Defective Graphics Card

[GhostMjr]

Hi all,

I have had a 8800GTS 640mb card for 2 years and the card is now making my pc go to sleep on heavy gaming load. To begin with the pc was going to sleep (basically) the graphics card forcing the monitor to go to sleep in 3-5 hours roughly now its anything within 2 hours. Placing my hand on the heatsink causes a mild burn and with the card idling anything between 80- over 100 degrees Celsius i decided to rma the card back to manufacturer as it i thought was showing signs of overheating the reasoning behind it going to sleep. I have a spare 9500gt and that's been running fine with i must say far less heat coming out the box than the former with no faults at all.

So finally Leadek have responded after 2 weeks and said the card has been tested and deemed non faulty. I explained the problem to them again but simply put what should i do as the card doesn't work as it should. So, really it should be replaced by them. I have heard several bad things about leadtek refusing RMA's on legitimate cases. What should i do? I have sent a quick email to Overclockers to see whether they can sort out an rma as they were the original reseller as leadtek are going to send the same card back.

Thanks for the input!

[sulky_uk]

if they deem that the gfx card is ok then other causes to look at are
a) psu dying
b) cpu overheat
 
i only say this because the op temp of the 8800's are in the reange that your card is displaying (cant find the link as im in work)

[GhostMjr]

if they deem that the gfx card is ok then other causes to look at are
a) psu dying
b) cpu overheat
 
i only say this because the op temp of the 8800's are in the reange that your card is displaying (cant find the link as im in work)

Interesting.

Its weird as everything runs fine when this gpu has been removed.

Windows reported several graphics card related error messages too.

Error message in Windows XP: "STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER"


AND

Error Message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078)


Overclockers say its over 2 years so they won't sort out a warranty swap.

[Lee]

Have you got onboard graphics to try just to help narrow things down? Remove the card completely.

[GhostMjr]

Have you got onboard graphics to try just to help narrow things down? Remove the card completely.

Ok just to clarify.

The card is away at leadtek in czech republic.

I have replaced the card for the meantime with a 9500 and everything works fine.

[delanvital]

Ok just to clarify.

The card is away at leadtek in czech republic.

I have replaced the card for the meantime with a 9500 and everything works fine.

That does speak heavily in favour of it being the card that is defect, since it used to run stable and the pc is now stable with a replacement card. Considering what the price of a new equivalent or better card is today, and the fact that you did get two years out of it in a rapid market such as GPUs, I would call it a lost battle and get a new card.

That said, I know some cards get warmer as they start to fail and require better temperatures to work, even though I know that sounds really odd. Does it run well with the case open and the room cooled?

Besides that, if it was to be another explanation - have you done a recent gpu or other driver upgrade? Have you changed the hardware setup lately ? have you tried resetting bios? have you tried with only 1 stick of RAM? have you OC'ed anything? have you tried sub-clocking the card, especially if it is a factory-OC'ed card?

[T-Bag]

I'd take the 2 years of gaming and forget about the card. No manufacturer is going to willingly pay out on something over a year unless they pride themselves on quality and have a lifetime guarantee (in which case I'd assume they'd pay out when a faulty board comes). I'd drop it. For Ã,£100 you can get an Ati 4870 which is a faster card. My brother and I both jumped from 8800 series cards to 4870s (me from a GT and him from a GTS) when they first came out and the performance jump in Crysis was amazing.

In an ideal world I'm sure you'd be able to return it, but I think it'll wind up costing you about 10-15% of a new card in postage etc to fight this.

[Tutonic]

Unlucky. If Leadtec are stingey enough to refuse to replace your card I don't think there's anything you can do. Other than email their customer service managers and whinge like mad.

If you do decide to replace your card, I can reccomend BFG. I had an 8800 from then die (apparently the 8800 series of cards are inherently dodgy and none of them are going to last very long) - they replaced my card with an upgraded model within a week, no hassle required.

[smilodon]

T-Bag is right. Unless you can prove the card was defective when you bought it, but that the fault has only just shown up, or there is an extended warranty on it I doubt you'll get a replacement.

One point to note. Overclockers are as equally liable as the manufacturer, even if neither are likely to help you here. Regardless of what RTM guarantee a product may come with your contract is with the retailer and they are legally responsible for dealing with faulty goods. It's mostly the case with electronic equipment that it's simplest to use the RTM but that doesn't remove the retailers responsibilities. This is also true of faulty goods that are faulty within the guarantee period. You don't have to accept the RTM and any retailer who tells you they will not deal with your problem is breaking the Sale of Goods Act 1977.

So there you go.

[Gone_Away]

I'd take the 2 years of gaming and forget about the card. No manufacturer is going to willingly pay out on something over a year unless they pride themselves on quality and have a lifetime guarantee (in which case I'd assume they'd pay out when a faulty board comes). I'd drop it. For Ã,£100 you can get an Ati 4870 which is a faster card. My brother and I both jumped from 8800 series cards to 4870s (me from a GT and him from a GTS) when they first came out and the performance jump in Crysis was amazing.
 
In an ideal world I'm sure you'd be able to return it, but I think it'll wind up costing you about 10-15% of a new card in postage etc to fight this.

eeeeewwww.. you said ATI

[GhostMjr]

Thanks Guys for all your input.

I am an nvidia person and it has to be BFG from now on.

Any idea whats the best buy?

budget Ã,£100-Ã,£300

[kregoron]

whats the rest of your system specs like..

you could grab a ATI 4890, they should be around 150Ã,£ atm..
or you wanna blow even more money grab a GTX285 model 230Ã,£..
and right there in the top end of your budget a 4870 x2 for around 270Ã,£

[T-Bag]

Thanks Guys for all your input.

I am an nvidia person and it has to be BFG from now on.

Any idea whats the best buy?

budget Ã,£100-Ã,£300

I buy which ever is better value for money, and a while back that was the 8800, but now nothing Nvidia does is particularly good value. Graphically ATi cards 48xx series are where balance of price and power meet.
My 8800 was a BFG and it seemed good, still going strong and I got a free t-shirt (though I've no idea who it would fit, it was vast). My 4870 is a powercolor and that's pretty good brand too.
I'd spend Ã,£100 on a 4870 which will last you till you make the jump to i7, and then you can go back to Nvidia as I think they've got some good cards in the works, or maybe even intel as their graphics stuff will probably come out dirt cheap to steal market share.

[DuVeL]

Got to say that my BFG 8800 GTS OC2 is still going strong (knocks on wood).
 
Hope you get it sorted Ghost.

[b00n]

To be fair Leadtek could be right - the card might be fine.  I've got a ASUS 4850 at the moment (side note: never buy an ASUS product) which was having a similar problem, basically cutting the video output while gaming and usually (but not always) causing a stop as well.  Lots of other people complaining of the same problem it seems as well as other issues with this prime example of shoddy ASUS workmanship.

However I checked the GPU specs and decided to try a new PSU.  With a new corsair PSU, lower wattage than the unknown brand PSU I was using, but a hefty 41A on the (single!) 12V rail, the issue is gone.  Seems my PSU just wasn't providing enough juice, causing the GPU to give up at peak load.  Tricky since it looked like a GPU problem but even swapping out the GPU isn't a certainty since the power requirements of graphics cards can vary quite a lot.