THREAD 6 - Update on Onvia's Herc. GeForce2-GTS 64Meg ($290) - THREAD 6

[awiner]

Just a heads up here regarding the BIOS.... The older (original) and newer Bios (on Hercules) site has the SAME version #. I don't know what they released it that way but they did. So the only way to really know if you have the NEW bios version is to see what the clock rates are at bootup. If they are 200 Mhz Core and 333 Mhz memory, then you have the new bios. If they are 220 Mhz Core and 365 Mhz memory, you have the old bios. If the old bios works for you DON'T use the new one. All it does is slow the MHZ speeds down to Nvidia Spec....

 

[DaveNCheez]

Brainstorm:

Use powerstrip. It might be a driver issue or something w/ Win2K (I run Win2K myself) Win2k is weird about video cards (like when I don't use powerstrip and switch to 3D mode for a game it always goes to 60hz no matter what resolution Im at!!!!)

Anyway, powerstrip will work for sure.

Dave

http://www.entechtaiwan.com/ps.htm

 

[Muadib]

I got mine yesterday, and just wanted to thank whoever it was that first posted this outstanding deal. This is my first time buying a state of the art video card, but I'm sure that if I continue to hang around here, it won't be my last.

 

[Brainstorm]

excellent....powertstrip kicks a$$!!Now I'll play with my memory and core frequencies...I hope I wont be the first person to toast his GTS!!

 

[Lore]

Brainstorm:

What have you been able to OC to?

Did everyone else who was waiting for the card either get confirmation (whether by voice, email, fax, or pigeon carrier) that theirs shipped or have it in their hands?

 

[awiner]

Yes ! Just got my UPS tracking #.... My card shipped out of TN, so it will be here July 10th. Just in time for me to return my Prophet II 64mb Best Buy "Loaner" ..... Has anyone seen their 10% check from Ponitclick yet ?

 

[wizbang]

Howdy,

Like all of you here, I too have been waiting and watching with disbelief that they were fulfilling newer orders first..
Anyway, I am happy to report that I called on 6/30 4:40pm est and received a tracking number. It shows it came from Tennessee, and its already here at my local hub. Delivery for Monday I ordered mine on May 29th.

Great deal, great card (crossing fingers)

update - I received my pointclick rebate check a little over a week ago now too.

 

[K-squared]

Did anyone have their order cancelled while Onvia's server was down, or during the period when Onvia sent out e-mails asking if you wanted to cancel your order due to the indefinite delay in shipping dates (for failing to respond)?

 

[Lore]

I had a friend go get my card for me from home...

I am disappointed

No, not with 3D performance. The 3D performance is STELLAR, yes even at 1600x1200. However, the 2D performance (at 1600x1200+) is JUNK! The display is slightly wavey and I can see massive ghosting (compared to the Matrox G400 Max I have already).

Yes, I knew that the Matrox card had the best 2D, but I did not think that the nVidia chips would be so far behind! In case you're wondering, I tried this with a Belkin BNC video cable as well as the included DB-15 video cable with my 21" KDS monitor.

I am unsure of what to do at this point. I doubt any BIOS fixes will remove the waviness nor the ghosting.

Any hints/clues/suggestions?

I'm back with my G400 Max now.

[edit:] I thought I would add that the box says GTS 64mb right on it, and the BIOS is the latest one. I didn't bother installing PowerStrip or anything so I don't know what speed its components are running at. I also had my friend bring me my Nomad II from the Emusic promotion. I am much happier with that.

 

[SodBuster]

Yes. I got my Pointclick rebate bout 3 weeks ago.

 

[Nutzo]

My point click check is in the mail (according to point click).

As for 2D picture quality, I've heard others complain.
However, my picture quality is great. I'm using a Viewsonic 17 (the old original one) which is only suppose to do up to 1280x1024. The picture is rock solid & clear at everthing from 640x480 to 1280x1024.

My monitor will do 1600x1200 but only at 60 hz, so I do get a bit of flicker at that resolution. Except for the flicker it still looks good, and Quake III is almost playable (43 FPS) in 32 bit color. <g>.

 

[awiner]

I went through 2 32mb Prophet Loaner cards before I got one that has a sharp picture. So there just may be something to it......

 

[Lore]

awiner:

So it wasn't your video cable or monitor, it was simply the video card being a piece of junk?

Odd, why would that be? Why is nVidia's yields so inconsistent?

 

[awiner]

Yes it was the card. It seems different batches of cards yield different 2D results. I ended up taking the 32 meg card back to Best Buy once they received the 64mb cards in. The 64mb card I got on &quot;Loan&quot; until my onvia order arrives looks perfect. So I will jsut return the onvia shipped card to Best Buy next week. If you card ends up doing this, I would do the same. Grab a card from a local retailer and keep swaping and returning till you get one that is right. Over at http://www.g256.com/ in the discussion area I have posed the question as to why this may happen. I have gotten all sorts of answers, none of which make sense or helped. I think it is just a difference in batches of cards or something like that.

 

[Lore]

I'm going to assume that all the cards that shipped out from Onvia.com (well, really Ingram) are all the same batch ... has anyone else had this ugly problem?

 

[Crazybubba]

Well, after being told by Jim Bridges ( VP of sales and CSR) that my order was processed last Tuesday, they have no idea where my card is. No tracking number, just a note in their system that my order has been processed.

My respect for their Customer Support is fading.

Rainmanx

 

[SaViOuR]

My 2d is just fine, no problems here, overclocking is not to great though.

 

[K-squared]

Lore - you need to test your video card against another monitor to determine whether it's a video card problem, monitor problem, or driver issue. There was/is an issue with this video card that required certain drivers be uninstalled *prior* to installing this video card. It think there was reference to this problem in one of the early threads on this deal.

 

[Lore]

Saviour:

Are you running at 1600x1200? If not, that's probably why.

 

[Crazybubba]

Lore,

I have problems too with my monitor and nvidia video cards. My old elsa erazor x had serious case of double image. I have the Radius L-1 (triniton tube). I think your monitor and mine are similar. Mine sometimes comes up as a KDS.

On a voodoo3, 2D is prefect. On a nvidia card, 2D has some ghost images / double images.

Rainmanx

 

[SodBuster]

My GTS came today!! From Seattle. Will be installing that baby right now. Replaced the cheapo tape with the grease. Anyone know what the memory chip speeds are? I see they also taped the memory chips, and no clamps to hold 'em on, so I didn't yank mine off.

 

[Lore]

CrazyBubba:

Yeah, I think KDS bought Radius recently... hmm. I need to call KDS again and find out what exactly the problem with the KDS/Trinitron monitors is.

Oh, by the way, when I had the Sony G500, I noticed that it exhibited ghosting a tad more than the Mitsubishi 2040U I tried afterwards. I guess Sony Trinitron tubes have a thing with resolutions above 1280x1024. The KDS AV-21TF (my current 21&quot is a Sony FD Trinitron-based tube, hence, the same issues.

 

[Lore]

SodBuster:

What is the highest resolution your monitor can handle? Run it at that and let me know if you get any ghosting or wavey images or anything.

 

[DaveNCheez]

Lore when I get mine Ill test it on my monitor. I only have a 17&quot; but it supports 1600x1200. I have a Diamondtron tube (similar to trinitron
) but I currently have a TNT2 Ultra and have no problems at 1600x1200. Might be something to do with this partcular card. Might have just gotten a bad one, or might be something with the monitor.
Im sure you have already but check
a) the website of KDS see if there is a Troublesooting FAQ with this problem
and
b) the Hercules forum, seems somepeople asked this a while back the Hercules technitians might have given them some work arounds/tips/fixes

 

[Lore]

I actually made some observations when I had the Sony G500 monitor - it was much more prone to ghosting than the Mitsubishi 2040U - why, I'm not sure, but I notice the same &quot;slight&quot; ghosting with 1600x1200 on this KDS (which uses the same tube, so it makes sense)