EVGA 670FTW dead

[Adam T Lutley 12]

Just had to RMA my 670 FTW after just 5 months of use. Curiously, it crashed while doing a long flight in the CS 757. Got the dreaded code 43 error code and all attempts to re instal driver and even a fresh re instal failed. Moving it to the other PCI port didn't work either. Anyone else have a similar experience with this card ?? Thanks in advance.

[E6BAV8R 88]

Who was the cards manufacturer? EVGA?

 

There are reviews all over Newegg of the EVGA GTX series being notorious for driver crashes and subsequent hardware failure - to the point where Windows won't even recognize it anymore.  All resulted in RMAs back to EVGA.  I'm going with MSI for my GTX 660.

[peppy197 165]

Mine slowly got worse until it just up and dieded, past its warranty

 

A 670 4G, EVGA manufacturer

 

Now when I plug it in the fan blows loud hard and will not allow the screens to show the BIOS

 

Used to get 5-7 hoours at a time from it before the fan started doing that, just before it right out dead now zero hours

 

 

SHould I try an RMA? It is about a year old

[E6BAV8R 88]

I believe the EVGA Warranty is 2 years, no?  You'd have to check with EVGA.

 

If it is out of warranty than you are unfortunately out of luck.

[TheFamilyMan 279]

EVGA requires that you register your card within 30 days of purchase to 'enable' the warranty. Some of their cards only have 3 years while others have a lifetime warranty; but then again if you did not register you are, bluntly put, screwed. I've RMAed a 2+ year old EVGA gcard a while back and got excellent service. It shipped the same day my card arrived at EVGA. They even sent me back a card which was better than the original, which was no long available. But most RMAs get back a returned or refurb card of the same model as was RMAed; they will always send back as good as or better card regardless of its age (and that is in their fine print if you bother to read it).

[peppy197 165]

Mine was rejecting the driver more and more until it finally would not boot any more

 

But I am not sure if I damaged it or if it was deteriorating

 

I would think that if they found it to be damaged they simply would not replace/fix it ?

[Adam T Lutley 12]

Well folks, we're back in business with a replacement card. Feel lucky that this is the first time I've had to RMA a component after numerous builds spanning almost 13 years.

[E6BAV8R 88]

Well folks, we're back in business with a replacement card. Feel lucky that this is the first time I've had to RMA a component after numerous builds spanning almost 13 years.

 

You're lucky.  I was surprised that I didn't have to RMA a product when I built my PC earlier this month (knock on wood).  Usually I have to end up RMA'ing at least 1 component.

[Adam T Lutley 12]

You're lucky.  I was surprised that I didn't have to RMA a product when I built my PC earlier this month (knock on wood).  Usually I have to end up RMA'ing at least 1 component.

Very lucky indeed! LOL!

[SAAB340 28]

Well folks, we're back in business with a replacement card. Feel lucky that this is the first time I've had to RMA a component after numerous builds spanning almost 13 years.

You're damn lucky. 13 years to your first RMA. It took me about 2 months when one GPU in my first ever own build died 8 years ago. Have had numerous parts fail on me since so I've lost count. Have even had brand new parts delivered broken out of the box. (Corsair H80 cooler with severed power cable and dented radiator springs to mind, as well as bad RAM kits). Still not good to hear you had a part fail, but good to hear that you got it got sorted.

[Adam T Lutley 12]

You're damn lucky. 13 years to your first RMA. It took me about 2 months when one GPU in my first ever own build died 8 years ago. Have had numerous parts fail on me since so I've lost count. Have even had brand new parts delivered broken out of the box. (Corsair H80 cooler with severed power cable and dented radiator springs to mind, as well as bad RAM kits). Still not good to hear you had a part fail, but good to hear that you got it got sorted.

Well, I'm lucky to have a Microcenter close to the house. I will say this about EVGA. Very friendly technical support personnel. Made the RMA process relatively painless.

[CoolP 283]

I think that, for the folks still being within the RMA time span, the only advise can be to make use of it. For the others, I can tell you that 'backing' the card helped me with an older model.

 

No kidding, you may want to google that backing method as I had a broken 570, out of warranty, which did show the POST screen and things but never made it to Windows. This happened out of the blue, with a fully functional card suddenly crashing the PC and then never making it back.

 

The detailed backing description can be found on the Net (example) and I once again repeat that you should not try this with a card still being able to receive RMA. If you are outside, you actually have nothing to lose and may only need an oven clean-up after you're done. This also makes the wife and/or    girlfriends happy. Well, it did here.

 

I had that 570 cleaned and with the cooler arrangement dismounted. Mind any plastic parts. If you can remove them, do so. If not, perhaps shield them against heat or watch your card closely while it's in the oven. You don't want the plastic to melt.

 

Running some 8-10 minutes at close to 200°C (I think I had 180). After letting it cool down and attaching the cooler again, it worked. Still does.

 

Now I don't think it will last forever and I also think the main trouble, in that case, comes down to the dreaded Nvidia soldering methods and materials, but it may indeed help if you're sitting on a dead card. Here's an older link in regard to the cards back then. Still, it seems like the soldering problems aren't ruled out. http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/39506-nvidia-gpu-solder-joints-at-a-disadvantage-over-ati-scientist-says I had the impression that short and hot runs are better than medium temps and rather long-ish oven stopovers.

 

Adding to the story, I was able to check my broken card while booting to Windows with a second one. So I had a fairly old PCI-E card in the one slot and the broken one in the second. This allowed to boot to Windows with the old card being the primary adapter. So I could see that the broken card still is able to respond to tools querying it. As I was first expecting the card's BIOS to be a problem, I saved it and reflashed. This didn't help, but it was possible, hence the note. It wasn't fully broken, so to say.

 

Before the 'fix', it reported a silly amount of VRAM. The symptoms, as written, were not being able to make it past the initial 'Windows is loading' screen. You always received weird lines and artifacts beforehand. Sort of like this. http://i.stack.imgur.com/wTkeC.jpg

 

Well, if it would break again, I'd go for another round of baking it. Nothing to lose as I already have planned on buying a new one with a later tech but not necessarily more bangs.