Warning PNY 6800's at CompUSA with missing capacitors

shade said:
once u try to unlock the pipes. its impossible to revert back so the ppl won't kno u voided ur warranty? just curious becuz i plan on doin it..
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<offtopic>Its quite possible to revert back, just disable the pipes that you enabled, simple as that. </offtopic>
 
well i hope pny replaces these cards if they dont their reputation will be ruined in the overclocker community forever! :eek:
 
I just solved the mystery of my blurred picture: bad KVM system. What's funny about it is this, my old dell has an NVidia card in it, and I've been putting up with blur looking at that thing for a while. I used to have a 9600se which this 6800 replaced, and everything was clear as could be. Now I just set up to run the monitor strait off the card and it works great. I guess I can stop bashing this thing now. I still haven't figured out if I want to OC it now, or after a week when I make sure there are no lingering issues with it.
 
Chickenmon said:
Glad it wasnt just me. My PNY 6800 ultra from compusa had the exact same problem as well as a prorblem with the fan guard grinding against the fan. After a fan modification to give it just enough clearance to not touch and resoldering the capacitor that was off things have been fine. Very disapointing though for a $500 card.
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Why would you perform two "surgeries" on a brand new $500 card?! I would have taken it back and demanded a new one. Aren't you afraid they will deny a future RMA because you altered the card?
 
so has anything been said yet about replacements????

should i call and get ahold of someone and RMA it ???

i haven't yet opened the inner packaging and i'm not going to til i figure out what to do with it
 
Tanis143 said:
Ok, here's my own issues I had with PNY and why I'll never buy another of their products again. I had a Ti300 that worked great, so I bought a Ti4200 back in the day *almost 2 years ago now* It did fine for a while, but then it burned out all of the sudden. So, bought a FX5200 for a temp replacement, spent the hour and a half going through all the damn menu's and sub menu's on the PNY tech support, finally got my rma and sent it in. After 3 months, yes 3 MONTHS, 3 subsequent phone calls to be told that the replacements were behind and should be shipped in a few days, I finally got my replacement. Gee, was I ever surprised at the Ti4200 OEM I got back for my Ti4200 RETAIL I sent in. Ok, shouldnt be much of a diff, but I sent in a nice purple pcb Ti4200 with heatsinks on both sides of the memory, got back a brown pcb Ti4200 with no heatsinks and memory on only one side. Without the card, I can not prove this next statement, but I do believe the retail had faster memory than the OEM because my performance was not what it used to be after that as well.

So, never again shall I purchase a PNY, which should be renamed to POS.
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They probably sent you a cost down version which had slower memory or a slower memory bus. :(
 
just installed my pny from compusa tonight, unlocked all the piplines etc perfectly plus coolbits detected 390/829 on the auto detect, very impressed for a $200 card so far, too bad everyone isnt having the same luck.
 
I believe Saturday was the last day... of course, it was one of those in-store discount plus TWO mail-in rebate things. Frankly, I think you're better off with other online deals... even if you pay $250... you might get free shipping and possibly avoid tax (well... you know).
 
does everyone's pny have that gold plate kinda thing on the top? i don't see it in the pictures but its on my card. Mine is also all intact from the looks of things.
 
Actually, it was only one $30 mail in rebate with a $70 instant rebate. I got it for $246 out the door, not a bad price, hope i can exchange my faulty one for a good one soon.
 
I have been reading this whole thread and thought "oh S---", so I opened my card up and checked it out and it's fine. I swapped it out with my ATI and it worked great no issues so Maybe they had a bad batch of cards. Anyone on the west coast have issues?

Dillbertic

Update: Ran 3Dmark 03 on my A7N8X 2.0 amd 2800+/ 1 gig dual channel mode Sata drive and got 8391... I haven't gotten a clue if that is good or bad, but the graphics looked great during the test, so I am happy. Next week when I getthe new MB and CPU I will run it again :)
 
Not in my book at least...

GF4Ti4200 64MB card, bought new... died on me after about 4 months. No overclocking, no abuse... just simple gaming use. Contacted PNY, got a RMA, shipped the card back.

Got a replacement! Yay me! Lasted almost a year and a half. Just died on me this last week. I'd been having problems but I hoped against hope that it was not my video card (screen pops on my monitor <2 different monitors and 2 OS reloads> color and display issues <2 different monitors and 2 OS reloads>... but alas... it is dead yet again.

I'm not even bothering to look up warranty. I have cards (original TNT and TNT2 cards, that still function flawlessly. Why, suddenly, do one vendor of card that I have owned die so rapidly?

I also noticed that the store that I had purchased it from originaly, Circuit City, no longer stocks the brand. I think their might be something to that move... hrmmmm.

Anyway, it is my 2 cents that PNY is not to be trusted if you plan to keep your investiment working for several years after the purchase.

Good luck to all who buy them, may you have better luck than I did.
:(

-TechDaddy
 
im kinda ticked off by readin all of this. here i was thinking i got a steal for 215(15 was ruffly the tax) on a brand new card. is it me or do i smell CUSA got RMA'ed cards or something to sell? how can so many cards be faulty. i should've went with BFG and there new cool lookin coolers.... i haven't tested my card as i need to order a better psu. anyone kno the policy on CUSA? will they refund?
 
the refund is a good question, it clearly states on that orange piece of paper that you are not to return the product to the store.

on top of it, i'm not sure if compusa is still doing the whole "no restocking fee" deal on items. so, you may have to take a hit in order to return the card, even if they accept it back.

i'm gonna find out tomorrow (monday) what they're going to do. of course, i'm gonna put that orange warning sheet in my pocket.
 
My only experience with PNY is my current PNY GeForce 6800GT that I am watercooling and getting a max OC of 448 core 1.19 memory (pic hasn't been updated)... no problems thus far...and I have been steadily running the thing @ 425 core 1.12 memory with absolutely no artifacts or other video related issues.

Out of the box my max overclock was only 387 core...after removing the HSF unit I discovered why...there was only about 40-45% coverage with thermal paste...of which, upon discovered, I blew, and a good majority of what was left actually blew away...evidently the thermal interface material that they used had dried up.

id5747.jpg


EDIT: Oh yeah, FYI, PNY's GeForce 6800GT's were manufactured by MSI...at least the early ones were...not sure if they do the Non-GT's or not.
 
mine never came with a paper stating i can't return it to CUSA and to take it up with PNY. LMK wut happens tho.
 
I am installing mine tomorrow, bought it from CompUSA in Frisco, TX ... no loose caps here so I am hoping for the best. I will update this thread tomorrow with my success/failure story. Also no orange sheet in my box.
 
I just picked one up yesterday and today see this thread... Anyways I assume mine is working fine and now I want to unlock the extra pipes. How do I go aboit doing so?
 
Just to come to the defense of PNY. I purchased PNY 6800 GT verto from Best Buy about two months ago. It's been one of the best cards I have ever bought. There was no issues and it overclocks like a beast.I went from 350 gpu -> 460 gpu. And I went from 1000 mem to 1200 mem... no problems.

This is under two fans, ram with memsinks, and a mcw50 waterblock.
 
After checking mine, all of the capacitors are there. I got the defects when I unlocked the extra 4 pipelines so I turned those back off and just have the 6 shaders enabled. I have a clock of 365/780. I do believe I can get it up to 380/800. I think my main problem now is the 2700 memory in my system. I got a 3800 in my 3Dmark05.
 
guys that little orange paper that says don't return it doesn't mean you can't return it to compusa, it just means pny would rather you rma it. do whatever you feel is necessary.
 
hmm i'm trying to register mine and it wont accept any of the numbers on the card as the serial number...which one is it?
 
MY CUSA experice..

PNY 6800 NU
No bad caps, works ok, now running 16x6 and at 350core , 780ram
i'm almost at 10,000 3dmark 03, i think my cpu is the limiting factor.
Thats a 20% increase over stock. (stock was at about 8300)

My system, XP mobile 2500 @ 2300MHz
Buffalo 3200 1 gig
epox 8rda+


All that for 220 after mail in rebate, vs 260 for BFG version which will probably score an extra 5% - 10% (for $40)

this card could run faster, but I dont want to for now, there is no need for it I might even push the ram down to 740.

I think this card is good enough for those of us who plan to upgrade to 64 in a year or so
Hopefully, it will last that long.

Also, the card was there, no need to wait.
though now i have to wait for my HL-2, fedex didn't deliver it on time so now i have to wait till monday.

Sorry to hear that some people got bad cards, but i have to say I was iffy about getting the BFG, since people were saying how the BFG 6800 is actually a 6800 le (but thats from Best Buy mostly)
I try not to get any PC part from stores like CUSA or BB, but if the deal is this good, then it could be worth the risk (yes, buying PC parts from a store is a risk)

Cheers from one happy camper.
 
Megalomaniac said:
Sorry to hear that some people got bad cards, but i have to say I was iffy about getting the BFG, since people were saying how the BFG 6800 is actually a 6800 le (but thats from Best Buy mostly)
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Whoa, where did someone say that? Seems like a highly dubious claim. Also afaik the LE's are not available in retail at all, it's an OEM only card (for system builders supposedly).
 
ShimmyT said:
After checking mine, all of the capacitors are there. I got the defects when I unlocked the extra 4 pipelines so I turned those back off and just have the 6 shaders enabled. I have a clock of 365/780. I do believe I can get it up to 380/800. I think my main problem now is the 2700 memory in my system. I got a 3800 in my 3Dmark05.
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ya i couldent enable the 4 pipes, but i got the 6th shader working... i got my OC higher tho, 395/875 :D

but i cant run the damn demo in 3dmark05... i get this stupid error (O/C'd or stock dosent matter)

POOP.jpg


i can run the benchmark just not the demo :(

using the drivers from NVidia's site, and tried the Omega drivers, and the latest beta ones too... some crash, some just hang at a black screen... one set even gave me this blue screen...

Code: 
*** Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
*** The system has halted ***
:eek:

oh well it plays UT nicely and D3 and all that other crap so im happy :D
 
how could you be happy with a malfunctioning card?

I took my POS PNY card back, and picked up a stick of mushkin 512mb 3200 for $50, and a 3000 XP (not a sempron). Best choice I ever made.
 
I had PNY RAM..................

I pulled the heatspreader off, and it took the RAM chips with it.

Luckily, I was able to bitch at compusa untill I got an MX 1000 out of them.
 
I've been getting low scores on my 3DMark03 (below 5000), is it because the card is at stock speeds, or could it be something else like my cpu or fsb (356 effective)?
Anyone want to point me in the right direction on trying to unlock those pipes?
 
Hey guys,

I also bought a pny 6800 at compusa. Its not missing a capacitor but theres another problem with it that i was hoping that one of you can help with.

I have a shuttle SFF with a 240w power supply, and i read online that you can use the 6800 on it with no problems. but when i first installed the card it emitted this high pitched screech when i pluged in the power cord. I hadnt even turned it on yet.

after much fidgiting, it was working and man did it work great. but a while ago, it crapped out again and is emitting the high pitch screech.

could this problem be because the power supply is not enough? whats bothering me the most is that screech, i dont remember vid cards comming with speakers on board.

any help will be much appreciated.

jz
 
Its not the video card making the noise directly, but rather the motherboard using the case speaker. the 6800 is just sucking too much juice and one of your rails (5 or 12 volts) is too low. I believe the recommended PS for the 6800 is at least a 350w
 
I see,

but ive read reviews online at places like Hexen and others and they use a sff with 240 watt ps with no problems.

is there anything i can do to alleviate this problem short of buying a new (and problaby expenseive ) sff ps? cause i know shuttle has a ps thats 350 and that would be enough.

thanks

jz
 
Hey,

To anyone who has had this problem happen, can you post pictures of where the capacitor is located on the card? I bought this card, and so far have had no problems whatsoever, and no sign that anything is wrong. Still, I'd like to see what is being talked about so that I can keep tabs on it.

For those who are getting low 3DMark scores, I'd guess in many cases the CPU has now become the bottleneck for your system. Most people I've seen are using Athlon XP CPU's, which work fine (mine included) but a lot of the current benchmarks being done online use systems based on much faster CPU's than that, and so 3DMark scores are quite a bit higher. For those with some of the other issues, some seem power supply related to me. I have an Enermax with two 12v rails, so this has not been an issue for me. I see lots of people quick to blame hardware the instant they buy it, rather than doing comprehensive troubleshooting or looking into what changes might have done to their system. For example, I was having reboots and odd problems this past year after some upgrades; turned out my Enermax 430w PSU wasn't up to the task anymore, delivering only 15A on the single 12v rail wasn't enough. Going to a two 12v rail PSU fixed things. Also, for those bitching about poor phone support on Friday, what do you expect? It's the busiest frigging shopping day of the year. Lots of people on holiday from tech support, I'd bet. Also a glut of phone calls from tons of people with brand new kit trying to get it to work, many of whom have less knowledge than the average [H]ardOCP reader. I'd bet call volume was WAY above average. And for people who are talking about not getting a great overclock, overclocks vary by system design and card capabilities. Not only is there no guarantee of a good one, if you're using a weak power supply, or have poor case ventilation, you might never get a decent overclock.

I'm not getting super-high scores in 3DMark05, though they are higher than my Radeon 9700 was. However, I'll be comparing them again shortly, since I'm upgrading from an Athlon XP to an Athlon 64 3000+. I'll let everyone know what I see at that point.
 
I for one am highly surprised that a PNY rep has not posted on this thread, released a press statement, or at least contacted Kyle to let him know whats up. This thread was linked on the main page of one of the most popular hardware sites, I'm sure they've seen it.

<rant against PNY> Ok, so you offer a stock card at stock price, when other manufacturers take the time to spruce up their cards with cool colors and better cooling. That may be alright, but you also offer no software bundle, your warranty sucks, and now you have some QA AND IQ problems. WTF?
 
I have the PNY 6800 from CompUSA as well. 2D quality is VERY bad. There are others in the Video section of Anandtech report the same issue. You can search for PNY or 2D in their video forum to see the reports.

I for one am VERY angry and will be requesting an RMA tomorrow.
 
I have the PNY 6800NU from comp and all is fine. However, i'm not ocing it and don't plan to. Only gripe i have is that pny doesn't bundle any games or anything.

C USA sux, i would only shop there if there is a helluva good deal, 14 day return policy and restocking fee.... pfff... Oh well.



LKS

P.s. all companies have lemons and bad batches, heres the salt.
 
More PNY 6800 testing. I unlocked the pixel shaders and no artifacts. I gained 600 3d marks in 3d Mark 03. The vertex shader could not be unlocked however. I got bad artifacts. And for that D3D error screen I had that too. Then I updated to DirectX 9.0c and it worked fine.
 
LoneWolf said:
Hey,

To anyone who has had this problem happen, can you post pictures of where the capacitor is located on the card? .
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The picture's in post #36 in this very thread.
 
lordsegan said:
I have the PNY 6800 from CompUSA as well. 2D quality is VERY bad. There are others in the Video section of Anandtech report the same issue. You can search for PNY or 2D in their video forum to see the reports.

I for one am VERY angry and will be requesting an RMA tomorrow.
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segan, don't bother with the RMA.. just return it to the store for another one.

CompUSA is pretty good about returns. They asked me when I brought mine back today, if I wanted to exchange it, or return it.

I returned it, and picked up a xp3000 / memory, and that gave me more of a performance boost in HL2 than the card did.
 
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