GTX280 xXx NOT the 670MHz it should be.

[steve_sarge]

Just wondering if someone can help me.
I purchased the GTX280 xXx ZDD9 and paid top dollar here in Aus for it, when I open the nVidia control panel, GPUz or Riva Tuner, the card is said to be standard clock specs. and not the 670 / 2500 it should be. See attached screenie:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j21/steve_sarge79/GPUzProof.jpg

Support ticket response so far is blaming the driver but I had not even bothered with the driver on the disc, I went straight to nVidia and put the latest WHQL driver on then tried the Forceware 177.92 BETA driver. Neither made a cracker of difference.

I don't think blaming the driver is a good approach as it doesn't affect the BIOS of the card or determine the clock speeds.

It isn't like the CPU and increases the multiplier in games on demand either.

I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this for me.

Motherboard BIOS is V.06 too, so it's not shipping BIOS.

Please help.

[Anemone]

I'd bet someone substituted a standard model for the upper end one somewhere between the maker and you. Should be able to RMA that for the correct card, or simply return it. Clearly it's the wrong one.

[FUGGER]

That shows the bios is flashed XFX but it should be showing 670Mhz GPU clock in that screen shot.

[steve_sarge]

That shows the bios is flashed XFX but it should be showing 670Mhz GPU clock in that screen shot.

Just out of Curiosity FUGGER, do you think it would be possible to get a Screen Shot of your card's clock speeds for comparison? I'm curious and need some concrete for my case so I can compare the difference between mine and yours in GPUz. If not, no problem.

So far I think I may have received the incorrect product but being in Australia it is difficult to deal with American companies through a retailer / distributor here.

I nearly went with the BFG Card, then the EVGA one but I've always been fond of the XFX since the day of my old 6600GT.

[MomijiTMO]

I think I saw this in the GTX200 series thread at OCAU. Anyhoo the packaging says GTX280 xXx right?

[steve_sarge]

I think I saw this in the GTX200 series thread at OCAU. Anyhoo the packaging says GTX280 xXx right?

Did so see it there. And yep GTX280 xXx packaging and part numbers.

[steve_sarge]

Word received from XFX Support in the U.S of A. I've been instructed to return the unit to the retailer for exchange. Hopefully the new one is the 670MHz Version. I was hoping a simple BIOS flash would have sufficed but XFX said exchange, I'm not one to argue.

[hecktic]

yes exchange should fix this..... they wont give you a bios to flash the card up to the right spec. because it could very well be a dud card that ends up not taking the flash properly.... so youd better exchange to make life simplier for XFX :)

[XFX Tech]

Steve PM me your serial number so that I can verify the model and revision and I may actually be able to get you a BIOS flash if it is the wrong BIOS on that card.

[steve_sarge]

yes exchange should fix this..... they wont give you a bios to flash the card up to the right spec. because it could very well be a dud card that ends up not taking the flash properly.... so youd better exchange to make life simplier for XFX :)

Yeah, the thing that is bugging me about that is the waiting period. We don't exactly have shelves full of these tackers here and mine was the last one at the shop that I purchased it from.
:horse:


Steve PM me your serial number so that I can verify the model and revision and I may actually be able to get you a BIOS flash if it is the wrong BIOS on that card.

Thanks for the trouble XFX Tech. I appreciate the effort.:up:

*EDIT* I just realised that, if read wrong, my thanks to XFX Tech could be taken out of context. Thanks for GOING TO THE TROUBLE of helping me out.

[steve_sarge]

No joy from the retailer. I sent the card back for a replacement and he sent me a new STANDARD card in MY BOX. I was disgusted by this for 2 reasons,

a) my card is a xXx, not a Standard card

b) the card I was sent was out of another box, (How dodgy is this guy???) Some poor customer will end up with my (now secondhand) card

After a heated discussion over the phone, I got the guy to send my "Original" cad back to me so I can try some other way of dealing with my situation. My problem is, Australia has LIMITED stocks of the GTX280 xXx (none in Aus while this ordeal was going on) and XFX being in the U.S. of A. makes the process a little more difficult to deal with.

I'm hoping I might get some joy from XFX Support (Not very hopeful as the ticket system stinks) but when I software clocked the card to where it should have been from the factory, I had a small amount of Artifacting in the later levels of the Crysis PC Game which makes me think my card has been labeled and packaged wrongly (I may be wrong as I don't know the process of testing the xXx cards for Factory OC approval)

I shall check in now and then for a progress update.

NO JOY THUS FAR THOUGH :(

[MomijiTMO]

Which :banana::banana::banana::banana: retailer should I avoid like the plague?

[JustRob]

Yeah I'm curious to know who your retailer is as well.....Because I've had some dodgy dealings with a particular retailer that stiffed me over a motherboard. Also I have one of those cards on order at the moment so keep us informed of your progress please. :-)

[steve_sarge]

XFX Tech has answered my prayers with the correct BIOS Version for my card. :up: Thanks a million. I can put this to rest now. Hopefully I can wind Far Cry 2 right up and enjoy the game to it's full extent. I can't wait for it to hit Aus.

Thanks for the input guys. I won't be shopping online at a store I don't know again. One bad experience with poor customer service keeps me determined to shop locally for my goods. :yepp:

[Bad213Boy]

Can't you just overclock the card? I mean these cards are all the same, are they not? I'll never pay the premium for an overclocked card. Why? Because you'll end up overclocking them anyway. From my understanding, there's absolutely nothing different that sets any of these Geforce 200 series cards apart, other than the brand name and a few laser cuts to differentiate the 260's, 260's core 216, and 280's.

The only difference I can think of is how the card is preclocked and how its covered under warrenty. If thats the case, they why the heck would some companies like EVGA include an overclocking program with the card? Its like they encourage you to OC it. I've looked at the specs on these, and I haven't seen anything thats different. Is it the thremal pads they use? If so, how much of difference can pads make? I don't see how they sucker people into buying these OCed cards.

[Chris_redfield]

When you buy an OC'd card you are usually guaranteed a bit more overclocking headroom in my experience as Asus/XFX/EVGA/BFG pay a bit more into putting better batches of GPU's into the graphics cards.

Just as not every CPU is good for OC'ing not every GPU will manage to take the extra strain so you are apying a bit of a premium on that front. The cards also come with the speeds flashed into the BIOS so you don't have to use apps like Riva Tuner so you don't have to fanny around with fan profiles or things like that. On some of the models you also get much better coolers. A lot of manufacturers are turning to Zalman and other cooler makers in order to provide there cards with better coolers, which is a bonus as most cheap cards will end up having their warranty void if you replace the cooler, (though what they don't know wont hurt them just keep the stock cooler and replace it if you ever need to RMA.)

I don't tend to buy factory overclocked cards personally, but thats just because I'm a cheap bastard, and the few fps I would gain in games i odn't really think are worth the extra cash. I only tend to OC my GPU if I am benching and am curious just how much performance I can squeeze out.

I wont buy 'homebrand,' graphics cards though, I like to buy from a decent brand (even if they all come from the same facotry lol,) as I bought the cheapest 3870 I could lay my hands on as an upgrade from a 1950XTX. It was sold as OcUK's own card, but it was manufactured by a company called triplex and it is so crap. The cooler on it looked like some had picked up a few shards of copper, pressed them together in a vice and than slapped a fan on so I ended up spending extra cash on a cooler just to keep the card cool anyway. After that extra expense I thought I may as well OC it a little bit to try and get some value for money out of it, but taking the GPU core just 3mhz higher than stock results in artefacting in 3D mark as well. It wasn't a refrence design but thats the last time I buy a 'budget,' card.

[5010]

Can't you just overclock the card? I mean these cards are all the same, are they not? I'll never pay the premium for an overclocked card. Why? Because you'll end up overclocking them anyway. From my understanding, there's absolutely nothing different that sets any of these Geforce 200 series cards apart, other than the brand name and a few laser cuts to differentiate the 260's, 260's core 216, and 280's.

The only difference I can think of is how the card is preclocked and how its covered under warrenty. If thats the case, they why the heck would some companies like EVGA include an overclocking program with the card? Its like they encourage you to OC it. I've looked at the specs on these, and I haven't seen anything thats different. Is it the thremal pads they use? If so, how much of difference can pads make? I don't see how they sucker people into buying these OCed cards.

In the case my pair of "BFG GTX 260 OCX MAXCOREs" there must be better memory chips used since I can clock these to 2560(DDR) compared to the stock 260's 2000(DDR) - Better binned GPU + different memory chips entirely... let's see a stock clocked 260 plunk its memory clocks on 2560 :D

[revogamer]

i had a non overclocked Asus 260, i got 795/1590/1280(2560)