Having an issue with my 7900GT

[BigCoolJesus]

Heres my specs -

AMD X2 3800+
Asus A8N-SLI
(x2) Patriot 1GB PC4000 DDR RAM
Seagate 7200.10 320GB SATA2 HDD
Auzentech X-Mystique 7.1 sound card
eVGA 7900GT



Ive had this setup since last tuesday. It worked fine, had the video card up to 550/1600 overclock, temps would never go over 47C even under high loads. Aquamark and 3Dmark06 ran fine, no artifacts or reboots.
My computer has passed a 24hr Prime95 test and 8hr Memtest86.
All drivers are up to date (Nvidia chipset and graphics are the newest releases on thier website, BIOS are up to date)

But ever since monday night when i tried watching a DVD movie (using InterActual), my video card has been on the fritz. First off the dvd wouldnt play. The screen would just start freezing and flicker on and off, like the video mode was being switched. So i reboot and uninstall InterActual. Then i tried watching a few .wmv movies in MediaPlayer. That caused the same problem, screen would flicker and freeze. Reboot again.
So i downclocked to 450/750 just to see if it would help. It didnt.
Then i turned off "Advanced Hardware Acceleration" (under troubleshoot for the Nview desktop manager) and turned off overclocking (using coolbits) so my card would run at stock speeds. This combination seemed to do it.
I could now watch movies again, the screen wouldnt flicker, everything seemed fine.................accept until i ran 3Dmark06 again. Everytime i run it, when it gets to the final test ("Deep Freeze", the snow level one) the screen turns white and then massive artifacts but it doesnt freeze and it will run till the end. It will even give me a score (4989), but after it exits, the computer will go back to freezing up and the screen will flicker. But once i reboot, everythings fine again......until i run 3Dmark06 again.



So my question is this.........what seems to be the problem? Bad drivers, slowly dying card, what could it be?


Cliff Notes :
- Perfectly working computer, video card overclocked, would run flawlessly. All drivers and BIOS up to date. Temps on video card never go above 50C
- Tried playing a DVD 5 days after build, video starts to freeze up and screen flickers on and off
- Downclocked video card, tried playing .wmv files, screen still flickers and video freezes
- Turned off overclocking completely, turned off Advanced Hardware Acceleration, can now watch videos and play DVD
- Ran Aquamark, everything was ok
- Ran 3Dmark06, massive artifacts and white screen at the very end of the simulation, on the very last test. Video starts freezing like before, screen flickers
- Reboot computer, everything is fine again unless i run 3Dmark06 again.

 

[Mucker]

Typical eVga 7900GT problem. Sounds like rma time for you. Just yesterday I experienced the same problem with Deep Freeze and also problems with FarCry with about 1 month use on the card, no overclocking (CO version). I just got an rma approval from eVga, cross-shipped. Everything is paid for so I'm not complaining much. I am moving on to an x1900xt though

m

 

[BigCoolJesus]

I would RMA but i installed a Zalman VF900Cu on it.

Is there any drivers i should try first, like older ones, or is this most definatly a hardware problem?

 

[Pens1566]

You can still RMA it. EVGA warranty is still ok, just replace the VF900 with the original cooler when you send it back.

As for drivers/bios updates, don't bother. This sounds exactly like the 7900 problem. As soon as I read the word 'flicker' I knew what it was.

 

[Mucker]

Yup, that is the beauty of eVGA....3rd party coolers allowed. I also used a VF900 on mine. Just slapped the old one back on with a dash of AS5....

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Dont have the original cooler either. I dont even think i have the box (will have to go looking for that)

Damn.....well ill get by until i can save up a little money and buy a new one....or go with ATI this time.

 

[Mucker]

You could tell them your dog ate it.....but then again, that one never seems to work very well....better yet, tell them the card got so hot, it vaporized the cooler......

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Hahaha.........i like that one

 

[BrokenArrow]

You didn't by chance, try to pass it off on ebay did you?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3762&item=150006585533

Kind of like that bogus FX60 XT1900XTX auction too?

You are scum.

 

[TheRyuu]

This is why I always save the box until the warrenty is up (if it's lifetime warrenty I just throw the box in the attic an forget about it).

I've had to RMA a 7900GT twice. Luckly I have 2 that work
Did you vmod them?
Otherwise you might want to try to RMA it. Contact evga and see what you have to do to RMA it?

 

[JK949]

EVGA had a problem with the memory they used, Samsung, and now will replace
the 7900 GT free of charge. They will ship you a new card and and provide a pre-paid
UPS label for shipping the old card back to them. I know because I had the same
problem in general and called tech support and had a new card delivered in 5 days.
They have not issued a recall but admitt to the defect. You would be off calling tech
support because they will start the rma procces over the phone. You don't need to
return anything other than the card itself. This is assuming you did register your card.