GeForce 7900GT

[TheBiggmann]

I've been looking around in the forums and I was wondering, is the 7900GT really as buggy and problematic as people make it sound? I just ordered one for a system I'm building and now I'm starting to worry. The most graphically advanced game I'll be playing is Fable, otherwise it's mostly Warcraft 3 and stuff like that, so I think I'll be fine but I was just curious.

 

[keeleysam]

No, it's fine. People with problems scream a hundred times louder than ones without.

 

[buzzsaw13]

I've had my 7900GT for a couple months and I've had no problems. In fact, I've had stellar performance from it so far except for when I voltmodded it to 1.5V without an aftermarket cooler

The new batches of 7900GT's should have no problems.

 

[Kakumba]

I got unlucky, but thats just it, I was unlucky. Yes, there have been LOTS of people who got cards that died on them, but Im pretty sure there were also plenty who got cards that have worked great.

All in all, dont sweat it. As long as whoever you bought it off has a good policy on RMAing stuff (just in case), you will be fine. Now heres hoping my new card wont die on me.

 

[TheUltimateNewbie]

Anyone know how much power this card needs? My PSU only has 20A on the +12 rail, so I don't want to go over that.

 

[akshayt]

I wouldn't recommend running this card on such a weak power supply especially if you plan to:
1)OC anything or
2)Use dual core or
3)Volt mod anything or
4)The power supply is old or not of a top of the line brand or
5)you want to use it too long or
6)if you are really broke and somehow manage to run the card, though it should run on a decent power supply, but still not recommended by me

 

[Ulfhednar]

IIRC XFX and eVGA made it public not long back that the RMA rate for the 7900GT was 5%, that's 1-in-20. If that doesn't tell you that there's something wrong with these cards, then I don't know what else will.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: TheUltimateNewbie
Anyone know how much power this card needs? My PSU only has 20A on the +12 rail, so I don't want to go over that.

That is more than you need as far as the current capability of your PSU goes. There is a lot of hype about power supplies. You often hear people say that your PSU is too weak. That's BS ....

I have a 7900GT XFX with default core at 520MHz. It is on a system with an overclocked Opteron 144. The total power my PSU draws from the wall, measured by a Kill-A-Watt device, is less than 200W when running rthdribl. Some of that power goes to the CPU. Some of it to the motherboard etc. But, even if we assume that all of that power is going to the 7900 card, that is a total of 200W/12V=16.6A of current. So, the current drawn by the 7900GT is much less than 16A.

However, what you have to make sure about is to have a PSU from a reliable company.

Edit:
Even if you have a total of 35A on your 12V rails but from an unreliable manufacturer, you may be in trouble.

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: akshayt
I wouldn't recommend running this card on such a weak power supply especially if you plan to:
1)OC anything or
2)Use dual core or
3)Volt mod anything or
4)The power supply is old or not of a top of the line brand or
5)you want to use it too long or
6)if you are really broke and somehow manage to run the card, though it should run on a decent power supply, but still not recommended by me

The 7900GT does not draw that much power.
That power supply will be fine, even if you wanted to vmod/OC the card. The recommendations on the box/manufacturer website are often highly overrated then what you really need.

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: Ulfhednar
IIRC XFX and eVGA made it public not long back that the RMA rate for the 7900GT was 5%, that's 1-in-20. If that doesn't tell you that there's something wrong with these cards, then I don't know what else will.

EVGA and XFX, along with BFG had 99% of all faulty 7900GT's manufactured. The problem seems to be due to a combination of reference PCB design and faulty/marginal components (samsung memory chips and in some cases memory voltage regulator IC).

Its worth noting that cards not using the reference design did not suffer these failures, and those with good cards have found them to be rock stable.

 

[secretanchitman]

got my 7900GT in my sig...no problems at all and it OCs quite well without any mods to it.

HDCP+VIVO rules. heh...

 

[Canterwood]

I have a BFG 7900GT O/C and its been running fine since I got it a few months ago. even with the volt mod.

At stock however, I simply wasn't that impressed and I feel you simply HAVE to volt mod the 7900GT to get any decent performance out of it.
Otherwise I would have binned mine long ago and bought an X1800XT instead.

 

[TheBiggmann]

So, I ordered an XFV one and on the chance that I have a problem with it, I can send it back to either Newegg or XFV right? And also, do they replace it or do I get my money back?

 

[Gstanfor]

I presume you actually mean XFX and not XFV? XFX will replace it.

 

[TheBiggmann]

Yeah, XFX, my bad.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: Navid

Originally posted by: TheUltimateNewbie
Anyone know how much power this card needs? My PSU only has 20A on the +12 rail, so I don't want to go over that.

That is more than you need as far as the current capability of your PSU goes. There is a lot of hype about power supplies. You often hear people say that your PSU is too weak. That's BS ....

I have a 7900GT XFX with default core at 520MHz. It is on a system with an overclocked Opteron 144. The total power my PSU draws from the wall, measured by a Kill-A-Watt device, is less than 200W when running rthdribl. Some of that power goes to the CPU. Some of it to the motherboard etc. But, even if we assume that all of that power is going to the 7900 card, that is a total of 200W/12V=16.6A of current. So, the current drawn by the 7900GT is much less than 16A.

However, what you have to make sure about is to have a PSU from a reliable company.

Edit:
Even if you have a total of 35A on your 12V rails but from an unreliable manufacturer, you may be in trouble.

the 30+ amp 12V rails are used for the x1900xt and stuff 7900gtx sli.
i just bought one (antec TP2 550) and i can tell you its a worth upgrade cuz then you never have to worry about PSUs. with the price of x1900xt falling to the 200-300 range i think your better off gettiung them anyway and its good to know your psu will allow it.