Could a video card work perfectly for everything but fail in VR?

[Archaea]

I sold a used 1080 TI that worked perfectly to a guy on craigslist. The guy contacted me a couple days later and asked me for warranty information. He said the card worked fine for everything except for VR. I don’t have VR so I never tested that. He said when he hooked up his VR system it would artifact or show a black screen and the colors with melt together, lock up his machine etc, and it just didn’t work. He said he tried different nvidia drivers and he just didn’t know how to make it work in VR reliably. He said his old graphics card works fine. I asked him what power supply he had, he said he had a ten year old 1000 watt PSU.

I told him I wasn’t going to make him file for the RMA and there was no warranty left on the card anyway so he could return it to me and I’d give him a full refund. He returned it, I put it back in my gaming machine and I’m testing it and it works fine. I’m running a 3D Mark 20 minute stress test of time spy extreme and there’s no issue. Is it possible that VR would fail where regular 2D and 3D use would not?

I’ve never heard of anything like that and I wouldn’t think so but I have no reason to suspect he was lying to me.

weird. I wonder if his power supply was flaking out?

 

[tunatime]

I would have told him to pound sand a gpu that works for everything but not vr sounds like a bad vr/cable/ setting unless its overheating? a bad psu could 100% cause odd things to happen

 

[RazorWind]

Did you test all of the ports? I had some problems initially with my Vive Pro where the cables didn't connect very securely, causing some truly excruciating visual and audio artifacts, sort of like you describe. The Vive-specific cables, in particular, were pretty flaky. I'm pretty sure it wasn't my graphics card.

I also had problems where the VR HMD would appear as several different video and audio devices to the system, and you had to pick the right ones in SteamVR or it would do some odd things. I could see switching to a different graphics card throwing that out of whack.

The power supply issue is also possible, but sort of unlikely unless his old card is way less power hungry, and it works OK the rest of the time.

 

[Archaea]

I didn't get to troubleshoot with him.

I can check all the Video output ports tonight on the card. But the graphics card seems reliable to me, I’ve games on it this weekend without issue.

 

[vegeta535]

I didn't get to troubleshoot with him.

I can check all the Video output ports tonight on the card. But the graphics card seems reliable to me, I’ve games on it this weekend without issue.

Honestly think it was something at his end. PSU sounds like culprit. Checking the ports is also a good thing. Unlike DP HDMI don't have the clips. On my 1080ti I have to wiggle my HDMI cable going to my TV to get a connections. It was always like that. It comes loose from time to time and needs another wiggle to get working again.

 

[Wooshoo]

I agree with those who came before me. I WAS going to say that maybe the VR was pushing the card harder than other stuff but if you are running synthetic tests for troubleshooting you are probably maxing it out anyway. The others in the thread have some pretty good ideas but I'm partial to the PSU issue.

 

[tunatime]

I agree with those who came before me. I WAS going to say that maybe the VR was pushing the card harder than other stuff but if you are running synthetic tests for troubleshooting you are probably maxing it out anyway. The others in the thread have some pretty good ideas but I'm partial to the PSU issue.

I would think it was probably the cable form the headset to gpu/ the headset itself

 

[Ghoststalker]

Agree, this sounds like a cable issue to me.

 

[Frenzy_ls]

I've replaced the cable on my Vive several times by now. Color artifacts would be pronounced in dark screens/areas, and intermittant blackscreens, this is a dying cable. It wouldnt freeze my system though.

 

[Rvenger]

What model is it by chance. If you want to resell it PM me with an offer.

 

[Archaea]

I’ve now played on the card every day for at least a few hours each time and have tried all five display outputs on the card. There isn’t anything wrong with it. It must have been that fellow’s machine or his VR cables. I’ve run multiple 4K stress tests through 3D mark since taking the card back and not one failure or issue. Fans work fine. Ive tried multiple games and probably played six hours of hunt showdown this weekend with it on max settings at 3440x1440 with no issue. Ive played Bloons TD 6 for a few hours, golf with friends for an hour, slay the spire a few hours, and 3d mark stress tests.

I guess I’ll resell it. I have a RTX card which is why I don’t need to keep it.

Rvenger

If you are still interested I’ll do $380 shipped and insured through paypal.

Its the two fan AMP edition with backplate.
This one:

https://www.zotac.com/us/product/graphics_card/zotac-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-amp-edition
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP Edition 11GB GDDR5X 352-bit Gaming Graphics Card VR Ready 16+2 Power Phase Freeze Fan Stop IceStorm Cooling Spectra Lighting ZT-P10810D-10P

 

[Rvenger]

If my paypal ever clears up I may nab it from you but at the same time I am not a fan of Zotac. The 10 series was OK but they botched the RTX cards. Thats a great price. If someone sends in an offer to you, you can just sell it.

If we lived close to each other I would just give you my odyssey to test it out.