a while back i bought a MSI fx5600, vtdr-128, from ebay of all places. the seller offered a limited replacement window, but i didnt have the chance to test it in that time. this lead to a lot of frustration.
i was convinced the card was dead. there was no R in RGB output on the VGA connector, although the DVI > VGA adapter worked fine. this was the least of my worries, because every single time i loaded windows (xp) everything would freeze within five minutes. computer was useless with the card, sometimes i couldnt even post, let alone boot. i was mad at MSI for a while too, because they would only suggest to "return the card or try it in a different motherboard". the latter wasnt an option, and it did the same thing in 3 different mobo's. i was kicking myself around for waiting, angry at the world and lamenting ever buying anything from ebay.
it took a couple weeks, but one day i was convinced the card was trash, so i decided to pop the nifty heatspreader off and try to tack it onto my old ti4200.
now i curse myself for not taking pictures! i broke one of the retention pins, but when i removed the heatspreader from the front of the card, i inspected it. there was a small smudge of TIM completely covering one of the chips. i knew that stuff was on there, so it couldnt have happened during handling. i grabbed a tiny brush that came with my electric razor along with a magnifying glass and went to work.
around 45 minutes later i decided to take one last attempt at running the card, seeing as it wouldnt even run 2D for more than 5 minutes, my hopes werent too high. making sure there was only a little TIM on the chips, i clamped the heatspreader down with a vice grip, popped it in my mobo, and booted up.
i jumped for joy! it took a while to sink in, but after running 3dmark and aquamark over and over, as well as playing UT2003, the card actually truely really completely perfectly worked!
now i seriously doubt this has happened too often, MSI is known for producing quality. but now this makes me wonder just how many people this has happened to. and i dont doubt the quality control of such companies, but its obvious this card slipped through as they were selling quite a few of them (thanks to toms hardware)
now i'm out to buy a new cooler as i broke the retention pin, but its fit as a whistle with the DVI adapter. just hoping someone else could benefit from my experiance!
i was convinced the card was dead. there was no R in RGB output on the VGA connector, although the DVI > VGA adapter worked fine. this was the least of my worries, because every single time i loaded windows (xp) everything would freeze within five minutes. computer was useless with the card, sometimes i couldnt even post, let alone boot. i was mad at MSI for a while too, because they would only suggest to "return the card or try it in a different motherboard". the latter wasnt an option, and it did the same thing in 3 different mobo's. i was kicking myself around for waiting, angry at the world and lamenting ever buying anything from ebay.
it took a couple weeks, but one day i was convinced the card was trash, so i decided to pop the nifty heatspreader off and try to tack it onto my old ti4200.
now i curse myself for not taking pictures! i broke one of the retention pins, but when i removed the heatspreader from the front of the card, i inspected it. there was a small smudge of TIM completely covering one of the chips. i knew that stuff was on there, so it couldnt have happened during handling. i grabbed a tiny brush that came with my electric razor along with a magnifying glass and went to work.
around 45 minutes later i decided to take one last attempt at running the card, seeing as it wouldnt even run 2D for more than 5 minutes, my hopes werent too high. making sure there was only a little TIM on the chips, i clamped the heatspreader down with a vice grip, popped it in my mobo, and booted up.
i jumped for joy! it took a while to sink in, but after running 3dmark and aquamark over and over, as well as playing UT2003, the card actually truely really completely perfectly worked!
now i seriously doubt this has happened too often, MSI is known for producing quality. but now this makes me wonder just how many people this has happened to. and i dont doubt the quality control of such companies, but its obvious this card slipped through as they were selling quite a few of them (thanks to toms hardware)
now i'm out to buy a new cooler as i broke the retention pin, but its fit as a whistle with the DVI adapter. just hoping someone else could benefit from my experiance!
