Why me? Artifacts on new Sapphire 9800PRO!!

[VTrider]

Okay, I need everyone's opinion on what I should do?

Brand new from NewEgg, installed it in a new build and when I fire up the system it's a dang pixel party on the BIOS screen. Funny thing is, it's only during boot/BIOS screen, as soon as BIOS program ends, and Win XP loads it's gone. This only happens on the 1st cold boot, if I reset it after it's been running and warmed up I cannot reproduce the pixels. It's like this new Sapphire 9800PRO needs an extra kick to wake up or something?

Here's some relavent info:

* Nothing overclocked, everything stock default/voltage, etc.
* Happens with both Analog and DVI outputs + different monitors.
* Happens on multiple machines w/different configurations, and power supplies.
* AGP card is firmly inserted, power adapter connected.
* Tried different outlets in house.
* Boosted AGP voltage from 1.5 to 1.6 and 1.7 = problem persists.
* Video card seems to run fine and normal, benchmarks within normal range.

Who's going to be the champ and figure out my problem?
(I think I just have a bad card and need to RMA it, but I want to be sure! )

 

[Lonyo]

You seem to have tried everything I would have thought of, so it seems very much like a bad card.

Time for RMA.

 

[VTrider]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
You seem to have tried everything I would have thought of, so it seems very much like a bad card.

Time for RMA.

Doh! As much as I'm happy to hear that, part of me was hoping that I was missing something completely obvious. RMA is such a pain-in-the-*&^%, I think i've only RMA'd something from Newegg once before (I won't have to pay a restocking fee right?).

This bites if it's truly defective, I mean I've only heard good things about Sapphire, how can something so obvious get by QC? Now I'm paranoid that Newegg might have sent me a refurb? As much as I love Newegg, I sorta recall a few threads about this kind of stuff floating around lately? Doh, the pitfalls and worries of OEM equip!

 

[bjc112]

Nope, Newegg's RMA policy is awesome.. The only thing is it takes about a week..

If you want it back fast, ship it to them fast.



Good Luck

 

[VTrider]

Well that's good to know! I almost tempted to keep it because it seems to be only a temporary annoyance (knock on wood). Every little graphical hiccup down the road will bug the hell outta me though wondering if it's related?! Guess I gotta bite the bullet on this one and get out the old packing tape and labels.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: VTrider
Well that's good to know! I almost tempted to keep it because it seems to be only a temporary annoyance (knock on wood). Every little graphical hiccup down the road will bug the hell outta me though wondering if it's related?! Guess I gotta bite the bullet on this one and get out the old packing tape and labels.

Yep - you're doing the right thing by RMA'ing it. Otherwise anytime a problem comes up in the future you're going to wonder if it's your video card acting up or if you've got another problem. You paid for a card that works and yours doesn't work properly so get one that does.

Oh, NewEgg has an *excellent* return policy. My bro had to RMA a motherboard and they were awesome!

 

[Naffer]

My 5900u did that after I'd had it about 3 weeks. Except it was accompanied by MASSIVE polygon tearing in game and graphical corruption on the desktop. I'd RMA that card as quick as possible. POST corruption is a precurser to future problems. Lucky for me Gainward is only 100 miles from my house and I got my card back in 5 days.

 

[kza]

Maybe try turning off fast write. That's the only thing that I can think of that you haven't tried, otherwise RMA it.

 

[VTrider]

Yeah I tried turning off fast write, believe me I've tried just about every BIOS configuration from here to timbuktu, what a headache troubleshooting is....

I can say it.....R...., R....., RMA! (sigh)