Redesigned 8800GT - Gigabyte GV-NX88T512HP

Xman said:
OK, so what are you guys using to down clock this card? See my earlier post on the subject - nTune does not behave as expected.
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Well for mine, I initially downclocked it through riviatuner. After seeing it stable with the stock ram clocks (900) I modified the default bios with that timing so I would not have it downclocked by software

BC101 said:
Nope - that's a Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS. I have no idea what the skinny port is for (it's been 3 years since I put it in), but the big black cable goes to the breakout box up front.
And thanks about the case clutter comment - makes me feel better ;)
I just sometimes wish I had a more modern case... you know, one of the ones where you can hide a lot of cable behind the mobo side side panel.
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I don't have that, When I built my core two system, I got a coolermaster wavemaster, and it for me is kind of cluttered. From the photo, your case looks like a Super Lanboy, but that is just a guess.
 
compuguy1088 said:
I don't have that, When I built my core two system, I got a coolermaster wavemaster, and it for me is kind of cluttered. From the photo, your case looks like a Super Lanboy, but that is just a guess.
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It's just an Antec Sonata... I love the case, but it does get a bit cramped inside!
 
compuguy1088 said:
Well for mine, I initially downclocked it through riviatuner. After seeing it stable with the stock ram clocks (900) I modified the default bios with that timing so I would not have it downclocked by software.
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The point is you paid for a card that should do 1900MHz on the RAM reliably. You shouldn't have to downclock a card at it's purchased frequencies just to get it stable. Which is why I'm avoiding it for the time being.
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
The point is you paid for a card that should do 1900MHz on the RAM reliably. You shouldn't have to downclock a card at it's purchased frequencies just to get it stable. Which is why I'm avoiding it for the time being.
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I understand that, though I wasn't particularly shopping for an OC card in the first place. This card was one that had a good price to begin with. The OC was just a bonus. Though they should really put better quality control on the cards. I was just responding to him how to downclock the ram. If he wanted to RMA it, he would of done so before asking how to downclock it.
 
I went to enter a review on NewEgg, and low and behold, they have deactivated the product. They agreed to give me a refund RMA since they deactivated it. I ordered the EVGA 512-P3-N802-A1 GeForce 8800GT Superclocked card as a replacement. We'll see if that card is any more stable.
 
I think they "pulled it" before and put it back up. I like the idea of the Gigabyte one but EVGA sounds good too, maybe I could then take advantage of the step up program. Thankfully I have time to mull things over.
 
I wish I knew what the potential problem with this card is because I haven't encountered one yet and would like to know if I'm "at risk". There may be some commonality with mobos, PSU 12v rail amps, CPU types, etc. among the people having issues and it would be nice to know what those factors are...

Plenty of cards use the same Qimonda RAM in question without problems, so I doubt that's the culprit...
 
Yaden said:
I think they "pulled it" before and put it back up. I like the idea of the Gigabyte one but EVGA sounds good too, maybe I could then take advantage of the step up program. Thankfully I have time to mull things over.
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They deactivated the card??? It was up there in the listing only a few hours ago. This reminds me of when the only MSI 8800GT mysteriously was pulled....

BC101 said:
I wish I knew what the potential problem with this card is because I haven't encountered one yet and would like to know if I'm "at risk". There may be some commonality with mobos, PSU 12v rail amps, CPU types, etc. among the people having issues and it would be nice to know what those factors are...

Plenty of cards use the same Qimonda RAM in question without problems, so I doubt that's the culprit...
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The potential problem is with the ram, so it isn't just this card, I've read on other forums of this problem with other OC'ed cards. Here is one thread mentioning it:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=247727
 
ClubIT still has it listed, dropped a couple bucks but out of stock, of course. Newegg had it listed as "available 1/1" at one point, maybe Gigabyte fell way behind on these.
 
compuguy1088 said:
The potential problem is with the ram, so it isn't just this card, I've read on other forums of this problem with other OC'ed cards. Here is one thread mentioning it:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=247727
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Ah... I just took a quick internet tour and XFX, BFG, Galaxy, etc. all seem to have some thread somewhere talking about the same problems people are describing here with the Gigabyte. From what I've seen, either you've got one that can handle the factory OC, or you don't and have to scale it back (or RMA it for another round of Russian roulette).

Thus far this is working for me across all games and benchmarks without issues (posted my ATiTool results in the last page), so I'll just cross my fingers and hope that this is one of the assumedly 80-90% of good ones out there.
 
BC101 said:
Well, it's there now, although out of stock.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125081
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Ah ok. Though I noticed this on the product description page under reviews:

Sharper said:
GUYS WHO HAVE PROBLEMS WITH BSODs READ THIS: Check your RAM. I know, I had the same problems with my 7900GS and other nVidia cards. It's always your RAM. GUYS WHO ARE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THEIR SCREEN HANGING AFTER 2 MINUTES OF PLAYING CRYSIS AND SUCH: Downgrade the nVidia FORCEWARE to an earlier version. This will help. And, as for me — Maxing out the new FRONTLINES Beta at all eye candy graphics settings and incredible framerate. Also COD4, BF2142, Bioshock and Stalker. A MUST HAVE!
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Does this actually work??? It sounds odd that a memory problem would be solved by downgrading the driver...
 
compuguy1088 said:
Well for mine, I initially downclocked it through riviatuner. After seeing it stable with the stock ram clocks (900) I modified the default bios with that timing so I would not have it downclocked by software.
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Interesting. What utility allows you to modify the BIOS?

I'm not surprised the card re-appeared on NewEgg. I'm just not willing to go through growing pains on a new design after paying nearly $300 - I expect and demand stability and quiet enjoyment. I had high hopes and expectations for this design. I like the layout, the quality components, the Zalman cooler, etc. It's what drew me to it. The execution fell short, it seems. Very disappointing.

The EVGA card will be here tomorrow or Monday. I'll report on the comparison.
 
compuguy1088 said:
Does this actually work??? It sounds odd that a memory problem would be solved by downgrading the driver...
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Hopefully someone who is having a problem can report on this, as I just finished up another 2 hour Bioshock funfest - again with no problems. Not to mention I replayed and refinished Crysis last week / weekend on this card as well with zero incidents / issues. I'm currently running the 169.21 Forceware drivers. Which, other than the initial Gigabyte branded drivers that came on the CD, are the only nVidia drivers I've ever had on this system.
 
BC101 said:
Hopefully someone who is having a problem can report on this, as I just finished up another 2 hour Bioshock funfest - again with no problems. Not to mention I replayed and refinished Crysis last week / weekend on this card as well with zero incidents / issues. I'm currently running the 169.21 Forceware drivers. Which, other than the initial Gigabyte branded drivers that came on the CD, are the only nVidia drivers I've ever had on this system.
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Hmmm, then I may have to take a second look then. The EVGA card I was looking at is $20 more and isn't clocked as high. It's only at 650/1900.

Anybody here have any experience with Gigabyte's tech support?
 
BC101 said:
Looking at the pictures Vlad took above, the RAM is Qimonda's HYB18H512321BF-10.
According to the Qimonda website, it seems to be rated for 1.0Ghz (2000Mhz effective).
Unless I'm reading this wrong?:
http://www.qimonda.com/graphics-ram/gddr3/index.html
(click on the 512MB tab)
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Thanks for the info. Any info on the samsung ones man. I've heard that touching 2200-2300 with no problems (certainly less than the German Qimonda)
 
mmmm that looks mighty tasty to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
 
BC101 said:
Once again, suppose I'm just lucky?:

http://home.comcast.net/~bcoutu/atitool8800gthp.jpg
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Yea I tried downgrading drivers (169.28 to 169.13) and running Ati tool for around a half of hour, no problems. I then started playing crysis...low and behold the GPU resets after some time. I then killed the game, restarted it and attempted again. After a short time, the gpu reset itself. I don't know if temperature plays any factor, though for me the card seems to run around the 70's C under load. The max I have seen it under load with the OC'ed ram was 80C for the GPU, with the PCB in the low 40's C.
 
Just ordered mine from ClubIT. My case (Coolmaster 690) will have a side panel fan blowing right on it, should help keep the temps down. I'll post my 2 cents on it once I have the new box all fired up, but I'm not too worried about it.
 
compuguy1088 said:
Yea I tried downgrading drivers (169.28 to 169.13) and running Ati tool for around a half of hour, no problems. I then started playing crysis...low and behold the GPU resets after some time. I then killed the game, restarted it and attempted again. It GPU reseted again. I don't know if temperature plays any factor, though for me the card seems to run around the 70's C under load. The max I have seen it under load with the OC'ed ram was 80C for the GPU, with the PCB in the low 40's C.
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Maybe it's the 169.21's that I'm using that are working out nicely?
I ran the ATiTool test to demonstrate that I wasn't getting any of the artifacts that people were complaining of seeing in their cards. However, with the GPU resetting... that's a toughie. I'm getting 3-4 hours straight of Crysis with everything on Very High on the 169.21's with no crashing. My card maxes out at 70c with the stock OC settings, with the PCB at 37c... so it shouldn't be the temps that you've got...

Once again, I wish one of the companies (or nVidia) putting out these 8800GT's ('cause it's not just a Gigabyte issue) would diagnose these symptoms and determine what the underlying cause of the problems are in this fraction of cards that have issues.
 
compuguy1088 said:
Yea I tried downgrading drivers (169.28 to 169.13) and running Ati tool for around a half of hour, no problems. I then started playing crysis...low and behold the GPU resets after some time. I then killed the game, restarted it and attempted again. It GPU reseted again. I don't know if temperature plays any factor, though for me the card seems to run around the 70's C under load. The max I have seen it under load with the OC'ed ram was 80C for the GPU, with the PCB in the low 40's C.
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I know it sucks, but you might have to RMA this bad boy...
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
I know it sucks, but you might have to RMA this bad boy...
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I understand that, though there is the possibility that the replacement could have the same exact problem. Changing brands seems like a crap shoot as well:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=534645

This topic mentions EVGA SSC cards having problems with ram as well...though the ram is clocked way higher than 950.....
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=157001

Or this post on the NVIDIA fourms:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=55449&view=findpost&p=301326

There seems to be a general issue with OC'ing the ram on these cards....
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
I know it sucks, but you might have to RMA this bad boy...
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Speaking of the devil :( I already did.

I'm the starter of this thread and you can't imagine how bad i wanted this card :(

Maybe it was my fault or it came like that but it would give me a BSOD every time i change a resolution (with or without a driver) run nVidia Control Panel, check card's clocks, change card's clocks <- not possible because i would get a BSOD immediately. Any kind of load on the card it would BSOD.
 
I wish I knew what the potential problem with this card is because I haven't encountered one yet and would like to know if I'm "at risk". There may be some commonality with mobos, PSU 12v rail amps, CPU types, etc. among the people having issues and it would be nice to know what those factors are...
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I think its pretty clear that its the ram. I ran all of these games (bioshock, crysis, ut3) just fine on my 7950gt at max specs (albeit painfully slowly) without issue. I then proceeded to install the the gigabyte and completely wipe the drivers and reinstall, then I started having problems. Scale the memory down 50mhz and the problems go away. Occams razor...

Ah... I just took a quick internet tour and XFX, BFG, Galaxy, etc. all seem to have some thread somewhere talking about the same problems people are describing here with the Gigabyte. From what I've seen, either you've got one that can handle the factory OC, or you don't and have to scale it back (or RMA it for another round of Russian roulette).
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After much reading and testing, I think this pretty much sums up the issue exactly. For those of us who are boned, I don't think theres much we can do (other than the aformentioned russian roulette).

Thus far this is working for me across all games and benchmarks without issues (posted my ATiTool results in the last page), so I'll just cross my fingers and hope that this is one of the assumedly 80-90% of good ones out there.
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FWIW, I can run ati tool with the memory clocked to 960mhz for an hour and it won't cause any problems. It's only when I startup a game that I have issues. I have a feeling that ati tool somehow isn't stressing the memory as much as a game with many large textures. I wish I could find some sort of utility that runs like memtest86 on the vram.

Anyone with this card, do you think ram heatsinks would help a lot with all these problems?
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I can't speak for everybody, but I can say it most definately did NOT help my situation.

All in all, I'm not too upset. Yes I loose 100mhz total out of my ram, but at least I finally have one and it least it works (quite well) underclocked slightly. I'll just keep it around until the next wave of high end cards come around, then sell it with my aftermarket cooler.
 
jwhazel said:
I think its pretty clear that its the ram. I ran all of these games (bioshock, crysis, ut3) just fine on my 7950gt at max specs (albeit painfully slowly) without issue. I then proceeded to install the the gigabyte and completely wipe the drivers and reinstall, then I started having problems. Scale the memory down 50mhz and the problems go away. Occams razor...
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But it's not the RAM for me, since I have the same RAM as you and don't have any problems with anything. And BTW, I didn't just run ATiTool.
I've been running Crysis, Bioshock, etc., with all settings maxed, for hours on end, with zero crashes, artifacts, etc., and I have the Qimonda 10ns RAM, and my Gigabyte HP is running at it's stocked overclocked speeds. Occam can't explain that one.
 
But it's not the RAM for me
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But it IS the ram for me, and most likely everyone else who is having graphic anomolies. Just because you and other people have cherry cards, doesn't mean that the ram isn't bad in other peoples. You got lucky on getting a good card (or I guess more probable is that I was unlucky for getting a bad one).

Occam can't explain that one.
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:confused: What would you suggest that it is then? When the card is clocked at 950mhz, games randomly crash. When the card is underclocked to 900mhz, I can play the same games for hours on end without issue. Other video cards work fine in my system. If this isn't a case of "the simplest solution is the most likely", then I don't know what is.
 
jwhazel said:
But it IS the ram for me, and most likely everyone else who is having graphic anomolies. Just because you and other people have cherry cards, doesn't mean that the ram isn't bad in other peoples. You got lucky on getting a good card (or I guess more probable is that I was unlucky for getting a bad one).
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What I'm saying is you can't pull the Occam card here because it's not like everybody has a bad card. It's the RAM for you, and for others it could be a Vista issue when trying to get rid of old drivers unsuccessfully, or it could be a GPU issue for others (I think Vlad had that). It could be someone using beta drivers, it could be a motherboard compatibility issue, it could be a BIOS issue, etc. That's why I stated earlier - I'd love it if nVidia or some vendor would just come out with some statement saying WHAT the main issue is, and who is at most risk for problems. And yes, there appears to be a problem with some of the Qimonda RAM across the board for all brands that use it on the 8800GT.

Regarding the underclocking 'fixing' the issue for some people... Qimonda specs say it should go up to 1Ghz (2Ghz). I wonder if their specs were off and it was really 1800Mhz? That would explain a LOT.
 
What I'm saying is you can't pull the Occam card here because it's not like everybody has a bad card. It's the RAM for you, and for others it could be...
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Unless I'm missing something, I thought most people were having roughly the same issue: card craps out after a little bit of intense gaming, (people who have tried) lowering the clock seems to fix it. But I may have missed someone experiencing different issues. Vlad's case does sound a bit odd, but I was having the same issue (would BSOD anytime you would change res, check temps, etc...) when I would try this immediatley after killing a corrupted game. Might be something unrelated though.

Regarding the underclocking 'fixing' the issue for some people... Qimonda specs say it should go up to 1Ghz (2Ghz). I wonder if their specs were off and it was really 1800Mhz? That would explain a LOT.
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Well, I don't think that their specs were necessarily off since I'm sure the number of good cards outweighs the bad ones at least 10 fold. I wouldn't be suprised though if it comes down to a simple quality control issue and a bad batch (or 10) of chips went out the door. I haven't been able to find a definitive answer to this, are other 8800gt's with problems using the same Qimonda's?
 
The EVGA 512-P3-N802-A1 GeForce 8800GT Superclocked card arrived yesterday. It clocks 650MHz core, 1900MHz memory. I just finished about three hours of Crysis play without the slightest hiccup. It rates just under the Gigabyte in 3DMark06, 12334 to 12558, at stock settings. I tested overclocking using the Crysis benchmark utility, and it can run stable up to 680Mhz core, exceeding the Gigabyte's frame rate by about 1 fps. It's only about 0.75 fps slower stock, so it's no compromise at all. It runs much hotter, unless you crank up the fan. If you run the fan at 100%, it stays at about 56C even under load. Stock fan it runs up to 72C. It behaves normally with nTune, meaning the core clock shows up under the "Adjust clock frequencies" screen.

The Gigabyte goes back Monday.
 
APIOQM said:
So has this problem been resolved yet? Because I am planing on buying one.
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The problem, if it is the RAM, isn't with just this card. It's with all 8800GT's that are using the Qimonda 10ns RAM.
For shits, do an internet search with: "[your brand here] 8800GT problems" - you'll find a thread for just about every other mfr.'s card as well.
For instance, Xman got a 'good' EVGA. Just like I got a 'good' Gigabyte. It seems like it's luck of the draw and it doesn't matter which card you buy. Although odds are that you're going to get a fully functioning card.
 
BC101 said:
The problem, if it is the RAM, isn't with just this card. It's with all 8800GT's that are using the Qimonda 10ns RAM.
For shits, do an internet search with: "[your brand here] 8800GT problems" - you'll find a thread for just about every other mfr.'s card as well.
For instance, Xman got a 'good' EVGA. Just like I got a 'good' Gigabyte. It seems like it's luck of the draw and it doesn't matter which card you buy. Although odds are that you're going to get a fully functioning card.
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Yeah this is what I thought because my BFG OC2 was screwed, and on newegg like like 90% of the people saying its fine, then the odd guy saying his is screwed, and theres still guys out there who just don't know how to install it right etc... also I find the amount of good cards progresses in time, and the last like 10 reviews have been good on newegg.
 
I guess this explains why when I try to OC my XFX 8800GT, anything over 1000Mhz (although 1000Mhz seems to work) on the Memory automatically locks up my PC when I run ATITool. I guess I should consider myself lucky then I could get my stock card up to 1000Mhz on the Memory while still staying at mid 50's under load.
 
I got mine last friday (04-Jan-08) .. working great so far ... no need to underclock mem, i was a little worried when i read this topic, but i guess i'm lucky too ..
I've been playing COD4, Crysis, Bioshock, FlightSim X, The Witcher, World in conflict, 3dMark06 .. just to test performance and possible problems ..
I was planning to overclock a little, but i think now i won't .. i'll stay in the safe side.
 
I warned you all on the Gainward products, poor QC, It seems things have not changed... If you got a working one then great but thats why I said I would not purchase even if it wa sa stock clocked card. it's kinda cool they always try to bring something better to the table, but it's not cool when you purchase it and it does not work as it should.
 
Justintoxicated said:
I warned you all on the Gainward products, poor QC, It seems things have not changed... If you got a working one then great but thats why I said I would not purchase even if it wa sa stock clocked card. it's kinda cool they always try to bring something better to the table, but it's not cool when you purchase it and it does not work as it should.
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Gainward owns Gigabyte? :confused:
 
Apparently Fedex delivered to me last today, got it at 6:15.:rolleyes:

I got scared at first because I saw artifacts when I first booted up but replugged in the cable and they haven't shown up since. I ran ATITool for 15 mins+ without any problems. Ran Company of Heroes benchmark twice without any problems (and on full blown settings, nice!). More testing as I find time! GPU-Z shows as GPU 700 MHz and 920 MHz memory and shader at 1715 MHz. :cool:
 
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