4 x 18A 12v rails for a GTX 260 Black Edition?

[Stu]

If you mean the one cable from your psu...I don't think that's a good idea 'cos that would be using the one rail. You would then be pushing twice the amps through that one cable on the psu.

I was thinking much the same, however, the manual says the PSU can power 2 GFX cards. What's the point having two plugs per cable if you can't use them both simultaneously.

As there are only 2 cables, each providing 2 plugs, if I want to go SLI then I will have to power each card with one cable.

Hmmmmmmm... still not sure!

 

[duffbeer666]

I have just tested my card and it seems that the max temperature during Far Cry 2 is 72 degrees. Surely this can't be simply a heat problem?? Gotta sort it out though coz it's driving me nuts.

 

[VortexA1]

I was thinking much the same, however, the manual says the PSU can power 2 GFX cards. What's the point having two plugs per cable if you can't use them both simultaneously.

As there are only 2 cables, each providing 2 plugs, if I want to go SLI then I will have to power each card with one cable.

Hmmmmmmm... still not sure!

Well personally I would do it thinking about it..I would go ahead with it. No probe using same cable.

 

[Stu]

I posed the question to Enermax, and they have responded...

Original email:

I have just bought the Modu82+ 625W PSU and want to use it with an XFX GTX260 Black Edition Graphics card, which requires 2 x 8 pin power connectors.

Can I use one PCI express modular cable that splits into two plugs, or should I use two cables, using one plus from each? I would prefer to use one cable, as this reduces cable clutter, but I’m concerned that this is putting all the strain on one 12v rail.

Response from Enermax:

Yes you can use one PCI express modular cable that splits into two plugs. The +12V rails are separated, therefore there will be no Over current or Voltage.

That was the answer I was hoping for! So, unless I asked the wrong question or they gave the wrong answer, I only need to use the one cable.

 

[Sweeney]

When my BFG OCX Maxcore was playing up i was getting the exact same in most games. Freezing to a full screen of random colour with last sound looping and furmark crashing in the same fashion. BFG have issued a replacement and its on its way to me

The Point Of View 260GTX (stock speeds) i bought to tide me by (which will then go into my brothers machine) has performanced absolutely fine, with no crashes etc

 

[GSDog]

Any more news duffbeer666?

I am having exactly the same problem with my EVGA GTX260-216 SSC. In CoD4 and Crysis my screen goes a solid grey with looped sound and I have to restart. Also sometimes my motherboard gives an error beep - 1 long beep followed by 3 short beeps.
My system is 100% stable in Windows and passes IBT and Prime95. I'm starting to think the card is faulty.

I made a thread about my problem here; http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13117706&posted=1#post13117706

 

[duffbeer666]

Any more news duffbeer666?

I am having exactly the same problem with my EVGA GTX260-216 SSC. In CoD4 and Crysis my screen goes a solid grey with looped sound and I have to restart. Also sometimes my motherboard gives an error beep - 1 long beep followed by 3 short beeps.
My system is 100% stable in Windows and passes IBT and Prime95. I'm starting to think the card is faulty.

I made a thread about my problem here; http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13117706&posted=1#post13117706

It's nice to see someone else having the same issues because up until now everyone has just suggested changing drivers!
Maybe we should work through the problem together to see if we can solve it.

I have since played all the way through Crysis Warhead and had no crashes but other games still don't work reliably. I guess I was just lucky with Crysis Warhead.

It is just so random, I don't get it. I think the only way is to keep testing until I see some sort of pattern but to be honest it takes all the fun out of gaming becasue I am constantly waiting for it to die on me.

The only thing we seem to have in common is a very similar motherboard, maybe we should look at this?

 

[marktime]

It's nice to see someone else having the same issues because up until now everyone has just suggested changing drivers!
Maybe we should work through the problem together to see if we can solve it.

I have since played all the way through Crysis Warhead and had no crashes but other games still don't work reliably. I guess I was just lucky with Crysis Warhead.

It is just so random, I don't get it. I think the only way is to keep testing until I see some sort of pattern but to be honest it takes all the fun out of gaming becasue I am constantly waiting for it to die on me.

The only thing we seem to have in common is a very similar motherboard, maybe we should look at this?

Totally sympathise mate. It's the completely sporadic nature of the problem that's really getting to me. I had nearly a week of no problems at all then last night BIA-Hells Highway crashes three times in a row in the same level. Then I can't get it to crash again for love or money even though I play the same level over and over.

Tried changing drivers, monitoring temps, etc. (never gets above 78C, mostly around 75C). I suppose some might live with it given it's fairly rare but after having such a completely stable system with my old 8800GTX this is niggling away at me like mad.

I know if I send it back they'll test it for 20mins and say there's no problem and probably charge me for the trouble.

I'll keep a log of any problems and report back and perhaps try and establish some sort of pattern.

 

[duffbeer666]

Totally sympathise mate. It's the completely sporadic nature of the problem that's really getting to me. I had nearly a week of no problems at all then last night BIA-Hells Highway crashes three times in a row in the same level. Then I can't get it to crash again for love or money even though I play the same level over and over.

Tried changing drivers, monitoring temps, etc. (never gets above 78C, mostly around 75C). I suppose some might live with it given it's fairly rare but after having such a completely stable system with my old 8800GTX this is niggling away at me like mad.

I know if I send it back they'll test it for 20mins and say there's no problem and probably charge me for the trouble.

Wow, you really do have an identical problem to me!! Thank god I'm not alone on this one anymore.

I notice your motherboard is different so I guess that blows my previous theory out of the window. I guess we are looking at a GTX260 problem, but I am worried in the same way as you that if I send it back they will not test it thoroughly and I will be no better off.

Drivers seem to make to real difference at all so maybe it is something to do with bios settings?

Has your motherboard got a P45 chipset?

 

[marktime]

Wow, you really do have an identical problem to me!! Thank god I'm not alone on this one anymore.

I notice your motherboard is different so I guess that blows my previous theory out of the window. I guess we are looking at a GTX260 problem, but I am worried in the same way as you that if I send it back they will not test it thoroughly and I will be no better off.

Drivers seem to make to real difference at all so maybe it is something to do with bios settings?

Has your motherboard got a P45 chipset?

No it's p35, just over a year old. Don't think it's m/b related. At the moment my suspicion is that the card just can't run 100% stable at the default overclock. I just wish I could get conclusive proof enough to get a replacement without a lot of hassle

 

[marktime]

Update for those having random problems with their superclocked XFX/EVGA 260-216s:

I've spent a lot of time testing the card and have almost certainly proved it isn't stable at the default overclocks.

I can now get it to black screen (sytem totally locks up and needs hard reboot) nearly every time in Hell's Highway on the same level within minutes on 666/1150 core/memory. If I drop the memory to around 1000 it ocassionaly still crashes but takes much longer. Drop just the core to 575 (memory back up to 1150) it appears 100% stable and will run indefinitely without problems.

So looks like the core clock in particular is unsustainable on this card. Real pita to RMA it at the moment as it will leave me with nothing but my laptop over Christmas. Am I right in thinking the warranty lies with the seller for the first 30 days? In which case I've got a week to send it back so probably need to get moving on it.

 

[GSDog]

Update for those having random problems with their superclocked XFX/EVGA 260-216s:

I've spent a lot of time testing the card and have almost certainly proved it isn't stable at the default overclocks.

I can now get it to black screen (sytem totally locks up and needs hard reboot) nearly every time in Hell's Highway on the same level within minutes on 666/1150 core/memory. If I drop the memory to around 1000 it ocassionaly still crashes but takes much longer. Drop just the core to 575 (memory back up to 1150) it appears 100% stable and will run indefinitely without problems.

So looks like the core clock in particular is unsustainable on this card. Real pita to RMA it at the moment as it will leave me with nothing but my laptop over Christmas. Am I right in thinking the warranty lies with the seller for the first 30 days? In which case I've got a week to send it back so probably need to get moving on it.

Damn. How often was it happening?
I reseated my GFX card and RAM and checked all the connections, etc. and it hasn't happened again (touch wood). I've been playing CoD4, Crysis and FaryCry 2 without any crashes for the last few days now.
I think my RAM could be faulty because it's failing memtest86 so I might be RMA'ing that soon - I'm not sure if that's what caused the crashes before.

I think it depends where you bought it from, some sellers offer a 3-12 month warranty period. I think where I bought it from it is 3 months.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Update for those having random problems with their superclocked XFX/EVGA 260-216s:

I've spent a lot of time testing the card and have almost certainly proved it isn't stable at the default overclocks.

I can now get it to black screen (sytem totally locks up and needs hard reboot) nearly every time in Hell's Highway on the same level within minutes on 666/1150 core/memory. If I drop the memory to around 1000 it ocassionaly still crashes but takes much longer. Drop just the core to 575 (memory back up to 1150) it appears 100% stable and will run indefinitely without problems.

So looks like the core clock in particular is unsustainable on this card. Real pita to RMA it at the moment as it will leave me with nothing but my laptop over Christmas. Am I right in thinking the warranty lies with the seller for the first 30 days? In which case I've got a week to send it back so probably need to get moving on it.

Don't think that really matters, as you can send it back to where you bought it from anyway, just the difference being if its after the first 28 days, then they'll go through the manufacturer for you, where as within the 28 days, they'll sort it out by giving you a new card or whatever.

 

[GSDog]

Damn. How often was it happening?
I reseated my GFX card and RAM and checked all the connections, etc. and it hasn't happened again (touch wood). I've been playing CoD4, Crysis and FaryCry 2 without any crashes for the last few days now.
I think my RAM could be faulty because it's failing memtest86 so I might be RMA'ing that soon - I'm not sure if that's what caused the crashes before.

I think it depends where you bought it from, some sellers offer a 3-12 month warranty period. I think where I bought it from it is 3 months.

Looks like I spoke too soon... I was just playing CoD4 and this happened;

Then the screen went black and my PC restarted...

I think I might need to RMA it, but I bet you the shop will test it for ~1 hour and say it's OK and charge me.

 

[duffbeer666]

I think I might need to RMA it, but I bet you the shop will test it for ~1 hour and say it's OK and charge me.

That's exactly what I am worried about. How the hell am I going to be sure that they will confirm the fault. It's really not fair to be put through this hassle when you spend a lot of money on a graphics card.

 

[marktime]

Just spoke to the support guy where I got the card and expressed my concern that they would find it potentially quite difficult to make the card crash if left running a moderately stressful test for 20 mins or so. He said they'd use the FC2 benchmark which ironically is one of the games It hasn't crashed in at all yet, sod's law.

He also said they would use Furmark and leave it running for hours if needbe. I haven't used Furmark yet at all on account there is no Vista 64 version but he claims it will still run, so I might give that a try for a while.

He reckons if they can't get it to crash they will send it back to the manufacturers for further tests on request which means you could be without a system for a long long time (esp. if XFX are as bad as some claim). I'm still planning to RMA it though as I know it will drive me mad living with it even if it's 95% stable. If you get the RMA registered within 28 day apparently you can get a refund or exchange, leave it any olnger and it's exchange only.

GSDog and duffbeer666 (or anyone else with the same problems) - do you have Hell's Highway installed? If you want I can point you to the same test I set up and see if you can reproduce the same crash - then perhaps we could mount a class action (hopefully only joking at this point).

 

[duffbeer666]

I haven't got BIA Hell's Highway so I can't test out your theory.
My crash is pretty predictable in Crysis if you have that.

Your feedback about how they will test the card is really bad news - I really don't believe they will be prepared to give it the time to prove the fault, and I cannot stand the idea of being without it for a potentially unlimited amount of time.

I guess I will have to replace the card myself - I can assure you that this is the first and last XFX card I will ever buy.
Has anyone experienced this issue with an EVGA? I thought they were supposed to be the best.

 

[marktime]

My crash is pretty predictable in Crysis if you have that.

I've got Crysis but not installed at the moment - I'm planning to see if I can get Furmark to show anything first so I'll keep you posted.

 

[Stu]

I haven't fully installed my new setup yet, but I've done a 3 loop of Futuremark Vantage on high setting without any issues. Max temp was 67°C... my card idles at 37°C.

 

[Gazb]

Its sounding like there was a faulty batch of 260-216core GPU's produced at some point.