Defective GTX260?

S

Somnambulator

Gawd
Joined
Apr 13, 2008
Messages
856
Running Main PC in sig. note the Vista 64.

2 weeks after shipping my 9800GTX to evga for step-up i finally received the GTX260. however, upon installing the drivers and rebooting, Vista loop crashed at desktop. continuous crashing and rebooting PC. so, uninstalled drivers, rebooted to safe, driver cleaner, reboot, installed latest 177.41 WHQLs and rebooted. same result. same process, installed drivers off evga disc...boots to Vista into a GPU recovery msg, it quickly reloads Aero, and Windows seems fine. quick 3dMark06 test...slow off the bat. scored 4500 at default settings. wtf?

so, same reinstall process, go with slightly older 177.35 WHQLs, same exact results as CD drivers. GPu recovered at logon, 3dmark06 scores 4500. (might be same drivers, didnt check). at least Vista works...so i try going back to the latest 177.79 beta and 177.41WHQLs and niehter loads vista without loop-crashing again.

fan is working but havent check temps. i dont imagine the problem laying here. Power issues? 750w Quas Silencer has 60amps on single rail, dont think thats the issues either. can only conclude either the 177 driver issues are extremely worse than i've read or my card is DOA.

I know my Vista install is legit and very tidy. i uninstall all apps with YourUninstaller and run CCleaner regularly. 9800GTX ran great 2 weeks ago. i dont have another card to run but i may rent a BFG 260 from bestbuy and make sure it's my card.

i've heard there are some driver issues specifically b/w the GTX260 and 177 series drivers. im guessing these issues arent as bad as what im experiencing, and im concluding i got a bad card.

gotta add i uninstalled RivaTuner and all nvidia apps. Sometimes after rebooting from a driver install, Vista sees my device but doesnt load drivers for it. ie after installing random 177 driver, i reboot and Vista dev manager shows "VGA Device" or w/e. then i reinstall the same driver, reboot, and it shows up fine. an X-Fi PCI card i had used to do this before completely dieing.

any objections or suggestions?
 
Some GTX 200 series cards have been known to overheat immediately, making a beeline to 100 C and higher. Even if you can't read temperature sensors before the crash, you may be able to feel an inordinate amount of heat being exhausted from the card if this is the case.

I've had no crashes at all with any 177 series driver, so I'm guessing that you have a bad card. Unfortunately, the GTX series seems to have a fairly high failure rate.
 
GPU-Z curiously shows the correct current and default clocks speeds, but under the Sensor tab it shows ridiculously low clock speeds for memory and core. shows 300mhz core and 100mhz memory. i figured this cant be right.

installed evga's precision tool (too lazy to configure rivatuner and wanted to test Precision (easier version of RT made by RT author w/ lots of features removed). Precision confirms GPU-Z's findings and further shows 602mhz shader clock. the clock speed sliders show the corrent default clock speeds, but sliding them does nothing. it's like my card's clock speeds are locked in at these ultra-low settings.

gonna email evga tonight and call tomorrow.
 
Somnambulator said:
GPU-Z curiously shows the correct current and default clocks speeds, but under the Sensor tab it shows ridiculously low clock speeds for memory and core. shows 300mhz core and 100mhz memory. i figured this cant be right.

installed evga's precision tool (too lazy to configure rivatuner and wanted to test Precision (easier version of RT made by RT author w/ lots of features removed). Precision confirms GPU-Z's findings and further shows 602mhz shader clock. the clock speed sliders show the corrent default clock speeds, but sliding them does nothing. it's like my card's clock speeds are locked in at these ultra-low settings.

gonna email evga tonight and call tomorrow.
Click to expand...

The GTX 200 series is supposed to downclock to 300/100 in 2-D mode to save power. So at least your card gets that right. Still, not any comfort with regards to the multitude of crashes. :(
 
I know that when I was overclocking mine to high, it would throttle down to the power-saving clocks, even when opening a 3D application, until I restarted the computer. Check with GPU-Z in the sensors tab and see if the power-saving clocks(300 Core/100 Memory) are in effect when running a 3D app.

Now I'm not saying your overclocking yours but I remember CoD4 slowing to a crawl when it throttled down. Just an idea you may want to check.
 
thx for the replies, was unaware it downclocked during 2D. bout time they started doing this, even if the benefit is arguably marginal these days.
 
http://www.evga.com/200driver/
drivers there fixed my 3d clock speed problem, however still seems card is defective. Precision now shows the real 3d/default clock speeds in G15 LCD when starting a 3D game, however it crashes almost instantly thereafter. crashed loading the 3d portion of 3dmark, TF2, and C&C3.

also started using Driver Sweeper cause the evga tech said it works better. (i know the last Driver Cleaner Pro free version hasnt been updated in like 2 years). the 177.79 from nvidia's website gave me the crash loop, but im not sure if it was using Driver Sweeper or an actual difference with the 177.79's from evga's site.

gonna start an advanced RMA. it's 1/2 price if you need to RMA within 1st 30 days of registration, which means i get cross-shipping and prepaid return label for $8. i cant ship the def card back for that little so its a no-brainer.

so far, my 1st experience with evga tech support and rma process has been clutch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top