XFX Geforce 7800GT Extreme Edition Woes

[Reanimation]

Hi Scan guys,

On Wednesday I placed an order with you for an upgrade for my PC. I ordered up a new PCI-E mobo, Dual core CPU, PSU and an XFX Geforce 7800GT Extreme Edition Graphics card.

Everything is working very well, but over the past couple of days I have noticed something about the graphics card’s fan, which it turns out seems to be a common issue with XFX cards. You can see other XFX owners with the same problem in this thread on XFX's support site: http://www.xfxforce.com/forums/threa...=3124&tstart=0

If the PC has been left off for a few hours and I start up the PC the fan on the 7800GT seems to stay at 100% speed instead of throttling to 28% when the driver is started up by windows. The only way I have found to get the fan throttling to work is to continually reboot the PC until the fan does finally slow down. As you can imagine, this is a bit of a pain!

I have also noticed that if I do not keep rebooting the PC, the card's fan will eventually slow down if I leave the PC at the windows desktop for about 10-15 minutes but I don’t think this is right since the fan should be slowing down during windows booting up. Once the fan slows down it does work as it should (Speeding up for Games and then slowing down after a few minutes once I have quit the game).

I have tried everything from re-intalling the current drivers, installing Beta drivers to trying to control the fan speed using RivaTuner.

During the initial 10-15 minute period that I mentioned above if you try to control the fan using RivaTuner nothing will happen at all. Once the fan speed finally does drop I have found out that the fan control does work in Riva Tuner.

After looking around on the internet it looks like the problem could be related to a dodgy transistor on the card that controls the voltage to the fan. (see this link: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?threadid=170618)

I have a couple of friends who own 7800GT’s (They have the ScanFX cards) and the fans on those cards work correctly, I was wondering if it would it be possible for me to return the XFX 7800GT and get the ScanFX version as a replacement?

If I am allowed to do this, can you give me some idea of the turn around time please? As you can imagine I am going to be without the use of my PC for a few days during this process.

I don’t really want to keep the XFX card as it is just too noisy when the fan is stuck at 100%. I am also worried that the fan could wear out with it being stuck at 100% for long periods of time.

I have never had to RMA anything before, so I am a little unclear as to what I need to do!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, as you can imagine it would be a nightmare trying to explain all of the above over the phone!

[Philipp]

Please PM me your invoice number and i will look into the issue,

Best Regards

[Reanimation]

I have PM'd you my invoice number.

Thanks.

[Reanimation]

Just a quick update, I've been using my PC most of the weekend and the issue seems to be prevalent although Intermittent. On Saturday evening the 7800GT's fan was stuck at full speed all of the time. On Sunday morning when I next used the PC the fan did actually throttle back correctly when windows started up, however later on in the day the fan was once again not responding correctly and was stuck at 100%.



Philipp was dealing with me, I last heard from him on Saturday when he said that he was going to contact XFX today.

I would be very greatful for any update regarding if I can get the card replaced.

Many thanks.

[Steve A]

Hi,

I know Phil is looking into this now, i will chase him up and hopefully he will have a resolution for you this afternoon.

Regards

[pands@scan]

LAst i heard phil was ringing XFX to see what they have to say about it

Also, this happened with my GT also

[Reanimation]

Thanks for the update guys!

I'll wait to hear back from Phil.

[Reanimation]

Just wondering if there was any joy with contacting XFX? I have not heard anything back yet and I'm getting a bit worried.

Thanks.

[pands@scan]

Still awaiting for a response from our XFX contact

[Reanimation]

Hi Again Guys,

I've still not heard anything back regarding the fault with my 7800GT's fan controller. The more I read on the web the only fix available to me appears to be new hardware.

I understand that you are still waiting for XFX to get back to you, but I am now really worried that I won't be able to return the card back to you for replacement as the card is marked on the website as having a 7 Day DOA period. This period expires tomorrow.

So at this point I feel I should be returning the 7800GT to you for replacement. I would appreciate it if I could get the XFX card replaced with the ScanFX version of the card as their seems to be inherent problems with the XFX card.

I would appreciate it if you could get back to me with details on how I can return the card for replacement.

Many thanks.

[MD]

hmm i have a strange feeling i also have a card with the same problem. hmmm gonna have to run some checks, its hard to be totally sure and the freezer 7 pro keeps varying its speed lol

Ill check on this and let you know if I too have the same problem...

Matt.

[Koolpc]

Can't you slap a Zalman V700 CU on the card?

[MD]

Yes, you can, very true.

But its not what you bought it for now was it?

Matt.

[Reanimation]

Can't you slap a Zalman V700 CU on the card?

Yep I could do, the problem is that aftermarket coolers void the warranty, plus if the cooler has a fan, it still needs to be connected to the 7800GT's fan connector and its the chip that regulates the power to the GT's fan connector that seems to be cause of the problem from what you read on the web. (see the link on my first post).

Matt - Cheers for the update mate, this issue seems to be affecting quite a few XFX 7800GT's in general - have a look at the XFX forums.

[Reanimation]

Just a quick message to say thanks to the guys at scan for helping me out over the past few days.

Phil sorted me out with an RMA for the XFX card (I have just replied to the email with details on collection) and I have just placed an Order for the Scan FX version GT (with free shipping!).


One quick last question about the collection of the XFX card - how should I package it up?

I understand that I need to put the card back in its original packaging, but should I be putting the XFX box inside another box (I'm confusing myself now!) for shipping? Do I need to put any other documentation in with the card other than the RMA number?

Again, many thanks to Phil and the other guys for helping me out.

[slinger]

Sorry to butt into your thread but it is relevant to the OP. I too bought one of the XFX EE GT's 2 weeks ago, it is from Scan but Ive bought it from a private dealer. I clicked on the link on the Scan site to register for the XFX warranty but it says its not for UK users. It said to contact "Propellerhead" whoever they are? The site gave no web link or contact details etc so I emailed XFX support over a week ago and still havent had a reply.

Can anyone give any advice on this please?

ta