Bust 8800GTS... what do .. wait and see or get another?

[Noxis]

Now here is the question that is plaguing my mind. After somehow breaking my 8800GTS last night I am now in somewhat of a quandary.

Do I:

a) Buy a replacement 8800 of some form (local shop only got a gainward 8800GTX in stock - need one for over Easter I got 5 days off!)

b) Buy a cheapy 7900GS or something to tide me over until the R600 arrives, see how good it is and what nvidia respond with.

Please give me your opinion!

 

[SteveOBHave]

Now here is the question that is plaguing my mind. After somehow breaking my 8800GTS last night I am now in somewhat of a quandary.

Do I:

a) Buy a replacement 8800 of some form (local shop only got a gainward 8800GTX in stock - need one for over Easter I got 5 days off!)

b) Buy a cheapy 7900GS or something to tide me over until the R600 arrives, see how good it is and what nvidia respond with.

Please give me your opinion!

So did you totally naff it OCing it or is it still under warranty?

 

[Noxis]

So did you totally naff it OCing it or is it still under warranty?

I was replacing pump so I had to dismantle water stuff and take water block off. Put it all back together and gfx card not working Didnt do anything obvious that could have caused it... really quite annoying. I wouldn't mind so much if I had actually knocked/dropped/got it wet or something. Thing is I am not sure I can do a warrenty rma job due to having taken the heatsink off and put a water block on and obviously replaced the cement stuff with AS5.

 

[Tute]

I was replacing pump so I had to dismantle water stuff and take water block off. Put it all back together and gfx card not working Didnt do anything obvious that could have caused it... really quite annoying. I wouldn't mind so much if I had actually knocked/dropped/got it wet or something. Thing is I am not sure I can do a warrenty rma job due to having taken the heatsink off and put a water block on and obviously replaced the cement stuff with AS5.

Are they really going to be able to tell if you put the old HS back on?

 

[Noxis]

Are they really going to be able to tell if you put the old HS back on?

I dunno what kind of testing they do when you RMA something. I had overclocked it and I had put a water block on it. Presumably this voids warranty? Its an Asus 8800GTS if it makes a difference.

 

[Tute]

I dunno what kind of testing they do when you RMA something. I had overclocked it and I had put a water block on it. Presumably this voids warranty? Its an Asus 8800GTS if it makes a difference.

Yeah I think it does, but surely it would take a pretty good chemist to be able to tell if the compund is AS5 or something else.

I say send it back, what have you got to lose?

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Nvidias response to the R600 is coming before it, the 8800 Ultra is supposedly getting released with their mid-range cards on the 17th April, R600 is released on the 23rd-24th April, so id get the 7900 for now as the new cards are just days away, and 8800 GTX/GTS prices should fall then also.

Just RMA it if your thinking about it, they aint going to go over it with a microscope in great detail, take it to a lab and painstakingly dismantle it piece by piece with tweezers 'oh look compound has been changed', 'look at this, that screws been threaded, that holes a bit bigger, coolers been removed', then sirens going off with big flashing signs 'WARNING THIS CARDS BEEN TAMPERED WITH, NO RMA, 'WARNING THS CARDS BEEN TAMPERED WITH, NO RMA'.............

 

[Noxis]

Nvidias response to the R600 is coming before it, the 8800 Ultra is supposedly getting released with their mid-range cards on the 17th April, R600 is released on the 23rd-24th April, so id get the 7900 for now as the new cards are just days away, and 8800 GTX/GTS prices should fall then also.

Its actually the 8800 Ultra now officially? I havent been able to keep up with the rumour mills.

I am not up to date on the lower range of cards - whats cheap but good enough to play games like Test Drive Unlimited and Supreme Commander?

 

[SteveOBHave]

Yeah I say give it a go - if it saves you £200 or so why not? Worst case scenario is they say no

Meanwhile one of these will keep you well entertained -
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-045-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=358

EDIT: I play supreme commander with some of the shadows turned down on my sig spec quite happily at 1280x1024

 

[drak3]

You were carefull when working on the card? Overtightening etc. Anyhow, I would definatly try for a replacement since it was working when it was taken out of the PC but not when put back. OC wasnt applied when it was "broken" so is either faulty components or some sort of cracked pcb, or scratched IC (they are soooo fragile).

ps: I am not sure how AS5 reacts with current, but when I work on chips I wipe everything off 10 times to make sure I did not spread paste on any IC legs etc.

 

[furnace]

Definately send it back dude. And get a cheapo card for now. My 7600GS runs BF2, Sup Com, STALKER, C&C3... so you certainly don't need a powerful card right now.

 

[Noxis]

Definately send it back dude. And get a cheapo card for now. My 7600GS runs BF2, Sup Com, STALKER, C&C3... so you certainly don't need a powerful card right now.

Really? How "good" is a 7600GS? Was thinking of a X1950Pro for now.. but the 7600GS is significantly cheaper.

 

[furnace]

Don't expect wonders. Expect low settings from games... but saying that, my settings aren't actually that bad;

C&C3
- Most medium, a few high. Runs nice and smooth but haven't tried any AA yet.

Half-Life 2
- No complaints, mostly high settings.

Supreme Commander
- Low settings, not lowest though. I do run this game on 2 monitors so I'm probably loosing a lot of performance there..?

Company of Heroes
- can't remember, will check in a second

Battlefield 2
- Medium settings, no problems. Haven't tried upping them..!

Quake 4
- Medium

Call of Duty 2
- Medium


a lot of these games I haven't fiddled with the settings to see exactly how high they can go before slowing down though.

I have the Galaxy 7600GS Premium which has higher clocks than a standard GS (its more like a GT) and has DDR3 memory rather than DDR2.

As a stop-gap card, it's great. I've been using it since a month ago (ish) until the 8900 or similar comes out, and I'm having second thoughts about spending money on a new card so soon as this card seems to play things fine...

 

[jrodga2k5]

I dunno what kind of testing they do when you RMA something. I had overclocked it and I had put a water block on it. Presumably this voids warranty? Its an Asus 8800GTS if it makes a difference.

Okay mate here goes my x1800xt 512mb rma story for you!

Card bought(Oct 2005)

Fan replaced(March 2006)

THe card I had I sold, it then busted somehow and due to stupid paypal I had to refund the buyer even although it was clearly him who wrecked the card(Aug 2006)

Stupidly I threw out the stock cooler (Aug 2006)

Searched for a stock cooler and found one eventually(Jan 2007)
NOw the thing here was that the cooler actually has a P/N number which is also indicated on the card and subsequently on the box! THe funniest thing about this has to be that I took a chance and tore off the sticker on the cooler which displayed the part number so the fan was clear ;P A big chance on an RMA I know but I sent it back!

(Jan 2007) success because after testing the card didnt work and since it wasnt stocked I got a full refund of £370.00! yes the card was 15months old as well! So i was insanely chuffed with that!

To sum up, get the stock stuff back on and RMA it! It can work wonders!

Oh btw this was with another etailer lol!

SO send it back then get a 7600GT cos they can be had for under £60

 

[Sir Random]

Now here is the question that is plaguing my mind. After somehow breaking my 8800GTS last night I am now in somewhat of a quandary.

Do I:

a) Buy a replacement 8800 of some form (local shop only got a gainward 8800GTX in stock - need one for over Easter I got 5 days off!)

b) Buy a cheapy 7900GS or something to tide me over until the R600 arrives, see how good it is and what nvidia respond with.

Please give me your opinion!

Are you 100% certain that the card is b0rked?
Have you tried re-fitting the stock cooler, and then retesting the card? It's unusual for a card to just 'die' when changing cooler.

 

[Noxis]

Are you 100% certain that the card is b0rked?
Have you tried re-fitting the stock cooler, and then retesting the card? It's unusual for a card to just 'die' when changing cooler.

I replaced the stock cooler and it still b0rked.

Just bought a X1950Pro to tide me over (also to be 100% sure it is the gfx card that is borked ). I am going to try to RMA the 8800GTS nothing externally damaged on it at all. So fingers crossed, plus still got box all the OEM cds and cables.