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R.I.P. 6800 Ultra

T

tsuehpsyde

Supreme [H]ardness
2FA
Joined
Oct 22, 2004
Messages
6,604
I figured that a few of you should read this, as alot of you don't believe us more regular members. I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is, EVEN when I could probably make up an excuse that's probably valid.

Last week I noticed my computer locking up randomly playing source, so I just set everything back to stock. Diddn't feel like figuring out where the problem was, just wanted to play. So, today I'm viewing one of the forums I attend to, and I got artifacting in 2D. So, I screw around and find that lowering the memory speed to about 1.05GHz in coolbits would go thru "testing", but even 425/1.09 wouldn't. So, I coulda stood lowering clockspeed just to hang out until I got something else, but it just keep degrading worse, and I've pretty much figured it out to be one of my memory chips dying. I coulda have RMA'd this card and blamed that, but I've changed the voltage one other time to try for more MHz, which wasn't successfull btw, as well as altering memory timings (which barely gave me anything). I've ran stock voltage/memory voltages for 97% of this cards life, so my guess is this would have happened EVEN at stock...and I've had more than a few people tell me to RMA the card. But I diddn't feel right about it, so I took off the memory pads (which are garbage, btw) and put on AS5....it took longer, but the artifacting still came back. I don't know what this card's problem is, but I want everyone to be aware that SOME of us talk the talk AND walk the walk.

R.I.P. 6800 Ultra....you cost me more money than you were worth, but you were a damn good card. :D

http://downloads.sourcekills.com/images/DSC00198.JPG

Disassembled trying a last-ditch effort to save her.

And I don't want anyone posting how I was stupid not RMAing, or how I could have...I'm aware I coulda lied and got away with it, and I personally think this mighta happened anyway as no increased voltage to memory shouldn't have done anything, but I still feel responsible. I'll just be a bit more cautious next time for day-to-day clockspeeds.

Next stop, probably a 6600GT....but for now, a GeForce3 Ti200.
 
a lot of people would agree that a voltmod, even for a short time, is just about the worst thing you can do for your card.

Atleast, i hope that's what it was, because my 6800 is overclocked really high and i dont want problems with it :)
 
id REALLY appreciate it. lol. but seriously. if its broke n all, id pay shipping. lol.
 
Data said:
id rma it,
Click to expand...
Don't tempt the honest man. Sorry bout the card tsuehpsyde, but at least you're doing the right thing. It's always a real pain in the ass when you lose a computer part due to tweaking OCing, but its a price you should be willing to pay if you start OCing.
 
I'd expect such stupidity from someone who refuses to buy AMD.

And yes, it sucks to lose it but I figured I'd prove that not everyone around here is like OMFG YOU OVERCLOCKED AND RMA'D YOUR HORRIBLE but those same people silently RMA their cards when they screw it up.
 
I guess you'll have to wait for a 7800 series agp now, and don't volt mod it this time so you can keep your warranty.
 
Sorry about your card, but a big thumbs up for not trying to RMA it :)

Terra - Better luck next time :)
 
Even overclocking the MHz without a voltmod voids your warrenty, in case you're unaware. And I'm not staying AGP, the 6800 Ultra was the main factor keeping me here. I've got a 3000+ Venice that does 2.7GHz on air 1.53v prime stable that's got my name on it, so that in a PCI-E board = alot more possibities.
 
tsuehpsyde said:
I'd expect such stupidity from someone who refuses to buy AMD.

And yes, it sucks to lose it but I figured I'd prove that not everyone around here is like OMFG YOU OVERCLOCKED AND RMA'D YOUR HORRIBLE but those same people silently RMA their cards when they screw it up.
Click to expand...

Just as a note; Intel makes damn good CPUs (there're all that I use at work). Refusing to buy AMD has no bearing on intellect.

Regarding your card, that sucks. You should email the tech support guys for your card and see if they can recommend any tricks. I'm not saying that you should RMA it, but rather just see if they know anything that might let you bring it back to life.
 
Well there is a point...who would freakin voltmod a card they knwo they can't replace...
If you got the money thats one thing...but you are degrading to a 6600gt....now I even ahev a better card adn I woulda *killed* for your card...maybe I have already.... :D


J/K I hate killing cept for war with a moral and just cause, deffense, and CS:S
:p
 
Dont feel bad one card is nothing :)
I have ruined a 9800 pro (failed volt mod)
3.0 P4 and 2 motherboards do to poor sealing with a promethia. :D btw I did not RMA a single one cause I messed them up.
 
I wouldnt have overclocked modded hardware, but if it wasn't modded I would probobly RMA it. I don't have many morals when it comes to return policies but if I were to voltmod something I wouldn't try to RMA it if it failed.

I also wouldn't RMA something because it wouldnt overclock high enough.
 
John Gault said:
Dont feel bad one card is nothing :)
I have ruined a 9800 pro (failed volt mod)
3.0 P4 and 2 motherboards do to poor sealing with a promethia. :D btw I did not RMA a single one cause I messed them up.
Click to expand...


the hell is a promethia?
 
dude i feel your pain.I fried 2 mb a cpu and a video card due to mods and overclocking!
 
ill rma ANYTHING if i can get away with it. i used to be ur straight edge high morals type guy. they've gotten me absolutely no where. i used to pride myself in the fact that i had such strong morals. but like i said. morals get u no where. those who are most successful cheat and cut corners. just ask our good buddies billy gates and don trump.
 
slamgoku said:
ill rma ANYTHING if i can get away with it. i used to be ur straight edge high morals type guy. they've gotten me absolutely no where. i used to pride myself in the fact that i had such strong morals. but like i said. morals get u no where. those who are most successful cheat and cut corners. just ask our good buddies billy gates and don trump.
Click to expand...

And our friends who are in prison as a result of fraud
 
slamgoku said:
ill rma ANYTHING if i can get away with it. i used to be ur straight edge high morals type guy. they've gotten me absolutely no where. i used to pride myself in the fact that i had such strong morals. but like i said. morals get u no where. those who are most successful cheat and cut corners. just ask our good buddies billy gates and don trump.
Click to expand...

Man, I hope anyone who ever plans on selling/trading with this guy in the future reads this.
 
JL_Audio_User said:
Man, I hope anyone who ever plans on selling/trading with this guy in the future reads this.
Click to expand...
I dont trade/deal with people on here. I don't out right cheat people. I have enough morals to not hurt anyone directly. Indirectly yes, we all do to some extent, such as rmaing something that we dont have the right to in my case, or something to a lesser extent. Come on, i know some of u have twisted the tax laws to ur own benefit. you know damn well a mcdonalds meal isnt legitamately a business expense. Even those of u who won't rma a card when uve voided its warranty.
 
robberbaron said:
And our friends who are in prison as a result of fraud
Click to expand...
The smart cheaters never get caught and have figured out how to play the game of life to perfection.
 
Sorry to hear about your Vid Card tsuehpsyde. I respect what you did, I would of done samething :). Good Luck getting a new video card. Maybe try some different Thermal Compound than AS5 on the memory?
 
ray4389 said:
Well there is a point...who would freakin voltmod a card they knwo they can't replace...
If you got the money thats one thing...but you are degrading to a 6600gt....now I even ahev a better card adn I woulda *killed* for your card...maybe I have already.... :D


J/K I hate killing cept for war with a moral and just cause, deffense, and CS:S
:p
Click to expand...

Actually, I can afford it. But, I was running the card at stock speeds AFTER I had pillaged it, so it blind sided me. So now I have to save up a bit to replace it. To me, it's a hobby like builing fast cars to race at the track...if you blow an engine you replace it. Simple as that.

And as far as degrading to a 6600GT? Please. For $150 that card screams. My friend has one in his new 3800+ venice rig and I was damn impressed. Considering I paid $500 for mine, I personally wish now I went with a 6800GT. But, I was just getting back into computers and I wanted the best. I have a different perspective than I did then, and I wouldn't mind having a set of SLi'd 6600GTs, as they run the same as the 6800U in-game and run faster in benchmarks (the other fun part for me).

I'm sorry if it somehow irritates some of you that I can choose to waste $500 on something I consider fun, and take it like a man instead of sissying out. Trust me, if I could not afford to lose this card, I wouldn't have ever volt modded the card, or I woulda never overclocked it period. I've told many people that if you can't afford to replace whatever it is you're overclocking, you better be DAMN careful, not raise teh voltage, or just never mess with it in the first place.

Edit: And all things aside, the card is now probably worth around $430 new in a box, so used I woulda got probably, what, $350? So I lost $350 if you look at it that way, which isn't really that bad. Plus, I'd rather this card die on me now than me sell it and it die on them.
 
Sorry to hear about the card man. I to like you am one of the people that would NOT rma it. The others that are saying to do so lack one important thing...........CLASS!!!
 
Man - sorry to hear about your card. I have been thinking more and more about why these cards go out... I have read a lot of posts about NV Silencer fans "shorting" the "card" out... in all likelihood this is really just shorting the voltage regulators out... That got me wondering if it's the voltage regulators which go out on these cards, just in general? Seem likely, as the symptoms follow what I would think would happen in that situation, well, with a dying MOSFET. First comes the lockups because they have trouble powering the memory to full speed, then they can't support the GPU either as time goes on... which is why they die like that... Those MOSFETs run so darn hot... so they must be working very hard. Anyways, I had bet they are the weak link on these cards. well, it's my theory.

I recently replaced the thick thermal padding on my MOSFET sinks with poly synthetic/ceramic compound... I had to file the edges down, the part where the sink meets the card, so that the sink would make a nice even contact with the tops of the MOSFETs and the sinks are hotter now... so it's working... I have a lot of air on them also... I hope that will give my cards a little longevity... I have volt modded them once, for a couple of hours, but it didn't help my poor memory OC, so I went back to 1.3v and am happy with 400/1050... Oh well.

I hope you get lucky with RMAing your card. It's always worth a shot. I'd do it for sure.
Good luck!!
 
revenant said:
I hope you get lucky with RMAing your card. It's always worth a shot. I'd do it for sure.
Good luck!!
Click to expand...

You people truely have no idea what reading is, do you? Because that's not possibly what a forums is for.
 
Jeezuz folks... okay already... so I stopped reading after the "last ditch effort to saver her part". wow... anyways... I had some thoughts so I started writing them down... sorry to have annoyed you.
 
They probably get loads of them, but why not just try a polite email to the company (the maker, not the vendor) and explain what you've done to the card and say that you feel it would have happened regardless and ask if they can come up with something like giving you a refurbished card? Fair enough it's unlikely to meet with any success but for the 5 minutes it takes you to write the email it can't hurt.
 
tsuehpsyde said:
And I don't want anyone posting how I was stupid not RMAing, or how I could have...I'm aware I coulda lied and got away with it, and I personally think this mighta happened anyway as no increased voltage to memory shouldn't have done anything, but I still feel responsible. I'll just be a bit more cautious next time for day-to-day clockspeeds.
Click to expand...


QFT for a good honest man.
 
im willing to bet everyone of you with extensive tax law knowledge have made multiple shady and questionable write offs on your taxes every year. oh but its your hard earned money you say? bullshit. yes it is hardearned but you're cheating the government out of the money. oh lord i feel the anti government sentiment coming on mighty quickly. Next time you do your taxes, just know you taking those shady tax write offs is no less wrong than me rmaing something that i had voided my warranty on.
 
tsuehpsyde, instead of a 6600GT, maybe try this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133114

It's the same or less price than a lot of 6600GT's I've seen. Just a thought on something to tide you over after losing the Ultra (damn, that's gotta hurt). I'd be up shit creek right now if I lost my 9800 "XT".

edit: I just saw that it's out of stock, but should be back in-stock on the sixth.
 
a) Bravo, you are a more noble man than I.
b) I can't find my post regarding RMAing right now, but I've explained before that I believe we do have the right to RMA high/top-end parts if we are reasonably certain that our adventures are not the culprits in an untimely death. Long story short, I used the 9500/9700 as an example, since these were the top cards at the time. All cards in this series had locked frequencies, except the 9700Pro. Therefore, the 9700Pro was a DESIGNATED OC card. As long as no mods were done, overclocking should not have voided the warranty. To modernize the comparison, the difference between a 6800GT and an Ultra is a paltry 75/50MHz, which 95% of cards can make up through overclocking. I'll admit that OC'ing a GT is done at your own risk, but the whole point of shelling out the extra cash for an Ultra was to get a card that, presumably, could hit unmatched benchmarks and frequencies.

I'll try to clarify later, but I'm paying quite a hefty ISP rental fee at a web cafe in London right now. I'll try to revisit/clarify this when I get back in August.

Peace out, from Shaggy/MAValpha in London!
 
I respect you for the decision you've made.

In my case I'd try to use common sense. If I had an aftermarket heatsink and I'd installed it right (ie my temperatures were actually lower and the RAM was being cooled properly) then how can it be my fault? The warranty is designed to protect the company from some idiot putting an xp120 onto the back of the card, leaving the core without a sink. If I'm providing the card with better cooling than what it came with, then there's even more indication of a problem that had nothing to do with me.

Overclocking? Maybe I'd RMA after that. Depends on how much and how often. If I overclocked two years ago for one day and now my card is dead, that's not going to stop me from RMAing. If I'd messed with voltages and timings, then I would definately be more wary of doing that.

The way I understand it some people put their cards in far more danger from electrostatic shock just by touching them. So we get Joe Blow fingering up his video card and getting an RMA for that when it inexplicably dies on him, but a consummate enthusiast is penalized for what he knows didn't hurt the card? Makes no sense.

If I was cranking up the MHz insanely and it died, I probably wouldn't RMA. But if I've taken very good and careful care of it, you can bet I'm RMAing it because I know it's not my fault.

Oh, and Tsue, very very sorry about the loss of your Ultra. Fix things soon so I can go back to pwning you in Source.
 
But yeah, voltmod = bad = toasted warranty.

In my oppinion, if the card started acting up on its own(with no mods) before he started to finger fuck it, he should still be allowed to rma it.
 
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