Gtx 670 performance issues pin problem

[euansharp]

Hey guys a while back I wrote on this forum about my gtx670 under performing in areas it should of aced well I think I found the problem. Upon looking at the pci connector pins I have noticed the one at the very end is slightly shorter than the rest leading me to suspect damage.

Does this sound like what could cause an issue or is it a design feature I am not aware of.

Finally if it is buggered is there any way to seek replacement I bought it a while ago and have been trying to sort this on and off for a while. I doubt dabbs will refund me maybe Nividia.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tsnor]

Try running the card without the wire in the "suspect damage" connector. If the card fails to run (or if you get a warning message on the screen - some card do that if the connector is not in place) then you know the connector at least was doing something.

I did not see your earlier posts, I assume you ran some GPU benchmarks while checking temps and that your card was slow at the correct frequency at an acceptable temp. Anything else then you need to fix something other than the video card.

 

[euansharp]

Thanks, yes I did run benchmarks on the card and found its gpu usage and clock speed were spiking all over the place on games like Skyrim which my wimpy laptop can run fairly smoothly at high settings. My card is the gigabyte version with massive fans in addition to my case which is also very cool with large fans so temperature doesn't seem an issue. . At the moment my cpu is an i5 2500k running at normal clocks on an Asus mobo I forget the name but it had pci3 express which the card should sit nicely in. As far as psu goes its a 600W corsair.

What I am curious about is should that back pin be smaller when the rest are all exactly the same size if anyone else has one do they have this feature. And if it does turn out the card is faulty how does nviidia handle this if at all?

 

[tsnor]

suggest post on card manu forum to see if they all have short pins. I've never seen a short pin on a video adapter power input.

You have nice spec PC, clearly a problem if framerates low and spikey. Less clear this is a video problem. Suggest you download passmark and do the 3D test and CPU test then compare to other GTX670 users
passmark here: http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm
plenty of sites report passmarks, for example: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/

Suggest you also download HWMONITOR from CPUID. Knowing your temps shouldn't be high is totally different than knowing your temps. If a heatsink got loose on your CPU for example, then your CPU goes into thermal throttling and you would see exactly the frame rate behavior you are describing. Ditto the heatsink on the gtx670.

 

[euansharp]

interesting not tried the tests yet but the loose cpu heatsink (one that came with the i5) is loose on one leg will try fixing that first.

 

[tsnor]

Can't do it that way. If the heatsink is loose you MUST fully remove, then replace the broken thermal pad with a new pad (not me) or some artic silver thermal paste (YES). Artic silver is less than $10 at newegg, etc. last time i checked.

If you force the heatsink back on it will *not* get good contact, and will not do it's job of removing heat. Even if it mates perfectly the microscopic attach you need between the surfaces is not there.

They make fancy cleaners for removing the old thermal material, but nail polish remover works just fine. There are a million videos on youtube showing how to apply thermal paste. Too much is as bad as too little, good news - it's easy to check by just monitoring temps. Temp = low means you did good.

 

[euansharp]

Ok havnt started yet wil probably look at buying a new cooler while I am at it.

 

[tsnor]

First install HWMONITOR by cpuid. free. does ntohign except report temps. use google to find it on cpuid website. safe, good rep.

If you see high CPU temps then you know what the problem is. If CPU temps are good then you can leave heat sink alone and keep looking for root cause of the problem.

 

[euansharp]

just booted up the computer and now I am getting no visual output from the graphics card so I reckon its for the chop will probably have to RMA it from gigabyte who I have found out offer a 3 year warranty on their cards. If anyone has done this before I would be grateful to know how you went about it.

 

[euansharp]

scratch that something must have gotten loose when I moved t last disconnected it and reconnected it and now getting visual output

 

[euansharp]

right after reseating that gpu and running tests on the cpu using hmonitor from cpuid
I found the cpu is sitting between the 65-70'c mark. That strikes me as way to high and one of the stock cooler fan legs is fully out am I correct in thinking that is way above normal operating temperatures. I think a new cooler and thermal paste is a must at this point.