XFX 7900GT vivo (Core 520M/Mem 1.5gb)

[gameon]

Yo.

New here. Was gonna get xfx 7900GT with vivo extreme edition with core 520Mhz and mem 1500. I've read thru forums saying their cards got overheated, lockups and artifacts. My fren got one, his loading temp was 70 degrees.

so, should i continue to buy this card? i know it would be silly to ask in xfx related forum. but heck, i've no where to turn to. ppl are complaining the same problems. do we need to down clock it?

any feedbacks on this cards? or everyone is running their stocks fine? thanks man.

[Bio-Hazard]

I have a 7900GT (lower clocked version) and it had the artifact problem at first also. But I down clocked it and ran it for while and the problem stopped. Now I'm up to running at Extreme speeds with no problem. As for operating temps, when I was air cooling I was getting around 40c idle and low 60's load, that seems to be about normal for the 7900GT, it's still a lot cooler than the old 7800 series cards. I'm water cooling the card now and it hasn't gone over 35c yet, but it isn't summer yet either.................;)

[mousiness]

video cards are getting so advanced especially with OC'ing, its running faster than my 370 celeron @ 700mhz!

[gameon]

sbrehm72255: your original clock is how much (470?)? what's the clock u lowered to? so your advise is that i get the 520M vivo version, down clock for a while, then run it at original 520 speed? cos many ppl are facing not the core issue, it is the voltage regulator at the back of the cards. overall card temp is killing. hmm...

or should i get normal edition instead, and clock it myself? lol...
thanks man.:D

[Bio-Hazard]

Get the Extreme and give it a try at stock speeds, there's a lot of folks not having problems with them. From what I've been reading there is a small percentage with problems of artifacting and I think some of that is because they are trying to clock them to high. The video ram is only rated to 1400 MHz and there is nothing written to say that it will clock to a certain % over that unless you have a extreme or XXX card. And even then I think you'll be pushing your luck after a while. On the other hand the Samsung 1.4 ram on the GT's comes from the same process as the Samsung ram used on the GTX cards, so you should be fine with a XFX Extreme. And the best part is that if you do have a problem, there's always the Life Time Warranty..............;)
My card is the 470/685 (1.37) version. I only had to down clock the video ram, I let it bench there for a hour or so and then set it back to default and all was good.

[xfxsupport]

IF you are experiencing Artifacting or having to turn the clock speed down to get the card to run stable please contact our support team at www.xfxforce.com . go to the support section and then the Xfx help desk. Changingthe clock speeds is never an option that we would like any of our customers have to do in order for the cards to perform. Please give us the opportunity to discover a source of the fault or help you get the card repaired/replaced.

[xfxsupport]

I just realized that I never addressed your question gameon. The temperatures reported af 70C are normal under load for this card. We expect to see 45-50C under idle and any game to produce a temp of 70C. These cards are rated to perfome well up tp 85C before experiencing any slowdown protocols are implemented. If your card is exceeding that temperature on a regular gaming day then please contact us immediately as this is not normal behavior and can only result in damaging the GPU. www.xfxforce.com => support=> help desk.

[gameon]

thanks for the prompt replies, xfxsupport and fellow forumers.
This problem has been surfaced i think for bout 1~2 months now, from what i read in all the hardware, namely 7900GT forums. I know eVGA cards has the most problems, second by XFX and BFG respectively (the rest i'm not sure, cos not many ppl using them overall).

I will buy the card. I am not gonna clock my card if i get the 520M 7900GT vivo version. because it is already quite high for its core and mem clocks. I am just worried my card will give me troubles and hard times even running everything stock out of the box (factory OCed). The warranty is limited life time only right? Meaning if the production for 7900GT stops, i will have no warranty covered. Compared to BFG (no hard feelings) true lifetime warranty, meaning if ur card died after 2 years, and there's no more 7900GT, they will give u something similar, or newer, (maybe 7950? haha...).

It is too bad that xfx closed the official forums. I was gonna find all xfx users and nail down the problem to see if it is the end user side clocked the cards too aggressively or what. The friend i spoke of, since he's been reading all those negative feedbacks and RMA rates, he down clocked his card till his zalman fan arrives. lol...

btw, u guys at xfx support has already figured out what's the root cause? i think there's more than 10 cards RMAed as to what i read from international to local forums. (maybe more for those who doesnt post in forums). thanks for bringing us hope.

[xfxsupport]

Althoug every maker has its share of faulty product that makes it to market we always monitor the amount of cards with issues of any reason. We are selling the majority of cards out there and not seeing anything out of the nominal rates for faulty cards.
As to the warranty we offer is a double lifetime which means that you as a new owner has a lifetime warranty and if you sell or give the card away that person has a lifetime. What does that mean? Simply this: We will support the card for as long as you have it. We expect you to upgrade long before the card fails. In the unlikely event that it does then we will happily repair or replace the card for the life of your ownership or the second owner. If we cannot repair your card we replace your card with the same exact model. If that is unavailabel due to production halts or other reasons we will give you an equally or better performing replacement. No if's, no ands, no buts. To us lifetime means lifetime period.
I know there were more concerns so please feel free to contact us at our support desk for any questions you may have. www.xfxforce.com => support=> Xfx Help Desk

[Schwarz]

Well of course anyc ard from any makers from ATI or Nvidia all have problems every once and then nothing is perfect and thats normal.
As far as a lot of cards being returned I do not beleive so.
I mean just check all the reviews about those cards and not much will talk
about faulty cards.
I myself now own a XFX card and it works fine.
But like I say sometimes you can have one bad apple in a basket and that happens.
And of course XFX wont ever let youdownclock your card that would be stupid...you buy a card and it should work the way its meant to be.

[gameon]

thanks for all the inputs. unfortunately, seeing the rates on how ppl RMA their cards as mentioned (and the rates are increase each and everyday, no matter how u deny it), and seeing/reading XFX support/dealers response, XFX closing down forums, giving excuses, and Nvidia method of solving problems. I am not convinced. :roll:
and the ticket system sucks. ;-)

I'm here to say bye to XFX, and Nvidia. Guess I'll stick with ATI. I'm getting an ATI X1900XT. Bout the same price, better performance, less issues. Given its quality, it is a no brainer.

Chao. Dudes, enjoy troubleshooting your 7900GT. 8)

[xfxsupport]

Dear Gameon,
We closed the Xfx forums due to the difficulty in maintaining them while upgrading our systems around the world. We currently lack the manpower to effectivly monitor and respond. This is a situation we hope to rememdy in hte near future. All I can ask is patience while we work to upgrade our services in all fields.

[Noxnoctis]

Ok so XFX techs have the time to spend here , but they cant seem to respond to my two tickets on two seperat extreme cards that are JUNK.

These cards are crap. Dont let anyone tell you otherwise. Now I have to fight with DELL's Online store to get all my money back. Most likely I will be out 15% restock fee if IM lucky enough to secure a refund.

These cards are junk yet you refuse to pull them and retest. First time doing SLI , ivesting well over 1k in PC parts and video cards, and Im screwed.

Yeah dont even say I didnt troubleshoot, Ive been through these cards for 3 straight days going through every single driver release, every single hardware update for all my gear, and still getting artifacting, blue screens of death and screen flashing.

Simply amazing that companies can get away with this crap.

[xfxsupport]

Dear Noxnoctis,
I am sorry that you have not received a response to your support ticket. We strive to answer all our tickets within 24 hours. Please post yor support ticket number and I will look into why you havent received a response.

[crzysheeit]

Well, looks like this one ended quite a while back but I just ran into some issues with artifacts in games with my UCE7 model XFX 7900GT (Extreme Edition). After searching DEEP on the internet i found this site that explained some of the issues with screenshots.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/artifacts/artifacts.html

The site said the issues i was seeing, similar to the first 2 screenshots in Half-Life 2, were due to parts of the Video RAM that had gone bad. XFX has been extremely responsive in the last few days and they are not reviewing an RMA option for my card. Maybe it was because of many customer complaints or maybe they have always been responsive but have not been able to get to certain customers on time. I hope the RMA goes through well and a 100% fixed card is sent back.

Oh how i miss the days of the 6600gt/9800XT where everything worked right when the latest drivers were installed (almost).