from single to SLi, it was all very frustrating, but finally sorted it and upping the PCI-e bus from 100mhz to 110 did the trick for me. Stable, no artifacts, black screens and or lockups at all. 3dmark runs like a dream. 9324 marks in 06 for anyone who's into that.

 

i must admit though, i wonder if its a problem with the mobo though, and not the card, as mine ran flawelessly in single mode (both of them) so id recon its got something to do with 8X instead of 16X.

 

i dunno, all i know its working now

[UncleDavid218]

It's not the motherboard. Don't blame it for your problems.

 

I have a single card and suffer from the same problems, and have tried a couple of different motherboards.

[XenoS]

It's not the motherboard.

The chances are definitely slim. People having these particular issues seem to run a fairly wide gamut when it comes to make and model of motherboard, and logically that points to something else as being the culprit. The only thing that is really the same among everyone having trouble is that they are all using a 7900 series graphics card, very often factory overclocked. Still, it would probably be prudent not to discount other possibilities entirely I suppose, such as the motherboard. After all, the trick with raising the PCI-E bus speed does indeed seem to work for a few people. Then again, it is also entirely possible that these particular folks were not actually experiencing the same problem as the rest of us, as described exactly in the first post of this thread. And, to be perfectly honest, I have indeed seen what looks to be a discrepancy amidst the assorted descriptions posted among the various tech forums out there. In any case, either this problem will eventually blow over and we'll never know what the problem truly was, or the industry (Nvidia in particular) willl have no choice but to finally come forward and admit once and for all that there is a serious design flaw with the 7900 series. One way or another, it really would certainly be nice if this problem could finally be laid to rest once and for all, that is for sure. Regardless, I can't really complain anymore since things very much look like they are going to work out for me in the end. I mean, so I only get a 100% boost to games performace instead of 120%. Nope, that's really not such a big deal at all hehe.