Different 670 ftw's and one was bad

[digitaldurandal]

So I ordered 2 670 FTWs and I notice that the sticker on top of them are different one says FTW with FOR THE WIN under it and one does not. They are both 680 PCB and the SN is about 2000 apart. The one that says FTW actually turns out to be bad. Artificating (single card) in 3dmark11 after a few minutes even though the temperatures I read are okay. Also random driver kernel crashes when I added it in SLI to the other.

It ran fine for a day or so before deciding to crap out although I did notice that it did not boost at all. My first card hits 1280 no problem and the defective card just sat at 1050.

Curious if they changed something besides the top sticker that might be causing the newer FTWs problems.

 

[3DVagabond]

Well, with a sample of one, it's impossible to tell. Certainly something to watch out for. I guess we'll have to wait and see if a there's a second occurrence. It's most likely though that they merely changed the art work and you got a one off dead card.

There is another possibility. Although unlikely, you might have gotten a bogus card. The best thing to do is find out from nVidia if they've changed their artwork and give them the serial number of your bad card to make sure it's authentic.

 

[digitaldurandal]

I dont think I got a bogus card. I suppose anything is possible. I do have more issues though.

So card 1 passes furmark for 30 min and runs 3dmark11 fine. But when playing King Arthur the monitor attatched to the DVI-D port artifacts. I have not noticed it during another game, but I have only had the card for a very short time too.

The weirdest part is that if I drag a window to the artifacted monitor it will also artifact but if I put my mouse there it displays perfectly.
http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b428/digitaldurandal/photobucket-4114-1341195946738.jpg
http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b428/digitaldurandal/photobucket-4141-1341195904010.jpg

Issues with two cards makes me question EVGA QA I know they had issues with the SC cards already... could this be the reason they no longer offer a lifetime warranty? I had zero issues with my 570s in this same rig for 18 months.

So the question quickly becomes do I send BOTH cards back!? Seems crazy but I had zero issues prior to these cards and both cards have different issues (maybe newest issue is driver related?)

 

[3DVagabond]

I dont think I got a bogus card. I suppose anything is possible. I do have more issues though.

So card 1 passes furmark for 30 min and runs 3dmark11 fine. But when playing King Arthur the monitor attatched to the DVI-D port artifacts. I have not noticed it during another game, but I have only had the card for a very short time too.

The weirdest part is that if I drag a window to the artifacted monitor it will also artifact but if I put my mouse there it displays perfectly.
http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b428/digitaldurandal/photobucket-4114-1341195946738.jpg
http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b428/digitaldurandal/photobucket-4141-1341195904010.jpg

Issues with two cards makes me question EVGA QA I know they had issues with the SC cards already... could this be the reason they no longer offer a lifetime warranty? I had zero issues with my 570s in this same rig for 18 months.

So the question quickly becomes do I send BOTH cards back!? Seems crazy but I had zero issues prior to these cards and both cards have different issues (maybe newest issue is driver related?)

Your artifact issue sounds like a driver quirk. You'll have to see if it happens in other instances. I have no way of knowing, but I'd be real surprised if the defective 670 issue was EVGA's fault directly. The design is certified. A small percentage of cards are QA tested as they come off of the line. It's far more likely the GPU's didn't meet the required spec they were supposed to when EVGA bought them. In your instance, there's always going to be defective product. That's why there are warranties. As far as them dropping their lifetime warranty goes, it's actually a very expensive feature to add to a product. Far more costly than the ~$20 or so more they can get for the card.

 

[digitaldurandal]

Okay so downloaded EVGA OC Scanner X at EVGA's request and with card 2 my system would just freeze before I could even start it.

I am running it with card 2 and I noticed a strange quirk that I am having difficulty figuring out. The only thing I do know is it is not boost related.

As a matter of fact the card seems to have a greater FPS sometimes with less core clock. I have taken a screenshot of what I am talking about.

Basically, sometimes I am getting 1250 fps running Furry test and sometimes 960. GPU Load for both is around 90 percent and power is between 1.100 and 1.175 (settings are stock).

If I put the voltage up even to 105% I get artifacts.

Can someone else with a 670 gtx run the OC Scanner a few dozen times and see if they randomly get an extra 300 fps on some occassions? It seems like an issue to me.
http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b428/digitaldurandal/960fps.png
http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b428/digitaldurandal/1250fps.png

 

[digitaldurandal]

If I set the Power Limit to 97% I consistently get 1250+ fps. If I set it to 102 I consistently get 960. I think there is something going on with the voltage tolerance of my card for sure. I guess I am RMAing both.

 

[3DVagabond]

So, both cards are bad? Or is this the one that you originally had problems with?

 

[digitaldurandal]

So, both cards are bad? Or is this the one that you originally had problems with?

Neither card performs correctly no.

Card 1 has minor issues that are mostly fixed by tuning the card down to 98% power target. However I do not feel I should have to undervolt my card from stock for it to work.. its actually the exact opposite of what I was hoping for. I understand that the cards are factory overclocked a bit and all but they should at least be able to maintain the factory overclocked setting on their own.

Card 2 just freezes up and flashes a black screen. Sometimes itll recover after a minute but if you do anything 3d intensive it just blinks a few times puts some static blocks up and crashes again.

So ya, both cards are bad. I RMAed both through Amazon. If even one of the cards I get to replace them has the slightest issue I am going to go with another brand.

I googled 670 ftw problem/issue and there are quite a few people in the same boat as I am plus previous issues with their 670 SC too. I am curious if there is a problem with the FTW they haven't gone public about.

Two of my friends got a Gigabyte 670 both of their cards run the Scanner X at over 1300 frames with 65 - 70% TDP with the vanilla card I have to limit my card to 98% power draw to run my card's stock setting and get less frames. Not really happy with these cards I guess.

 

[Fallen Kell]

So I ordered 2 670 FTWs and I notice that the sticker on top of them are different one says FTW with FOR THE WIN under it and one does not. They are both 680 PCB and the SN is about 2000 apart. The one that says FTW actually turns out to be bad. Artificating (single card) in 3dmark11 after a few minutes even though the temperatures I read are okay. Also random driver kernel crashes when I added it in SLI to the other.

It ran fine for a day or so before deciding to crap out although I did notice that it did not boost at all. My first card hits 1280 no problem and the defective card just sat at 1050.

Curious if they changed something besides the top sticker that might be causing the newer FTWs problems.

You are not the only one. I have been dealing with issues with my FTW from the day I received it with random driver crashes, and with the video feed randomly flashing on/off. With mine, I noticed that it occurred very frequently when the core changed speeds, either up or down, and that adding extra cooling helped to an extent, but did not eliminate the issue. I have been doing extensive troubleshooting with EVGA support over the last 3-4 weeks, and they just issued an RMA for the card. It looks like there are still some issues out there, even though the FTW edition was suppose to not have the problems their standard 670 editions had.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Are you running OC Scanner in full screen? That's how you're supposed to test. Not window mode staring at 1300fps.

If you don't run it full screen the card won't load up properly and your boost clocks won't ramp up with the stress level either.

Also, likely with SLI it crashes because it isn't running full screen. Try it, it's in settings. If you don't test full screen which you are supposed to do anyway...you'll never figure out anything.

 

[digitaldurandal]

Are you running OC Scanner in full screen? That's how you're supposed to test. Not window mode staring at 1300fps.

If you don't run it full screen the card won't load up properly and your boost clocks won't ramp up with the stress level either.

Also, likely with SLI it crashes because it isn't running full screen. Try it, it's in settings. If you don't test full screen which you are supposed to do anyway...you'll never figure out anything.

The boost ramps up even in the window.

Card 2 crashed the system even when it was in the system alone.

Card 1 has a screen turn green when playing King Arthur after about 30 minutes or so.

I now have Card 3 to replace Card 2 and I am testing it now.
Card 3 is a 7xxx SN and does NOT say FTW on the top like Card 2 did. So Card 1 4xxx and Card 3xxx do not have the blue FTW on top but Card 2 6xxx did... fishy.

 

[digitaldurandal]

Can tell a big difference in Card 3.

The VDDC isn't always stuck at 1.175 almost all the time (without even OC) it is much lower in the 1.050 range at stock.

I also notice that the fan is louder and a little bit grindy. The faulty card was very quiet even at 80% fan. So far so good but I have not run it through the gauntlet yet.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Post a picture of the card.

You should do all testing at full screen that way you get the proper readings and settings. Even though it boosts in window mode it won't be going to max because it's not being taxed the same.

 

[digitaldurandal]

Post a picture of the card.

You should do all testing at full screen that way you get the proper readings and settings. Even though it boosts in window mode it won't be going to max because it's not being taxed the same.

Boosts higher in windowed mode.

 

[digitaldurandal]

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b428/digitaldurandal/photobucket-1227-1341364798173.jpg

Here is a link to a pic of Card 1 and 2. Card 2 being the 6xxx serial with the FTW on the cooler sticker.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Boosts higher in windowed mode.

Boost is random dependant on temp and GPU load.

Again if you test windowed (not native resolution) you are not getting proper testing. You need to test your native resolution. While you might be stable at 640x480 in a window, trying to run 1920x1200 might crash. It's using more memory in full screen.

Anyway good luck.

 

[amenx]

Didnt Evga do a recall of some 670 OC'd models recently?

 

[amenx]

I dont think I will ever buy from Evga again, although I've had no problems with previous cards. Evga is a small company which doesnt have the resources of the majors (Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, etc) to maintain proper QC imo. Another thing that turns me off of them is that they stick to the ref cooler design in nearly all of their cards, incl the highly OC'd ones. Again, I think its due to them lacking the abilities, resources of the majors to come up with sophisticated cooling designs like the windforce, twin frozr, DCII, etc.

 

[digitaldurandal]

Boost is random dependant on temp and GPU load.

Again if you test windowed (not native resolution) you are not getting proper testing. You need to test your native resolution. While you might be stable at 640x480 in a window, trying to run 1920x1200 might crash. It's using more memory in full screen.

Anyway good luck.

Basically you say these things, and they just aren't really true or at least not true to a point where it matters at all.
I have run it in full screen, how else would I be able to tell you it runs a higher clock speed in windowed mode.

More memory in full screen?
yea 278mb vs 210mb.

Boosts higher in full screen?
Nope, it boosts higher in windowed mode for me.

I appreciate that you are trying to help but if you are going to offer expertise I have to ask that you ensure it is correct first. This test is not good for checking memory period.

 

[digitaldurandal]

You are not the only one. I have been dealing with issues with my FTW from the day I received it.

Either of these cards have an issue and I am switched to another brand. If one of the cards of a second brand has an issue I will switch back to the red team. I don't want to spend $840 on two cards to have to troubleshoot and QC for them, I want them to work out of the box. I don't even care if they OC well. I just want quiet cards that work consistently and get good frames.