Welp, lets see if a new PSU fixes my 7900GT issues.

jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
edited July 2006 in Hardware
I've RMA'd 3 cards back to EVGA now and lastnight, the 2nd replacement card started artifacting in EQ2 and it thus began the same problems all over again that thousands of people are having with this series of card.

I called EVGA tech support and they wanted to know the usual questions. They said it may be a PSU issue, but I did and still do disagree that a 26amp on +12 (with voltage at 12v measured) PSU is my problem. So just to take that out of the mix, I bought a Silverstone 560 with 38amps on the +12, so that if at some point I can run 2 cards in SLI again (since these 7900's seem to be pieces of horse***t) there won't be any questions about power issues.

As you can tell, I'm pretty damn fed up with this issue. I could understand it on the OC'd cards, but were talking about cards that are at FACTORY settings!

Anyhow, all the normal Nvidia manufacturers are having to deal with this problems as RMA's have went up as high as 5% just over these cards.

Sledge, if yours are not giving you any trouble yet then you are one of the lucky few.
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Comments

  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited May 2006
    Wow, crappy to hear about all the RMAs, jradmin. You are not the first one I've heard complaining of thse issues with 7900GTs. I'm curious to see if the PSU makes any difference.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    ummm according to a few formulas (potential difference(voltage) * current(amperage) = power(watts)

    12v * 38amperes = 456watts.

    You say its a 560 watt psu? how much current is on the other rails. it looks like next to none, shoot. unless it just plain isnt going to put out the rated specs.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    airbornflght wrote:
    unless it just plain isnt going to put out the rated specs.

    Which is so common it isn't even funny in commercial PSUs.
  • madmatmadmat
    edited May 2006
    Those might be running at "factory" speeds but they are so far off the nVidia standard speeds that you have them already OC'ed to a very good degree. Yes, you can replace the ram with faster spec'ed chips but that doesn't stop the GPU which is designed for 450 from being overcooked rather than being overclocked.

    This is why there are so many reports of eVGA 7900GT OC'ed cards going south in the various forums out there. XFX is also suffering this problem.
  • jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
    edited May 2006
    Here's the new PSU.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163111

    Madmat, you are corect with the fact that they have factory OC'd these cards to high. Unfortunately at this point I can't even down clock the card to stability, and its happening across both GT and GTX lines.

    I'm very tempted to get 2 7800 512's to replace these with.
  • madmatmadmat
    edited May 2006
    That's a very stout PSU. How deep is your case? Just curious. Also, what was your old PSU?

    Silverstone offers some very nicely built PSU's, I know that they don't build them but they're built by a top notch supplier. Silverstones are either built by Enhance or Etasis.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited May 2006
    jradmin, [H]ardOCP has a very good article on what you are going through. They have some really good advice too and I suggest that you read the article. Basically they say that you need to RMA the defective cards directly to evga and evga will expedite and cross ship replacement cards that have been hand tested.

    Please read the article; it just might help you out. :)
  • jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
    edited May 2006
    madmat wrote:
    That's a very stout PSU. How deep is your case? Just curious. Also, what was your old PSU?

    Silverstone offers some very nicely built PSU's, I know that they don't build them but they're built by a top notch supplier. Silverstones are either built by Enhance or Etasis.


    PSU is less then a year old currently. Case is a highly modified Chieftek server full tower. Its huge =), I wanted something I could move air around in easily.


    Mud, to answer your reply I have already RMA'd 2 cards back to EVGA and the very first RMA was to newegg. Looks like a 4th is going back to EVGA this week sometime also. I have the card I recieved from the last RMA sitting on my desk at home. I haven't even put it in yet as i'm waiting on the new PSU. I saw that article when it hit last week =D
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Wow, out of 22 7900 Series cards I own or used for a custom build, I only had issues with one "BFG". I am running XFX and EVGA's with no issues. No artifacting no nothing, they are doing what they should do. The BFG Line was were my issue's were.

    I guess you are just having bad luck or you have a defective mobo sending to much power to the GPU.
  • jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
    edited May 2006
    Thought about the MOBO, but popping in the 6800GT in for a couple days ruled that out.

    What series of EVGA cards are you using? This problem is isolated more with the 563AX or CO's then the KO's or Signature Series.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    They are all KO's or better for EVGA
    Model #'s

    eVGA 256-P2-N564
    eVGA 256-P2-N567
    eVGA 256-P2-N569
    eVGA 512-P2-N575-AX


    and for the XFX series
    Model #'s

    PV-T71G-UCE7
    PV-T71G-UCF7
    PV-T71G-UDE7
    XFX PV-T71F-YDL9
    XFX PV-T71F-YDE9
  • jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
    edited May 2006
    256-P2-N563-AX are the CO edition cards.
  • maximusbadmaximusbad The Burg
    edited May 2006
    I guess kinda off the subject of the 7900 Card but I have a ATI X1600Pro 512MB AGP and it tends to at times give me artifacts, think i should RMA it?
  • madmatmadmat
    edited May 2006
    I guess you're going to have to RMA the card (yet again) and see how the new one does. At least eVGA can't cop out saying you have less power than you need, the PSU you have now is stout enough to handle not just that one card but an SLI 7900GTX setup with ease.
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited May 2006
    Sledgehammer70 wrote:
    Wow, out of 22 7900 Series cards I own or used for a custom build, I only had issues with one "BFG". I am running XFX and EVGA's with no issues. No artifacting no nothing, they are doing what they should do. The BFG Line was were my issue's were.

    I guess you are just having bad luck or you have a defective mobo sending to much power to the GPU.


    I'm having to rma one of my XFX 7900gt's and few other people on another forum are reporting issues with them.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Which One?
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited June 2006
    Sledgehammer70 wrote:
    Which One?


    520M
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    I have seen issues with the 7900GT's across the board, but what I am saying I have yet to have nay on my end yet... besides the BFG Card :)
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited June 2006
    Ok my card is cured!!

    Got this from a post on Hexus.net
    OK - mine had the crazy artifacting after a couple of days at the stock settings (520 / 1500). I downclocked it to standard 7900GT settings of 450 / 1320, and contacted XFX support. Two replies and a fortnight later (boy they're slow) they suggested the following fix:

    Increase the memory speed by 5 mHz using Coolbits, or use the optimal setting. I reset the core to 520 and memory to 1500, then bumped the memory speed up by 5 mHz (i.e. 1510). I was sceptical to say the least.

    Crazy thing is, it appears to have worked!

    They did ask for the serial number of my card before they suggested this, so it might not be a fix for all artifacting cards, however after an hour of testing it does look good on mine.

    Can't think why this would work, unless it is a memory timing issue, and increasing the clock automatically increases the timings / latency of the memory.

    I will be watching my performance closely for the next few weeks and will post back if any other issues arise.

    Now obviously this may only work XFX cards but it's worth giving it go.


    Link to thread
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Good Find! I will make a new post revolving around this issue!
  • jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
    edited June 2006
    That would work if my card would let me downclock it.
  • madmatmadmat
    edited June 2006
    If you'll get coolbits (it's a registry tweak for nVidia drivers but I assume you know that) you should be able to set the core to whatever you want to.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    From the looks of it you don't have to down clock it, just boost your Ram up 5MHz.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Wow. Since they asked for the serialnumber first says to me that this is a faulty product from the beginning. Some hardware that they have on their cards only. I have 2 myself, but only used one so far.
  • jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
    edited June 2006
    The boosting/lowering is part of the issue. The vid card wont pass the Nvidia tests when I use coolbits, Up or down.

    I've used coolbits, powerstrip, rivatuner, atitool and just about every prog to test and try to fix the issue.

    No juice so far.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    How long ago did you buy your MackanzOCZ? your's might have not been in the first run. I know none of mine where.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    jradmin wrote:
    The boosting/lowering is part of the issue. The vid card wont pass the Nvidia tests when I use coolbits, Up or down.

    I've used coolbits, powerstrip, rivatuner, atitool and just about every prog to test and try to fix the issue.

    No juice so far.

    Have you tired auto detect?
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited June 2006
    MackanzOCZ wrote:
    Wow. Since they asked for the serialnumber first says to me that this is a faulty product from the beginning. Some hardware that they have on their cards only. I have 2 myself, but only used one so far.

    Mack as far as I see tell they follow the reference design so it would suggest to me a dodgy bios revision but I'll bow to your better knowledge of these things. I suppose the memory chips may be a different revision or something.
  • jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
    edited June 2006
    Sledgehammer70 wrote:
    Have you tired auto detect?


    Fails
  • jradminjradmin North Kackalaki
    edited June 2006
    Just to update this. The new PSU had no effect on the cards. Lost the 5th one over the weekend while trying to play EQ2 =(
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