Major Graphics issues with 7900 GTX cards.... Please Help!

Resin_Smoker

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This is the second 7900 GTX 512 card that I've purchased in the last two weeks, and neither of them are stable! (I RMA'd the last one) I'm seeing screen tearing and artifacts all over the place. Card isn't overheating as it only showing 46C (114F). None of the card MFR's out there have a clue whats going on, and are not willing to provide support / correct this issue...Please help me!

Note: Even with the cards totally underclocked graphic errors continue...All video and system drivers are current, directly off the MFR's websites.

System Spec's:

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe. (1016 Bios)
Athalon 4400 Dual Core.
2 Gigs of Kingston KHX3200/1gr.
Twin Raptor harddrives (Raid 0).
Turbo Cool 510 Express / SLI (510 Watt, 34A 12V output)
Windows XP 64 Bit edition.

Games Tried (Note: All Direct-X 9 App's)

Battelfield II
D&DO Stormreach
FEAR
Quake 4

Cards tried so far (Both from Newegg)

-eVGA 512-P2-N575-AX Geforce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
-ASUS EN7900GTX/2DHTV/512M Geforce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 (Currently in system)
 

smedlin

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If they both have issues, maybe it's something else. Try putting the card into a friends computer and seeing if it still has problems. It could be something else.

I have two BFG 7900GTX and have no problems at all.
 

Jak_Sparra

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it could be your operating system, i was thinking of getting windows 64 myself, but read hundreds of reviews that said it was not supported by most hardware manufacturers. unless your mother board, graphics card etc SPECIFICALY say they support windows 64 i would switch to windows xp.
 

smedlin

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it could be your operating system, i was thinking of getting windows 64 myself, but read hundreds of reviews that said it was not supported by most hardware manufacturers. unless your mother board, graphics card etc SPECIFICALY say they support windows 64 i would switch to windows xp.

I did not even notice he was using that. That could very well be the problem.
 

vimka

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it could be your operating system, i was thinking of getting windows 64 myself, but read hundreds of reviews that said it was not supported by most hardware manufacturers. unless your mother board, graphics card etc SPECIFICALY say they support windows 64 i would switch to windows xp.

I agree. Try Windows 32-bit and see if the problem continues.

If so, I would say most likely cause would be the motherboard.

Also, are you on an LCD or CRT? That could explain some of the tearing you are seeing.
 

steckman

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Ok, you and I are talking about different kinds of tearing. I was talking about the kind of tearing where the texture coordinates on adjacent vertices do not line up, which has nothing to do with the monitor.
You are talking about the kind of tearing where the top and bottom half of the screen don't line up because they are not properly synced, which can be caused by the monitor.
However, if the artifacts and tearing are "all over the place" I still don't think the issue is related to the monitor.
 

ivoryjohn

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You need to play Sherlock Holmes and elliminate things until you are left with the culprit.

You have tried two cards with the same result. Chances are the card is not at fault.

Remaining issues could be your OS as mentioned. Swap the monitor and see if you get the same results.

Are you on an SLI board? If so which slot is your card in? Have you tried the other slot?

Are you directly connected to the monitor (without a/b switch or KVM)?

Does your OS accurately identify your monitor? Maybe you need to adjust the refresh rate.

Try a different resolution. (You never mentioned what resolution you were attempting, if it was ultra extreme...)
 

Resin_Smoker

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Monitor: VX924 View Sonic LCD 19" XP 64 Driver Installed, and identified by system, changing the refresh rate, resolution, and sync have done nothing.

Prior video card: eVGA 256-P2-N525-AX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16. Used this card on the same system without any isses what so ever.

Also note that the new card (ASUS 7900GTX) had drivers for the XP 64 platform. The only thing I have noticed that older games like Joint Operations run fine. This leads me to thinking that it could be an Direct-X 9 issue with the new generation of cards. With that In mind I dont think it's an OS issue, well at least not one that I can see evidence of. I'm not all that eager to wipe my system to test out if it's the O/S or not, being that It would take almost 1/2 a day to get everything reloaded and running smooth.

Things I have tried so Far...
-P/S adjusted to 12 Volts even.
-Disabled: Write behind catching, Anisotropic filtering, Antialiaing.
-Updated system bios to version 1017 Beta.

Any new ideas?
 

steckman

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Have you asked the board manufacturer if this is a known issue with the 64bit drivers that you are using? They might have assumed you were using the 32bit when you RMA'd the first one. Sometimes they have a beta version of a driver or can point you to an older driver without as many issues.
Also, when you said you have the latest drivers from the MFR's website for the video card, do you mean from Nvidia's website? If you haven't tried the latest drivers straight from Nvidia, I would give those a shot.
Also, are you trying to overclock these cards at all?
 

Resin_Smoker

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I have tried multible drivers from both Nvidia and the card MFR's.... As for there being a Beta driver, I'm not holding my breath out for that one. Reason being, that there as so many other 7900 GTX users who are having the same problems I am, (just look at eVga, ASUS, and Newegg forums to see) that you'd think that with a problem as widespread as this would of been acknowledged and corrected by now.

Seams like there just not enough people complaining about it for them to fix it.
 

vimka

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I have tried multible drivers from both Nvidia and the card MFR's.... As for there being a Beta driver, I'm not holding my breath out for that one. Reason being, that there as so many other 7900 GTX users who are having the same problems I am, (just look at eVga, ASUS, and Newegg forums to see) that you'd think that with a problem as widespread as this would of been acknowledged and corrected by now.

Seams like there just not enough people complaining about it for them to fix it.

That really surprises me... eVGA has some of the best service people I have ever delt with.

Do you have a spare HDD? Even a small-ish one? You could always try Windows 32-bit on that and see how the card does. It still sounds like a 64-bit driver issue to me.

Could be an under-powered PSU too... I presume you've tested to make sure yours is up to snuff?
 

bluntside

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BAM there is your problem, x64
It not yet capable of gaming support, I have no Idea why in the hell they released it If there arent going to be drivers for it..
Install a 32-bit xp version OS.
I am 99.99% along with the rest of the ppl in this forum, thats thats your problem. :twisted:
-Good Luck-
 

clue69less

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BAM there is your problem, x64
It not yet capable of gaming support, I have no Idea why in the hell they released it If there arent going to be drivers for it.. Install a 32-bit xp version OS. I am 99.99% along with the rest of the ppl in this forum, thats thats your problem.-

Maybe, maybe not... I got a 7900GTX from Newegg and it had major tearing and would shut down. All eVGA could say was that I needed a better PS. I was using an Enermax Liberty 620 with two 12V rails rated to 22A each, something like 36 or 38A max combined. eVGA said I needed at least 20A total on the 12V. Hello?

eVGA cross-shipped me another 7900GTX. Same problem. I took the first card to a friend that does IT service and he tried it with a server PS rated at 800 watts. Dead. I sent both cards back and sent a few nasty emails. I ended up hearing back from a guy at eVGA and had a good conversation. He talked me into trying ANOTHER 7900GTX. Same problem, even with the huge (four 12V rails rated at 18A each and comething like 50A total 12V) XClio. No dice.

So I took that third card and tried it on my son's gaming rig that has an OCZ 520 watt PS with one 28A 12V rail - and it ran fine! All of the above was on 32 bit XP. But here's the kicker: In the 5 or so weeks it took to get through all this, I talked and emailed with a ton of people in the engineering and tech support groups at mobo, GFA, PS and memory companies. Guess what? Techs that used to use Liberty 620s on their development systems have given up on them. I heard the same comments numerous times. And I heard over and over that people are having trouble running not only the 7900GTX but also the ATI X1900XTs and XTX's and the problems often are caused by insufficient +12V current capability. Now I'm not talking about lower-tier technical people, I'm talking about top level engineers and designers at highly respected gaming computer parts companies.

Along the way, I snagged an X1900XT and not only would it run on the Liberty 620, but on my son's rig, it looked better to my eyes than the 7900GTX. So for now I'm done with the 7900GTX. I traded mine in for an X1900XT and bought an OCZ GamerXtreme 700 watt PS. One of the gurus at OCZ guaranted me it would drive XFired X1900XTs. So we'll see - it arrived today and I hope to have it installed this weekend. One more thing - Enermax is about to release a higher current/higher wattage Liberty PS. I wonder what prompted them to do that?
 

Resin_Smoker

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Against my better judgement i deleted my 64 bit OS to install XP-32. After I get everything loaded up I'll know for sure whats going on here.

P/S unit: Mine is rated at a continuious amperage of 34A with a peak of 38A.... I am running just a single card, so this shouldn't even be an issue. If it does need this much power to run, makes me wonder what it's doing with all that power... Folding space time? (You can weld with that much current!)

As for NVIDIA's continuious issues with this card... I'm just surprised that a class action law suit hasn't been filed on them by now, or at least someone as a individual sue'ing them directly. (Our culture is sue happy after all)

P.S. Excuse my grammar... I'm tired from staying up all night installing Win XP.... Not really how I planned on using my three days off!
 

Resin_Smoker

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Swapped in a new OS and downloaded the latest and greatest drivers, and guess what... Nvidia's / ASUS POS (piece of sh!t) still aint running! :evil: (Needless to say I'm mad as fook)

It locks up right away when I load into any direct X 9 software... Either that or my monitor shuts off.

Lets recap shall we.... Here's whats been tried so far. (All in all three days of my personal time, over $600 waisted, and the look on my face when the bloody thing dont work... priceless! 8O )

-Swapped O/S from XP 64, to vanilla XP.
-Swapped 12V rails.
-Tweeked 12V output adjustment directly off the P/S. (My P/S is SLI certified)
-Downloaded the latest and greatest drivers from ASUS.
-RMA'd one card right off the bat. (Took a week to get a replacement)
-Disabled: Write behind catching, Anisotropic filtering, Antialiaing.
-Updated motherboard bios to version 1017 Beta.

Short of bribing my video card with sexual favors, or invoking Satanic right's to summon a working video card strait from the bowels of hell... I can't think of anything else I could attempt at my level without buying a new motherboard and power supply.

No, their ain't anyone near me with a powerful enough system to even think about swapping my gear into... I'm in Sicily, and these folks dont know what the words "Infrastructure" or "Customer Service" mean. Hence they are about 2-3 years behind the states in so far as software and hardware is concerned.

As things stand now I can truely say...

DO NOT BUY AN 7900 SERIES CARD UNTIL NVIDIA HAS PULLED IT'S HEAD FROM IT'S A$$ AND FIXED THESE CARDS!!!
 

Resin_Smoker

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That really surprises me... eVGA has some of the best service people I have ever delt with.


From what I have seen it's just a policy of apeasement...

What they do:

-Make you feel important, by allowing you to Vent.

-RMA your card out, because they dont know anything about your card or system to be of much help in assisting you troubleshoot in the first place. (Face it, Tech support folks dont get paid much to have deep / profound computer skills. Besides if they did, they'd most likely be working at a better paying job like, McDonald's)

What they don't do:

-Take your issues for direct action... They dont have the authority, knowledge, or man power at their level to make this stuff happen.

-Force the chipmaker "Nvidia" to admitt they have a problem with a product... Kinda hard to tell your employers they are all FK'd up when they are making money hand over fist for a card that only cost them 50-100 to make!

I used to think ATI was junk because I always had major issues with their products on everysystem I tried. (I do alot of house calls for friends with computer issues) Now I am starting to think that that Nvidia isn't any better.... I guess gone are the days where you bought a product and it works the first time as advertised. MFR'ers are putting their need for quick dollar above and beyond the consumers need for a quality product. In the long run we all lose!
 

Resin_Smoker

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Maybe, maybe not... I got a 7900GTX from Newegg and it had major tearing and would shut down. All eVGA could say was that I needed a better PS. I was using an Enermax Liberty 620 with two 12V rails rated to 22A each, something like 36 or 38A max combined. eVGA said I needed at least 20A total on the 12V. Hello?

eVGA cross-shipped me another 7900GTX. Same problem. I took the first card to a friend that does IT service and he tried it with a server PS rated at 800 watts. Dead. I sent both cards back and sent a few nasty emails. I ended up hearing back from a guy at eVGA and had a good conversation. He talked me into trying ANOTHER 7900GTX. Same problem, even with the huge (four 12V rails rated at 18A each and comething like 50A total 12V) XClio. No dice.

So I took that third card and tried it on my son's gaming rig that has an OCZ 520 watt PS with one 28A 12V rail - and it ran fine! All of the above was on 32 bit XP. But here's the kicker: In the 5 or so weeks it took to get through all this, I talked and emailed with a ton of people in the engineering and tech support groups at mobo, GFA, PS and memory companies. Guess what? Techs that used to use Liberty 620s on their development systems have given up on them. I heard the same comments numerous times. And I heard over and over that people are having trouble running not only the 7900GTX but also the ATI X1900XTs and XTX's and the problems often are caused by insufficient +12V current capability. Now I'm not talking about lower-tier technical people, I'm talking about top level engineers and designers at highly respected gaming computer parts companies.

Along the way, I snagged an X1900XT and not only would it run on the Liberty 620, but on my son's rig, it looked better to my eyes than the 7900GTX. So for now I'm done with the 7900GTX. I traded mine in for an X1900XT and bought an OCZ GamerXtreme 700 watt PS. One of the gurus at OCZ guaranted me it would drive XFired X1900XTs. So we'll see - it arrived today and I hope to have it installed this weekend. One more thing - Enermax is about to release a higher current/higher wattage Liberty PS. I wonder what prompted them to do that?

Anyword on your new setup, and is there anything stands out about your son's system that is different from yours? (Just looking if there are any trends... Motherboards, memory, P/S ect...)
 

Resin_Smoker

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Just found this on Nvidia's website.... This doesn't look too good.

7900GTX "random freezing" issues

Question
I have heard that some 7900GTX cards would occasionally freeze the screen for a few seconds.


Answer
In working with our board partners, we discovered the cause of the random slowdown and temporary lockup problems experienced by various users of certain overclocked 7900 GTX graphics boards. Essentially, it was a case where the core and/or memory clocks were driven a bit too high above NVIDIA specifications, and the overclocking margins weren't available on those specific boards. For users who experience the problems, the graphics card vendors will work with those individual users to fix the problem. We have learned from our board partners that the situation is now under control.

Saying that their partners have it "under control" still leave alot of us screwed... We have yet to see resolution on our level, and in may cases wont.
 

Multiplectic

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:lol: :lol: :lol:
I don't know, but it must be true! :p
All I know is that my 6600GT works just fine, and it worked right out of the box :D

Anyway, sounds kinda weird that no hardware review website (like THG :wink: ) has ever mentioned this... And yet, it appears on nVidia's website... Strange, isn't it?
 

Resin_Smoker

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Ok I've had it! I am up to F*CKING here with this b*llsh!t... i down loaded a Beta that is Nvida's pathetic attempt at correcting these issues, and I must say I am not impressed at all!

Granted the card did semi-work for the first 30 minutes without issue, but after that nothing... lockup after lockup after lockup! (each time worse then the last)

If it were not for the fact that Nvidia is the only realy graphics card MFR with market power enough to produce a high end card, I'd never in this life or any other buy one of their buggy products!

I didnt not buy this F*CKING card to proof test it at my expense!
 

Resin_Smoker

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:lol: :lol: :lol:
Anyway, sounds kinda weird that no hardware review website (like THG :wink: ) has ever mentioned this... And yet, it appears on nVidia's website... Strange, isn't it?

It's all about the all mighty advertising dollar my friend... they are not about to bash the hand that feeds them.
 

clue69less

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If it does need this much power to run, makes me wonder what it's doing with all that power... Folding space time?

Good line.

(You can weld with that much current!)

Weld at 12 volts?

Hey, man, I feel your pain. When I RMA'ed my THREE 7900GTX's, my leftover pain probably stayed in the box and got Fedex'ed to your house.
 

clue69less

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Anyword on your new setup, and is there anything stands out about your son's system that is different from yours? (Just looking if there are any trends... Motherboards, memory, P/S ect...)

The two systems are totally different - his on the left, mine on right:

DFI LP nF4------------------------Asus A8N32-SLI
Opteron 146----------------------AMD 4400+
OCZ Titanium 400MHz, 2x1-----OCZ Gold 500 MHz, 2x1
74 GB Raptor--------------------2x74GB Raptor RAID0 (OS)
LG DVD/DL/RW------------------2x400GB HD RAID1 (DP, Video)
OCZ Modstream 520------------LG DVD/DL/RW/LS
Gigabyte X1900XT--------------Mad Dog DVD/DL/RW
-----------------------------------OCZ GamerXtreme 700
-----------------------------------Gigabyte X1900XT

So my unit has ~four times the HD current load and double the optical drive load. I also have more fans (3x120, 2x92 in mine, 1x120, 2x92 in his). But when I was having problems, I unplugged everything in mine except one optical and the two Raptors that the OS is on and the 7900GTX's still would not run. My main conclusion is that the 12V rail the GFA is on has to have quite a bit of current capacity. I was pretty surprised that the XClio wouldn't run it and I tried pretty much every 12V cable option. It comes with the mobo/cpu cable and a double PCI/e cable hardwired along with two modular PCI-e plugs and four (or was it six?) standard 4-pin Molex plugs. So I tried the hardwired PCI-e, the modular PCI-e, different Molex sockets, you name it. I can't remember who makes it, but I ran across a PS that has auto-bridgeable 12V rails while surfing last night. If the new OCZ doesn't hack it, I will either look that way or just byte the big one and get the PCP&C 1KW monster. I don't want to go that way because it is huge and loud, but I will not be deterred on my quest to add maximal entropy via the XFire solution.