So over christmas I entered a few competitions on Hexus.net and found out on Monday that I had won an MSI 2070 Super Ventus OC (Yay!). The competition was run by Hexus but the prize was provided by and shipped to me by a system integrator based in the U.K. (not sure I can mention the name because they're technically an OcUK competitor).
I received the prize yesterday and as I had suspected, I didn't get shipped a retail card. The card (and only the card itself) arrived sandwiched between two polystyrene pieces that I assume were taken from retail boxes. They were taped together and shipped in one of those DPD expresspak packages. The card doesn't appear to have been damaged at all in transit, but I did notice that the protective covers on both the pci-e connector and the IO connectors had been removed, so the card has been tested in their factory if not used and returned.
Before finding out that I'd won the card, I'd ordered a g12 bracket and h55 in order to quieten down my aging 980ti, but had intended on now using it on the 2070 super instead. Before doing so, I obviously wanted to make sure the card was functioning correctly with the stock cooler so I decided to run a few benchmarks.
Unfortunately, at stock settings, I have been seeing pretty extreme levels of artifacting on both Unigine Valley and Superposition, though Heaven appears to run OK (at 1440p). Firestrike also artifacts, but firestrike extreme mostly just crashes, with high amounts of artifacting, flickering and just a black screen at parts where it should be rendering something.
While most of the issues are exclusive to benchmarks, I have also noticed bright and flickering pixels in some games, though it's much more difficult to reproduce these problems reliably. My first sign that something wasn't quite right was when I tried to run the 'Campaign' benchmark on TW:W2 and what should be a quite bright scene was very very dark, as if the shaders weren't functioning correctly.
Clearly the card isn't stable at stock clocks. I can remove *most* of the artifacting issues if I apply -100Mhz to the core, though the flickering doesn't stop unless I apply -200Mhz to the core. Perhaps I'm a bit out of the loop, but this isn't particularly normal is it? Having to apply such an aggressive underclock in order to make a card stable at stock settings?
Had I bought this card myself at retail I would 100% send it back and ask for either a replacement or a refund. The problem I have is that this is essentially a freebie. The cynical side of me suspects that this is a card that has been tested and determined to be not suitable for a customers system and so it has been offered as a competition prize instead, though I have no way of knowing that for sure.
I have the contact details of the person who organised the delivery of the card and so I could see if they can do something to help me, but suspect this might end up being a bit headache to deal with. Do I just accept the poor quality of the card and consider myself lucky I won a GPU at all? Or is it worth pursuing this and trying to get a card that isn't effectively malfunctional on day 1? I just don't want to be in a position where I slap the G12 + H55 on it (and so, I believe, void any warranty) and have the card die completely in a month - though I have to say, trying to RMA a card where I have no receipt and no retail packaging seems like a bit of a nightmare too!
What do you think would be the best course of action here?
I received the prize yesterday and as I had suspected, I didn't get shipped a retail card. The card (and only the card itself) arrived sandwiched between two polystyrene pieces that I assume were taken from retail boxes. They were taped together and shipped in one of those DPD expresspak packages. The card doesn't appear to have been damaged at all in transit, but I did notice that the protective covers on both the pci-e connector and the IO connectors had been removed, so the card has been tested in their factory if not used and returned.
Before finding out that I'd won the card, I'd ordered a g12 bracket and h55 in order to quieten down my aging 980ti, but had intended on now using it on the 2070 super instead. Before doing so, I obviously wanted to make sure the card was functioning correctly with the stock cooler so I decided to run a few benchmarks.
Unfortunately, at stock settings, I have been seeing pretty extreme levels of artifacting on both Unigine Valley and Superposition, though Heaven appears to run OK (at 1440p). Firestrike also artifacts, but firestrike extreme mostly just crashes, with high amounts of artifacting, flickering and just a black screen at parts where it should be rendering something.
While most of the issues are exclusive to benchmarks, I have also noticed bright and flickering pixels in some games, though it's much more difficult to reproduce these problems reliably. My first sign that something wasn't quite right was when I tried to run the 'Campaign' benchmark on TW:W2 and what should be a quite bright scene was very very dark, as if the shaders weren't functioning correctly.
Clearly the card isn't stable at stock clocks. I can remove *most* of the artifacting issues if I apply -100Mhz to the core, though the flickering doesn't stop unless I apply -200Mhz to the core. Perhaps I'm a bit out of the loop, but this isn't particularly normal is it? Having to apply such an aggressive underclock in order to make a card stable at stock settings?
Had I bought this card myself at retail I would 100% send it back and ask for either a replacement or a refund. The problem I have is that this is essentially a freebie. The cynical side of me suspects that this is a card that has been tested and determined to be not suitable for a customers system and so it has been offered as a competition prize instead, though I have no way of knowing that for sure.
I have the contact details of the person who organised the delivery of the card and so I could see if they can do something to help me, but suspect this might end up being a bit headache to deal with. Do I just accept the poor quality of the card and consider myself lucky I won a GPU at all? Or is it worth pursuing this and trying to get a card that isn't effectively malfunctional on day 1? I just don't want to be in a position where I slap the G12 + H55 on it (and so, I believe, void any warranty) and have the card die completely in a month - though I have to say, trying to RMA a card where I have no receipt and no retail packaging seems like a bit of a nightmare too!
What do you think would be the best course of action here?