Is eVGA known for selling defective products

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Let me illustrate how sensitive they can be... I had added a 1' extension (4pin molex, 1' of cable, and another 4-pin molex) to the cable coming off of my PSU to the video card to help with some wiring management. Well, it turned out that this 1' length of cable was my problem... it worked fine supplying power to everything else I had ever used it for, but for some reason it severely affected the operation of the my 6800GT. Removing that extension cable solved all of my issues.

I know this might be more post than you were hoping for, but I'm just trying to help.

I had the same problem with my ATI 9800 Pro! Periodically reported the power cable wasn't attached @ power-up.

I swapped to a different cable and all was good! And, the old cable still works fine on drives, et cetera...

Just upgraded to an XFX Nvidia 7600 GT and I'm not taking any chances!

Nothing is going on this [modular] cable except the GT...

 

[Accipiter22]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: nitromullet
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Accipiter22
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: nitromullet
What are the rest of your components, what type of PSU do you have, and what is the specific failure you are seeing? I ask because it sounds like something else is causing the problem. I actually had a 6800GT artifact on me, so I had it RMA'ed (EVGA) only to have the second one artifact as well. Well, after posting it on these forums, someone suggested that I re-examine my PSU wiring and make sure that I was running the card off a a line that wasn't being shared by any other components. As soon as I gave the card its own dedicated power line directly from the PSU all the issues stopped and the card ran 100% stable (clocked at Ultra speeds even) for the remainder of the time I owned it. I actually spoke with the guy I sold it to not too long ago, and he was still using the card after almost 2 years. Then again, it's possible that you're just really unlucky. I've owned quite a few EVGA cards, I've had to RMA a few also, but overall I think they sell a decent product and they certainly have good customer service.</end quote></div>


well the thing is I've actually changed PSUs after the 1st 6800, and the mobo (asus a8v-deluxe) as well. I actually RMA'd the mobo first before i did the video card. So I doubt I got 2 consecutive bad mobos or PSUs that are effecting ONLY the video cards.</end quote></div>

What did you replace the PSU with though, and do you have the card getting power from a dedicated line coming straight from the PSU? Also, you never mentioned what type of errors you were getting... If all the errors were different (i.e. one had a fan go out, while another burst into flames) chances are the cards were faulty. On the other hand, if they all displayed the same type of failure (such as lockups, instability, or artifacts) it would point more to a power or heat issue. I'm not trying to grill you or anything, but I'm just not convinced that all the cards were defective which would mean that you will continue to have cards die until you figure out the root of the problem.

You have to understand that the AGP cards are very finicky when it comes to the power that they get because the AGP slot simply can not provide enough power for the card to run. So, the additional power going to the card from the PSU HAS TO BE CLEAN. Let me illustrate how sensitive they can be... I had added a 1' extension (4pin molex, 1' of cable, and another 4-pin molex) to the cable coming off of my PSU to the video card to help with some wiring management. Well, it turned out that this 1' length of cable was my problem... it worked fine supplying power to everything else I had ever used it for, but for some reason it severely affected the operation of the my 6800GT. Removing that extension cable solved all of my issues.

I know this might be more post than you were hoping for, but I'm just trying to help.</end quote></div>



that's exactly what I was hoping someone would post!

After the first 6800GT died I rma'd the mobo first just in case. I also switched in a new 450 (or 480 I don't have the case right in front of me) Watt psu from Antec. I've always run it on a line from the psu that has nothing else on it. The errors for the two 6800GTs were identical, in that the screen just went black. With this 7800GTX the problem is that 90% of the time when I start up the computer the screen stays black and the monitor is getting no signal. About 10% of the time it boots up fine, but after about a minute and a half the screen goes black and the monitor stops getting a signal.



Actually does that sound sort of like a balky psu?? I also noticed that the longer I wait between boot up attempts the more likely it will be that it's successful.

 

[MrStryker]

Originally posted by: Laminator
High-end hardware dies out often. Of the four 6800-series cards I have personally used, one is artifacting, another has had its fan pop off, and a third is idling at 80 degrees...or so the temperature sensor says.

I'd say eVGA has been pretty gracious to you. Companies like eVGA, XFX, BFG, etc. don't even manufacture the cards themselves, you know. They're pretty much all made by Foxconn and rebranded by distributors later.

Thought it was Flextronics who made their cards. Or was that only for the 8800 series?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Accipiter22
that's exactly what I was hoping someone would post!

After the first 6800GT died I rma'd the mobo first just in case. I also switched in a new 450 (or 480 I don't have the case right in front of me) Watt psu from Antec. I've always run it on a line from the psu that has nothing else on it. The errors for the two 6800GTs were identical, in that the screen just went black. With this 7800GTX the problem is that 90% of the time when I start up the computer the screen stays black and the monitor is getting no signal. About 10% of the time it boots up fine, but after about a minute and a half the screen goes black and the monitor stops getting a signal.



Actually does that sound sort of like a balky psu?? I also noticed that the longer I wait between boot up attempts the more likely it will be that it's successful.

No, it doesn't sound like a PSU problem to me. Generally, I would think power issues will occur under load, and not at startup - unless the PSU is really up to it. That Antec should be fine. I think I was running my 6800GT off of an Antec True550 at the time. It is possible that the cause of the problem is the A8V-Deluxe. I did a quick google search, and found a few mentions of video loss, lock ups, and even sound loss with the A8V, although most issues seemed to occur with the 9800Pro. This makes sense though, as the A8V was geared towards the gaming market, and the 9800Pro was the hands down champ at that time.

http://www.flexbeta.net/forums...n/index.php/t7160.html

http://www.ocforums.com/showpo...p=3271029&postcount=83

Do you know anyone else with an AGP rig that you could test the card in? That would probably be the quickest way to determine if it's the card or something else.

 

[Accipiter22]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Accipiter22
that's exactly what I was hoping someone would post!

After the first 6800GT died I rma'd the mobo first just in case. I also switched in a new 450 (or 480 I don't have the case right in front of me) Watt psu from Antec. I've always run it on a line from the psu that has nothing else on it. The errors for the two 6800GTs were identical, in that the screen just went black. With this 7800GTX the problem is that 90% of the time when I start up the computer the screen stays black and the monitor is getting no signal. About 10% of the time it boots up fine, but after about a minute and a half the screen goes black and the monitor stops getting a signal.



Actually does that sound sort of like a balky psu?? I also noticed that the longer I wait between boot up attempts the more likely it will be that it's successful.</end quote></div>

No, it doesn't sound like a PSU problem to me. Generally, I would think power issues will occur under load, and not at startup - unless the PSU is really up to it. That Antec should be fine. I think I was running my 6800GT off of an Antec True550 at the time. It is possible that the cause of the problem is the A8V-Deluxe. I did a quick google search, and found a few mentions of video loss, lock ups, and even sound loss with the A8V, although most issues seemed to occur with the 9800Pro. This makes sense though, as the A8V was geared towards the gaming market, and the 9800Pro was the hands down champ at that time.

http://www.flexbeta.net/forums...n/index.php/t7160.html

http://www.ocforums.com/showpo...p=3271029&postcount=83

Do you know anyone else with an AGP rig that you could test the card in? That would probably be the quickest way to determine if it's the card or something else.

I'm going to have to find out! haha

 

[PCTC2]

I'm just RMAing my 7950GT. I ordered a second one to use in the mean time and then SLI them when I get the RMA, but it was artifacting at stock speeds. Only 7 months old.
Otherwise, all of my other eVGA and nVIDIA products have worked wonders and I have never had one die.

 

[Accipiter22]

UPDATE: So tonight I went to Best Buy, bought a BFG 7600 GT or something like that, popped it in, and the same thing happened as before, so it WASN'T the video card this time!