Hi there, I made the following post earlier

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17615213

as I noticed today that my Gainward 7900GT Bliss Golden Sample is no longer able to complete 3DMark2006, failing, always, on the Deep Freeze test.

The system has only been built for 8 days, and it certainly ran 3Dmark06 on the first day no probs. This is only the second time I'd tried to run it, but no joy at all.

Spent the best part of the day changing settings, underclocking the card, underclocking my RAM etc, but can't get Deep Freeze to work.

Other games appear to work mostly fine, though when I noticed this, I thought that maybe those strange black lines/shadows I was seeing in Prey maybe weren't "bad drivers" after all.

Another effect I've noticed, as posted in the other thread, is that when running the Half Life 2 - Lost Coast stress test, it all appears to run fine (with 6x aa and 16xaf 147fps) apart from just after the camera flies up the stairs, and enters the courtyard, you can see small purple blocks in the sky.
No freezes or crashes like with Deep Freeze, just these little blocks. As the camera moves, they move with it. When the camera briefly looks out of a window, you can still see the blocks in the sky. They appear in the same place each time I run the stress test, and apart from the fact that they're purple blocks in the sky, look like they're almost meant to be there... the way they move as the camera pans around.

I'm at the end of my tether today, and have tried everything I can think of to get it to work. It's annoying that I know it did run once, on the first day I built the system.

Does anybody have any further advice, or does this sound to you like a typical faulty card, as I've read about in here, and after some googling.

More info on my system, in the thread above.

What speed is the PCI-E supposed to run at?
I have my P5B set to AUTO. I've read in these forums, people talking about using 101. I did set my PCI-E speed manually to 101 for a quick test, but it gave the exact same result.

Is there a particular voltage I can change (PCI-E) to make it run better?

The rest of my system is pretty much stock speed, with the exception at the moment of my RAM, which is running at a lower latency, due to setting the P5B BIOS back to auto everything, in an attempt to get it working.

Sorry to be posting a few messages in different places, I'm just at the end of my tether, as I had the system running just as I wanted, until I discovered the Deep Freeze problem.... and after only 2hrs sleep last night, my concentration isn't at 100%... or even close

So, gunna try to sleep, and if anybody can give any advice to help me tomorrow, that would surely get the day off to a better start than I had today.

Many thanks, I appreciate your input,
V1N.

P.S. My Antec Neo 550W should be more than capable of running one of these cards, in a default clocked Conroe system? It had Nvidia SLi splashed all over the box, but this was the main thing I was asked when I tried to phone OCers about it this afternoon..... is my PSU up to the job.

Yes its one of the faulty ones, RMA it.

The deep freeze test not completing says it all, thats how you tell you got one of the bad ones.

LoadsaMoney said:

Yes its one of the faulty ones, RMA it.

The deep freeze test not completing says it all, thats how you tell you got one of the bad ones.

Click to expand...

Yes, this is what I was thinking.
To be honest, apart from the small, almost unnoticable graphical glitches I experienced in Lost Coast Stress Test and Prey, I'd probably have gone on using it unaware.... but been very annoyed if I'd come across a game in the future which really pushed it, and it started then.

I have been reading about the Deep Freeze failing today, quite a bit in fact, seems a sadly common occurance. I just wanted to check with you guys in here, as you've obviously a lot lot more experience than me with cards, and hardware in general. I'm afraid my budget allows me to upgrade very rarely, which was why the new Conroe/7900GT was such a major thing to me, and therefore such a bitter disappointment.... erm.... sorry for wandering off topic, just feeling gutted.

Thanks for your advice though. I immediately suspected GFX card, but after talking to the techsupport at Overclockers today, and he kept asking about my PSU and stuff, it made me start doubting myself. Stupid I know, it says SLi ready, and only powers one card, and this new system requires less juice than the system it's replacing anyway.... with the exception of the 7900GT, which is replacing my old, but did a very good job, XFX6600GT.

V1N.

P.S. One day I'll learn, and maybe give an Ati a go.
Years ago, I built a system with a GF4600Ti. The first one was faulty, exchanged, and fine thereafter.

Couple of years later, I built the system with the XFX6600GT. The first card was faulty, exchanged, and fine thereafter.

My Brother in the meantime bought a PCE5900 when the first came out. First one... yep, faulty, replaced, and fine thereafter.

So we joked about me getting a 7900GT, will it work first time?
Well, we'd already laughed and celebrated that it did. Tempting fate?

As i posted in the wrong thread ill put it here, your lucky in a way i spose that its gone now, as you never know when they are going to fail, thats why its risky buying them, as if it goes after the 28 days then its got to go back to the manufacturer, and then you could be waiting 28+ days for a new one, but with it going this early, its just back to the retailor, they test it, see its faulty, and get you a new one out which should all take about 10 days.

I thought they had all been sorted now, as i know the EVGA ones have been , but obviously not.

Im expecting to be jumped on now and getting accused of using this thread as a chance to **** em off, but no one can deny that 7900's are buggered, or were buggered, and are getting sorted, or have been.

Yes, that's what I meant when I said I was glad I'd caught it now, rather than later.

I too had hoped that these problems were gone by now.
I even phoned Overclockers before confirming my order to check everything would be OK, and told the person on the phone that I'd added that, as the XFX card I'd wanted had gone out of stock. I was told that I'd be better off with the Gainward, as quite a few of the XFX ones had been faulty.

Oh well!

V1N

(Now I think about it, that GeForce Ti4600 I ordered years ago was a Gainward Golden Sample too)

First post so hello all .

V1N,..... Two weeks ago one nice new Gainward 7900GT Bliss Golden Sample
arrived to update my beloved 9800pro, good card I thought, on my 3rd day
it joined all the other borked 7900's out there, I had the flashing screen with mine after it crashed out of DX9 apps, lots on mem tearing in the 3Dmark03
Troll rag doll stair test. (it worked with no problems for 2 days !!!!!!!!)

Still a major problem with the 7900's it seems.

I was lucky in the fact that the supplier refunds your money if you have any problems within 28 days.

On a happier Note, I now Have the HIS X1900XT from here (OCUK)
and cannot be happier with it, it runs at 690- 1600 with the CCC,
Must be my lucky week as my new Amd 4000 runs at 3 gig at stock volts tooo .

Id change the 7900 for an ATI based Card if you can, the Picture quality is better with the ATI as well so thats a bonus.

Hope you can get it sorted with a happy ending.

Just out of interest, if say (or when ) my card breaks, I will need to return it to the manufacturer as I've had it for a while now. Do I have to get it replaced with another 7900GT or do I have other options?

[secretly wishes he'd opted for x1800xt]

OK, just a brief update.

My Brother runs a dual Xeon system, and he just tried my 7900GT in his system. Exact same results.

He also brought home a power supply from work to test with it, running only the graphics card from this PSU, and again, deep freeze... well, it's a good name for that test really, isn't it? It certainly froze anyway.

So, that's that. The GFX card has been tried in two systems, and three PSUs, and fails the Deep Freeze test every time.

While we were on the phone, we pitted our 3DMark2006 CPU tests against each other His system is already two years old, with 2 x 3.6Ghz Xeons on board, with some two year old DDR(1) ram on there as well. Pretty close... I got 2040 CPU marks in 3Dmark2006, and he got 1880. Not bad for a two year old system (and equally not bad that my £250 2.4Ghz chip can (just) beat a Dual Xeon 3.6)

So, time to get everything together and post it back to overclockers.
I'm already overdrawn, from buying this system... I wonder how much the post office will charge for this :-/ and now I can't play any of my games :'(

Hoping Overclockers have a speedy turnaround,
V1N.

Troop said:

First post so hello all .

V1N,..... Two weeks ago one nice new Gainward 7900GT Bliss Golden Sample
arrived to update my beloved 9800pro, good card I thought, on my 3rd day
it joined all the other borked 7900's out there, I had the flashing screen with mine after it crashed out of DX9 apps, lots on mem tearing in the 3Dmark03
Troll rag doll stair test. (it worked with no problems for 2 days !!!!!!!!)

Still a major problem with the 7900's it seems.

I was lucky in the fact that the supplier refunds your money if you have any problems within 28 days.

On a happier Note, I now Have the HIS X1900XT from here (OCUK)
and cannot be happier with it, it runs at 690- 1600 with the CCC,
Must be my lucky week as my new Amd 4000 runs at 3 gig at stock volts tooo .

Id change the 7900 for an ATI based Card if you can, the Picture quality is better with the ATI as well so thats a bonus.

Hope you can get it sorted with a happy ending.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forums Troop, the x1900 is a cracking card, glad your happy with it, a cracking rig you got there by the sounds of it.

@FishPolice i think if its a manufacturer job, then they send you a replacement card, if its before the 28 days then its a retailor job, so then you can swap for another card, by paying the differance or whatever, i think anyway, but im sure someone will say a yay or nay to that.

Hats off to Overclockers

Sent the card back on Monday by 24hr, got an email Tuesday to say they'd received it, and today (Wednesday) got an email saying a replacement is being shipped by 24hr delivery, so should have it back tomorrow.

Just wanted to post some praise, can't hope for better service than that!
(except getting a refund for the cost of posting back faulty card?)

Now, I hope the second card proves more reliable

V1N.

V1N said:

Hats off to Overclockers

Sent the card back on Monday by 24hr, got an email Tuesday to say they'd received it, and today (Wednesday) got an email saying a replacement is being shipped by 24hr delivery, so should have it back tomorrow.

Just wanted to post some praise, can't hope for better service than that!
(except getting a refund for the cost of posting back faulty card?)

Now, I hope the second card proves more reliable

V1N.

Click to expand...

I had 3 (in a row) of these gainward cards fail (deep freeze) bought from an inferior competitor, lucky we use them at work so our account manager was very helpful eventually settled for a 1900XT with a Zalman 900cu cooler - ahhh... much better

Looks like there's still a big batch of gainwards out there that are going kaput

Welcome to the forums, but id get rid of the competitor as its not allowed as per the FAQ.

Yeah doesn't sound to good, thought they would have all been sorted now, but i read somewhere they changed the memory from Samsung to Infineon, but still buggering up so think its the voltage regulators now.

nednapalm said:

I had 3 (in a row) of these gainward cards fail (deep freeze) bought from an inferior competitor, lucky we use them at work so our account manager was very helpful eventually settled for a 1900XT with a Zalman 900cu cooler - ahhh... much better

Looks like there's still a big batch of gainwards out there that are going kaput

Click to expand...

Oh bloody hell, that doesn't fill me with confidence.

Oh well, it's due today, have to see how it get on with it.
I shall keep my fingers crossed that this one keeps on working after a few days.

Doubless I shall post back if it fails
(and hope overclockers will be as efficient with the RMA procedure again, if the worst comes to the worst)

V1N.

I didn't think it was a competitor - just that i was short for diabolical

OK, replacement card arrived, and just fitted.

Ran Deep Freeze first lol

No probs so far.

Ran the Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Stress Test...

No purple blocks in the sky this time.

Ran Deep Freeze again.

No probs.

Hope it stays that way this time.

Fan seems slightly noiser on this one... or maybe that was the problem with the old one. It's quiet in Windows, but fire up 3D Mark and you can hear the fan kicking in.

I shall keep my fingers crossed that this one keeps working... doubtless having a session of Deep Freeze, and Half Life 2 Lost Coast Stress Test, every day or two, just to make sure

V1N.

*******!

Well, the card managed a day!

I was out busy all afternoon fixing somebody elses system.

Before I left, just thought I'd try Deep Freeze, as a check... that was this morning, and that was fine.

I got home a bit earlier, and thought I'd treat myself to a game now I've got my card back, so had a play on Prey, for about an hour.

A few mins later, thought I'd try Deep Freeze again.

Froze again with graphical corruption. Had to hard reset.

Just tried Lost Coast Stress Test after a reboot, coloured blocks in the sky again, just as it did with the old card.

Bloody hell, one day it lasted!
I don't know what to say.

I'm still skint (overdrawn) after my Conroe upgrade, now I guess I have to shell out another £7.50, for another RMA, after I only sent the last faulty card back on Monday. Have to wait for the bank holiday weekend too I guess.

Gutted!

V1N.

*Fully star out swearies please - J*

That sucks

Good luck with your next one

This might not be what you want to hear, but have you considered an X1800 XT? The 7900GTs are still horrendously faulty and still suffer from a 5% (in in twenty) failure rate.

It's really a wonder they haven't stopped making them TBH.

V1N said:

********

Well, the card managed a day!

I was out busy all afternoon fixing somebody elses system.

Before I left, just thought I'd try Deep Freeze, as a check... that was this morning, and that was fine.

I got home a bit earlier, and thought I'd treat myself to a game now I've got my card back, so had a play on Prey, for about an hour.

A few mins later, thought I'd try Deep Freeze again.

Froze again with graphical corruption. Had to hard reset.

Just tried Lost Coast Stress Test after a reboot, coloured blocks in the sky again, just as it did with the old card.

Bloody hell, one day it lasted!
I don't know what to say.

I'm still skint (overdrawn) after my Conroe upgrade, now I guess I have to shell out another £7.50, for another RMA, after I only sent the last faulty card back on Monday. Have to wait for the bank holiday weekend too I guess.

Gutted!

V1N.

Click to expand...

Jesus gutted for you.

You should get the postage back from an RMA, as if its found to be faulty, OcUK replace it, and give you the postage back, so id get onto them about that, have to agree with the above really, i can't understand why they are still going **** up afterall they are all supposed to be fixed now, id deffo consider an exchange for an x1800 XT, its a faster card and its cheaper, and they aint all borked.

Also you have to remember that they die anytime, your lucky it lasted a day really, as if it died ater the 28 days then it has to go back to the manufacturer, and then you'ld have a long, long wait for a replacement as it comes from them, id consider that on your next one if you get another, as it could die after the 28 days.

Id edit that at top as it may be classed as a sweary.

Ulfhedjinn said:

This might not be what you want to hear, but have you considered an X1800 XT? The 7900GTs are still horrendously faulty and still suffer from a 5% (in in twenty) failure rate.

It's really a wonder they haven't stopped making them TBH.

Click to expand...

I wonder where this 1 in 20 comes from.
From what I've read in these forums, and after a bit of googling, it does seem that when somebody gets a faulty one, they wind up with several in a row.

Maybe the 1 in 20 is the number of 7900GTs that actually work properly?

I do wonder what to do, I'm not sure when the 28 days are up, can't remember exactly when I received the system, as it was here left in its boxes for a while before I built it. I guess the options are to try a third card, and hope third time lucky, or get OCers to give me a refund and try something else.... or I guess, even get the refund, and order another 7900GT and get another 28 days to try it again... glutten for punishment?

For the first time in many years though, I AM considering an ATI card. I've just felt more comfortable with NVIDIA all these years, since they're all I've used since the GeForce 1. And other systems I've been called to look at with ATI cards seemed to have horrible drivers.... I like the NVIDIA drivers, clean and simple to set up... so long as you ignore the new terrible NVIDIA Control Centre thing... it always seems to bu**er up my overlays ! :-/

Still no reply from overclockers, I guess they are working today... I'll give it another few hours, and give them a call, and ask for a refund I think

So, in the market for a graphics card again. I'll bear the ATI in mind, as I really don't want to go slower than a 7900GT, and can't afford the faster cards.... and I've read that the 7900GTX can also be problematic in this area, though maybe not so many failures as the 7900GTs.

It's all so annoying. Upgraded nearly all of my PC, and therefore installed a fresh XP installation, so was looking forward to a nice, quick, stable PC (not to mention quieter)... ok, sorry, I'll stop moaning, I'm not the only person in here to suffer failures

One final question.... the replacement card came with its own order number... I guess therefore the replacement card can be considered an order of its own, therefore has 28 days to sort it on its own, independant of my original order? If that's the case, I may well try a third 7900GT, see if the old 3rd time lucky really does work... and if that one fails, and I have another 28 days, then I may ask for a refund and try the X1800XT. They seem to be quite popular in here, so maybe it's time to break my GeForce purchasing habits and try something different.... I expect ATI have improved since my last card... the XPERT@PLAY lol the drivers, and quality were so horrific I never bought ATI again... moved straight into Voodoo2 and then GeForce and never looked back.

OK, sorry for the rambling on... off for a coffee, and hoping to hear from Overclockers soon.

V1N.