EDIT: Just to be clear, I am NOT knocking OCuk's RMA procedures in this post, just looking for advice.

At the end of last week I RMAd my Gainward 7900 GTX to OCuk as it was demonstrating a range of freezing/corruption/lock up/BSOD problems with Quake 4, HL2 and 3DMark06 Deep Freeze. One key symptom was the desktop being corrupted on exit from a game accompanied by the display flicking on and off, as though the DVI connection had been lost; also the monitor connection being 'lost' on (soft) restart (via Start Menu), forcing a hard reboot to 'recover' it.

Temperatures of GPU and CPU were not high, the case is well ventilated, RAM runs multiple cycles of Memtest without issues, PSU is Antec 550W and putting out stable voltages. System handled a BFG 7800GTX OC without any problems. In fact,. I've had zero problems with the system since I built it in December of last year. Replacing the 7900 with a 6200LE cured the monitor related problems, though I haven't tried gaming with it.

So, after much deliberation, I RMAd the card 100% confident it was faulty. However, OCuk have notified me today that they are returning the card to me on the grounds that after an hour of testing they can't find a problem. Welcome to the suck...

Which leads me on to my question - has anyone else with a ASUS A8N-E mobo (BIOS 1008 or 1013) had problems running this card? If there really is no problem with the GPU (which I still find hard to credit), I am concerned that the issue may be to do with the cooler on the 7900 obscuring about half of the fan on the mobo's Northbridge chipset, causing some sort of heat related problem there. That is the only 'variable' that I can identify which might be causing these problems.

Thanks.

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem but i've got the ocuk 7900gtx and also rma'd it and got it back saying there was nothing wrong.

Have a look at my thread here:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17576445

I've got the same mobo however i have tried it on another system and got the same problem. I've tried other cards (x1900xt) and all work perfectly.

List all your componants and see if we have anything else in common?

AMD X2 4400 2.2GHz stock / upgrade to 1.3.1 CPU driver didn't cure it / problem occurs with CnQ disabled and enabled
ASUS A8N-E rev 2 BIOS 1008 originally and now 1013 (problems occured with both)
2 x 1024MB Corsair XMS PC3200 (dual channel) 2.5 -3-3-6 @ 1T
2 x WD Raptors 34GB RAID 1
Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS
Antec TruePower 2.0 550W (7900 on dedicated PCI connector)
MSI DVD drive and Sony floppy drive
Viewsonic VP191b monitor (DVI)
Antec PlusView (original) SOHO File Server case - four 80mm fans, two at front, two at back

Win XP Pro SP 2, clean install December 2005
Direct X 9.0c (December 2005)
Forceware 84.21 WHQL , 84.37 XG, 91.28 betas / same problem with all, DriverCleaner Pro used between driver uninstalls

Kaspersky Antivirus 6.0
ZoneAlarm 6.1.737.000
Windows Defender (latest build)
Antivirus and Defender turned off when gaming.

7900 GTX was never overclocked, never ran above 62-63 degrees under load, 40ish at idle.
CPU never hotter than 112 degrees under load, 95 degrees at idle (CnQ disabled)

NEVER had any problems running FEAR, HL2, Doom3, Far Cry using 7800 GTX, which was a BFG factory OC model.

Still maintain the card is to defective.

EDIT: In reference to a comment made by someone within your earlier thread, I enclosed a detailed outline of the problems I was experiencing (in with the card, not just inside the package I sent back) - but the tester told me 'we don't read any details that are enclosed'.

well the only other thing we have in common is the ram.

Have you tried with only 1 stick in or even different ram?

Are you running similar timings?

To be honest, I've had that RAM for some time, it was in a previous Athlon3500/A8V Deluxe system before, and has never given any indications of being defective - have run memtest on it multiple times, at the time of purchase to check it was OK and recently to rule it out as a cause of my current woes.

The problems I experienced were text book 7900 GTX problems, as experienced by many owners posting on many forums across the web.

Someone (again in your other thread) suggested contacting Gibbo, but I can't seem to private message him... so here's a plea to Gibbo: HELP!

my RAMs fine aswell and at the stock timings.

Someone (again in your other thread) suggested contacting Gibbo, but I can't seem to private message him... so here's a plea to Gibbo: HELP!

Click to expand...

yes please help!

Alright mate i was just wondering if you managed to get the card sorted because i'm still having problems with one of mine?

As you can see from my sig i have changed the motherboard since then as well but nothings changed.

Yes, but something of a saga... RMA'd the card, was tested and sent back as not faulty. This was after i had done *thorough* testing to ensure it was faulty. I was not happy with speed with which card was turned round (in and out in a matter of hours, if that) but when I called I was assured the testing would definitely have found a fault.

Blew my stack basically. Wrote stroppy letter to higher authority. Was then able to discuss problem with senior tech support staff member. Agreed (though I was not pressured to do so, I should add) to try new PSU to doublecheck that was not the problem. Install Targan Easycon 580W - same problem. Oh well, nice PSU

Card RMA'd again for testing. Found faulty this time. As Gainward basically have no warranty unless you buy from their online store (yes, unbelieveable but true - the reseller has to carry the can instead), I had the card replaced with BFG 7900GTX (though not before I went through another comical RMA as another Gainward card was originally sent out). Full marks to the reseller for making that exchange.

BFG 7900GTX was installed yesterday (this whole process has taken about a month to resolve). I have yet to run any games on it, and am frankly slightly nervous about doing so I will let you know... BFG has just issued a Rev 3 BIOS (mine has Rev2) which nibitor shows has had the geometry clock 'delta' lowered slightly; fans are also reported to run faster. I'm am not convinced, however, that software or BIOS tweaks can solve what looks very much like a design or component flaw. If problems do arise again, and BFG give me their blessing to flash up to the new version, I might try, but otherwise not.

Bottom line, if you are having all the classic 7900 issues, *insist* on getting the card re-RMA'd and retested, and pursue your complaint to the higest levels - many of these cards are borked, but the problems do not always show up unless specific tests are run - 3D Mark 06 Deep Freeze being the key one.

I am having exactly same problems with my ocuk 7900GTX. Have got my RMA number and just about to return it but now im thinking not as you both ahd yours returned. This is definitely not an isolated problem because I have read numerous threads on this forum with people with same problem and also on other forums. I believe it is very unlikely that so many people could be having this problem and the only think which stays the same in every story is they have a 7900GTX.

I would like to think resellers in general have come to recognise this is not a 'normal' problem that can be exposed by tried and trusted methods, and so are now testing the cards more rigorously.

Have faith, RMA it (you don't have any other choice), and if not satisfied pursue your complaint further. Hopefully in the end the problem will be recognised and you will get a good resolution.

I m just going to return it for a refund and get a different card. Cant be bothered with the hassle of having it returned/ having to return a second card.

Well I'm glad you've got yours sorted. I have RMA'd the card 3 times now and they insist that its not faulty. Each time its also been a matter of hours before they have sent it back.

Just before I sent it back for the third time I had it tested by a local PC shop and they confirmed that its broke.

I'm just not sure what to do now or who to complain to and I'm not able to call them because I'm at work during the day so din't have the time.

They have also advised me to check psu/motherboard but the cards been tested on many different ones and you can see in my sig that I have another 7900gtx that works perfectly so if the problem was my system wouldnt the problem be the same with that one?

It's clearly a card problem considering the such high volume of people with problems with this particular card. You must be able to get 10minutes to ring them even if its on saturday. I would not be happy if i returned it 3 times. I know absolutely nothing about pcs tbh, but common sense tells me that if everyone are experiencing te same problem and the only continuous thing is that they all are running these cards, it seems a bit obvious to me.

I have the same problem & returned my card yesterday.It was doing the classic crashing in 3D Mark 06 the deep freeze & the screen flicking on & off.It has done this on my Asus A8N32 & DFI Expert motherboards(Both flashed to the latest official bios),i also tried it in a friends PC & the same thing happened.The problem is the card as i tried my old 7800GTX XXX edition & that runs everything fine so i if it gets returned i will be most unhappy.

Amidar said:

I have the same problem & returned my card yesterday.It was doing the classic crashing in 3D Mark 06 the deep freeze & the screen flicking on & off.It has done this on my Asus A8N32 & DFI Expert motherboards(Both flashed to the latest official bios),i also tried it in a friends PC & the same thing happened.The problem is the card as i tried my old 7800GTX XXX edition & that runs everything fine so i if it gets returned i will be most unhappy.

Click to expand...

Keep us updated an lets hope they replace it for you

I have a very similar spec (see sig) and am now on my third 7900GTX. Each time it has developed the said symptoms after 3-4 weeks of use. Only difference here is the retailer I RMA'd to (not OcUK) seem have a slightly better and more thorough RMA process.

Maybe our motherboards ARE killing the cards over time? Either way, all mine have been found to be faulty. Anyway hopefully it'll be 3rd time lucky for me.

Any news on your card yet Amidar?

I contacted them again earlier and they are not going to replace mine as they found no fault

As i've had the card tested by my local pc shop who found it faulty where do I stand legally on this?

Nothing yet mate,got an email yesterday saying the card had arrived.They should have no problems finding the fault as i tried it in my brothers PC,friends PC & both my own PC's so it's been tried in 4 PC's & faulted everytime when running the 3D mark 06 "The deep freeze".Anyway it has to be the card as when i install my old 7800GTX everything is fine.All the PC's are running decent PSU's as well,520w OCZ,Seasonic 600W & the others are 600w Enexmax's.

Amidar said:

They should have no problems finding the fault as i tried it in my brothers PC,friends PC & both my own PC's so it's been tried in 4 PC's & faulted everytime when running the 3D mark 06 "The deep freeze"

Click to expand...

Thats what I thought as I'd tried it on many different pc's but they still cant find the fault.

Its been returned 3 times and I dont know what to do now?

Anyway I hope you get it sorted mate

chris06 said:

Thats what I thought as I'd tried it on many different pc's but they still cant find the fault.

Its been returned 3 times and I dont know what to do now?

Anyway I hope you get it sorted mate

Click to expand...

I hope i do.