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View Full Version : Is this Ti500 DOA or what?


Boilerhead
01-10-02, 12:16 PM
Pulled the Xtasy Ti 500 out of the P4 last night and popped the dinky ramsinks off. Used AS adhesive to secure Thermaltake ramsinks to it.

After installing it onto the KR7A-RAID it booted into the pattern shown below.

I immediately shut off the box and pulled the card. Upon examination I was unable to see any problems, brushed everything off and slapped it back in, same result.

Pulled it out and popped the new ramsinks off after approx 1 hour set time on the AS, I figured I should yank them before it was fully cured. Visually I didn't see any pins bridged, but I used a razor to scrape the edges above the pins anyway and then brushed it again. Still booted with a checkerboard. Visually the card appears perfect.

Literally reading between the lines I went into the bios and backed the FSB down to 133 with no luck. Still the same checkerboard.

It will boot into windows with the checkerboard mask changing to only thick vertical lines, like ten of them, so I installed 23.11 drivers just for kicks, but upon reboot when it gets into w2k all that is visible is a checkerboard or bright blue squares on a white background.

"It's dead, Jim" right?

Next question, I pretty much roached a reasonable RMA on it, does Visiontek _repair_ cards? It would be worth a couple of hundred bucks to have a second Ti 500 (yeah I ordered a new one Fed-Ex next day already) on hand in the event (eventuality?) that I smoke the new one.

In fairness, I was occasionally running it at 280/580 some of the time with a 120mm boxer blasting at it from below, but I did get some good numbers out of it in 3dmark 2k1.

I have no idea what happened to it and it's a real bummer, especially on the heels of my success in attaining a stable 200mhz FSB, albeit at CAS 2.5.

Is this a total loss and am I SOL? Anyone seen this display problem on a GF3 before?

Henry

Kent
01-10-02, 12:25 PM
None of the adhesive "spilled over" onto the board? Anyone else?

Maximus Nickus
01-10-02, 12:30 PM
I had this when I broke some bridges when I got the sinks off, but if its visusally perfick then re-attach the original ramsinks and gpu cooler then RMA it.

Worked for me.

Boilerhead
01-10-02, 12:44 PM
No AS adhesive (it is capacitive) on any bridges and all bridges are visually intact as far as I can see. I examined it using my Optivisor with the extra magnifier loupe and it really looks perfect.

It was a fairly light application of adhesive and had good coverage only on the tops of the chips. I used my rubber padded mini Quick-Grip clamps to hold the heat sinks in place with firm, but not overpowering pressure for approx 45 minutes of set time and heated the card twice with a blow dryer to accelerate the set. I didn't get it scorching hot, it was cool enough to hold comfortably. All I can think is that possibly uneven expansion killed a mediocre solder joint somewhere on the card, but I can't see any visual indication of any potential failure points. I was thinking about freezing the thing and trying it after that just for kicks. yeah, what the heck, I may as well...

I suppose I can try an RMA on it, one never knows.

Henry

Maximus Nickus
01-10-02, 01:16 PM
The RMA will work.

Oh and IF YOU ARE CERTAIN YOU NEVER broke anything getting the Ramsinks off or spillin AS2 then the hairdryer did it.

I did the same (impatient) and the heat was to much (even on a low setting), you should weigh the ramsinks down with something that doesn't touch the board either as that can damage stuff.

Leave it all night.