Guys - I really think I have a bad problem developing here - GTX280

[TX-Gunslinger]

I had selected Artic Silver Ceramique for this work, due to it's non-conductive properties and it's density (it's not thin - so it won't leak all over the board).  It's also white, so it's easy to see where you need to do final clean-ups.

I applied a little Ceramique to each chip, particularly in the power section, where the surface is supposed to contact with the cooler.  I also cleaned and reapplied the GPU Ceramique.



I did clean up the board a little more before re-assembly.

So, how did this all work?
FINAL TEMPS UNDER LOAD

INITIAL TEMPS UNDER LOAD


That's about the largest temperture improvment, underload I've ever seen on a device.

S~

Gunny

[TX-Gunslinger]

Also, notice the significant drop in VDDC current - not using as much power now that we are cooler.

S~

Gunny

[GOZR]

Exelent!

[TX-Gunslinger]

So now we can see why I have not been around the last week or so.

Oh yeah, GPU temps a idle are 43C for core and 38 for PCB. 

S~

Gunny

[TX-TOAD]

Sorry, and nice work!

[TX-Gunslinger]

Thanks Toad, that means a lot coming from you.   

S~

Gunny

[TX-Kingsnake]

At this point in the thread I am calling it a fact. A series of proofs.

I would like,

1. A shopping list and tooling
2. An estimate of hours to completion. Could I do this in 1 weekend day or 2?
3. Can I call you if I have questions when I try to do this?
4. (should be #1) What do I need to benchmark before and after?

I have to say; under product liability laws for manufacturing in the USA your product was not to the standard of care.

[TX-Gunslinger]

Heheheh..... You know King - your correct.

In celebration of that fact - I'm proud to annouce that my GTX-280 is the last Nvidea product I'll own for a long time.

After much research over the last few days - examining the current state of:

1. GTX-295
2. ATI 5970
3. ATI 5870
4. GTX-300 architecture and implications

I'm going to pick up a new ATI based card and feel better about "investing locally" (AMD is an Austin Company)...

Notice how it's now January, far past Win 7 launch and still no GT-300 series?  Don't hold your breath - it ain't coming.  No reason to release a new vidcard that can't outperform your competitors, in any area.

S~

Gunny

[GOZR]

SLI rules

[TX-Gunslinger]

Not for my personal applications, at home - I can't find the use for it.  This last two weeks with this card trouble has just completely driven home the fact that the last thing ol' Gunslinger needs is one more layer of hardware and software complexity.  No - No - No....  I'm on the verge now of the instantity of "overclockers" versus "folks who actually master a game or simulation..... No I'm her at 7:41 PM still screwing with my system - hoping that the last thing I did (last night) - properly isolated the VRM that I think is still randomly overheating.  My other choice was to have no video board for as long as it would take EVGA to turn my board around.

As I've said before, at work I have 18 SLI systems - most are dual 8800 SLI driving 4, 22" monitors with 4 workstations pushing 4, 30" at 2560 X 1200.  Didn't I post pictures a while back?  If I didn't let me know and I will, as I think you'd find it interesting.

The sysadmins are setting up two more new ones, based on GTX-295's.  I wonder now, if they've had to RMA any.  I'll ask tommorow - they have a pile of them on the shelf.

Anyway, I digress - yes your are correct - SLI is a bit faster than either a standalone 5970 or 295 in many applications - but not that much faster.

Anyway, don't take anything I say to seriously right now as I'm kind of miserable with this and would actually like to fly ROF before I forget how

My plan is to nurse this 280 until it either smokes or works properly..

S~

Gunny

[TX-TOAD]

Dam! and after you guys talked me out of an ATI into the 260 you say this LOL

Well I just got my ISP back.

I lost it Tues Afternoon.

They had a major crash, it effected their entire system nation wide.

They had to call out someone to fix their system Ouch!!!

So sorry if you looked for me the lat two evenings.

I really wanted to be there.

[TX-Gunslinger]

Heh - I didn't talk you into a Nvidea thing, as I remember (you can always provide me with a link).  In fact, I think I'm one of the only people that actually has had an ATI product in the last four-five years besides you.  Of course, I'm senile these days so I might have forgotten......

You have not missed me as I have not been flying (unfortunatley).  My 280 is crashing now at low temps - but it can last long enough to conduct a benchmark.

So, I am going to order a new board tonight - after I finish digging in forums.  Candidates are:

1) ATI 5970
2) ATI 5870
3) GTX 285 - 2 MB
4) GTX 295

I'm really tempted to grab one of the ATI boards so I can benchmark it to compare against all my 280 benchmarks.  The 280 benchmarks can scale to 285 and other Nvidea setups.

S~

Gunny

[TX-Gunslinger]

Before I order though - I have one more thing I need to try with my 280 - now that temps have been fixed and we know they are not the issue.

Drivers 182.50.......

S~

Gunny

[GOZR]

All i can say is that ATI are really picky with Flightsim and i will not go there yet myself but maybe they did improved .... I had ATI and ho boy!! a pain,  hard and annoying to tweak.

Everything is about tuning the correct way mostly for SLI.

EVGA had a special test drive program before buying check it out.

But anyway anyone of them would do good tests and for others to know.

Very expensive for this late of the series.

[TX-Gunslinger]

Yes they are expensive for late in the series.

Ok, so 5970 is out - it's too long for my case and I can't justify it's expense.


As far as waiting for Nvidea to produce something new soon:
1. No one has been given a GF100 board for review
2. Nvidea has not even released the clocks/bandwidths
3. The are promising somewhere around 2X performance
4. Promising shipping in Q1

Those 4 things don't add up.  Based on past trendlines - Nvidea won't release GF100 as something you can actually order until Q2 at the earliest.

Two other things that really bother me about the GF100 architecture is:
1. Increased power consumption
2. Increased heat

Here's my problem - I need a new card - best single GPU card on the market is the 5870.  After reviewing all the data over at ROF - most who have switched to this card from Nvidea are very happy with it.

It's got enough legs to stretch me for another year or two and when ROF goes DX11 - well - I'm there.  In the past, I had ATI and really was happy with every product I had.

I'm going to sleep on this - and if I'm ok tommorow - I'll make my order.  I just can't wait any longer.  I'm way behind on beta testing.

Thanks

S~

Gunny