6800GT failure rate

[Captain Picard]

Hey guys, I'm new here, and decided to finally join the forum since Anand has long been one of my favorite HW review sites. Anyway, I've been scoping out parts for a new computer, and I'm quite taken with the $280 (shipping included) Leadtech 6800GT AGP from Newegg. However, two people I know bought a 6800GT videocard, (one of them being the Leadtech card) then flashed their respective cards to a 6800 Ultra bios, and overclocked them. They had installed the NV5 silencer on their cards as well, however after a couple months both of their cards were dead for reasons unknown. Even overclocked, these cards would have been running cooler than with the stock heatsink and clock speeds. I find it very odd that two people managed to end up with a dead card under very similar circumstances. I was hoping that any of you here with 6800GT cards (preferably overclocked) could relate your experiences with these cards, and perhaps shed some light on this issue.

 

[Dacalo]

Originally posted by: Captain Picard
Hey guys, I'm new here, and decided to finally join the forum since Anand has long been one of my favorite HW review sites. Anyway, I've been scoping out parts for a new computer, and I'm quite taken with the $280 (shipping included) Leadtech 6800GT AGP from Newegg. However, two people I know bought a 6800GT videocard, (one of them being the Leadtech card) then flashed their respective cards to a 6800 Ultra bios, and overclocked them. They had installed the NV5 silencer on their cards as well, however after a couple months both of their cards were dead for reasons unknown. Even overclocked, these cards would have been running cooler than with the stock heatsink and clock speeds. I find it very odd that two people managed to end up with a dead card under very similar circumstances. I was hoping that any of you here with 6800GT cards (preferably overclocked) could relate your experiences with these cards, and perhaps shed some light on this issue.

What do you mean reasons unknown? There is the problem.

 

[Captain Picard]

I don't know why their cards died, and I haven't talked to them about it, but I was hoping someone might have an idea of why this could have happened.

 

[hans030390]

um, they changed them to ultras and changed the heatsink...that's the problem

just get a leadtek and dont do any of that crap (except maybe...maybe...unlock the pipes on it to make it an ultra)

i wouldnt changed the bios or the heatsink...

 

[gac009]

^ they both have 16 pipes

picard- the GT is good enough thew way it is, learn from the mistakes of others.

 

[Captain Picard]

For me at least, a product that I can't overclock and expect to survive isn't very attractive.

 

[Mattd46612]

The XFX model from newegg is the same price and I believe a better brand. Mine runs very cool never even gets close to 60c even when its OCed. Get that and OC it to ultra speeds, dont mess with the bios or heatsink, if it gets warm put a case fan blowing on it.

 

[Captain Picard]

I really like the stock heatsink on the leadtech card though, as I don't plan on replacing it until the Thermalright V-1 heatsink is available. By the way Matt, how far is your card overclocked, and how long have you had it running that way? Also, it looks like that Epox board is working well for overclocking your CPU. I've been looking at those boards and wondering about their overclocking potential for a while.

 

[zendari]

Originally posted by: Captain Picard
For me at least, a product that I can't overclock and expect to survive isn't very attractive.

:disgust:

You buy a part to run it at stock speeds, not to "expect" to overclock. Buy a faster card.

 

[Captain Picard]

Usually, those who overclock have a relatively restrictive budget to stick to, and in my case, I can't afford the price premium for the extra 50MHz core speed that the Ultra has over the GT, so for me, overclocking is a way to get that performance without paying the premium. When adequately cooled, and running at stock voltage, I would expect a part to have close to the same lifespan as a stock part.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: Dacalo

Originally posted by: Captain Picard
Hey guys, I'm new here, and decided to finally join the forum since Anand has long been one of my favorite HW review sites. Anyway, I've been scoping out parts for a new computer, and I'm quite taken with the $280 (shipping included) Leadtech 6800GT AGP from Newegg. However, two people I know bought a 6800GT videocard, (one of them being the Leadtech card) then flashed their respective cards to a 6800 Ultra bios, and overclocked them. They had installed the NV5 silencer on their cards as well, however after a couple months both of their cards were dead for reasons unknown. Even overclocked, these cards would have been running cooler than with the stock heatsink and clock speeds. I find it very odd that two people managed to end up with a dead card under very similar circumstances. I was hoping that any of you here with 6800GT cards (preferably overclocked) could relate your experiences with these cards, and perhaps shed some light on this issue.

What do you mean reasons unknown? There is the problem.

Quoted for truth.

Jesus F*ckin' Christ. I'm sure the cards do just fine if you DON'T FLASH THEIR BIOS (READ: VOLT-MOD), OVERCLOCK, AND POTENTIALLY BORK THE COOLING ON THEM.

This wins for stupid video thread of century

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: Captain Picard
Usually, those who overclock have a relatively restrictive budget to stick to, and in my case, I can't afford the price premium for the extra 50MHz core speed that the Ultra has over the GT, so for me, overclocking is a way to get that performance without paying the premium. When adequately cooled, and running at stock voltage, I would expect a part to have close to the same lifespan as a stock part.

It's also a shot in the dark, so don't be surprised if your product BREAKS while you trying to get FREE STUFF YOU DIDN'T PAY FOR.

 

[zendari]

Originally posted by: Captain Picard
Usually, those who overclock have a relatively restrictive budget to stick to, and in my case, I can't afford the price premium for the extra 50MHz core speed that the Ultra has over the GT, so for me, overclocking is a way to get that performance without paying the premium. When adequately cooled, and running at stock voltage, I would expect a part to have close to the same lifespan as a stock part.

It's not adequately cooled. Note the Ultra has a larger cooler.

 

[fishmonger12]

uh, buying a cooler for it is already halfway towards upgrading the damn card.

and the 50 mhz core clock means dink. sure it might even get you 10-20% more performance, but in the overall scheme of things that 6800gt will play any fvcking game you want as long as the resolution aint above 1600x1200. seeing as you're "on a budget", what more could you ask for? "%100 MoR 3dmarkzzzZZZzzz"?

even at stock voltage/adequate cooling, an overclocked card will not last as long as a stock card. wanna know why? you've got more current running through the chip when it runs at a higher frequency. more current = more use = more chances for things to stop working.

it has nothing to do with leadtek, it has to do with physics. get it straight.

 

[Plester]

ignore all the harsh replies, there are many many people who bought 6800gt cards, modded the bioses, o'ced them etc. - what you want to know is if you crank a 6800GT up will it croak. there are tons of posts on this issue at NV News, XtremeSystems and many other sites, and the concensus is that GTs die at an alarming rate when they have their Vcore raised to 1.4v.

 

[Crescent13]

The reasons are very simple, they flashed the BIOS to an ultra. I have a 6600GT that I overclock, but that doesn't mean I have to change the BIOS to a 7800GTX!! You can overclock the card without changing the cooling, or the bios (whatever you do, don't try to put a bios on a card that isn't designed for it).

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Insomniak

Originally posted by: Dacalo

Originally posted by: Captain Picard
Hey guys, I'm new here, and decided to finally join the forum since Anand has long been one of my favorite HW review sites. Anyway, I've been scoping out parts for a new computer, and I'm quite taken with the $280 (shipping included) Leadtech 6800GT AGP from Newegg. However, two people I know bought a 6800GT videocard, (one of them being the Leadtech card) then flashed their respective cards to a 6800 Ultra bios, and overclocked them. They had installed the NV5 silencer on their cards as well, however after a couple months both of their cards were dead for reasons unknown. Even overclocked, these cards would have been running cooler than with the stock heatsink and clock speeds. I find it very odd that two people managed to end up with a dead card under very similar circumstances. I was hoping that any of you here with 6800GT cards (preferably overclocked) could relate your experiences with these cards, and perhaps shed some light on this issue.

What do you mean reasons unknown? There is the problem.

Quoted for truth.

Jesus F*ckin' Christ. I'm sure the cards do just fine if you DON'T FLASH THEIR BIOS (READ: VOLT-MOD), OVERCLOCK, AND POTENTIALLY BORK THE COOLING ON THEM.

This wins for stupid video thread of century

QFT

Yet another "I deserve the card I didn't pay for and I'll burn them till I get it" enthusiast.

 

[Mattd46612]

I wont touch the AGP frequency or voltage thats just not worth it. And odds are you will be able to get ultra speeds out of it. Just make sure its cool and you will be fine. I got mine close to ultra speeds but the ram wouldnt cooperate and go to 1100. I did it for benchmarking purposes and I dropped it back down. $280 is expensive enough for me to not mess with it, esp with how vid cards are. My epox board and Venice core on the other hand I feel safer overclocking and I couldnt be happier its disgusting how easy it was to overclock this setup, and I even have crappy ram.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: hans030390
um, they changed them to ultras and changed the heatsink...that's the problem

just get a leadtek and dont do any of that crap (except maybe...maybe...unlock the pipes on it to make it an ultra)

i wouldnt changed the bios or the heatsink...

I just noticed...were you refering to a Leadtek 6800GT? Because a GT already has all 16 pipes unlocked...and if you were refering to a 6800 vanilla, it's pretty hard to get it to clock to an Ultra after unlocking it.

 

[dfloyd]

The problem is friend if you have overclocked in the past or done alot of research with it you should realize there are never any gurantees. You may get lucky and your card may overclock to a decent amount and run stable for many years. You could barely overlock and fry your card. And this can vary between card to card, manfactuer to manufactuer and even the same cards from the same manufactuer.

I know some can give good experience but from what you have seen yourself already, if you are following their route, the chances are high that you could burn up your card. Personally I am usually on a very tight budget and I find that the number one resaon NOT to overclock. Yeah I want more performance, but if I overclock my card, burn it up then I am in alot deeper hole than I would be if I had just accepted what I paid for. Also for the most part the GT is still a dang good card, is there some game your playing where its running to slow? I mean is there a reason the GT would not be fast enough on your system or are you just overclocking for overclockings sake?

Edit: As to a specific problem with the 6800 GT, nope I have not heard of any. But like I state above, when you overlclock its a iffy thing where anything can go.

 

[JBT]

Thier cards more than likely died from the Ultra BIOS. IT puts more voltage into the GPU and I don't belive the voltage regulators on the GT's are really prepared for that. Alot of people expeience problems when they put more voltage into the GT's that I have seen.

I know when I did a BIOS vmod to mine while it could OC a bit highier it would also lock up after awhile. Now the actualy GPU temp wouldn't go up all that much but simply flashing back to the stock GT BIOS and using the same frequencies would work perfectly fine for much longer time but would artifact a little bit after awhie but NOT lock up.

Either way with the stock GT BIOS I could run 425/1150 perfectly.
No problems what so ever.

GT's are great cards and I havn't really heard of many people breaking them unless they did something stupid.

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: Dacalo

Originally posted by: Captain Picard
Hey guys, I'm new here, and decided to finally join the forum since Anand has long been one of my favorite HW review sites. Anyway, I've been scoping out parts for a new computer, and I'm quite taken with the $280 (shipping included) Leadtech 6800GT AGP from Newegg. However, two people I know bought a 6800GT videocard, (one of them being the Leadtech card) then flashed their respective cards to a 6800 Ultra bios, and overclocked them. They had installed the NV5 silencer on their cards as well, however after a couple months both of their cards were dead for reasons unknown. Even overclocked, these cards would have been running cooler than with the stock heatsink and clock speeds. I find it very odd that two people managed to end up with a dead card under very similar circumstances. I was hoping that any of you here with 6800GT cards (preferably overclocked) could relate your experiences with these cards, and perhaps shed some light on this issue.

What do you mean reasons unknown? There is the problem.

Stock = card lives for a very long time
OC = reduced the cards expectancy to function normally, leading to premature failure

 

[Captain Picard]

Thank you for your input Matt, JBT, Plester, and dfloyd. Now I actually have a likely idea as to why my associates 6800GTs died. Also, I had not planned on flashing the bios to an Ultra, since it's the clockspeed that matters to me, not the name that windows reads from your card. Compared to my trusty 9700 Pro, (which hasn't been running at stock for almost a year and a half now) it seems that Nvidia's GF6 series takes a bit more caution and user knowledge to safely achieve the desired results of any overclocking venture. Again, my thanks, it's because of people like you that forums like these keep going.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Captain Picard
Hey guys, I'm new here, and decided to finally join the forum since Anand has long been one of my favorite HW review sites. Anyway, I've been scoping out parts for a new computer, and I'm quite taken with the $280 (shipping included) Leadtech 6800GT AGP from Newegg. However, two people I know bought a 6800GT videocard, (one of them being the Leadtech card) then flashed their respective cards to a 6800 Ultra bios, and overclocked them. They had installed the NV5 silencer on their cards as well, however after a couple months both of their cards were dead for reasons unknown. Even overclocked, these cards would have been running cooler than with the stock heatsink and clock speeds. I find it very odd that two people managed to end up with a dead card under very similar circumstances. I was hoping that any of you here with 6800GT cards (preferably overclocked) could relate your experiences with these cards, and perhaps shed some light on this issue.

Order Commander Data to run a full analysis on the damaged cards and find out what went wrong with them.

 

[Captain Picard]

I'll be in my quarters until further notice, Number one, you have the bridge.