Gainward GF3 Ti450 has 2 retail box versions - Gainward Support refused to tell the difference.

[gogoman]

I bought a retail version from ATACOM and the box is different from the one shown on gainward.com website and alos the picture of the box shown in Newegg.com.

More importantly, the pcb layout of mine is completely different from the ones from Newegg which has a 6 -layer pcb design. Also, mine is missing a power inductance (round thing with copper coils) near the D-sub connector of the board. That component is supposed to reduce EMI emission and/or noise filtering which may play a crucial role in stability of the board. There are two of those near the d-sub connector in the Newegg version.

The Gainward support department is pathetic...they couldn't tell me the difference between the two packaging/pcb design. Anyway, ATACOM does not know the difference either and I am begining to suspect that the one I purchased is of a sub-par quality cos I can't overclock the card past 500 memory speed. The highest stable setting I can achieve is 240/480. If you have the version that I have, (that is one open coil only near the d-sub connector) pls let me know what kind of performance you can queeze out of it.

 

[AkumaBao]

This is about the only way I've heard about this card. The two models that seem the same, have two different types of memory which one will not hardly let you OC it at all.

 

[Rand]

Gainward support?
I wasnt aware there was such a thing

They make some excellent cards, but their tech support is virtually non existent... and don't even think about trying to RMA anything through them.

 

[panzer948]

Hi,

I posted the thread above about the video problem and have a Gainward Geforce 3 TI500 (Golden Sample Ti/550). I didn't know about the difference either until the retailer I ordered it from told me (luckily I called it in instead of ordering off the net like I usually do). You are right, their are two dieffernt models (actually 3 if you count the video capture one). The Ti550 basically is guaranteed to run (so they say in manual) in a preset enhanced mode which is easily preset by one button, the other model (not sure of number) lacks this feature. However, I cant even get my card to play a video in direct 3d or draw on, so can't even tell you if it works.

 

[Xtasy]

Hey, I also got one of those different box versions as u got. I got mine at a local store, different box. It is the one with a bald ugly guy that looks kinda disgruntled and a target crosshair aiming at his (your left) eye and it says gainward geforce 3 powerpack iii on the top in bold gray words. Yeah, i got that card, it was identified by the golden sample ti450 4.0 ns ddr tv out sticker. I compared mine with the same pic in newegg and it was different, my card is missing those square black things in neweggs picture. My oc is either 240/520 or 230/540.

 

[Xtasy]

Ok, i have the box with me now, It has the nvidia geforce 3 ti200 label on bottom left. A bald guy with a partial purple forhead, green eyes with black pupils, one pointy ear showing, he looks worried, and a target crosshair aiming on his right (your left) eye. The kabuki mask symbol of gainward is on the right of nvidia's ti200 logo. THere are like 2 or 3 planets in the background, some kinda explosion and it says gainward geforce 3 powerpack !!! all in big bold gray. I see the difference from neweggs where it has a guy with a helmet on, list some features on the left side, and says geforce 3 powerpack !!! in big bold gray but has gainward below it in blue. FYi, my card is missing those black square thingies and has larger color coded (purple, green, etc) capacitators. My card hits 230/540 or 240/520. Hope this is of some help.

 

[gogoman]

Xtasy,
When you say "hit 240/520", are you saying you were able to run 3DMark2001 benchmark loop for at least 12 hours without crashing or slowing down(choppy motion...I've seen that) at that setting? Do you know if I have the 4.5 ns DDR memory in my version?

 

[LuDaCriS66]

Yeah.. Gainward support sucks. I told them my GF3 Ti200 GS card wouldn't work properly from bootup and they told me to use a different driver.. gee whiz