more 7900gt woes

[cff]

ticket 113356

I've had this card for quite a while and not sure what the warranty period is. I've put up with the odd pixel out of place for a long time, even have screen captures from Oblivion many months ago showing texture artifacts. Seemed to improve when I opened the side of my case and blow air from a 12inch fan directly into the case.

But now its unbearable ... hundreds of dots during bootup, and in windows, and lots texture artifacts to infinity in HL2, Fear, Oblivion. Even got screen lockups whilst entering the ticket details.

Also, the registration system did not accept my serial number. H4H201543. I've checked this number twice. Can't take a digital photo and can't scan without the card in the PC. What gives?

Also, so what region are Australians supposed to register in? (I registered in the US region ... mainly because the XFXSUPPORT dude seems to manage that region and he does a pretty good job from what I can tell browsing this site.)

Am considering upgrading to an 8800 GTX coz Oblivion is an awesome game but a resource hungry beast when run with max eye candy... hope XFX can make my vendor choice easy.

[JaymZZZ]

Hi, My card had the same exact problem. This is 100% defective VRAM. (Artifacts to infinity are when the memory "forgets" the correct reference points for an object and replaces them with incorrect data..) That card should be RMA'd :)

[KainXS]

I have a 7950GT that just died from bad VRAM, did you buy the card from someone and switch the warranty over

[xfxsupport]

Please respond to your ticket with the requested info so we can get an RMA issued for you.

[cff]

When I logged the ticket I described all the measures I took to diagnose this problem and its looks like tech support acknowledged those efforts and will issue an RMA. Just now I've sent tech support the info they need to proceed. Happy with the service so far.:)

[Jersey]

Yes, XFX service is pretty good. And good luck with your RMA, I'm in the same situation with my 7900GT. Oh and be sure to ask for options on replacement cards. Some other guy got an automatic 8600GTS.

[JaymZZZ]

I have a question for all those who have/had a 7900GT, Is this problem only occuring on the factory overclocked models, or were all the 7900GT's bad....I've been looking around and nobody offers 7900GT anymore (reminds of the Geforce FX 5800 Ultra saga.....)

[KainXS]

the 7950 i had wasn't overclocked and still went down, but I never knew their was a 5800 ultra, i only knew about the 5900 ultras

[westy87]

My Factory overclocked 7900gt is runnin fine :) Even OC'ed it more myself. Guess its hit and miss for a bad card

[cff]

A progress update. Got and RMA application form. Filled in the details and returned to support. Support realised I'm in Australia and rerouted to Asia region. Got RMA approval yesterday. Have to ship the card to Hong Kong. Will send next week. So far so good.

I have one slight trepidation so far and that is what replacement I'll get. Current trend seems to be an 8600 GTS but that may be region specific. All the performance reviews with actual games, not synthetic benchmarks, suggest this card gets better FPS with TES IV - Oblivion but not with Doom3, HL2 or similar. Basically I think it comes down to AA performance. Oblivion with HDR doesn't support AA so the Oblivion tests don't suffer from poor AA performance. But intense 3D shooters like Doom3, HL2, Fear etc perform really badly with AA active. Yet I think these games need it the most since the "sci-fi" environments tend to have more straight lines than the "natural" environments of RPGs like Oblivion.

Anyway I can't complain about the service so far, so lets see how things pan out. If I'm given the option I'll even pay to upgrade any exchange if possible.

[Jersey]

Ask for the option or else they will automatically send you a 8600GTS. They will give you an upgrade option of 150 US for the 8800GTS most likely.

[cff]

Well I sent my card back as per instructions. Its now been two weeks and I've heard nothing back. Am I being impatient? Can someone from support chase this up and see what's happening please.