Thinking about switching to NV, need some advice...

Hello, I'm a total NV n00b. The short time i've been building comps has been with ATI and since my x800 died I've been dying to start gaming again. I know the potential of a modded 7900 can surpass the potential of a 1900 so that's what I am looking at. Specifically a 7900GTX.

Would you recommend the BFG 7900GTX? The lifetime warranty really appeals to me. How do these cards overclock?

Is NV like ATI where the NV built cards overclock best, and 3rd party cards do not? What brands generally OC the best?

Thanks for your time, I'm coming back to gaming with a vengeance

apparently there have been loads of problems with the bfg 7900gtx, so everyone here will recomend evga and leadtech..

you'll have to get someone with better knowledge them me though

although i currently purchased an eVGA 7900Gt for a friend and its been running everything fine, i am constantly worried about it, and if i were you i wouldnt be looking at the 7900 series at this time.

what are some of the problems with these cards? running too hot? unstable?

the eVGA seems nice but there warranty is for the cards lifetime, not how long you own it. Which could be 5 years, could be 1 depending on what they determine the "lifetime" to be.

This lifetime warranty is valid for the life of the retail product...

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just go with the 1900. alot of the 7900s have big instability problems. nv doesn't make their own also, so there are only 3rd party cards. evga is the best, they have the step-up program 2. but i would either go for a 1900 or wait till dx10 cards come out. i'm thinking about switching my 7900gt ko sc to an x1900xt. but dunno if or when.

A lot of people are having problems with their computers locking up and BSOD'ing with the Geforce 7600/7900 series.

I own a 7600GT - no problems here :|

fordsierra4x4 said:

I own a 7600GT - no problems here :|

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same here..

I own an eVGA 7900GT and so far it's fine, I've been sifting through forums and stuff trying to find info and there's some sort of instability problems caused by the factory OC.

After looking at the eVGA website, I'm seeing people having to do 5+ RMA's. That would suck.

I don't think I'd give up my 7900gt tho, I've never seen games run this smooth on max everything. In fact, I'm buying another one next week!

From talking to ViperJohn he seemed to think the gtx are okay and that it's only the 7900gt that have the problems. Does that sound about right to you guys? I mean even if it has a problem a BFG has a lifetime warranty, I would just be out the days while it is being rma'd right?

veryhumid said:

From talking to ViperJohn he seemed to think the gtx are okay and that it's only the 7900gt that have the problems. Does that sound about right to you guys? I mean even if it has a problem a BFG has a lifetime warranty, I would just be out the days while it is being rma'd right?

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Sounds right. Seems the majority of the cards that have these problems are the 7900GTs, although I've noticed throughout other PC forums the 7600GTs problems are becoming commonplace. There are few complaints of 7900GTXs not overclocking well, but I'm not going to nitpick due to the extreme nature of that card.

veryhumid said:

From talking to ViperJohn he seemed to think the gtx are okay and that it's only the 7900gt that have the problems. Does that sound about right to you guys?

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No. The 7900GTX are having the problems as well. Do a google search. I just RMA'd mine.

veryhumid said:

Hello, I'm a total NV n00b. The short time i've been building comps has been with ATI and since my x800 died I've been dying to start gaming again. I know the potential of a modded 7900 can surpass the potential of a 1900 so that's what I am looking at. Specifically a 7900GTX.

Would you recommend the BFG 7900GTX? The lifetime warranty really appeals to me. How do these cards overclock?

Is NV like ATI where the NV built cards overclock best, and 3rd party cards do not? What brands generally OC the best?

Thanks for your time, I'm coming back to gaming with a vengeance

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You got a link for that? The nV cards require hard-mods for vcore boost, ATi does not. Also in terms of IQ its going to take some "getting used to" because its a visible degrade from ATi's. It took me about a week or two to stop noticing the shimmering and wave effect.

No I don't have a link, just what I understand from speaking with viperjohn about the same question. He puts both cards to the max for many many customers (he was saying he is doing about 1 ATI for every 30 NV) and if he says the 7900 go further I believe him!

veryhumid said:

No I don't have a link, just what I understand from speaking with viperjohn about the same question. He puts both cards to the max for many many customers (he was saying he is doing about 1 ATI for every 30 NV) and if he says the 7900 go further I believe him!

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You dont understand... The reason why he is doing more has nothing to do with the number of people using the card. It is purely because it requires hardmods and therefor people send the cards to him to be modded since they cannot do it themselves.

ATi on the otherhand has access to all voltage options and therefor needs no mods whatsover just cooling. If you ask him the question like that he will say the exact same thing.

Yes the GTXs clock higher but that doesnt mean you get anything from it (over ATi)

Wish I had read this before I bought my 7900GTX.. (and there are many more examples if you look for them)

Sentential said:

You dont understand... The reason why he is doing more has nothing to do with the number of people using the card. It is purely because it requires hardmods and therefor people send the cards to him to be modded since they cannot do it themselves.

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I'm aware that is the reason he doesn't do as many ATI. But he still has worked extensively on both cards and told me when he maxes out either one, the only place ati stays ahead is in 3D05 where he said ATI uses a lot of driver optimizations increase their score.

Kilyin said:

Wish I had read this before I bought my 7900GTX.. (and there are many more examples if you look for them)

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wow, I thought that was just for the GT. At least there are warranties...

the x1000 line may score less than the 7900 in 3dmark. it is true, that is because the ati cards have more work to do. ati cards support hdr and aa running at the same time. that makes it do more work than a 7900gt that only supports one or the other. but, ofcourse that would have to enabled in 3dmark06. by default both cards should run the same. although there is speculation that the ati cards have better image quality but for a hefty price. nv cards are alot less expensive. well i mean the gt line. gt's sell more than the gtxs because of their fair price/performance ratio. x1900xt and x1900xtx are almost similar in price. but to be fair to both sides, they are too overpriced anyway. they should just give us free cards. or cards for 100 bucks to keep us happy and coming back for more. not 599-699 for the best of the best that IS obsolete as soon as it hits the market. (theres always at least 2 better lineups waiting to be released when 'they' are pleased with their revenue figures.) but then we all chose capitalism, and we have to deal with it.

Yeah, the 7900gtx's have problems too, I've RMA'ed one. Check out EVGA's forums, there are plenty of people there with bad 7900gtx's.

Its a real shame, I've been a Nvidia fan for years

veryhumid said:

Hello, I'm a total NV n00b. The short time i've been building comps has been with ATI and since my x800 died I've been dying to start gaming again. I know the potential of a modded 7900 can surpass the potential of a 1900 so that's what I am looking at. Specifically a 7900GTX.

Would you recommend the BFG 7900GTX? The lifetime warranty really appeals to me. How do these cards overclock?

Is NV like ATI where the NV built cards overclock best, and 3rd party cards do not? What brands generally OC the best?

Thanks for your time, I'm coming back to gaming with a vengeance

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Hi VH

Things are a little different with NV cards as their are no BbNV cards at all. NV only supplies the cores. Flextronics in China builds the cards for eVGA, BFG, XFX and possibly PNY. They all come down the same stuffing and assembly lines. The differences are the bios the card is flashed with (clocks spec by eVGA, BFG, XFX, etc) and final packaging in the appropriate OEM box after card final test.

I do not know if Flextronics builds ASUS cards or not. I have modded many 7900GTX's of all brands except PNY and so far the ASUS 7900GTX have OC considerably better on average thqan any other. ASUS hold the top 4 best clean modded clock spots here for 7900GTX cards. BTW these ASUS cards were all the standard clocked, non OC version cards going in.

The 7900GTX's can suffer from the same instability issues that 7900GT's suffer from. That comes from a bad lot of cores that got out of the FAB and inadequate testing by Flextronic to weed them out. It effects all brands equally although I have not seen an ASUS affected yet. I have two eVGA 7900GTX OC series here right now that were bad right out of the box and have to be RMA'ed (they were also only two cards apart in serial number too). Cards with these bad cores are very easy to spot in initial tests. I can usually tell if they are effected the instant 3DM03's Battle of Proxycon starts. It just go downhill from there.

Viper