Just got a BFG 7900GT OC

[Solema]

Hey guys and gals,
I had been scoping out EVGA 7900GT's for quite a while, but I just got a BFG 7900GT OC from Best Buy for $230 OTD by getting a manager to approve a "30% off Computer Accessories" back-to-school coupon so I couldn't pass it up, lower stock clocks and all.

Anyway, I just installed the card yesterday and installed the 84.21 Nvidia drivers, the last official ones before the garbage (in my experience) 91 series. So I installed Coolbits and let it detect the core and memory frequencies it could OC to. It suggested 600/1600 and I was thrilled. It played CS:Source, HL2 and CS 1.6 just fine, but when I went to run FEAR.... tons of crap happened.

First time I ran it, the card just stopped outputting video to the DVI connector. The game was running, and I could hear the music and stuff, but no screen. So a forced reset and I was back up.

The next time I ran it, BSOD.

So I am figuring that my card can't handle 600/1600. So just to make sure, I reduce it to stock speeds (475/1360) and I got a different BSOD after a little bit.

So my question is multi-parted:
Am I using the best drivers for this card?
Is it normal for a card overclocked too high to just stop outputting video or is it a deeper problem?
Would you recommend I remove the HSF and apply AS5 to help OC speeds? (currently idles at 52)
What about a 3rd party cooler like Zalman VF900?
Would I be better served ebaying the card and getting an EVGA?
Or should I just reformat and try all of this with a clean OS?

 

[TheRyuu]

First, do your self a favor and get some better drivers.
The 91 series is not "garbage". The 91.31's and 91.37's are both VERY good drivers. Especially the XG ones.
The 91.45's I've heard are also good, but I have yet to test them myself. (there good enough that they were XG'ed in a day. Something that normally takes a couple days to a week)

The problem may very well be a driver issue. 600mhz on the core without the vmod is actually asking a little too much. 1600 on the ram "should" run fine though.

If Tweaksrus was up, I'd give you a link to the drivers, however it seems to be down right now. So this is all I can give you:
http://www.tweaksrus.com/

Tweaked drivers might solve the problem, they might not. You may have to RMA, but before you do I think it's a good idea to try everything possible to get it to work.

First let me run down your questions:
-No your not using the best drivers. The best drivers are either the 91.31's, 91.37's, or 91.45's. And as I said before, I havn't tested the 91.45's but they are supposidly very good.
-Normally no, could be a deeper problem, did the card work when you first got it?
-Wouldn't really help temps much, but a re-seat of the HSF would be a good idea anyway.
-vf-700/900 are both really good.
-Why would you want to ebay a broken card?? Thats what RMA's are for
-You shouldn't have to reformat unless this install is seriously fvck'ed up.

So I gather that when you try to game you get a BSOD???
Try re-seating the HSF first.
Then try installing one of the drivers I recommended (like the XG ones) Make sure to use Driver Cleaner Pro in Safe mode when installing.
Lets see if a driver reinstall works. Then we'll move on.

 

[Solema]

Driver cleaner pro sounds like a good idea.

I've only said the 91 series was garbage because this is the second 7900GT that ran like total crap on the 91.31 set. I did a clean install on a new build with an EVGA 7900GT for a friend and the 91.31 drivers were awful in FEAR and even in CS 1.6. I'm willing to give them another try. Where can I get the "XG" ones?

Also, I only get BSOD in FEAR, and also sometimes during the "Detect optimal frequencies" though now when I run the detection, it first gives me artifacts on the desktop, then the picture goes out as described above.

A hard reset fixes it.

 

[TheRyuu]

You can get the XTreme-G ones at Tweaksrus but the site is currently down so your going to have to wait.

Also the "detect optimal freq" is know for problems. Use something like RivaTuner to OC the card instead.

I'll get back to ya when Tweaksrus is up again

 

[TheRyuu]

Try out this driver

Just make sure to nuke the old ones first with driver cleaner pro in safe mode. (thats after you uninstall them the normal way.)

 

[mikek753]

you might fry the memory ...
check for what eVga replaced on its 56x batch

do you have Inf or Samsung memory?

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: mikek753
you might fry the memory ...
check for what eVga replaced on its 56x batch

do you have Inf or Samsung memory?

How can you fry the memory just by overclocking it???
As long as it's cooled right it shouldn't be possible.

 

[Solema]

What memory is the good stuff? Infineon or Samsung?

I went ahead and exchanged the card at Best Buy and I noticed that the PCB color of the new one I have is blue, whereas the old one (2 days old) was green. I looked online, and it seems the newer revisions are the blue PCB's, so that might help.

I've installed the 91.45 XG drivers.

I looked in the side of my case and it appears that I have samsung chips, though I cannot read the exact chip model number. Are these okay or should I look for Infineon?

EDIT: Well, I googled and apparently the Infineon chips are better. Since I just bought the thing at Best Buy I might go back and see if they have any cards with Infineon chips. That's one good thing about a see-through package!

 

[TheRyuu]

There's no difference between the Infineon and the Samsung. That wasn't the problem on the 7900GT's anyway I have no idea why they switched the ram.

The problem I belive was a mosfet for the memory.

 

[Solema]

Well, here's another interesting observation.

My first BFG 7900GT (green PCB) idled at 52C.

This one (blue PCB) idles at 42-44C.

 

[Solema]

Update: I've done the 1.4v volt mod on the card and I am now hitting 600/1700 stable on stock cooling. I have a Zalman VF900 on the way so that will help out even more.