The X1800XL Saga

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Dman877

Platinum Member
Jan 15, 2004
2,707
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Lol, I feel your pain. VPU recover spells doom for any ATI card. They might as well call it "VPU recover so you can get your RMA number without having to reboot" I would be especially suspicious of X1800 and later ati refurbs since voltage controls are now part of the drivers...
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
0
Sigh. $43.50 to use this card a couple days. I was hoping to use it 2-3months and lose $50-$60..

Refurb lesson learned.

Oh well. I've seen that ATI image quality is as nice as I remember it. I'll load up the Far Cry and see if the 16X AF on High Quality has much difference, before I ship it. (the reason I bought it in the first place)

 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
31,761
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Having a 5yr old that is rewarded for doing well in his studies and responsibities, with being allowed to watch mindless cartoons, I can say the following. It defintely wasn't Timmy, he would have wished for something way better! Couldn't be Jimmy either, he is years ahead of current GPU tech. No, it was undoubtedly, Ed, Edd, or Eddy :p

Sorry to hear you got a FUBARed card my friend, but refurbs from da egg are always a coin toss.
 

Wreckage

Banned
Jul 1, 2005
5,529
0
0
I'm not a big fan of buying refurb or OEM parts.

Although if money is tight you gotta do, what you gotta do.
 

kylebisme

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2000
9,396
0
0
Originally posted by: Rollo
...and renew my vengeance toward "harmless OCers".
Rather a silly situtuation to do it in though as the card may well have never had it's clockspeeds touched at all.
 

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,211
50
91
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Having a 5yr old that is rewarded for doing well in his studies and responsibities, with being allowed to watch mindless cartoons, I can say the following. It defintely wasn't Timmy, he would have wished for something way better! Couldn't be Jimmy either, he is years ahead of current GPU tech. No, it was undoubtedly, Ed, Edd, or Eddy :p

Sorry to hear you got a FUBARed card my friend, but refurbs from da egg are always a coin toss.

No way!! Vicky did it and made it look like it was Timmy. That Icky Vicky.. grrrr....
 

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,211
50
91
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Originally posted by: Rollo
...and renew my vengeance toward "harmless OCers".
Rather a silly situtuation to do it in though as the card may well have never had it's clockspeeds touched at all.

While that is definitely a possibility, the odds are too great that someone (maybe Timmy) bought the XL to save some bucks and tried to get more for his (or his parents) money.
Anything is possible though.

 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
106
Is there a way to check the temps Rollo?

I'd venture a guess that someone did try to make it run like an XT, but first they replaced the stock HSF on the card. When that didn't work and they decided to RMA the card, they had to put the stock HSF back on. Course, we both know that once you remove a stock HSF, the thermal pad/gunk typically needs to be replaced.

Thus, bad thermals between your core and the HSF, which in turn would cause overheating and the VPU recovery errors you are seeing, and everything else. I had purchased a Leadtek 6200 refurb @ the egg a week or so ago, and after throwing it into the system, it burnt out in 15 minutes. I didn't even get the chance to realize what was happening, the screen just went blank. Took the card out, felt the heatsink, and it was burning hot. Popped it off, and there was barely any thermal gunk underneath.
 

kylebisme

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2000
9,396
0
0
Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Originally posted by: Rollo
...and renew my vengeance toward "harmless OCers".
Rather a silly situtuation to do it in though as the card may well have never had it's clockspeeds touched at all.

While that is definitely a possibility, the odds are too great that someone (maybe Timmy) bought the XL to save some bucks and tried to get more for his (or his parents) money.
Anything is possible though.
How exactly did you come up with these odds? Considering just about anyone who gets a defective card is going to send it back but not nearly everyone will bother to even try to overclock a card at all let alone to the point of damaging it, I don't see much sense in your "odds."
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
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Originally posted by: Wreckage
I'm not a big fan of buying refurb or OEM parts.

Although if money is tight you gotta do, what you gotta do.

Money isn't tight, just principle of "How much do you throw away to see another company's AF" at work here.

I have a 512MB 7800GTX in my computer, and a 7800GTX SLI rig for my son's. So I didn't really need a card of any kind.

I just bought the X1800XL because it occurred to one day as I was arguing with someone that the angle dependent AF wasn't that big a deal, neither of us had even seen it. (and that is totally absurd)

So I went about buying the cheapest X1800XL I could find so I could see it and speak from a position of knowledge, rather than screenshots and hearsay. I figured I'd buy one for around $300 and sell it in a couple months for $240, and have paid $60 for the knowledge. As it is, I only get it a few days and am losing $43 for the knowledge.
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
0
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Having a 5yr old that is rewarded for doing well in his studies and responsibities, with being allowed to watch mindless cartoons, I can say the following. It defintely wasn't Timmy, he would have wished for something way better! Couldn't be Jimmy either, he is years ahead of current GPU tech. No, it was undoubtedly, Ed, Edd, or Eddy :p

Sorry to hear you got a FUBARed card my friend, but refurbs from da egg are always a coin toss.

LOL- you're probably right about Eds. Or maybe Billie and Mandy?
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
34,890
1
0
alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: Wreckage
I'm not a big fan of buying refurb or OEM parts.

Although if money is tight you gotta do, what you gotta do.

Money isn't tight, just principle of "How much do you throw away to see another company's AF" at work here.

I have a 512MB 7800GTX in my computer, and a 7800GTX SLI rig for my son's. So I didn't really need a card of any kind.

I just bought the X1800XL because it occurred to one day as I was arguing with someone that the angle dependent AF wasn't that big a deal, neither of us had even seen it. (and that is totally absurd)

So I went about buying the cheapest X1800XL I could find so I could see it and speak from a position of knowledge, rather than screenshots and hearsay. I figured I'd buy one for around $300 and sell it in a couple months for $240, and have paid $60 for the knowledge. As it is, I only get it a few days and am losing $43 for the knowledge.

how are you losing $43 on a $300 purchase?

and if the card is truly HW defective, you may not get a proper look at angle dependent AF
[assuming that's what you want].
 

Steelski

Senior member
Feb 16, 2005
700
0
0
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: Wreckage
I'm not a big fan of buying refurb or OEM parts.

Although if money is tight you gotta do, what you gotta do.

Money isn't tight, just principle of "How much do you throw away to see another company's AF" at work here.

I have a 512MB 7800GTX in my computer, and a 7800GTX SLI rig for my son's. So I didn't really need a card of any kind.

I just bought the X1800XL because it occurred to one day as I was arguing with someone that the angle dependent AF wasn't that big a deal, neither of us had even seen it. (and that is totally absurd)

So I went about buying the cheapest X1800XL I could find so I could see it and speak from a position of knowledge, rather than screenshots and hearsay. I figured I'd buy one for around $300 and sell it in a couple months for $240, and have paid $60 for the knowledge. As it is, I only get it a few days and am losing $43 for the knowledge.

You could have just got a X1600XT....:confused: maybee
 

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,211
50
91
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Originally posted by: Rollo
...and renew my vengeance toward "harmless OCers".
Rather a silly situtuation to do it in though as the card may well have never had it's clockspeeds touched at all.

While that is definitely a possibility, the odds are too great that someone (maybe Timmy) bought the XL to save some bucks and tried to get more for his (or his parents) money.
Anything is possible though.
How exactly did you come up with these odds? Considering just about anyone who gets a defective card is going to send it back but not nearly everyone will bother to even try to overclock a card at all let alone to the point of damaging it, I don't see much sense in your "odds."

Oh, I forgot, you're the argumentative type. I see you missed the very last sentence in my post. And I didn't come up with any odds. Just said they were great. Which is most likely accurate judging how many people here in the vid forum o/c their cards. Remind me not to comment on a post of yours in the future, even if its to agree with you, because most likely you'll complain in a response post accusing me of having no grounds to agree with you. LOL. /L8tr.

 

nealh

Diamond Member
Nov 21, 1999
7,078
1
0
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: Wreckage
I'm not a big fan of buying refurb or OEM parts.

Although if money is tight you gotta do, what you gotta do.

Money isn't tight, just principle of "How much do you throw away to see another company's AF" at work here.

I have a 512MB 7800GTX in my computer, and a 7800GTX SLI rig for my son's. So I didn't really need a card of any kind.

I just bought the X1800XL because it occurred to one day as I was arguing with someone that the angle dependent AF wasn't that big a deal, neither of us had even seen it. (and that is totally absurd)

So I went about buying the cheapest X1800XL I could find so I could see it and speak from a position of knowledge, rather than screenshots and hearsay. I figured I'd buy one for around $300 and sell it in a couple months for $240, and have paid $60 for the knowledge. As it is, I only get it a few days and am losing $43 for the knowledge.

unless Newegg says they will not except a return..if you explain the situation and the card is defective, I bet there is no restocking fee

I had a Benq 1640 go bad within a few days of purchase..they let me rma and returned $10 for my shipping costs both ways....
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
0
Yeah, I'll probably try to contest the restock fee. Hardly seems fair on a defective part.
 

kylebisme

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2000
9,396
0
0
Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Originally posted by: Rollo
...and renew my vengeance toward "harmless OCers".
Rather a silly situtuation to do it in though as the card may well have never had it's clockspeeds touched at all.

While that is definitely a possibility, the odds are too great that someone (maybe Timmy) bought the XL to save some bucks and tried to get more for his (or his parents) money.
Anything is possible though.
How exactly did you come up with these odds? Considering just about anyone who gets a defective card is going to send it back but not nearly everyone will bother to even try to overclock a card at all let alone to the point of damaging it, I don't see much sense in your "odds."

Oh, I forgot, you're the argumentative type. I see you missed the very last sentence in my post. And I didn't come up with any odds. Just said they were great. Which is most likely accurate judging how many people here in the vid forum o/c their cards. Remind me not to comment on a post of yours in the future, even if its to agree with you, because most likely you'll complain in a response post accusing me of having no grounds to agree with you. LOL. /L8tr.
I wasn't trying to start an argument with you or anyone else, but rather simply pointing that the card was probably defective from the factory. The hastle here was most likely not caused by some unscrupulous overclocker, but rather by buying something that was returned as defective and being charged a restocking fee only to find out that whoever returned it was right.
 

kylebisme

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2000
9,396
0
0
Originally posted by: Rollo
Yeah, I'll probably try to contest the restock fee. Hardly seems fair on a defective part.
I'd think you'd have a case on the grounds of false advertising as their use of the term "refurbished" blatantly contradicts the fine print.
 

v8envy

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2002
2,720
0
0
The 'egg won't ding you for a restock fee for defective refurbs. They don't fix returned cards, they juts ship em out to the next person. If it's returned multiple times, they probably RMA it back to the manufacturer.

Many times you get someone with an inadequate power supply or bad quality power to their house or a box filled with spyware or driver conflicts returning a perfectly working card, so life is good.

But with a card like the X1800XL, I'm sure the guy who guessed fan mod + oc gone not so good is dead on right. These cards are more expensive than the 7800GT which they underperform stock, but have a reputation for overclocking to perform better than 7800GTXen. About the only people I hear from buying these cards instead of the 7800GT are those intending to overclock the living crap out of them. They try the OC, if it doesn't work too well, swap the cooler. And sometimes damage the card in the process. I'm sure you got the results of said process.
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
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Originally posted by: Pete
How's the fan noise when gaming, Rollo?

I have no dB meter Pete, and that card is in a case with some pretty decent fan noise of it's own going on.

Anyway, final chapter in this tale:

I played some UT 2004 Torlan at 16X12, holy ****** settings, 0XAA 16XAF High Quality AF on both the X1800XL and the 512GTX.

I'd give a slight AF edge to the XL, I've always liked their IQ. Definitely not a "OMG! This is like playing a whole new game" sort difference.

The X1800XL goes bye-bye now, it troubles me to have a card in my box that flashes lines on the screen, and blacks out the screen from time to time.

My five year old becomes a power gamer packing 3800+/7800GTX SLI now.