My BFG GTX 280 OC Died!

I have had a lot of stability issues with new nvidia cards and chipsets lately. I hope its not a trend. I am picking up a 4850 in a few days, hopefully it will be more reliable then the 8600s I've had.
 
GreenGoose said:
I just spoke with BFG. All they can do is set up another RMA. They did say they would provide a shipping label this time. Big woop! Another week without a video card. I feel sure that the next one I get will be the same piece of hot garbage as the rest of the 280s. :mad:
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i went through two of them as well, i feel your pain.
 
I just ordered a HD 4870. I figure if nothing else I'll have a back-up in between sending cards back to BFG every week. If I finally get a card that works, one of these will go up for sell. Or, I might sell them both when the HD 4870X2 comes out.
 
GreenGoose said:
I just ordered a HD 4870. I figure if nothing else I'll have a back-up in between sending cards back to BFG every week. If I finally get a card that works, one of these will go up for sell. Or, I might sell them both when the HD 4870X2 comes out.
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i like the logic. :)
 
well since the yield is only 40% with the current fabrication on the gtx 280 series, the chances of us getting a dud gtx 280 are higher than getting a dud gtx 260, I think that is why the failure rate is little higher than expected, and I am sure it is hard to do a quality control when the yield rate is so low, becuase there is always a chance of bad one's slipping through, though I have a hd 4870 right now but if I can find a price on mwave for around 399-425, I might just return it for a gtx, it I think the 1gb of ram is and performance is worth another 100 bucks, plus I got my hd 4870 for 315+tax and handling and turned out to be 345 or something with tax. Newegg already has one for 415 after mail in rebate, but mwave seems to slower in lowering the price, they are usually a day or two behind newegg.
 
I had the same happen to my GTX 280. It performed fine for the first 2 weeks-ish and then it died. This was with no overclocking, and with perfectly normal temp readings. I think the 280s are more prone to dying than most cards, I don't know.
 
BFG should send out my replacement today. We'll see how long this one lasts. I have a HD 4870 in right now. It runs perfectly fine. I can tell it doesn't have as much horsepower as the 280 but at least it runs. I'm going to sell them both when the HD 4870X2 comes out.
 
MY evga hc is working fine but i pay for a rma option when i register the card. they mail out the card without receiving mine. a great time saver.
 
CHECKUP said:
MY evga hc is working fine but i pay for a rma option when i register the card. they mail out the card without receiving mine. a great time saver.
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Does that also work for Step-Up? I mean, does the same charge cover both?
 
DeadSkull said:
40% and above failure rates?
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Personal vote is 50% from what I've seen among my friends and what I've seen at work (not to mention my friend's father's 360 just conked-out today... had to stress to them to get the damned thing away from all power sources 'cause it degenerated the same way mine did by freezing at shorter and shorter intervals which seems to be due to the thermal grease literally melting off since MS are such cheap bastards... and ofc my 360 blew-up... so...). As long as GTX 280's aren't exploding they're still ahead of 360's no matter what their failure rate is.
 
A lot of the people I know who console game are on their 2nd or 3rd 360 by now. Really scares me of from console gaming because getting a 2nd one is already the cost of a decent gaming computer nowadays.
 
DeadSkull said:
A lot of the people I know who console game are on their 2nd or 3rd 360 by now. Really scares me of from console gaming because getting a 2nd one is already the cost of a decent gaming computer nowadays.
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One of my friends went through eleven 360's- one of which was before MS's red ring warranty extensions and the rest of which were covered by that; he finally gave-up and got a PS3 instead. I still don't much understand why he even bothered to go through more than two of those given that at the time he had a custom-built rig that trumped my own and he seemed to use that way more than he ever did any of his consoles. But everyone else has gone through at least two if they didn't give-up on the console after their first one gave out (and ofc there are those who just gave-up period b/c they had non-RRoD problems).

The PS3's I've worked with at work are a lot more reliable than our 360's, but they run hot as hell and seem to have far too many quirks for my liking. Quite a few of them also like to chew-up discs... and considering those are Blu-Ray discs... But man, if I put my hand behind either of those two consoles I swear my flesh will melt, but if I put my hand behind my PC's exhaust, well, I'd gladly put that exhaust to my face on a hot summer day to cool off.
 
PS3 here , 0 issues since day one

GTX280 OC 640 core,0 issues so far

I think i will buy a lottery ticket :D
 
I swear the graphics card grim reaper watches these threads and hunts down all the people who say ' No problems for me... Owned it since 2006.. All is sweet'.

No touching wood or sprinkling holy water can save you now.
 
GreenGoose said:
I turned on my computer this morning and I had streaked lines across my screen (the usual: your video card is about to die look). The computer failed to boot all the way into windows with a BSOD. After about three attempts to boot, I stopped getting any video all together. I pulled the card out and threw an old 7800 GTX in and it booted fine.

My BFG GTX 280 OC was 17 days old and performed flawlessly during that time with several hours of gaming each day. I was not overclocking it and have a PC & Power Cooling Silencer 750. Has anyone else had one die? I hope it was just a lemon and not signs of things to come.

I contacted BFG and they quickly set up an RMA. The guy told me that they couldn't do a cross ship because the card was too new and they didn't have any on hand, but then said they would ship out my replacement card the same day they recevied mine. WTF? I shipped it this morning. It will be next week before they get one to me I'm sure.

Fuck it! I guess I'll find a book to read. :mad:
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Mine exhibited the exact same symptoms last night.

I woke up this morning to discover that I cant even boot into Windows with it anymore.

Well, this thing is going back to where it came from, and it was ONLY 3 days old.
What a bunch of BS! :mad:

I'll be using my laptop for the next few weeks as I await the release of the 4870 X2, so I guess some good will come out of this ordeal after all -- i was contemplating whether or not I should return this thing anyways and wait for the 4870 X2, but it would seem as if Nvidia made my decision for me.
 
should've a video card as a backup. i went a week without a video card because of RMA.
 
GreenGoose said:
I just ordered a HD 4870. I figure if nothing else I'll have a back-up in between sending cards back to BFG every week. If I finally get a card that works, one of these will go up for sell. Or, I might sell them both when the HD 4870X2 comes out.
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Just turn that fan up on your ati .xml profile for that 4870 to 30% and you'll be good to go.
 
Well, I got my 280 in from RMA today. I gamed on if for two hours and the temperature never got above 84C. It mostly hovered around 81C. It was smooth with no jerky heat crap.

I will have to admit after running the 4870 for a week, I don't see any real noticable performance difference between the two in COD4. I still plan on selling both cards when the HD 4870X2 comes out. If you want dibs on one, send me a PM. ;)
 
COD4 isn't where you should notice a difference. Try Crysis or Quake Wars, the GTX shines there, as it will in Far Cry 2 and Crysis Warhead.
 
GreenGoose said:
I contacted BFG and they quickly set up an RMA. The guy told me that they couldn't do a cross ship because the card was too new and they didn't have any on hand,
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LOL not like they are really selling so i dont know how they dont have any on hand.
 
I just bought a BFG GTX 280 OC and I'm having overheating issues :mad:

When I launch Furmark or ATITool the GPU temps shoot above 110C then the card shuts down.

In 3DMark06 the card starts throttling itself after a minute, FPS would dip into the 20s, then go back to normal, then dip down again a few seconds after.

The BFG Rep told me the same story about not having enough cards on hand to do cross-ship :rolleyes:

GreenGoose: when you shipped the card back did you use their "Corporate Account program"? Was it cheaper?
 
when you go with their corporate account program it is not any cheaper. while they "highly recommend" using ups, i do not. the first card i rma'ed i sent in via their ups account and it cost me 19.00 (and i'm not that far away; SD to IL). when i sent the second one back, i went usps priority. it cost me 10.65 and they got it a day quicker.
 
I sent my first one back USPS Priority Mail. The second one BFG gave me a UPS shipping label on their dime. My third GTX is still running fine after a week.
 
Stock overclocking has just been a huge headache for these videocard vendors and their customers and I don't know why they do it without more extensive testing, it's ended up costing them a ton. I had to go through like 4 or 5 videocards with eVGA before they finally sent me a big upgrade, which still didn't work, but I liked it enough to invest the cash to get a real HSF, which promptly cleared up all the problems.
 
Any of you guys try taking off the heatsink and putting some ceramique on the GPU? Maybe you'll see better temps? I pulled the trigger on BFG GTX280 OC2 model. Hope I don't run into the same issues. I figure that one gtx280 would be good enough and that I could eventually just trade up when the gtx280 55nm comes out. I feel bad going Nvidia this time around but I really like the low idle power consumption of the gtx280. It's too cool. :cool:

I think what would also help temps is make sure your cpu cooler has a fan that blows the hot air directly to the rear exhaust fan like my Zalman 9700LED does. I hear a slot exhaust cooler does wonders as well as heat from the gtx280...even though it does have an exhaust fan...tends to linger inside the case.
 
My eVGA 280GTX doesn't go over 85 after 5 minutes of Furmark. I have a well ventilated Cooler Master Stacker 830 with 6 120mm's quietly running.
 
Not sure how the rocketfish will fair, it's definitely not ventilated like a stacker...may have to do some mods, we shall see.
 
Lets hope GT200b or 280 GTX+ or whatever its called will not have these overheating issues. Thats what happens when they create a huge massive chip that uses way too much power.

I don't have either a GTX or a 4870 at the moment, though I plan to get a X2 when it comes out. Better be good.
 
John Vuong said:
Lets hope GT200b or 280 GTX+ or whatever its called will not have these overheating issues. Thats what happens when they create a huge massive chip that uses way too much power.

I don't have either a GTX or a 4870 at the moment, though I plan to get a X2 when it comes out. Better be good.
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So wait... you complain about a big, huge chip that uses a ton of power... but plan on getting a 4870X2... which will almost certainly draw more power than the GTX 280...
 
My third BFG GTX 280 died today. It lived for 23 days and ran great with good temperatures. I was playing COD 4 and my monitor went into power save mode. No more video from it period. This is how my first one died. It only ran at stock speeds with no overclocking. BFG is doing all they can do. They are giving me free return shipping but they still will not cross ship. I'm done with nVidia until they prove themselves again. I'll be buying a HD 4870 X2 tonight. If anyone wants a GTX 280 on the cheap when I get the replacement, send me a PM.
 
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