jimbob007

The first victim was

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out Dual DVI PCI-E
From eBuyer

Which I purchased in September 2006 and died Apr 2007. About 7 Month Life
See here for support I received

RESOLVED ATI Radeon X1800 Series Problems

I managed to get a refund for this card and so decided to buy a

VGA GeForce 8800 GTS SuperClocked 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
From Overclockers UK

Which I purchased in May 2007 and died Aug 2008. About 15 Month Life

Everything was working fine until a couple of days ago when I started noticing problems. I had been using it during the day and left it on overnight when I went to my pc the screen was all mangled and had graphics errors see image:

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/4817/fdgdfgdpf5.jpg


I installed the latest drivers from EVGA and it started working again with no problems. Until I left it on overnight again and woke up to the same nightmare. Only this time installing the drivers wouldn’t work. When the pc loads there are vertical lines (glitches) running down the screen on the loading screens. Images here:

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/5340/dsc00727cy0.jpg


http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/8474/dsc00728lz2.jpg


http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/7113/dsc00731qj5.jpg


I found that I was able to use safe mode with no problem and even windows on the ms basic drivers but as soon as the nvidea drivers go in CRASH BANG graphical spazery. I decided to format to no avail but have managed to install everything with the basic display drivers. I decided to contact Overclockers UK to arrange a replacement but I'm not holding my breath for any real customer service other than a plethora of patience testing. I'm reluctant to deal with EVGA because from what I have been reading the nearest support is in Germany. Here’s a link to a guy who has similar problems with the same card and not getting any support:

http://www.denyerec.co.uk/posts/274

Here is some correspondence I have received from Overclockers UK


Graphics card has developed fault. Lines appear on start of pc and loading. Hard drive formatted and clean installed. When drivers new or old loaded severe display problems occur. Technician has diagnosed as faulty please arrange replacement.
Support Details:
Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
Motherboard Driver:
Motherboard Chipset:
Motherboard BIOS: 2704
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz
Memory: OCZ PC2-6400 DDR2 2GB Gold
Memory Latency:
PSU: Corsair HX Series 620W Modular PSU
Graphics:
Graphics Driver: 177.79_XP32
Sound Card:
Sound Driver:
Operating system: XP Pro SP3
Changes prior to problem: None


I have e-mailed your organisation to request the replacements of my faulty graphics card. I have yet to receive a response and will not be subjected to ques in your expensive phone system. My computer is currently inoperable and will remain so until this has been resolved. I have heard many horror stories regarding your customer support and was hoping I could be proven wrong. This is slowly diminishing any will I might have had to purchase anything else from your company or recommending it to anyone. I am now going to call the citizens advice bureau to help intervene in this situation. I will be using the full extent of the law if all else fails.


Dear James

Thank youy for the web note

As far as I can see, you have only sent in 1 previous email to our returns department and that was today. This will be answered in the near future. The returns process is as good as customers make it and making a complaint on the same day as sending the returns message and then threatening the law against us is probably not the best way to go to get a speedy reponse.

Regards

Anthony
Customer services



Is this an indication of unwillingness to assist my case? Is this an indication that the response time of my case will now be reduced? Granted I may have acted a little hastily and aggressively but such a response from a professional organisation is unnecessary. An estimated waiting time, confirmation that my support request was received and maybe even an apology for my grievances would have sufficed. Instead you decide that people that indirectly pay your wages need to get a dose of their own medicine. I think it is probably the time to start the “dealing with angry customer’s course”. You seem to expect everyone with a faulty product to act happily, gracefully and have no cause for complaint. But it’s nice to know that your organisation can respond so quickly to anything other than dealing with the return of my faulty product. Correspondence noted for future reference.



Dear James

Thank you for the web note.

We understand that customers are very unhappy and we try our best, which ever the department to answer them quickly. I just find it wrong the tone you took in your first message. As I said the relivant department will answer you message asap, but I can not make it happen any quicker than that. And I think it is time to let us get on with our jobs instead of answering silly webnotes, but I know this will not happen.

Regards

Anthony
Customer Services



Then I got this

Thank you for your webnote.

Unfortunately this product is out of warranty with us, you will need to contact EVGA directly to gain a replacement.
--------------------------------------------
Yea I admit I was an *** but just look at these responses. This is what happens when you deal with OCUK. I tried to call them but the technical support line was engaged and the customers service is apparently ran by flamers who tend to prefer to argue with customers than help them. I decided to buy a cheap gfx card from ebuyer to make sure it’s the graphics card that’s the problem.

PowerColor HD 3850 Pro 512MB GDDR3 256bit Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card

I should be getting this in the next couple of days. Then it looks like I'm going to have to deal with EVGA which frankly I'm not looking forward to.

If anyone has any idea what could be causing my pc to eat the gfx cards please let me know. I have followed this guide to setup my pc just with my timing on the memory. http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...0-deluxe-board

Previously my bios was set to Auto under PCI Express Frequency and this guide advises it to be set at 100. Could having this set to Auto be what’s causing my problems and making the cards burn out over time?



Here are my other system specs

Power Supply - Corsair HX Series 620W Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC

Motherboard - ASUS P5W DH Deluxe SKT 775 dual-core Core2Duo Conroe ready Crossfire 8channel audio ATX

CPU - Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz - Skt775 Fsb1066 4mb Cache
Overclocked to 3.02 ghz a friend helped me overclock and build my pc.
I have had it running at 3.30 ghz for the last few weeks but now its at default 2.4 to ensure more accurate diagnostics.

RAM - OCZ (OCZ2G8002GK) OCZ PC2-6400 DDR2 2GB Gold XTC Dual Kit (5-5-5-12) 2G Kit 800MHz Gold XTC

Video Card(s) - EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS SuperClocked 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

Hard Drive(s) - Western Digital WD1500ADFD Raptor Sata 150GB 10kRPM 16MB Cache - Oem
Samsung HD753LJ 750GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm *32MB Cache*
Maxtor 200GB Removable (not sata)

Operating System - Windows XP Pro

Case - Coolermaster Centurion 531 Silver

CPU Heatsink - Arctic-Cooling Freezer 7 PRO - P4 775 up to 4.4 Ghz

PC Front fans = Hiper 120mm HiperFlow Chrome Blade Case Fan With Blue LED
Hiper 80mm 3 pin Case Fan - Blue LED with Clear Frame and Clear HiperFlow Blades

Side Fans - Hiper 80mm 3 pin Case Fan - Blue LED with Clear Frame and Clear HiperFlow Blades
Hiper 80mm Case Fan - Clear HiperFlow Frame and Blades

Rear Fan - Antec Cooling Fan 120mm Blue Led Lights

Other Fan - Antec Spot Cool System Cooler-mounts Virtually Anywhere Inside A Case -blue Led

Fan Controller - Aerocool GateWatch Silver Fan Controller

Monitor - Philips 109E50 19 FST 0.25 92khz TCO03
Samsung SM2032BW 20"TFT Monitor Widescreen 1680x1050 3000:1 300cd/m2 2ms VGA/DVI-D Glossy Black

Burner - LG GSA-H10ABAL 16xDVDRW/RAM Internal Black - OEM

Other - I also have an old analogue TV card

UPS - Plexus V 650VA UPS with LCD Screen & AVR

FreoHeaveho

I am not sure what you want us to do. Have you been overclocking the card, as that looks to me like a damaged memory issue. Also, make sure the PCIe slot is clean.

jimbob007

Thanks for your reply. I just want to try to get some idea of what’s going on because it’s happened twice. I will check again that the slot is clean but it looked fine last time I checked. It’s like my pc wont let a graphics card live for much more than year. I didn’t overclock either of my gfx cards but I have had my CPU overclocked. The only options regarding pci in the bios are

PCI Express Freq
PCI Clock syn. mode

Which previously have both been set to auto. After reading the guide I see that people are setting.

PCI Express Freq--auto ----------------100 YES LOCK TO 100
PCI Clock syn. mode--auto ---------------33 or 33.3 YES 33.3

I have now set these settings like this but what I am wondering is with a CPU overclock and these set to auto, could this cause the deterioration of the gfx cards?

FreoHeaveho

unlikely.

jimbob007

Well I'm hoping 3rd time lucky otherwise using my pc is going to become pretty expensive to run over the next few years.