Gigabyte GA-7VRX and GeForce4 Ti issues. Finally solved by Gigabyte?

[jonnyGURU]

Gigabyte GA-7VRX and 7VRXP has had it's issues with the GeForce4 video cards. I just got 200 of my Rev 1.1 boards replaced with 2.0 revision boards.

Here's a little write up of my personal experiences with before and after pictures: http://www.thetechboard.com/ga-7vrxp.htm

 

[Insane3D]

What issues did they supposedly have? Just built a customer system the other day with a GF4 Ti4600 and it worked like a charm...even overclocked a bit.

Edit: Just read your article. I did not encounter this problem in my customer build, but that is only one case, and no where near an accurate cross section. It seems strange that only some of the 1.1 boards have issues with the GF4, when none of them have the new component that has been added to fix the "problem". I would imagine all the boards without this component would suffer the same issue. Oh well..

 

[jonnyGURU]

Apparently Gigabyte didn't have a problem with the board initially or they would not have put a big "compatible with GeForce4" sticker across the PCI slots.

Apparently, the review sites weren't having problems either as every board that was tested by a review site got a glowing review!

Do a search on the forums for GA-7VRXP and GeForce4 and you'll see there's a lot of issues. More often than not. But the issues do seem to be random. Most people say the problem is just with their GeForce4 cards while others say they've had a problem with Radeon 8500's. One person I talked to at Gigabyte said that it didn't matter and that all AGP video cards have a problem.

Point is, if someone is having a problem, Gigabyte has addressed it. If people are having a problem, they need to take the appropriate course of action to get it fixed.

 

[Insane3D]

Apparently Gigabyte didn't have a problem with the board initially or they would not have put a big "compatible with GeForce4" sticker across the PCI slots.

True, but I know before the 7VXR boards came out, the was a big deal about the first GF4's not fitting on the popular board at the time, the Epox 8KHA+. It's probably a little bit of both..

Apparently, the review sites weren't having problems either as every board that was tested by a review site got a glowing review!

Yeah, I'm sure those boards that were sent to the review sites were tested heavily by GB first...

Do a search on the forums for GA-7VRXP and GeForce4 and you'll see there's a lot of issues. More often than not. But the issues do seem to be random. Most people say the problem is just with their GeForce4 cards while others say they've had a problem with Radeon 8500's. One person I talked to at Gigabyte said that it didn't matter and that all AGP video cards have a problem.

Point is, if someone is having a problem, Gigabyte has addressed it. If people are having a problem, they need to take the appropriate course of action to get it fixed.

Agreed, I'm glad GB is adressing this as well, especially offering to repair the problematic ones. I'm curious, does GB finally implement support for the XP/MP thermal diode on the new 2.0 revision?

 

[Insane3D]

Bump for people who are having GF4 issues..

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: tdas2
Phew im glad i chose an ABIT KR7A-133 now

Thank you for your input?

 

[VTrider]

<Bump for a thread in which I've been waiting for some feedback on... >

 

[drewdogg808]

i had a 7vrxp with a 8500 and there were problems here and there...i sold the 8500 and got a gf4 only to discover another imcompatibilty problem. games kept freezing, windows crashing...a nightmare. i returned the gigabyte and got a msi kt3 ultra and things have never been smoother or faster. but for a couple weeks i was going nuts trying to figure out what was going on. glad to hear gigabyte coming up with a fix...that board has alot of nice features.

 

[fishbreath]

I own a GA-7VRXP, revision 1.1 card, with 512MByte of PC2700 memory. My initial graphic card was an old-tech MX420 which worked fine. Subsequently I bought a GeForce4 4600 upgrade. Unfortunately the system was unstable even at default (safe) clock speeds (pixel blocks and lock-up). The graphic card was replaced but with no improvement. I finally tried the graphic card in my KR7A-RAID and the card was completely stable, overclocking to 680MHz (memory) and 310MHz (GPU).

After trying every combination of settings in the F8 BIOS, to no avail, I also switched power supplies (from a 350W generic to a 431W). This brought about minor improvements, however I don't think this is the way to go.

I have asked Giga-byte to replace my card (I understand there is a revision 2 card available). My Radeon 7200 also worked fine on this mobo so I think the problem may be a question of on-board power regulation.

If anyone has a quick solution for the revision 1.1 card, or at least has a definitive idea of what the problem is, I would like to know. In the interim I can at least say the GeForce4 4600 does work fine on my KR7A! Will post on this thread if/when I get a replacement card.:frown:

 

[bunker]

Thanks for the post jonny.

You think I should send my 1.1 vrxp in to them for rework? I'm using a gf3 so I haven't had any issues, but who knows how long I'll use this board and may have issues in the future.

Just call and say I'm having a problem w/ my vid card?

 

[m0ti]

If I wanted to get my board replaced with the 2.0, how would I go about that?

Would I have to send it in to Gigabyte, or should I bring it in to the place that I bought it from?

 

[veryape]

Yes, they do support the thermal diode. I have a rev. 2.0 board, and not only does it support the thermal diode, but it overclocks nicely. And as far as I can surmise from what i've read, it also supports the 1/5 divider with recent bios, it just isn't reported properly in sandra and other programs. I had mine running at 166fsb, and the divider kicks in at 153, not that you even asked. Apparently, if you have any problems with the 1.0 or 1.1 revisions, GB will fix it, which only consists of a capacitor and a voltage regulator.

John-Paul aka veryape

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Apparently Gigabyte didn't have a problem with the board initially or they would not have put a big "compatible with GeForce4" sticker across the PCI slots.

True, but I know before the 7VXR boards came out, the was a big deal about the first GF4's not fitting on the popular board at the time, the Epox 8KHA+. It's probably a little bit of both..

Apparently, the review sites weren't having problems either as every board that was tested by a review site got a glowing review!

Yeah, I'm sure those boards that were sent to the review sites were tested heavily by GB first...

Do a search on the forums for GA-7VRXP and GeForce4 and you'll see there's a lot of issues. More often than not. But the issues do seem to be random. Most people say the problem is just with their GeForce4 cards while others say they've had a problem with Radeon 8500's. One person I talked to at Gigabyte said that it didn't matter and that all AGP video cards have a problem.

Point is, if someone is having a problem, Gigabyte has addressed it. If people are having a problem, they need to take the appropriate course of action to get it fixed.

Agreed, I'm glad GB is adressing this as well, especially offering to repair the problematic ones. I'm curious, does GB finally implement support for the XP/MP thermal diode on the new 2.0 revision?

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: m0ti
If I wanted to get my board replaced with the 2.0, how would I go about that?

Would I have to send it in to Gigabyte, or should I bring it in to the place that I bought it from?

I've had a Gigabyte representative straight up tell me to refer people to them for the replacement/repaired board, but if you bought your board from a local vendor and it's an easy walk in for you and the board is within their warranty period, take it in to them and see what they can do.

 

[Banana]

Newbie question: How do I tell the difference between a version 1.1 board and a version 2? (Before buying one)

1YP

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: 1YellowPeril
Newbie question: How do I tell the difference between a version 1.1 board and a version 2? (Before buying one)

Ask whomever you're buying it from first.