The joy of a 7900GT...not

Well, here's a little anecdote that shouldn't fail to amuse. Well, maybe.

Read this article at HardOCP so you know what's going on with the 7900 series cards. I'm not the only one that's having trouble...there are people with cards that are at NVIDIA-set reference speeds that are dying. I'm just having more trouble than most.

I picked up an eVGA 7900GT CO (factory overclocked, 500/1500) in early April from Newegg. Worked for a while, and then it died (artifacting, would not run stable when underclocked). Requested RMA from eVGA through their cross-shipment program.

Recieved N563 #2 a week later, same as the one from Newegg. Opened the box - hooray, the bottom of the metal bracket is totally warped/sticking out - bad enough that I couldn't plug into the lower DVI port. (Wouldn't fit into the case, either.) Called eVGA, ranted and was bumped up to a 7900GT KO (N564, same exact card but with a larger and quieter cooler). Sent both N563s back.

Recieved N564 #1 a day later (next-day air). Worked wonderfully for a while...until it started to slightly artifact at times and randomly freeze/stutter while gaming. Called eVGA, dealt with an idiot tech that said that it's obviously a problem on my end with the PSU (dur, you said at least 19A on a +12v rail, my PSUs do just that, moron). Called again after the heated exchange, mentioned "7900GT" and "problem" and was told "yeah, we're having a lot of trouble with those cards these days." RMA requested on Thursday, card recieved yesterday.

So now I have a "new" (they're actually refurbs, or they call them, "recertified" - something I'm not happy with) N564/7900GT KO sitting next to me...and the metal bracket is warped, though not as bad as the second. It will not fit properly as a result. Waiting until Monday to give them an earful.

Summary: I have recieved four cards so far. 0/4 have met my expectations. It is almost two months since my initial purchase and I am still without a fully-working video card.

What the bloody hell happened to "quality assurance"? I'm not trying to be picky here - for $320, I just expect a card that works/isn't damaged. =\ So now I'm left to wonder what I should do since I can't get my money back...other than continuing to RMA until they send one that works.

I always hold out for a month or so when new cards come out for this reason.

Nvidia Cards are bad, even when not made by a third party company..do yourself a favour and convert

That is particularly bad luck tho, i hope you manage to get it sorted eventually!

Actually, ATi's new/current drivers are horrid. I'm back to my 7800GTX after returning a 1900XTX. I gave ATi a shot after many years, but I won't be going back any time soon.

Normally, I would too...except that I couldn't hold out for much longer with my 6600GT.

• NVIDIA cards have generally (always) been made by board makers ("third party companies"). They supply the designs and chips, a company over in moon-land produces the card, eVGA/BFG/xFX/whoever tweaks them to sell to sucke...er, consumers.
• That's right, I'll convert, because I want to deal with ATI's bulky win32 drivers/CCC that requires .NET Framework to do anything useful without a third-party program.
• Oh, yes, I'll convert, because I'd also like to deal with a lack of proper Linux support while I'm at it.
• Go be a fanboi elsewhere.

I lol'd horribly at the bulleted response, xD Sorry to hear about your troubles, though they should have known they had issues coming when nVidia told them the newer cards were almost maxed. I agree with you though, what the hell happened to QC?

Koneko ... ATI for the win

(you knew this post was coming)



EDIT:From what I hear from you and online research: only the factory OC'd units are defective.

First line of my post is now "Non-oc'd 7900GT for the win"

EDIT 2: well, no, i'm mistaken: apparently they are all borked. NVIDIA fix now plzkthx, I want to build a new machine.

omg you got screwed repeatedly. I feel sorry for you man. 0/4 is just not right. Seeing as how you cant get your money back I guess your gonna have to RMA till they work.
You said you had a 6600, i'd try seeing if you can talk your way into just getting a 7800 (same series, one model down doesnt hurt).
Sorry i can't offer any extra help as I have an ati card. Not a fanboy or anything it was just cheaper then the nvidia equivilent at the time I built my comp :P

You haven't tried very well then.

The new ATI Catalyst 6.5 Drivers have given many people performance boosts with there X1800s, X1900s, X1600s, all the X series! Including the 9xxx Series.

Lessoned learned : Don't buy eVGA.

As for ATI, their cards are notorious for being supplied with terrible coolers and die out as a result. Good chips but horribly manufactured.

I'd rather miss out on "performance boosts" than deal with piss-poor drivers.

You do realize 7900 problems aren't just limited to eVGA, right...?

HAY GUYS LETS ALL GO BUY XFX CARDS LAWL, O WAIT THEY DUN HAV SUPPORT BOARDS NOMOAR LAWL

Getting offtopic...needing suggestions on what to do at this point (other than RMA again). Maybe I'll try to argue for a refund at this point...

Believe me, I've been fearful ever since I read that article. I have an XFX 7900GT, specced at 520/1500. I hope it won't die, but I know better than to trust it. Personally, Leadtek is my brand that I don't trust. I've owned 4 Leadtek cards, a Geforce2, which artifacted, its replacement which artifacted after the warranty ran out, a 6800GT which simply died, and its replacement which simply died after the warranty ran out. I drew my own conclusions about Leadtek after the last fiasco (a 385$ video card with a 1 year warranty... the paltry 20$ I saved over the other brands cost me HUGE in the long run), and now spend my money elsewhere.

The fact that they're sending you refurbs is so freaking lame though. What's a refurb? A card that SOMEBODY ELSE sent back! I don't want somebody else's used, broken, then repaired shit! I'd cuss them out 8 ways till Sunday if I were you. Tell 'em if they send you another used card that they'll be hearing from a used lawyer. Threat of leagal action tends to work better than black coffee for large corporations. But yeah, 400$ is a lot to pay for a lemon, especially when it gets replaced by another lemon. Ugh.

Who's the fanboi?? Idiot..

Anyway, i always buy mid range cards, because i can't justify spending over £250 at the most on something for my computer (unless its buying a new one)..and in my experience, mid-range NVidia cards are horrible, truly, truly horrible. I have never had an Nvidia card that has lasted longer than 6 months.

I have had 2 Ati Cards, Radeon 9750, which lasted 8 months, and still works perfectly, but i recently upgraded to an X850, which is superb also, and ive had no problems with it so far.

The new Catalyst Drivers are pretty solid, and i dunno what you mean about ATi's software, despite having three processes running, it still uses less resources than NVidia's..

Bit defensive, are we? Gee, I don't know, maybe if ATI introduced drivers that didn't suck, I'd consider their products Try reading what you quoted again, in particular the part about "Linux support."

Idiot...

Go try and use ATI drivers on Linux and see for yourself. Compare to Linux + NVIDIA drivers. Go on. No? /shoo

nVidia just make the components, and 3rd party companies make the cards as a whole..

I personaly also prefer ATI, for MANY Reasons, on the ONE time i have had to call them.. thier customer service far exceeds nVidias/any 3rd party nVidia

The Quality and stability of the cards (taking into account Build quality, quality of the coolers etc) they usually seem better built, and dont look 'cheap' -- Since I do Video/Photo editing, I have looked at 100's of different cards, 3rd parties and not, and I have to say that ATI has the best colour reproduction (Closer to the 'real' original colour) - the image quality (AA/AF etc) DISABLED seems higher than the closest nVidia, and I have NEVER had a problem with drivers... even when upgrading cards..

nVidia, you have to piss around with the drivers just to upgrade the card..

Intel Integrated Graphics is the solution...

or just keep RMAing

I don't use Linux? so this is a pointless argument.

The EVGA 7900gt's have been having issues, If you had at least read the newegg customer reviews before you purchased it you would have seen this.

I do. Take your useless and trolling comments over to this awful forum, kthx.

Who started this thread again? Hm...I think I did, a thread about a NVIDIA product. You're the one that jumped in with fanboi "BUY ATI ZOMG" comments, I believe?

Linux support obviously matters to me. /shoo

Read please No widespread issues (no more than usual with a new release) in early April. And once again...not limited to eVGA.

I spoke to my nVidia source over this.

koneko, call eVGA, tell them exactly what you have, what it's doing, and mention the fact that RMA rates are up to 10% on these cards. If necessary, cite the Inquirer. They are legally obligated to make this right, and from my long experience with eVGA, they don't give a shit what you do to these, they'll fix it. If necessary, mention the fact that you are a mod for a very heavily visited forum. They don't want any more bad press.

I sent in a card, told them it had a waterblock on it and it died at stock getting ready for overclocking. You know how I got the new card?

Bare, prepped for waterblock.

They have THE best warranty in the industry. Use it.

For the rest of you, get off it. I've spent more on video cards this year than most new PCs cost, and I'm not yet finished, and that's average for a year. I've got enough experience to tell ya this-there is none "better" overall, merely for a different situation. This is not the FX days. If you can't keep a card more than 6 months, RMA it. After that, examine your own usage.