View Full Version : Are 7900gt's crap?
Like many others I got excited about the possibility of getting gtx speeds out of a gt with a simple mod. So today I ordered a 7900gt ko from newegg on sale for about $30 off. I then began googling for ideas on how to properly boost this seemingly magical video card. What I found was post after post about faulty 7900 series cards with pages of horror stories about overheating memory IC's and dying ram. Type "7900gt problem" or "7900gt issues" in your search bar and see what I mean. Maybe this is old news for everyone else but I was surprised. I'm considering refusing the package when it shows up but am hoping someone can tell me I'm over reacting and the problem is resolved. If you've had an oc'd 7900 card for awhile please comment.
Special7
05-08-06, 08:13 PM
My first 7900GT CO was busted with all of the problems you found during your search, my RMA card a 7900GT KO, it has been running fine since friday by this time on my last card it was totally broken, I feel good enough to say the problems are fixed.
I hope it works out for you. I'm a little skeptical after reading about replacement cards having the same problems even if it takes a little longer. It seems like they're lessening the problem with better cooling on the ko's but not really fixing it. Anybody else have experience with this?
LtBlue14
05-08-06, 10:44 PM
Hey, you can check out this link: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=235
where the guy talks about 7900GTX instability, but I do not know if this applies to 7900GTs. He speculates that the failures are due to factory overclocking, but later he receives word from a few different video card manufacturers that they have not seen a disproportionate number of faulty cards with their 7900GTX launch (overclocked or not) compared to other launches.
nVidia says the following:
In working with our board partners we discovered the cause of the random slowdown and temporary lockup problems experienced by various users of certain overclocked 7900 GTX graphics boards. Essentially, it was a case where the core and/or memory clocks were driven a bit too high, and the overclocking margins weren't available on those specific boards. For users who experience the problems, the graphics card vendors will work with those individual users to fix the problem. We have learned from our board partners that the situation is now under control.
So they say it's overclocking. Who knows.
Alchemy1
05-08-06, 10:45 PM
I had one of the eariler CO's and it gave me all of the typical problems (snow-like artifacts, blinking screen, computer freezing) so I returned it and bought an x1900xt for $50 more. I think they are fixing the problems, but there still seem to be some problem cards coming out.
I love eVGA as a company and wish I didn't have to part ways, but I just didn't think I was going to get lucky with a second card. When you are an early adopter of technology be prepared to deal with all kinds of little bugs/issues. I am sure they will get this worked out and the problems will soon be a memory.
Damn, looks like she's going back then. I've been reading good things about the x1800xt and the price is the same for a card with 512mb of ram. Then again maybe I'll hold onto my trusty 7800gt. Oh well, thanks for the replies.
Rickster
05-09-06, 01:32 AM
sorry to get out of the topic. but whats KO and CO?
coustang
05-09-06, 01:46 AM
Dude, accept the package....install the card....and be happy. 7900Gt whoops arse. Two of my buddies have 7900Gt's and they both oc to 550+/800 on stock volts. Even if you max out your 7800Gt, the stock 7900 will still probably out perform it.
Special7
05-09-06, 02:52 AM
Dude, accept the package....install the card....and be happy. 7900Gt whoops arse. Two of my buddies have 7900Gt's and they both oc to 550+/800 on stock volts. Even if you max out your 7800Gt, the stock 7900 will still probably out perform it.
7900GT will easily beat an oc'd 7800GT, 4 more pipelines, it's a more efficient card, not to mention they oc very well.
tranceaddict
05-09-06, 05:04 AM
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I too have problems with my XFX 7900gt. The memory voltage regulators are crapping out on me. I have the card running at 685MHz core and 1800MHz Memory with a 1.4 voltmod. I just ordered a 80mm Thin Zalman fan to put on the back of the card and cool the voltage regulators. Hope it fixes it. BTW, I have a NV Silencer 5 on it. If the problem persists, I might just end up getting a x1900xt.
Alchemy1
05-09-06, 07:29 AM
sorry to get out of the topic. but whats KO and CO?
COhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130281
KOhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130015
The CO has the same cooler as the "vanilla" 7900GT, but is clocked at 500/1500. The KO has a cooler that covers the RAM and core and is clocked at 500/1500. The KO has a "hand selected" GTX core and I believe (don't quote me on this) 1.3ns RAM.
Rickster
05-09-06, 07:55 AM
COhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130281
KOhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130015
The CO has the same cooler as the "vanilla" 7900GT, but is clocked at 500/1500. The KO has a cooler that covers the RAM and core and is clocked at 500/1500. The KO has a "hand selected" GTX core and I believe (don't quote me on this) 1.3ns RAM.
huh? the clocks are the same but the CO cooler doesnt cover the RAM, and its more expensive than the KO. who the heck would want the CO over the KO? no point selling them CO.
HeatM1ser2k4
05-09-06, 09:01 AM
7900GT will easily beat an oc'd 7800GT, 4 more pipelines, it's a more efficient card, not to mention they oc very well.
not to mention the smaller architechture will result in lowers temps, therefor more stabilty in overclocking and more potential overclocking
Codeman05
05-09-06, 01:11 PM
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I too have problems with my XFX 7900gt. The memory voltage regulators are crapping out on me. I have the card running at 685MHz core and 1800MHz Memory with a 1.4 voltmod. I just ordered a 80mm Thin Zalman fan to put on the back of the card and cool the voltage regulators. Hope it fixes it. BTW, I have a NV Silencer 5 on it. If the problem persists, I might just end up getting a x1900xt.
I think XFX has been having problems with their 7900s in general from what I have read.
My 7900 has run flawless from the start. This is probably the happiest I've been with a card and I've owned damn near everyone put out since the GF2 Ultra. 575x825 stock, 680x825 with 1.4v (GTX voltage), and 730x915 with 1.5v & 2.2v Vmem
I think XFX has been having problems with their 7900s in general from what I have read.
My 7900 has run flawless from the start. This is probably the happiest I've been with a card and I've owned damn near everyone put out since the GF2 Ultra. 575x825 stock, 680x825 with 1.4v (GTX voltage), and 730x915 with 1.5v & 2.2v Vmem
How long has it been used at oc'd speeds?
LtBlue14
05-09-06, 01:25 PM
KO has 1.4ns ram, a better stock cooler and is actually clocked to 520/1540 despite what newegg lists. The stock cooler and extra overclocking don't affect many of us since we change all of that stuff anyway, but the 1.4ns ram could be nice.
I think XFX has been having problems with their 7900s in general from what I have read.
They have, and so has eVGA. You see a lot of complaints on both of their forums (in fact XFX took down their forums). eVGA has representatives trying to help people out with new BIOSes and things like that. BFG doesn't have forums, but I wouldn't rule out problems with their cards too.
However, the gloom-and-doom may be getting too much of the limelight here. I would expect that most cards work just fine. Just based on the newegg reviews, only about 5% of reviews talk about a DOA. While 5% is a huge amount (and even that is probably overstated, since satisfied customers are less likely to go post about a product), it's not as if it's likely that your card is going to fail.
Codeman05
05-09-06, 01:35 PM
How long has it been used at oc'd speeds?
BFG, since they released, around 5-6 weeks I believe. Also heat sinked the "problem" ICs (some of which were killed by faulty Vmods btw), so far so good. Actually considering a 2nd now for SLI if I come across a decent deal
Codeman05
05-09-06, 01:46 PM
They have, and so has eVGA. You see a lot of complaints on both of their forums (in fact XFX took down their forums). eVGA has representatives trying to help people out with new BIOSes and things like that. BFG doesn't have forums, but I wouldn't rule out problems with their cards too.
I believe they did, atleast at first. Right after I ordered mine I read a couple of reviews saying that the capacitors had fallen off either during shipment or at the factory....needless to say I was sweating bullets for the next day or two hehe
I hope it's just a small batch of defects but it seems like an epidemic. I saw the reviews on newegg which looks positive but I wonder how many people wait to post reviews and how many get excited about their new card and review it immediately without using it awhile first. I have to admit I've posted some dumb reviews which I later regretted like one for my Neo4 platinum saying how I had none of the problems others were experiencing. Later on the NB fan went out and I began noticing strange behavior similar to what others had mentioned. By that point I'd forgotten all about posting reviews on newegg and moved on. I may still buy a 7900gt once it's been confirmed the problem is bs\solved but for now I don't want to risk reinstalls and down time for RMA's. I really want this to work out but I just don't know. I wish there was a poll on this.
Mine has been running great for the 6 weeks I've had it. It has been run at speeds in my sig the whole time I've had it. Stock volts, stock cooler and great temps. This card has given me 160 hours of oblivion goodness.
What makes the purchase worth it to me is getting about 700mhz core and maxing out the memory. If I only get a 10% boost at stock and can't oc than $100 out of pocket after I sell the gt is way too much. Sorry about the ranting.
I won't presume to tell you what to do, but I will note what I have observed from what I have seen and read about the 7900's. I don't own one and i decided to to stick with my 7800GT. The cooler on the 7800 is certainly superior and it provides cooling for the ram as well. The 7900GT looks smaller and much more cheaply made. The list price was much cheaper from the start and I believe that Nvidia kicked up the speeds and cheapened the product. For someone like me, who doesn't really need the extra speed, not getting the 7900 makes sense, but if I was a hardcore gamer, I am sure that I would not resist.
I got the EVGA 7900GT KO last week and its been overclocked ever since without seeing a single problem. 1.4V mod and 10k pot on the memory has gotten me to 630 core and 1940 memory (mem did 1840 on stock voltage as it was). I know my card is capable of more but until I get better cooling I won't know.
Opinions are all over the place on this. I guess I'll try the card out for awhile but hang on to my old one as back up until I'm sure it's safe to sell. I just want to avoid downtime if I have to rma. I use my pc to pay bills, shop, etc..
This is kind of a random thought but I wonder if oblivion is causing problems with video drivers which people are mistaking for defective cards. I thought my 7800gt was bad when oblivion started artifacting badly. I was sure my card was fried until I did the obvious and reinstalled drivers and problem solved. Alot of people are buying 7900 cards and playing oblivion so maybe it's just a coincidence they're having problems. Maybe my brain is fried from reading too many threads about 7900 problems.
Well, my curiousity got the best of me and I came home after work and opened up my 7900gt. Got it installed and ran 3dmark05. Clocks were 500\1500 out of the box. Scored 8500 some odd points, about 1000 more than my oc'd 7800gt @ 470\1000. Not bad at all. Installed coolbits2.0 and detected optimal frequency at 546\1856. Nice for stock voltage. I then manually changed clocks to 540\1550 to play it safe and ran 3dmark05 again. Starts out ok for a second then begins major artifacting followed shortly by a freeze up. Ctrl+Alt+Del got me back to desktop and I typed this post. My 6600gt and 7800gt both oc'd without doing this. Crap.
snakeskinner
05-11-06, 02:56 PM
Well, my curiousity got the best of me and I came home after work and opened up my 7900gt. Got it installed and ran 3dmark05. Clocks were 500\1500 out of the box. Scored 8500 some odd points, about 1000 more than my oc'd 7800gt @ 470\1000. Not bad at all. Installed coolbits2.0 and detected optimal frequency at 546\1856. Nice for stock voltage. I then manually changed clocks to 540\1550 to play it safe and ran 3dmark05 again. Starts out ok for a second then begins major artifacting followed shortly by a freeze up. Ctrl+Alt+Del got me back to desktop and I typed this post. My 6600gt and 7800gt both oc'd without doing this. Crap.
What drivers are you using?
84.21 works best for my 7900GT, and both cards I have had would do 585 on the core at stock voltage. The first card would do 1840 on the memory at stock voltage, the second card would only do 1662. Both cards also did 700+ on the core after 1.5v mod.
Marlon
What drivers are you using?
84.21 works best for my 7900GT, and both cards I have had would do 585 on the core at stock voltage. The first card would do 1840 on the memory at stock voltage, the second card would only do 1662. Both cards also did 700+ on the core after 1.5v mod.
Marlon
I was using the drivers from the included cd. I forgot to check the driver version before I took the card out and replaced it with my 7800gt. Right now the driver shows 8.1.9.8. I never changed it back but I thought those were the ones I alredy had so maybe it reverted when it detected my old card? I guess it doesn't matter now because I sent the card back. I think it had an older bios that was later replaced with something that lowered the delta. Reviews of the card on newegg showed speeds of 520\1540 for several other people compared to 500\1500 for mine so I think they got updated cards. I saw no reason to mess with bios flashing when I could just get my money back and buy something solid. I think I'll either wait for news of a new 7900gt revision or get an x1800xt. Maybe even an x1900xt if I can find a good deal. I favor no brand over another. Thanks for helping, everyone.
kenny_k
05-12-06, 03:23 PM
My EVGA 7900GT CO (500/1500), not OC'd, worked great for 3 days. Then artifacts, corruption, freezing, monitor goes black. Waiting for RMA, hope this one's ok. Problems appear to happen within the first 2 days to a week. Do want to add that EVG does have a very good customer support team if you do have a problem.
Soichiro
05-12-06, 04:49 PM
Installed coolbits2.0 and detected optimal frequency at 546\1856. Nice for stock voltage. I then manually changed clocks to 540\1550 to play it safe and ran 3dmark05 again. Starts out ok for a second then begins major artifacting followed shortly by a freeze up.
The auto-detect feature in Coolbits sucks. It's more like a random number generator. Don't assume it's the card, because the core on my 7900GT wouldn't go above 530 at stock volts. Go download ATITool (it works on nVidia cards now) and use that auto-detect thingy, because it works a lot better than Coolbits.
Edit: Never mind, I just saw that you sent it back. :rolleyes:
icedragn
05-12-06, 05:40 PM
The auto-detect feature in Coolbits sucks. It's more like a random number generator. Don't assume it's the card, because the core on my 7900GT wouldn't go above 530 at stock volts. Go download ATITool (it works on nVidia cards now) and use that auto-detect thingy, because it works a lot better than Coolbits.
Edit: Never mind, I just saw that you sent it back. :rolleyes:
atitool makes my computer freeze up as well, i have a 7600GT however, 580/1500 stock, once atitool hits around 612~ core the comp locks up and i have to reset it, i have tried 84.21 and the beta 84.43 drivers, dunno if this is driver issue, or heat issue, but the temps get up to around 64C.
Soichiro
05-12-06, 07:15 PM
atitool makes my computer freeze up as well, i have a 7600GT however, 580/1500 stock, once atitool hits around 612~ core the comp locks up and i have to reset it, i have tried 84.21 and the beta 84.43 drivers, dunno if this is driver issue, or heat issue, but the temps get up to around 64C.
Kinda wierd, on my comp it'll start artifacting before it gets anywhere near freezing up. Maybe it's one of those things where it doesn't like some people (or in this case, some vid cards) :shrug:
The auto-detect feature in Coolbits sucks. It's more like a random number generator. Don't assume it's the card, because the core on my 7900GT wouldn't go above 530 at stock volts. Go download ATITool (it works on nVidia cards now) and use that auto-detect thingy, because it works a lot better than Coolbits.
Edit: Never mind, I just saw that you sent it back. :rolleyes:
It worked on my 2 other cards. If it was random it wouldn't come up with (about)the same numbers every time. I am ignorant but it's what I've personally experienced.
Special7
05-12-06, 08:38 PM
Coolbits sucks, plain and simple. I detected like 548/852 for me yet my card goes well past that. :|
I stand corrected. I just mean it doesn't seem random. I'll have to give ATItool a shot with my 7800gt. The NV5 keeps it pretty cool so hopefully I'll have some room for improvement.
icedragn
05-13-06, 02:50 AM
Coolbits sucks, plain and simple. I detected like 548/852 for me yet my card goes well past that. :|
you have to also understand that it says detect optimal frequencies, optimal, it doesnt say detect the maximum frequency to the mhz, but im not sure how they actually "detect" the optimal frequencies, but ya... had to point that out.
Soichiro
05-13-06, 08:15 AM
I've heard of people who have had Coolbits detect a speed that causes the comp to artifact and freeze to death, and then next time they hit the button, it detects a speed BELOW STOCK! :eek:
I've heard of people who have had Coolbits detect a speed that causes the comp to artifact and freeze to death, and then next time they hit the button, it detects a speed BELOW STOCK! :eek:
With 7900 series or all nvidia cards? This sounds like what I've been reading about 7900gt's & gtx's for the most part. It worked ok with my old 6600gt and 7800gt. Multiple tests came up with the same numbers with said cards but when I tried with the 7900gt the test froze up for awhile but finally snapped out of it after a minute. Then I even lowered the clocks before I ran 3dmark05 and still crashed it.
Soichiro
05-13-06, 07:39 PM
I think it's mainly the new cards (7600 and 7900).
Yah, I hate coolbits now that I got my 7900gtx, it just causes some very weird problems for me..I'm sticking with ati tool/powerstrip
Also does anyone know what determines when the card kicks into 3d high power mode? I can get about 20 more mhz on the core on high power mode versus 3d low power...just wondering how the modes are determined..
Special7
05-19-06, 01:02 PM
3DMode obviously means you have to be doing something 3D. :p
Vengance_01
05-19-06, 01:14 PM
7900GT will easily beat an oc'd 7800GT, 4 more pipelines, it's a more efficient card, not to mention they oc very well. Its the same card LOL just a die shrink. Cores are the same, besides the 4 extra pipes.
Special7
05-19-06, 01:20 PM
Its the same card LOL just a die shrink. Cores are the same, besides the 4 extra pipes.
It's actually not, nVidia tweaked the card quite a bit.
Alien1099
05-19-06, 01:31 PM
I have two 7900GTs in my system at the moment running SLI and I've had 0 problems, even after volt modding and overclocking them to 670ish/870ish (from 550/780).
I will say this. Coolbits would NOT autodetect properly until I increased the voltage to the core. It was just wigging out when I tried it. The core on my card (the other is my brother's) would only overclock by 15MHz when I first got it. Since people were able to push the clock speed up by 100MHz or more after volt modding, it tells me that they aren't supplying enough voltage to the core on these cards, probably so they can sell the same cards as "higher end" models when they do supply enough.
KillrBuckeye
05-19-06, 01:44 PM
Coolbits autodetected clocks around 550/1550 for my plain EVGA 7900GT (stock 450/660), and I ran these settings while gaming for 3 straight hours (COD2, RTCW:ET). I didn't detect any problems while gaming. However, when I rebooted (to go into Linux), the video signal was corrupted. There were flashing white specks all over the POST screen and in my boot menu. I decided to go into Windows, and once the driver loaded things got even worse, to the point that the signal became unusable and the monitor turned black. I was freaking out at that point, but when I reset the system, everything was fine. Based on this experience and all the horror stories I've been reading, I decided not to push my luck, so I scaled back the clocks to a modest 490/700 and haven't had a problem since.
I'm not sure if my card overheated or what, but I really don't want risk an RMA just so I can score an additional 1500 points in 3DMark05. The card offers plenty of performance for me at stock or moderate overclocks.
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