7900GT Volt Mod stability issues

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Boyo

Gawd
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
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626
I just did a 1.5 Volt mod to my 7900GT. It ran fine for the first two weeks, but now I am getting random shutdowns and artifacts. I double checked the voltages, and I am getting 1.493 on my volt mteter, so I know that I did the mod correctly. Why all of a sudden the unstability?
 
Running at 48C at full load so that isn't a factor. I am getting artifacts and my screen keeps going from off to on and everything freezes up. Should I unclock this and redo my 1.5 volt and go with a 1.55 volt? I also downloaded the newest drivers from Nvidia and redownloaded Coolbits, but that didn't help.
 
Boyo said:
Running at 48C at full load so that isn't a factor. I am getting artifacts and my screen keeps going from off to on and everything freezes up. Should I unclock this and redo my 1.5 volt and go with a 1.55 volt? I also downloaded the newest drivers from Nvidia and redownloaded Coolbits, but that didn't help.
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Sounds like your card doesn't appreciate voltage too much. I'd remove the volt mod before you permanently screw up your card.
 
I was kind of thinking that too. It's weird that it worked fine for a couple of weeks, but now it's on the brink of disaster and causing me a ton of headaches. If I only had the money for a 8800GTX.........
 
hmm just back down the clock a bit until it goes to artifact free and stable zone again. card should be fine at 1.5v. especially since you mention temps are nice.
 
The problem is when ever I try getting into Coolbits, the screen starts to go on and off and every program freezes up. I can't back down the overclock. Any ideas of why this is?
 
Do you think I fried my video card. I just ran Memtest86+ and the RAM is fine. It has to be something in my video card...........yikes.
 
Boyo said:
Do you think I fried my video card. I just ran Memtest86+ and the RAM is fine. It has to be something in my video card...........yikes.
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Again, have you tried going back to stock speeds while still maintaining 1.5v? People on xtreme have been noting burnt out components but I don't think it's really the problem though
 
That has been the problem. Everytime I try to go in to use Coolbits to reset the clocks, my monitor starts shutting on and off and the program locks up. The whole PC locks up.


Edit: I did finally get Coolbits to allow me to reset the clock speeds. I, for now, am back at stock speeds. But when I go into Coolbits, it again locks me up everytime I try and OC. I think I will take the circuit writer out and redo my votle mod.
 
While you're at it, clean the back of the card in several passes with alcohol / acetone and several clean cloths to clean up any stray electrical pathways. Then redo the mod.
 
markintosh13 said:
While you're at it, clean the back of the card in several passes with alcohol / acetone and several clean cloths to clean up any stray electrical pathways. Then redo the mod.
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Yes, this is probably a good idea. I never ran into flashing on off monitor problems but read about it and made sure to qtip/towel wipe my board a few times with alcohol, just because it's possible to get even higher clocks this way as well.

Why use coolbits for o/c anyway? Atitool beta 15 is way better. There's artifact testing that works. I know there's a final version out now but I haven't tested it yet.
 
I did a volt mod on the 7900GT CO when it first came out. It ran like a dream for about a month and the monitor would start going into stand by mode in gaming. I then started getting artifacts, reboots, and lag while gaming. The stand by mode continued to happen and became more frequent. After a few weeks it just wouldnt boot. I had to replace the card and the PSU.

I say keep the mod but Id back off if it becomes more frequent. Fun stuff.
 
Practal, your situation is the exact situation that I am facing now. It keeps getting worse and worse, rather than better at stock speed. I am thinking of getting a new card, but I can't afford an 8800.

I was thinking of getting the eVGA 7950GT 256MB. Will I notice a huge difference if I went with the 7950GT 512MB? Any card recommendations out there for me?
 
Boyo said:
Practal, your situation is the exact situation that I am facing now. It keeps getting worse and worse, rather than better at stock speed. I am thinking of getting a new card, but I can't afford an 8800.

I was thinking of getting the eVGA 7950GT 256MB. Will I notice a huge difference if I went with the 7950GT 512MB? Any card recommendations out there for me?
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have you tried alcohol wiping your card?
 
I did wipe the card down which resulted in a large temperature drop, now running at 42C, and the card has for now been stable. Although when I try and access Coolbits, I still get lock ups and it won't let me OC.

I'm thinking of just getting a new card, but which one? I know most people would say the 8800, but I don't have $600 to drop on a card. Any suggestions?
 
Whats the part number on your card?

Keep in mind that if this is an early revision of the 7900GT it is highly probable that it's suffering from failure of the onboard memory. A large portion of early revision 7900GT boards shipped with faulty Samsung BGA memory modules.

Classic symptoms are artifacting in 3D applications. In the beginning stages the artifacts are so insignificant that they may not be noticed at all, but they get progressively worse the more the card is used in 3D mode and eventually you'll be left with a completely unstable card.

Typically the artifacting will first exhibit itself in very stressful 3D applications such as the "Deep Freeze" portion of 3DMark 06 and games such as F.E.A.R. or TES4: Oblivion.

Factory or user overclocking will increase the time before failure on these affected boards, but even a stock clocked first run 7900GT with the affected memory will eventually exhibit signs of failure.

Submit your card to the board partner for an RMA but be aware that if you've volt modded you've already voided the warranty and probably won't be subject to any warranty services.
 
Boyo said:
I did wipe the card down which resulted in a large temperature drop, now running at 42C, and the card has for now been stable. Although when I try and access Coolbits, I still get lock ups and it won't let me OC.

I'm thinking of just getting a new card, but which one? I know most people would say the 8800, but I don't have $600 to drop on a card. Any suggestions?
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Are you using the "new" nVidia control panel with nTune's overclocking facility? nTune is currently broken for a lot of people using it. The GPU overclocking portion of nTune currently works half assed on it's best days - and the 'detect optimal clocks' button will usually cause an instant lockup of your machine.

If you are using older nVidia drivers that don't require nTune for coolbits overclocking then ignore this as it doesn't apply.
 
The part number for the 7900GT is 256-P2-N565 AX, if that helps any. I am currently running the newest version of the drivers, so yes, it has the new control panel which is not working for me at all now.
 
Boyo said:
The part number for the 7900GT is 256-P2-N565 AX, if that helps any. I am currently running the newest version of the drivers, so yes, it has the new control panel which is not working for me at all now.
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That's one of the first revision "non RoHS" cards and very well could have the bum memory on it. As a matter of fact I had the same card (7900GT CO Superclocked Edition if I remember correctly) and had to exchange it three times before the new batch of fixed RoHS cards was released.

If you're getting wild artifacting in 3D (crazy polygons, freezes, and/or crashing to an unstable desktop) that's usually a pretty definite sign that you need to RMA it for repair/exchange. eVGA will likely send you a model from a newer batch of cards that isn't prone to this kind of failure. When the problems with the memory on the 7900 series boards became apparent, nVidia and Flextronics changed the memory to Infineon branded modules and that's what much of the new 7900 series cards come with.
 
Yep thats one of the samsung memory cards, which it wouldnt surprise me one bit if its biting you now. I had to rma my first one, then got the reloaded thankfully.
 
Thanks for the advice. I will look into an RMA from eVGA. I am having all the signs that Blue Falcon described, so it must be one of the earlier cards.
 
Put a fan blowing across the BACK of the card (the side without the core, etc on it).

Just do it, you'll see ;)
 
As soon as you volt modded your card, you lost the right to RMA your card, whether it is one of the first batch cards or not. Thats the risk you take when you alter your card like that.
 
Well the good thing about the volt mod is that it is completely reversible, so there is no way to see that the card was volt modded. I took off all the circuit writer pen ink with alcohol, wiped the card down and changed out my HS back to stock and I got an RMA number. I'm sending it in after the weekend.
 
I am sure everyone here appreciates your contribution to the higher prices of video cards. Thanks.
 
No problem. When I get my new card, I'm going to volt mod that baby too. 700/900 is what I'm shooting for again. Thanks for your support.
 
Boyo said:
The part number for the 7900GT is 256-P2-N565 AX
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That’s the problem right there, that’s from the bunk run of 7900GT's. I had the same problem with my first 7900GT, it lasted three days and then started acting exactly like your card.

Call up eVGA to get an RMA going, be sure to demand cross shipping. Tell eVGA what your part number is, otherwise they won't give you cross shipping no matter what (even then, you’ll still need to be a little persistent to get them to authorize you for cross shipping).

wheels2040 said:
I am sure everyone here appreciates your contribution to the higher prices of video cards. Thanks.
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Considering this card is from a known run with bad RAM, and that’s what's failing, I would have to say that RMAing this card isn't a problem; It would have failed eventually even if he had never volt moded it.
 
wheels2040 said:
I am sure everyone here appreciates your contribution to the higher prices of video cards. Thanks.
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It's not his fault that the card was no good in the first place.
 
I did some research and found out what you guys have been saying. The memory was bad in that batch of cards, so my volt mod had nothing to do with it going bad. The card was doomed from the start.

What do you mean by cross shipping? I need to ask eVGA about that, but I don't know what you mean. Thanks for all the help, everyone.
 
Cross shipping (aka advanced replacement) is where they send you the replacement card first, then you send your card back to them with the prepaid sticker they sent with the replacement card.

You get to hold on to your card while you wait, and they pay for shipping the dead card back to them.
 
I never heard of that, so unfortunately, my computer is down because I sent the card in first. Now I am waiting of eVGA to give me my replacement.......:(
 
Boyo said:
I never heard of that, so unfortunately, my computer is down because I sent the card in first. Now I am waiting of eVGA to give me my replacement.......:(
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damn. at least it looks like you have another computer to use or something. at least the good thing about evga is that they're pretty fast about rma's. I've dealt with lower brand rma's that took over a month.
 
I want to know where people are getting this "thank you for raising the prices of videos cards by RMAing cards you roasted! JERK!"

Did someone analyze the manufacturers financial reports? Was there a footnote anywhere on the statements? Was it in the CEO's statement?

How many people buy these top-of-the-line cards? How many people OC these cards? How many people physically modify these cards with new coolers let alone volt mod?

Now I never RMA'ed a card that I roasted, only because volt modding is 2[H]4 me so I never fried a card. I put an aftermarket HSF on my old X800XL, but it never broke a sweat.

I'd just like to know where these claims are coming from. Common sense would dictate that sending replacements cards would cost the companies money. But how many of these RMAs are simply bad cards versus voltmodded toasties? Does any one have proof?
 
SPARTAN VI said:
I want to know where people are getting this "thank you for raising the prices of videos cards by RMAing cards you roasted! JERK!"

Did someone analyze the manufacturers financial reports? Was there a footnote anywhere on the statements? Was it in the CEO's statement?

How many people buy these top-of-the-line cards? How many people OC these cards? How many people physically modify these cards with new coolers let alone volt mod?

Now I never RMA'ed a card that I roasted, only because volt modding is 2[H]4 me so I never fried a card. I put an aftermarket HSF on my old X800XL, but it never broke a sweat.

I'd just like to know where these claims are coming from. Common sense would dictate that sending replacements cards would cost the companies money. But how many of these RMAs are simply bad cards versus voltmodded toasties? Does any one have proof?
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It's just the forum idiots/trolls, just ignore them.
 
Good news to report. eVGA accepted and just shipped out my new (probably refurbished) video card!!!! I will have the card Friday, and I can finally run my rig again.

I'm going to volt mod this card too in case anyone was wondering. For the short time it worked, it was awesome.....
 
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