Here's my 8800 Nvidia dilemma/saga...

[gunslash]

Well I bought my original EVGA 8800GTS 640mb back in November 2006...since then two of the EVGA replacements have died, and now, so did the last one...today! I ordered a SLI mobo (750i FTW) and a Zotac 8800GTS to get a SLI rig going...when the Zotac was in transit my EVGA started fidgeting and artifacting.
Got the Zotac today, the evga was fine in the AM, so I got the SLI going and it was pretty cool, while it worked lol....then the artifacts came back, and now the EVGA card's foobared for good. I can't RMA it anymore since it's been uhhhh modified.

So here's my dilemma : Order another Zotac 8800GTS for $100? Or go for that Best Buy deal tomorrow and buy two 8800GT cards for $130 each? Yeah I know the GT is a better card and all, but the G80s no slouch (and the Zotac card OCd like a monster so far...stock is 513/792; so far I OCd it with no problem to 660/979).
My current monitor's a 24'' so I run everything at 1920x1200...I played AoC for about 5 minutes today while in SLI and it ran pretty good, 2x aa/8x AF most things maxed/shadows off, it was usually 45-50+FPS outdoors.

Here are some of my 3dmark06 results for the curious:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=7023977
X3220@3.4ghz 8800GTS SLI @615/910 16071

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=7025560
x3220@3.4ghz 8800GTS@ 648/972 12379


Currently the CPU is running at 3.4ghz vs the 3.5 on my older mobo (Gigabyte P35 DS3P)...apparently the 750i FTW isn't as good an overcloker as my older motherboard, the tradeoff is that I can run the CPU at a much much lower voltage, and can run my mis-matched ram at lower timings...but still too early to tell, I've only been tweaking it for a day or two, so I think that 100mhz will be attainable, but I'm getting off topic here.



So what do you think?

 

[crapfest]

If you can go without gaming for a week and a half, the new nvidia cards are coming out and based on early indications will blow the current stuff out of the water. You might as well save your money and spend it on the new tech, or get some EVGA or BFG cards then use their step up programs (but why go through all that hassle for a week and a half? the shipping/processing times involved with stepping up take a week)

 

[OCGuy]

2 dead cards? A 3rd one artifacting? Hey, I OC my card too, but I think you may not be watching temps as much as you should. Its not worth that last 30mhz core to ruin your card.

 

[taltamir]

so far I OCd it with no problem to 660/979

If by no problem you mean "it breaks after a month... then yea.. no problem...
You keep OCing, the cards keep dying... maybe, just MAYBE, nvidia's engineers decided on those stock speeds because they figured that at those speeds the card will last a good couple of years instead of a few months.

Either improve your cooling, or stop OCing.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: taltamir

so far I OCd it with no problem to 660/979

If by no problem you mean "it breaks after a month... then yea.. no problem...
You keep OCing, the cards keep dying... maybe, just MAYBE, nvidia's engineers decided on those stock speeds because they figured that at those speeds the card will last a good couple of years instead of a few months.

Either improve your cooling, or stop OCing.

Anyone else here think we all have to pay more for video cards because some people OC them higher than they can safely run, RMA, repeat?

I agree with Taltamir- you're likely destroying these cards.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: gunslash
Well I bought my original EVGA 8800GTS 640mb back in November 2006...since then two of the EVGA replacements have died, and now, so did the last one...today! I ordered a SLI mobo (750i FTW) and a Zotac 8800GTS to get a SLI rig going...when the Zotac was in transit my EVGA started fidgeting and artifacting.
Got the Zotac today, the evga was fine in the AM, so I got the SLI going and it was pretty cool, while it worked lol....then the artifacts came back, and now the EVGA card's foobared for good. I can't RMA it anymore since it's been uhhhh modified.

So here's my dilemma : Order another Zotac 8800GTS for $100? Or go for that Best Buy deal tomorrow and buy two 8800GT cards for $130 each? Yeah I know the GT is a better card and all, but the G80s no slouch (and the Zotac card OCd like a monster so far...stock is 513/792; so far I OCd it with no problem to 660/979).
My current monitor's a 24'' so I run everything at 1920x1200...I played AoC for about 5 minutes today while in SLI and it ran pretty good, 2x aa/8x AF most things maxed/shadows off, it was usually 45-50+FPS outdoors.

Here are some of my 3dmark06 results for the curious:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=7023977
X3220@3.4ghz 8800GTS SLI @615/910 16071

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=7025560
x3220@3.4ghz 8800GTS@ 648/972 12379


Currently the CPU is running at 3.4ghz vs the 3.5 on my older mobo (Gigabyte P35 DS3P)...apparently the 750i FTW isn't as good an overcloker as my older motherboard, the tradeoff is that I can run the CPU at a much much lower voltage, and can run my mis-matched ram at lower timings...but still too early to tell, I've only been tweaking it for a day or two, so I think that 100mhz will be attainable, but I'm getting off topic here.



So what do you think?

You're doing something terribly wrong to those cards that are dying all the time. Every single card I owned I overclocked and none of them died or suffered anything irreparable and believe me, I did some really "bad" things to them ( volt mods with pencils, bios voltmods, coolers changed and so on...).

Something is fishy on your side, either cooling, bad PSU or you're overclocking the Pci-Express bus or something. A videocard can endure a lot of torture until it dies or artifacts incontrollable.

 

[Keysplayr]

Agreed with above posts. You shouldn't have to o/c an 8800GTS640 especially when they are SLI'd.
I feel that you are burning your cards out. And you'll burn your new ones out too if you keep it up.
Watch your temps, and get some good case cooling going on. At least something better than what you have now.
And if you have to overclock, be a little more conservative and not shoot for the moon.

 

[gunslash]

well remember, this is all over a long period of time...I bought the original about 20 months ago, started with a SFF Shuttle AMD rig, then went through 2 or 3 other reiterations with the same card.
the first card was DOA...second one had a piece of that thermal white tape(on the ram chips) come off after the sticker on the fan (the evga sticker) glued off and jammed up the fan and the card had a small flare going where the tape fell off.
Last card was my fault...
honestly i was never much for overclocking the cards, I tried it, did it for like 3dmark, but 95% of the time, they were all either running stock, or no more then 5-10% o/c.

only reason why I was running this one hard last night was because I was trying to make up for the SLI I got to enjoy for a few hours lol.

thanks to the people with actual input, to the naysayers....it's just a video card, my video card, relax, it's not like I'm overclocking someone's pacemaker or anything

 

[Keysplayr]

Ok. Then I think that at 19x12, 2x8800GT's will give you more performance than 2x8800GTS640's.
The only thing I can see being a issue (maybe) is less memory on the 8800GT's. 128MB can make a difference in some games.
That much more room for textures may save you some hard drive hitching. Again, it depends on the game.
That being said (and this is just my personal preference), I would try the 100 dollar GTS. That is a great price for that caliber of card.
And if it doesn't do what you need it to do (I can't see that happening), then go for the 8800GT's. Sell off your GTS's.

/2 cents.

 

[Jumpem]

How are you ending up with so many dead 8800s? I've had an 8800GTX since launch day with no problems.

 

[zod96]

I think the new nvidia and ati cards are due out on the 21st they got pushed back a bit...

 

[manimal]

My volt modded Ti4600 has been running for the last 5+ years 24/7 overclocked 30+ percent, My nephew has it now and he plays CS a ton more than his mom wants him to. On my sli rig I bumped back their OC since in almost everything Im cpu limited and overclocking the cards has no real world impact excpept for 3dmark....Be kind to your gear and it will treat you very well. If all you did to your evga card was remove the stock cooler and replace it with a aftermarket one evga still honors their warranty. Now if you knocked off a cap or soldered it then your sol.

 

[HOOfan 1]

Originally posted by: zod96
I think the new nvidia and ati cards are due out on the 21st they got pushed back a bit...

no nvidia is still set to launch on the 18th and ATI is now set to launch on the 23rd or 25th

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Didn't you guys read? His first card was DOA and his second card apparently combusted because of some thermal tape. So we can blame him for the last one.

 

[vanvock]

A GT for $130 sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me