Knacked GFX card

[Brynn]

My gainward 6800GT Golden Sample just packed in

it was running at stock speeds, but it was running about 55oC idle. and then last night just packed in. So now its replaced with a 4600 geforce 4.

I overclocked it, but the golden sample is guaranteed to be overclocked to the speed i set it at. But it still broke.

The card is stock speeds, so i can just claim that i didn't overclock it?

 

[Jonty]

Hi Brynn

If it's guaranteed to run at overclocked speeds then I wouldn't worry about it too much. When you get in touch with them just explain that it packed in whilst running at stock speeds. If they ask if you overclocked it before, then admit it, but otherwise I don't think you need mention it, especially if the card is guaranteed to work at the speeds you overclocked to (read the small print of any such guarantee, though, just in case).

Good luck with it all

 

[old.user4556]

Another dead 6800 GT - wow, these cards rock .

Ok, they've got a warranty but is there no quality control these days?

 

[Brynn]

the gainward was a nightmare, because the screws wern't tightend enough. So a simple quarter turn on each of the 4 screws dropped the temperature by 6oC

 

[Clown]

I might get a Gainward Goes Like Hell as a replacement for my broken 6800GT. Or I might just wait for BF2 and get whatever is new then.

 

[Chilly]

fear my 6200 running at 15% OC with a passive cooler!

 

[Brynn]

mmmm X850

 

[Jonty]

It does seem they're suffering a lot, doesn't it? Perhaps it because people like to overclock them to ultra levels, but that shouldn't be such a major problem. You'd think when you're spending this much money it'd last a little longer

Kind Regards

 

[Brynn]

Just contacted them - they said the developers will check the bios to see if it had been overclocked - eep

but i haven't overclocked it for well over a month. Lets just hope they will be checking what values it packed in at

 

[DaGaffer]

mmmm X850

Its PCIexpress only though isn't it?

 

[Tom]

hummm, turned my computer on this morning and was greeted by a screen of coloured gibberish. Reset it (with the button), and its fine.

Should I be worried? I've replaced the stock fan with the Zalman one, and I think I chucked the old one. Its a 6800GT Aeolus.

 

[Brynn]

Its PCIexpress only though isn't it?

yup

 

[Jonty]

Hi guys

There will be an AGP version of the x850 lined released by ATI at some point, although you can expect to pay around $50 more for AGP variants of their range than the equivalent PCI-Express cards, before rebates and such.

Kind Regards

Jonty

P.S. Tom, I wouldn't worry too much about your graphics card. If you installed the Zalman correctly and the temperature monitoring shows no cause for concern than I wouldn't worry too much. Graphics corruption can occur for a variety of reasons, and if the core did overheat the nVidia drivers would alert you to that fact and disable parts of the card to prevent permanent damage (that said, I probably wouldn't have chucked the old cooler ).

 

[Brynn]

Got an email from them last night saying they will replace it

wooooo \o/

however they dont have the card with the doom bundle any more, so they are just sending me the card. Didn't really want to argue with them

 

[PLightstar]

My 6800GT was a Gainward one, last time I get one of those I didn't even overclock it, and one day for no reason I get pink lines on the screen, tried on other machines and still got the pink lines, so my PC has my old 5200 FX until I can afford a new one, but I think i'll wait till the next gen cards come out my 5200 still runs most of my games pretty well, with some of the advanced settings turned down.

wondering if its worth getting an ATI card or not my mate has turned his back on Nvidia cards and has never looked back.

Jus have to play the waitin game I guess.

 

[old.user4556]

I turned my back on nVidia and I had two 9800 Pros die within a year. Moved back to a 6800GT, had visual artifacting within 6 months (it seems ok now after a clean and re-seating).

 

[Jonty]

Hi PLighstar

I'm fortunate to have both nVidia and ATI cards in my two machines, albeit of different calibers. I can honestly say they both perform admirably. Each game has its own preferred card developer (Doom 3 under nVidia's The Way It's Meant to be Played system, HL2 for ATI etc.) but even non-optimised games perform great.

Reliability wise, I personally have found nVidia to be more reliable, but there are plenty who would honestly say the opposite. Just remember much of it is down to chance, the majority of users never have trouble, and those which do are often partially to blame (overclocking etc.) or just unlucky. Card manufacurers reject vast quantities of cards because of slight faults in the manufacturing process, sometimes even because of a hand full of faulty transistors out of several hundred million in the average graphics core.

Drivers wise, I prefer nVidia's layout and options in their standard drivers package. That said, ATI .NET Catalyst Control Centre is very clever, and their monthly driver updates are to be commended, as nVidia have taken to releasing a great many unsupported betas before releasing official driver updates.

Anyway, in short, I guess you're right to wait if there's no rush to upgrade, but whoever you choose I'm sure you'll be happy

Kind Regards

 

[Clown]

I'm fortunate with everything. The graphic corruption on my old 6800GT was because I was running it while it had water on the board and chips
It still works though.

I have to say that I prefer the AA and AF on ATI cards though.

 

[Brynn]

This sucks, its coming from their warehouse in Holland, via France (where there is a strike on parcel couriers) dammit

 

[Brynn]

Well the cunting card has balled up again.





Pissing Shitty Fucking Wank

 

[Jonty]

Sorry you're having trouble, Brynn Perhaps it's a conspiracy to get you to upgrade to nVidia's and ATI's next-gen cards this and next month respectively Hope it gets sorted out.

Kind Regards

 

[Brynn]

Ta for the reply jonts

Think i will buy a XFX 6800

Going to buy this monitor

 

[Jonty]

hehe, sorry, very constructive post

As for your choice of upgrades, that 6800 GT price seems about right. I've spotted a Gainward version, without Doom 3, for around £233. As for the monitor, unless you want that one in particular it seems a little expensive. There's a Samsung display, 19", 700:1 contrast, 8ms response, only 300:1 brightness and no DVI, but it's £226 which seems like a good deal.

Kind Regards

Jonty

P.S. nVidia will be launching their next GPU this month so if the upgrade isn't urgent then prices may fall for the older generation stuff, or you could purchase their new kit given that it seems manufacturers have had the cards for a while (that said, the corruption present on your present systems seems pretty major for an upgrade not to be urgent).