BFG gtx 285 for 274 at BB BM

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groebuck

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I just got a BFG gtx285 for 274.99 it did not say sale just marked 274.99..funny thing is it was right next to a 275 for 289 lol.
 
Definitely YMMV.

I was in BB in Holmdel, NJ yesterday, they had one for $354.99
 
It was probably sitting next to a 9800gt 1gb for 249 usd also. BB has the most screwed up prices. If I see someone shopping the GPU's I ALWAYS let them know what's up. Good Samaritan I is.
 
lol nah they seem to be closing out the 9800's They had a 260 for 174 or the 285 for 274
 
saw it at my local BB for $306.48... list price was $374.99.

Maybe they'll accept the 10% off mover's coupon.
 
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Yep I was actually @ BB today to buy the GTX275 @ $289 but found the GTX285 for $279 !!
 
** warning - these cards MAY have an incorrect bios from the factory
Found two other website forums discussing this same issue:

crap - so I try out the card, runs DOD Source just fine... then to see what it does with 3Dmark2k6... well it's making all kinds of high pitched sounds. About halfway through the benchmarks the card crashes...

I crank up GPU-Z and find the GPU is at 694MHz, memory at 1296MHz, and Shaders at 1584MHz!

It should be running at 666 for the GPU, 1242 for the memory, and 1512 for the shaders! now what ?
 
if it were actually stable without having to underclock it down to OC levels, that might be the case, but it's not. Basically I'm going to have to take it back and pay $10 more to get a 275... which is sad. I guess the other option is to RMA it, but I would rather not have to mess with that unless they would send me a card first. I called their tech support (BFG) - soon as I described the clock speed being too high he was like "...Ohhhh ok let me setup an RMA for you" as if he knew of the issue. I asked if they could just send me a link to the right BIOS file and he said no.
 
seanmcd said:
if it were actually stable without having to underclock it down to OC levels, that might be the case, but it's not. Basically I'm going to have to take it back and pay $10 more to get a 275... which is sad. I guess the other option is to RMA it, but I would rather not have to mess with that unless they would send me a card first. I called their tech support (BFG) - soon as I described the clock speed being too high he was like "...Ohhhh ok let me setup an RMA for you" as if he knew of the issue. I asked if they could just send me a link to the right BIOS file and he said no.
Click to expand...
If I were you I would play it smart. Use rivatuner, clock it down to default 285 speeds, then benchmark for stability. If stable, then flash the card with a normal 285 bios. I wouldn't take it back unless it completely was not stable. Heck even if I had to go down a couple notches then stock, I would still keep it if it were stable. It would outperform the 275.
 
Yeah just clock it down, test then flash it, that's all they'll do if you send it back anyway

On a side note i'd probably still rather have the $220-240 GTX 280s that are about, just for best bang per buck
 
This happened to me on a 280 I got from Newegg. It was the set at the OC of the next higher card in the 280 lineup. Not an incorrect bios, just a better clock. I figured OK, more performance for the money and its rock stable. Whats the problem?
 
alik4041 said:
If I were you I would play it smart. Use rivatuner, clock it down to default 285 speeds, then benchmark for stability. If stable, then flash the card with a normal 285 bios. I wouldn't take it back unless it completely was not stable. Heck even if I had to go down a couple notches then stock, I would still keep it if it were stable. It would outperform the 275.
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Well if I could get a bios from someone I trusted to have the correct one I would consider that. I also considered editing the bios speeds myself but who knows what kind of memory tweaks they might have done for either bios (they may be different?)

Fluke said:
Whats the problem?
Click to expand...
The problem is it's not stable unless underclocked to the speed is supposed to run at...

Sidenote: although they won't send me a BIOS :) - BFG suppurt gets two thumbs up for answering the phone immediately on a Saturday, and replying to emails immediately on a Sunday!!
 
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Sorry. Missed the part where you said it crashes. 6 am is too early. Don't do a standard RMA. You'll probably get a refurb back. Return to BB or post to the video card section here. A BFG rep reads it and he could get you a new replacement.

Also, don't downclock to see if it's stable. I got a bad 7900GTX once and did that. It fixed the problem but when I tried to RMA and told BFG tech support I had downclocked, they voided my warranty. On a brand new card! Asked for the supervisor and the guy said that's who said to void my warranty.
 
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Fluke said:
Also, don't downclock to see if it's stable. I got a bad 7900GTX once and did that. It fixed the problem but when I tried to RMA and told BFG tech support I had downclocked, they voided my warranty. On a brand new card! Asked for the supervisor and the guy said that's who said to void my warranty.
Click to expand...
I disagree. He said that he got a card with a DIFFERENT more advanced bios then what it should have arrived with. Meaning that if he downclocks the card to what it SHOULD have, he should be fine...and they would have no argument. You have to remember that he got the card for a steal. Again downclock the card before flashing...this is for your test purpose only and they have no way of telling you downclocked it. Bios should be easy to find...i'll help you out with a search of my own.
 
thanks but too late - I took it back to BB. I just got a 275 instead, which was what I intended to get in the first place :) I modified my 8800 GTS bios in the past and I know what I'm doing, but just wasn't interested in playing around with it. I really should have been patient and RMA'd it... but oh well
 
proof of gtx260 for cheapness below (sorry was taken on phone)

 
dangit, couldn't help myself. Took the 275 back and tried another 285 (it is still on clearance at my BB). I figured this time I'd just RMA it...

Again it was clocked too high, BUT this time it's rock solid. Tortured it with furmark for a few hours, then looped a maxed out 3dmark2k6 overnight without any issues. w00t!
 
the clearance one is the 285OC so it will be overclocked. gratz! I took mine back yesterday I am doing 260 sli ! woot
 
right but it's an OC version that's actually running at the OC2 card speeds by default - 694MHz, memory at 1296MHz, and Shaders at 1584MHz!
 
I got one of these from Best Buy as well. Isn't quite stable at the stock clocks, as I was getting not quite crashes to desktop (game stays running, windows gives the "display driver failed but successfully restarted" message). While annoying, I guess it's better than the game flat out crashing and having me lose all of my progress.

I dropped the clock to 680MHz using EVGA Precision (because it actually works in Win7) and it doesn't crash at all now. I haven't tried to push it any higher, but it's silky smooth already anyway. I'm wondering if I should just be happy with this or not?
 
I too bought one of those BFG 285OC's at Best Buy which came way overclocked at 694MHz, and thought I'd throw in my experience.

Games would lock up instantly. Using EVGA Precision, I underclocked it to the 666MHz as listed on the box, but overheated and crashed some 40 minutes into a game. The card does seem to run perfect at stock 285 speeds of 648Mhz core at temperatures of up to 89c.

What I like about the card. On my [email protected] and 2560x1600 resolution, I am able to run at 4xAA and very high settings with complete smoothness in every game I've tried. This is even running the card at it's 648Mhz speed.

What I really don't like about the card are its idle temperatures of 66c. I've read that these cards stay in performance mode if you have dual monitors, but this just seems ridiculous as I leave my pc on 24/7 and don't want to waste money I don't have to on electricity.

I just don't like the idea of having a card that requires underclocking to remain stable. I could RMA it, but I don't really want someone else's returned card either. I'll probably just take it back to Best Buy tomorrow.
 
Hmm, that's quite a bit warmer than mine.

I'm at 680MHz as I said in the earlier post, and I idle around 58C. Load has never topped 85-86, even when the card was running at 694MHz as it came out of the box.
 
My second card is pretty stable at the incorrect speeds. I did 4 hours of furmark stability test at my native res with settings jacked up before apparently rebooting :) Temps max out at 85-86 during furmark.

It did 13 hours of 3Dmark 2006 looping, with all settings maxed out (native res and filtering/aa as high as it will go) before 3dmark crashed.

I need to try those two scenarios again withOUT overclocking my CPU as it runs at 8*500

I cannot get it to crash or do anything wrong while playing Crysis Warhead dx10 or DOD Source... So I've registered this card and will keep it. First sign of it crashing during regular gameplay I will RMA it.
 
This card is so weird. I can play all kinds of Prototype or NWN2 at 680MHz but as soon as I try TF2, nothing but crashes. I reduced everything down to stock clocks, even.

Back it goes, I guess.
 
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