XFX Suxkxs

[fffblackmage]

they don't fluctuate, I've had gpu-z enabled on my second monitor and watched it, it's always at 850mhz. Load changes, clocks don't, I'm at a loss as to why it sucks.

I use ATI Tray Tools to monitor things.

Are you using the defective 4890 now? Can you use the monitor "GPU Activity %" while running a benchmark or game? You'll have to use ATT. I don't think you can see the fluctuations on GPU activity with the way GPU-Z displays the graphs.

In case you've never used ATT before...

When you have it running, you right click the icon in the system tray, hover over "Hardware" and select "Monitoring Graphs."

Click "Add" and under "Sources" tab, you can select the things you want to monitor. You can select multiple sources to show in one graph. Click "OK." You can add more things in separate graph by clicking "Add" again.

Should look like this. The green line on the bottom graphs shows the proper load while I was running the SF4 benchmark, but I think I remember seeing it fluctuate a lot when I was still testing the other 4890.

 

[Quiksilver]

Seriously?

Generally there is a very good correlation to bechmark performance and gaming performance.

Why the f' do you even think they make benchmarks.

(Granted I'll give you various benchmark have chipset bia's)

Not all the time... just for example fermi scores lower than the 5870 in vantage yet in most gaming benchmarks it is +/- 10-15 FPS ahead/behind the 5870.

Also as you said some benchmarks are bias.

I don't think you are very well informed about the horror stories of the infamous ZDFC XFX 4890s of later revisions. They are louder, oc a lot worse, bench worse in 3dmark AND perform worse in some of the actual games including FO3. I had bought a 4890 from TD only to find out they didn't specify it was the crappier version.

Google for ZDFC and you will find a few threads on this.

Your right, I knew nothing about that and I'm pretty sure the OP didn't mention the model number either...

 

[tweakboy]

I don't think its XFX fault. Not right to blame any company. They all use the same GPU made by nVidia . the rest of the board they have to make. Be aware that red boards or blue boards are cheap PCB ... u want green, or in this case Red lol ,,

thx

Also if you upgraded from a nvidia card to your poor performing 4890 or any ATI card,, its gonna be slower then your previous card..... This is why if your gonna do a upgrade stick with same company. If you change ATI to nvidia or vice versa, you have to format the comp. thx

 

[v8envy]

And yet, those of us who knew about the corners cut on the XFX 4890 ZDFC immediately recognized the OP's card from the description of crap performance.

XFX put out a lemon, no doubt about it. When you buy a 4890 you expect it to perform like a 4890, not a 4850.

 

[v8envy]

I don't think its XFX fault. Not right to blame any company. They all use the same GPU made by nVidia . the rest of the board they have to make. Be aware that red boards or blue boards are cheap PCB ... u want green, or in this case Red lol ,,

thx

On the off chance that you're capable of being educated and aren't either trolling or deranged:

1. The 4890 was an ATI GPU.
2. This was NOT a reference design for power or cooling, it used at a minimum analog VRM vs digital.
3. Once again, the color of the PCB is determined by the dye used in the epoxy resin which is yellowish green by default. It has nothing to do with board quality.

The OP was not the first and only one to notice the performance of this particular model from XFX. Other users upgraded from both ATI and NV, as well as had fresh installs.

There is NEVER a reason to reformat after a GPU upgrade.

Please stop spewing uninformed garbage.

 

[OCGuy]

^

Yes tweakboy, while I find your posts mostly amusing, if you start giving out bad information that may negatively effect AT Video community members.......

No bueno in my book.

 

[soccerballtux]

I don't think its XFX fault. Not right to blame any company. They all use the same GPU made by nVidia . the rest of the board they have to make. Be aware that red boards or blue boards are cheap PCB ... u want green, or in this case Red lol ,,

thx

Also if you upgraded from a nvidia card to your poor performing 4890 or any ATI card,, its gonna be slower then your previous card..... This is why if your gonna do a upgrade stick with same company. If you change ATI to nvidia or vice versa, you have to format the comp. thx

lol

 

[Tempered81]

<- Not a fan of XFX products that aren't reference.

 

[jthunderloc]

I purchased one of these cards from Tiger direct, it was a hunk of crap! Picked it up to run Xfire with my Diamond 4890 and it didnt perform anywhere near as well in a straight side by side comparison. RMA'd the card to Tiger direct and picked up a referance design XFX 4890 that performs identically to my Diamond 4890.

The non referance XFX card is kind of like buying a 'performance' engine that used inferior parts. instead of forged pistons and crank shaft, they're cast. Instead of a performance cam, its a factory cam that been ground down. The used cheap parts and cut corners and it shows. I compared the heat sinks and the XFX one was considerably lighter. I don't think it had any copper in it at all!

People are screaming 'User error! User error!' but its simply a case of a bad model of card. call XFX again and raise a stink, call the retailer and raise hell, I know a few people have had a little luck RMA'ing and getting a reference card

-Wes

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Factory refurbed 4890 that scores 8200 in Vantage on default settings (my overclocked 4850 scores the exact same).

Was that 4890 a reference design? How about the 4850?

Interested in an XFX 5770 myself (will probably sell later on and the warranty transfer will help sell it), not sure I want to now... the reference card is $170, the egg-cooler is $160, but I can get the reference for $152 w/ bing cashback.

 

[fffblackmage]

The non referance XFX card is kind of like buying a 'performance' engine that used inferior parts. instead of forged pistons and crank shaft, they're cast. Instead of a performance cam, its a factory cam that been ground down. The used cheap parts and cut corners and it shows. I compared the heat sinks and the XFX one was considerably lighter. I don't think it had any copper in it at all!

XFX could very well have used "lower quality" parts on a reference design, you know. A non-ref design does not necessitate "lower quality." Other than the craptastic heatsink and fan they used for the non-ref design, we don't know for certain if they used low quality parts. I mean, give me an example of a particular part they used in the non-ref design that is of lower quality compared to its ref-design counterpart.

Also, there's nothing inherently bad with an analog VRMs design. After all, we've been using those designs for a long time and it worked out very well.

However, because they changed the power supply circuitry, they might have inadvertently caused this unexpected performance issue. Or it could be something else they changed.

I just think it's a design problem more than a parts quality issue.

Was that 4890 a reference design? How about the 4850?

He bought the same 4890 as I did, which was a non-reference design 4890 from TD.

 

[v8envy]

Also, there's nothing inherently bad with an analog VRMs design. After all, we've been using those designs for a long time and it worked out very well.

Except that they have a tendency to squeal and don't work nearly as well for software controlled voltage adjustment.

Since this card variant is an exceptionally poor overclocker and many only manage 70-80% of normal performance it's obvious XFX did this as a cost cutting measure and not to increase performance. The higher priced and higher performing XXX and XT models still use the reference design and digital VRMs -- which argues strongly to their superiority in this particular application.

 

[soccerballtux]

got an update, I just called them (their number isn't on the website, it's 8008803225 for anyone interested), and the guy said while their testing department said no fault found they're sending out a replacement unit, completely different part number, and I should be getting the tracking number today or tomorrow.

Thumbs up. Sorry you other guys didn't have better luck.

 

[soccerballtux]

Except that they have a tendency to squeal and don't work nearly as well for software controlled voltage adjustment.

Since this card variant is an exceptionally poor overclocker and many only manage 70-80% of normal performance it's obvious XFX did this as a cost cutting measure and not to increase performance. The higher priced and higher performing XXX and XT models still use the reference design and digital VRMs -- which argues strongly to their superiority in this particular application.

well theoretically if managed (designed) correctly it should be able to do it no problem.

 

[jaggerwild]

I don't think its XFX fault. Not right to blame any company. They all use the same GPU made by nVidia . the rest of the board they have to make. Be aware that red boards or blue boards are cheap PCB ... u want green, or in this case Red lol ,,

thx

Also if you upgraded from a nvidia card to your poor performing 4890 or any ATI card,, its gonna be slower then your previous card..... This is why if your gonna do a upgrade stick with same company. If you change ATI to nvidia or vice versa, you have to format the comp. thx

I will say that an OS can get bad from over clocking, so if this had happened over time I would suggest a reformat. As very high over clocking (has on my computer) will rip an OS apart, I'm not sure on how or why. But I learned to make copies of the fresh OS to resort when my system is showing signs such as programs not working right or at all.
There is NO reason to reformat when switching camps, but good driver clean out is paramount even if your just updating drivers.

 

[fffblackmage]

Also, there's nothing inherently bad with an analog VRMs design. After all, we've been using those designs for a long time and it worked out very well.

Except that they have a tendency to squeal and don't work nearly as well for software controlled voltage adjustment.

Yes, probably true, but good designs can probably minimize the possibility of squealing.

I do not recall squealing on my GeForce 2 MX200, GF4 MX440, 6600GT, X1950Pro and X1950XT. There was some squealing with my old 4830 at first (after a vmod), but it seemed to have gone away after a while.

Software voltage control is a luxury. It is not necessary for the average user to ever need to mess with voltages. If the idea was the cut costs, then isn't it reasonable to remove extra features that are not necessary?

Since this card variant is an exceptionally poor overclocker and many only manage 70-80&#37; of normal performance it's obvious XFX did this as a cost cutting measure and not to increase performance. The higher priced and higher performing XXX and XT models still use the reference design and digital VRMs -- which argues strongly to their superiority in this particular application.

My point is that the design is flawed. What should have resulted was 4890 performance with low cost, but without luxuries like software voltage control, quieter HS/F, overclocking headroom, etc.

----------
Now, I and others did not intend to buy this particular model, because we all knew about the issues relating to the non-ref. ZDFC model. But it just so happens that TD's product description and picture was incorrect and the model number of the 4890 had a typo - it was missing the last letter: RB-HD489AZDFC. We all thought we were getting the ref. design 4890.

 

[soccerballtux]

I will say that an OS can get bad from over clocking, so if this had happened over time I would suggest a reformat. As very high over clocking (has on my computer) will rip an OS apart, I'm not sure on how or why. But I learned to make copies of the fresh OS to resort when my system is showing signs such as programs not working right or at all.
There is NO reason to reformat when switching camps, but good driver clean out is paramount even if your just updating drivers.

depends on the hardware design, back in the Athlon64 Nforce days I think I remember overclocking your bus too far would overclock the sata too or something and my friend's install died because of it. Then he put the harddrive onto 3/4 or 5/6 (locked speeds) and didn't have any more problems. If everything else is stable you should be fine for years, like me and most overclockers.

 

[Ben90]

I don't think its XFX fault. Not right to blame any company. They all use the same GPU made by nVidia . the rest of the board they have to make. Be aware that red boards or blue boards are cheap PCB ... u want green, or in this case Red lol ,,

thx

Also if you upgraded from a nvidia card to your poor performing 4890 or any ATI card,, its gonna be slower then your previous card..... This is why if your gonna do a upgrade stick with same company. If you change ATI to nvidia or vice versa, you have to format the comp. thx

Does this forum have a feature where you can ignore certain users? A retarded paralyzed baby giraffe undergoing heart surgery could bring more to this forum by rubbing its syphilis infected wiener across my keyboard.

 

[MentalIlness]

^

 

[mhouck]

Does this forum have a feature where you can ignore certain users? A retarded paralyzed baby giraffe undergoing heart surgery could bring more to this forum by rubbing its syphilis infected wiener across my keyboard.

lol, you made my day!!

 

[Rhezuss]

Does this forum have a feature where you can ignore certain users? A retarded paralyzed baby giraffe undergoing heart surgery could bring more to this forum by rubbing its syphilis infected wiener across my keyboard.

lol +4

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Anyone know if XFX's full limited warranty applies if you buy a card (NEW) from ebay?

 

[soccerballtux]

you'll need to get the code as a 2nd owner, from the 1st owner, so that the warranty can transfer.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

you'll need to get the code as a 2nd owner, from the 1st owner, so that the warranty can transfer.

No, I'm asking: if the card being sold is new (never registered or used), if XFX would accept the buyer as the first owner.

 

[soccerballtux]

No, I'm asking: if the card being sold is new (never registered or used), if XFX would accept the buyer as the first owner.

yeah I believe so