Problems with my 6800Ultra...

A

Arseface

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 14, 2002
Messages
1,095
Okay - I bought a PNY 6800Ultra in late July, and I'm having stability problems with it.

First up - system specs:

P4 2.6c @ 3.2 (Prime95 stable)
Abit IC7
1Gb OCZ PC4200
430W Antec true blue PSU

The card is a relatively poor clocker (440/1140 is the maximum speed I was able to run 3Dmark2003 at when I first got the card), so I've been running it at stock speeds (425/1100) since my initial 'testing' period. The card hasn't been volt-modded, BIOS flashed, or any alternative cooling added. I've tried various drivers sets and none have improved stability. I formatted re-installed Windows on another HDD and ran from that to eliminate any software issues, but it didn't help either.

I'm getting lockups in almost all 3D applications. Failure is almost always in the form of a lockup, followed by a system restart after about 30s - 2mins, and I get an error message saying that the video card was responsible for the crash when windows restarts. Some applications are more volatile than others; for example Doom3 is almost completely unplayable now - it crashes at least 80% of the time when I attempt to load up a game for the first time, and may also lock up at any random point. Other games like Far Cry or UT2004 are also unstable - not as bad as Doom3, but it's still very unlikely that I will be able to get an hours un-interrupted play in without a restart. As for 3dmark2003, I'd estimate that about 1 in 4 runs will fail with a lockup. When I first got the card it was much more stable, and has deteriorated steadily ever since.

My temperatures are pretty normal; ~ambient+20C at idle, and I've never seen the temp go above about 85C, even under full load (HDR demo windowed).

Anyone got any ideas? One of the things that concerns me is that crashes are more frequent on a hot day than on a cool day or at night - signs of overclocking/poor heat removal, but the temps are good and the card is not overclocked. It will be difficult to RMA the card, as there is no specific repeatable fault I can point to. I *could* boot it up and run a game for an hour without problems, but then again it also could fail within 30s.

Any suggestions very much appreciated :)
 
Thanks for the link!

I thought about flashing the BIOS, but I still think there's a decent chance that the card might be dying, and I want the option to be able to send it back. I wrote to PNY last week about this problem (they still haven't got back to me...) and asked about BIOS flashing (which invalidates their warrenty), so hopefully they'll say go for it.

The thing is, the card was completely stable at stock speeds when i first got it. Now it's not... I don't see how a BIOS flash would fix this problem :confused:
 
I suspect that PNY has a new bios with 2D and 3D set the same in the bios. Most manufacturers are doing this now. I just got a BFG 6800 Ultra and it has 2D/3D both at 425/1100.

As an aside, I figured this out back in July when I was trying to solve stability problems with my eVGA 6800 Ultra. I discovered that setting 2D and 3D frequencies the same in the bios fixed all my problems (and posted about it at the time on nvnews.net). I emailed my tweaked bios to several others and they found it solved their problems also. I emailed eVGA with my findings and what I'd done in the bios. They requested a copy of my bios and a few weeks later the "fix" magically appeared from eVGA and others shortly thereafter. I was expecting a "thanks for the tip" email, but it never arrived. After I emailed eVGA the bios I got an "our engineers are looking over your bios" email, but that was it.
 
Hmm... well, I can't find anything on their website to download, at least... I take it that just setting the clock frequencies to be equal in coolbits won't do much?

I'll give them to the end of the week to get back to me, and then I might just give up and try flashing the bios - it's just that I'd feel pretty stupid if it didn't fix the problems, and I needed to send it back after all.

Pretty poor service from PNY really... selling a card with a defective bios out of the box, not providing any fix short of invalidating the warrenty, and then not replying to my problem a week after having reported it. Not impressed :/


edit - drooling at your rig btw... damn! :eek:
 
Arseface said:
I wrote to PNY last week about this problem (they still haven't got back to me...) and asked about BIOS flashing (which invalidates their warrenty)
Click to expand...

For most companies I've ever seen, overclocking a card also invalidates the warranty, so if you've already burned that bridge, might as well risk the BIOS flash.
 
bmg I have seen your spec

a8v asus 939 fx 53
evga 6800 ultra
1 gig

if I play the far cry it never load? it crash it goes to the window? what power supply you used I used a antec 480 watts? do I need to upgrade to 500 watts

here's my spec.

a8v ausus 939 fx 53
1 dvd rom sony dru500a
1 plextor
120 western digital
200 maxtor hard drive.
480 watts antec.
1 gig value ram corsair. (got it from a manual recomended)

I really need help here?

I USED THE DRIVER CD FROM A BFG DIRECT 9.0 AND UPGRADE TO 9.0 B STILL SAME

I really need help on this do I need to upgrade my PSU
 
I have a Gainward Ultra so called Golden sample but there is somethign seriously wrong with the BIOS on this thing. Much the same as the guy above I came to the conclusion on my own that the variable clock rates were causing problems and simply used coolbits to set 2d and 3d the same and this solved almost all instability.

I do still get the odd lockup followed by a bluescreen reboot in Doom when changing levels and I can only assume that this is down to the Low Power 3d setting which is triggered on the long loading screens of Doom 3 and this can't be tweaked in coolbits so a BIOS flash is probably going to be my next move. The default gainward bios really is a total mess with the default clocks for performance 3d set at 300, and this is supposed to be a Golden sample clocking at 430 1200.
 
Limahl said:
For most companies I've ever seen, overclocking a card also invalidates the warranty, so if you've already burned that bridge, might as well risk the BIOS flash.
Click to expand...

how can they verify if someone have overclocked the card?
 
Arseface said:
Hmm... well, I can't find anything on their website to download, at least... I take it that just setting the clock frequencies to be equal in coolbits won't do much?

I'll give them to the end of the week to get back to me, and then I might just give up and try flashing the bios - it's just that I'd feel pretty stupid if it didn't fix the problems, and I needed to send it back after all.

Pretty poor service from PNY really... selling a card with a defective bios out of the box, not providing any fix short of invalidating the warrenty, and then not replying to my problem a week after having reported it. Not impressed :/


edit - drooling at your rig btw... damn! :eek:
Click to expand...
Not just PNY...eVGA revised the Ultra bios to correct the same problem. I think all the companies that were first to offer the Ultra (eVGA,PNY,BFG) were not only using the reference pcb and cooling but also the bios.
 
Okay - say I flash the BIOS and make a backup of my current BIOS.

Say the card is still unstable and I have to send it back. I flash the BIOS back to the original one and return it. Is there any way for them to tell that the BIOS has been flashed? Is there any record kept of when and how the BIOS has been flashed, or will it just appear as if it has been untouched since purchase?

Still no reply from PNY, and this is pissing me off a bit now... I want to play games again with my overpriced video card, not just use it to just watch midget porn that I could have been watching with a GF1! :eek:
 
Arseface said:
Okay - say I flash the BIOS and make a backup of my current BIOS.

Say the card is still unstable and I have to send it back. I flash the BIOS back to the original one and return it. Is there any way for them to tell that the BIOS has been flashed? Is there any record kept of when and how the BIOS has been flashed, or will it just appear as if it has been untouched since purchase?

Still no reply from PNY, and this is pissing me off a bit now... I want to play games again with my overpriced video card, not just use it to just watch midget porn that I could have been watching with a GF1! :eek:
Click to expand...
If the bios came from PNY and was recommended by their tech support to correct a problem with the card then you shouldn't have to flash back to the original for a rma...
 
joemama said:
If the bios came from PNY and was recommended by their tech support to correct a problem with the card then you shouldn't have to flash back to the original for a rma...
Click to expand...

That's the problem though - I can't find an updated PNY BIOS. There are ones from XFX and other companies around, but I'm pretty sure that using these would invalidate the warrenty. If PNY would get back to me and point me to a BIOS that they recommend, then I'd be happy to give it a go.

Has anyone used PNYs tech support before? Does it usually take them over a week to get back to people?! I think I'll send them another email specific to the BIOS update.
 
The link I provided in my first post is an Nvidia reference bios btw, will work great will all brand cards. If you want to be completely safe, it probably will involve you sending the card to PNY and having them flash the bios. That being said it will be hard for them to discredit you for flashing your card with the correct, fixed bios.
 
Okay, thanks.

I think I'll give them tomorrow to respond, and then I'll just go ahead and flash with that BIOS anyway.

Thanks guys :)
 
I flashed to a new gainward BIOS and first impressions are that it has solved my problems though I need to runs oem mroe games before i am sure. It sets clocks back to 400 1100 at default but I have been able to clock straight up to 430 1200 without a hiccup and I ahven't tried higher yet.. Fingers crossed all is well now. In which case I'll just mod this BIOS to run 430 1200 as default.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top