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Im going Back to Nvidia. Bad ATI cards or just bad luck.

ViRuS2k

ViRuS2k

ViRuS2k

Soldato
Joined
26 Jan 2004
Posts
6,293
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Scotland
At first i order 2x XFX 4890s,All the parts are missing, and one of the cards is sqeeling like hell under load so i figure bad luck.

So i get a RMA to send them back.

ok now i purchase 2x Power Color Battle Forge Edition Cards to replace the XFX`s

Now here comes the nightmare.

Im getting nothing but freezeing in some of my games and the display keeps freezeing then switching off
So i check the temps

I start up furmark basicly something to stress the GPUS 100% or 99%
and one of the cards is going to 101c :o
the other card seems ok at 82c

then i check the voltage regs and notice these cards dont have voltage regulators so i cant check the temp of them becuse they dont use the VOLTERA chips.
Cutting down costs ect i see considering these cards are kinda price £167 ect compaired to the others.

then i find out the cards arent useing proper copper on the memory or voltage regulators they have basicly been painted copper on aluminium.

so now in turn i have to RMA these 2 back aswell

im utterly ****** off and OCUK are probably getting ****** off with me sending cards back aswell...

all in all my luck doesnt seem that great.

also its the weekend now so i wont get new replacments untill wedensday/thursday next week ARGHHHHH

Fully star out any swearing
 
ViRuS2k said:
At first i order 2x XFX 4890s,All the parts are missing, and one of the cards is sqeeling like hell under load so i figure bad luck.
Click to expand...

Bad luck mate :(. I got my XFX 4890 XT delivered on tuesday. Its been working perfectly. Tweaked the bios straight to 950Mhz core and it's running great.
 
what's your case ventilation like? are you overclocking or anything like that? i know from reading around the forums that ati cards do tend to run hot but over 100'c sound way too high to me, also did you try speeding up the fans a little?

failing that you could always put a 120/140mm fan over the cards i had to do that with an sli set-up i had (i used a tiny spot of super glue where the fan touched the card although do at your own risk :D) or you could make a bracket for it i just didn't have the time when i did it
 
Bad Luck.

I have been using ATI cards for the last 6 years, and while the drivers are sometimes a little ropey they are very good cards

- Pea0n
 
Ventilation is fine i think

I have 2x 120mm at the front pushing in
1 120mm at the top pushing out
1 120 mm at the back pishing out
1 120mm at the very bottom of the case pushing in
and finaly 1 120mm at the side pushing in

not to mention i have 2x 120mm fans on my thermaltake cpu cooler in push and pull config with my i7 @4.2 HT

also the side of my case is off becuse of the summer ect
i would say its kinda roasting in my room,

but when cards seem flaky at default speeds then something aint right.

i also have a GALAXY 1000w Powersupply wich sould be ample power for these 2 cards and what i have in my system

sheesh i know people with quality psus like mine that run 700w and 500w with 4890s in xfire and seem perfectly fine...

i just dont think i have very good luck picking good ati cards

LOL

im kinda ****ed off well infact i am :/

I hope OCUK dont think im sending these cards back for the fun of it becuse im clearly not

next 2 cards i get i might give ASUS 4890s at try :(

Fully star out any swearing

or go for 2x GTX 275s in SLI as they should be just as fast as 2x4890s and when overclocked they should be faster.
 
thats that phase power thing again, but future mark is usless anyway as it will never be stressed to that point, yet.

bad luck I m okay sort of with my two sapphire HD4890 just 9-6 drivers **** a**
 
could happen with Nvida as well, never take anything for granted even paying a nasty price tag look at teh Nvida 780chipset they was a sod :mad:
 
Equally, don't let the 'nvidiabots' fool you either. Their cards aren't without fault, and although driver support is much better in my opinion, you do pay a little more usually.

I think you've been very unlucky by the sounds of it, a different brand on the recommendation of a user of the forums might be a good idea, such as ASUS. I'm sure OcUK will not be too agitated, you have a quite legitimate reason to want to change, they are usually very accommodating. Chill, it'll soon be sorted and you'll be playing games at super high fps in no time!
 
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-205-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1410

2x Asus GeForce GTX 275 896MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card (Includes Terminator Salvation PC Game)

Question ? are 2x of these cards in sli faster than a GTX295 at default speeds ?
and when overclocked are they even faster ?
and do they both pull a lot of power from the psu like the 4890s do
and do they overclock well ?

the 275s should be faster becuse 260s are = 295 right.
though most importantly do these 275s have better performance than say 2x4890s when overclocked.
 
That's seriously bad luck :( hopefully 3rd time's a charm.

And yes it is known that reference 4870/4890 cards have problems in furmark due to the weady 3 phase VRM but it shouldn't affect normal games at all.

Ninja Please! said:
A 295 is 2 260's in one card so 2x 275's should be faster.
Click to expand...

actually it's 2 275s so it should be similar, at stock the GTX275s in sli will be slightly faster due to higher clocks.
 
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2 x gtx275 are a little quicker than a gtx295 only because the gtx275 have a higher core clock as the gtx295 is 2x gtx275s taped together. A gtx295 also overclocks but probably not as good as the single sli cards will. Sli gtx275 will pull around the same at load as the 4890's and i think less at idle. gtx275 overclock pretty well but as you will know its all down to the cards you personally get as to how well. They might not even overclock at all or they could be really good overclockers. Sli gtx275 and 4890 crossfire should really be around the same speed trading blows in different games. The overclocking point is mute really because both sets of cards overclock really well most of the time.
 
Dont get me wrong guys :/

i really do like ATI , but the bad luck i have been getting is makeing my head spin.

Im going to try for the final and last time with ATI if i get bad cards yet again im going to seriously flip out...

the cards i have chosen are :

2x Asus ATI Radeon HD 4890 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
they also have 3 years warantee with Asus and are supported for overclock as they come with the voltage tweak software and what not.

wish me luck cause im dieing here lol
 
I'm going to ask the simple question first - I assume your PSU is up to the job? :)

Also, you might want to try one card at a time to see if it is a power issue, or if only one card is faulty.
 
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