3 out of 5 8800GT so far have been bad

[icucmeuc]

I'm curious if others have had or heard of similar experiences with the 8800GT cards?

When they first came out I bought one from Best Buy for my now old system with XP on it. It arrived, worked fine for two boot ups, then started artifacting and finally the fan ran 100% all the time and I couldn't even boot.

Second card was absolutely fine, worked like a charm. These were BFG brands, overclocked by BFG.


The new system I just built has Vista 64 on it, and I ordered two Palit 1GB 8800GT cards with the system. This was my first time building a system from scratch so when it kept artifacting and crashing all last weekend I checked everything but the cards first.... voltages were fine, no overclock, etc. Since I had two cards I was luckily able to test each card independently and found that one of them would artifact and crash out after about 2 to 5 seconds of running ATI tools. Bad card.

I RMA'ed it to Newegg and ordered another which they overnighted to me at no cost. Thanks Newegg : )

New card went in with no issues. Now, 2 days later, THIS card is also bad. The original card of the two I orignally purchased (the one that worked) is still working like a charm. I stress tested it for hours with ATI tools and had no artifacts at all, ever.

I'm thinking either I am VERY unlucky or there is some manufacturing issue with these cards?

Interesting to note that in Vista it will recover from an artifact crash for me and say that the nvddmklm (or something like that) driver had an issue and reset. Searching for this issue on the net I've come across thousands of pages with people complaining about their machines artifacting out then crashing with this driver error. I'm betting most of those are card related issues and not driver related...

 

[victordilorenzo]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318

I am buying an 8800 GT soon. This one on new egg seems to have survived those 300+ people without too much BS. I know companies have their ups and downs, and in the downs they have quality control issues. I bet thats all your case was.

I know I always get defective stuff, thats just my luck. 5 routers (all different brands), 2 tv's 3 worked great, and 2 360's. Thats most of what I have bought too. (ipod fine, sat radio fine, Macbook pro fine)

 

[pauldh]

I bought two BFG 8800GT OC's from best buy back when they first came out. No issues for me other than I replaced the lousy/noisy reference coolers.

 

[slavetrader]

To og poster it is your psu. I have 2 8800 gt's and one 8800 gts. I can artifac the sh#t out of them and it wont crash vista or xp

 

[leon2006]

Do you use GROUND_STRAP when you work on your PC-Hardware?..

Components in these boards can be damaged from a discharge from your body (ESD Electro Static Discharge). Electronic components today are rated up to 2000V @ Human Body Model. Walking in carpet can charge with your body from 3K to 10KV....Our common clothing such as silk or nylon store charge > 10Kv.

This is similar when you get ZAPPED when touching your vehicle during summer.

Common effect on electronic is Killing me softly effect... This is what we called Walking-Wounded Integrated Circuits. You see the effects later.

I can't beleive you get 3 bad video cards in succession. It could be your PSU which is common to your hardware or ESD.

Here is one article to give you an idea on ESD... You can google and get more information about it.

http://www.siliconfareast.com/esd.htm

 

[jitpublisher]

Sound to me like your problem could be with poor power supplies.
What brand and size of PSU were you running with all these failures?
I have heard of getting a bad card occasionally, but not anywhere near this rate.
Have you ever seen the movie "Pure Luck"?

 

[basketcase]

Or a static problem. If they don't use a ground strap or discharge on the PSU first, they could be frying their own stuff. But, I do agree that the PSU is a likely problem.

 

[San Pedro]

Probably inadequate PSU.

 

[icucmeuc]

Yes I always wear a grounded wrist strap out of habit from 4 years of dealing with electronic components in college.

My PSU should be more than adequate. It is a Silverstone DA700, 700 watt with a single 12V power rail. I've monitored voltages while stress testing (using external equipment, not the computer's utilities) and the voltages do not even budge more than + or - a hundreth of a volt or two. It's rock solid.

I do understand such issues often surround power supplies or people discharging static and ruining components but I'm positive that isn't the case here.


A small note, though... the Palit cards come in normal bubblewrap. I was really surprised to see that they do not come in the metallic anti static bags as nearly every other PC board I've come across does.

We'll see how the next one fares I guess. Newegg has been awesome through all of this mess

 

[basketcase]

Bubble wrap could be the problem, with the Palit's atleast. But, then again, I am sure the company would make sure their shipping methods were sound.

Considering your PSU and the static guard, I am thinking you either have a bad mobo (most likely not the case, though...) or you are just one unlucky SOB.

 

[icucmeuc]

Second replacement card came today. Installed it and just ran 4 hours straight of ATI Tools artifact scan without issue. Looks like I was just unlucky!

 

[Guest]

Wondering if your 8800gt are working ok still? I just bought a OC BFG 8800GT. I was running 2 8600GT sli with no trouble. I just reinstalled windows took out my 2 8600gt and put in a single 8800gt and soon as I pushed the power on button, I didnt even push it in all the way. I heard a zap, smelled burned wires and I was OMG what just happened. I opened my case up and it was my 8800gt, the wires to the fan were all burned up. Any idea what would cause this? Maybe Im just unlucky? Card was easy to put in. I put the card in, pluged up the PCI E cable that came with my power supply from ps to card. I took the card out and put my other 2 cards in to make sure nothing happend to my motherboard or ps. I didnt even check to see if the computer would boot up with the 8800gt. First I thought maybe just the fan and fan wires zapped. I didnt check to see if the video card it selfed worked. Taking the card back today and get a new one and I hope this time nothing goes wrong.

Could I have a bad rail on my power supply. My first time building a computer. I have had it a year now with no trouble till I upgraded my 2 8600 to a 8800. Now Im scared to put in the 2nd card to see if I get the same thing.