bfg gtx280 loads @107c need advice?

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Originally Posted by Mati87

I've read about a user using a w.b. and he had the same problem, that's where I read that the IHS is the problem. I have the card folding and I can play wic, but I've read that to some people it just dies after 7 days, mine are up on friday, when my GTX 260 replacement comes jeje.

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oh farrrkk ! after reading dinos post about w.b fixing it 100% i was like yes cool thats the solution.
then now u tell me someone tried fitting a w.b and the problem remained? man, theres no end to this lol

found this on nv forums-

"Cards that have properly seated heatsinks still overheat... The shim must not be making contact with the core or something, thus it overheats terribly quickly. The fan speed increase makes no difference since the shin probably isn't making proper contact... In my case it took 4-5 seconds to exceed 100C, 20-30 second to shut down from overheating."

man i keep finding more and more threads with this problem, i didnt realize it was so widespread. how can they get away with doing something like this?
this card cost me almost $1k !
ill pull the card apart later ,but i first have to do some research, ie -what the hell is a shim? IHS? etc :confused:

IHS stands for Integrated Heatspreader. It's the bit of metal that sits over the actual silicon of the core to protect it from damage by the high mounting pressures used in modern heatsinks. Found mostly on CPUs, but also on modern VGAs.

A shim serves a similar function - it's the raised bit of metal around the core that serves to prevent uneven pressure from occuring and damaging the core. Obviously, if the shim isn't perfectly level with the top of the core (or IHS), it can prevent the heatsink from coming into contact with the core (or IHS), and thus affecting temps.

If it's a shim/IHS issue then no amount of aftermarket cooling will fix it, unless the heatsink you use has a custom stepping (the amount that the contact surface protrudes from the bulk of the metal of the heatsink, and thus would sit inside the SHIM/make tighter contact with the IHS) - which would mean you'd have to get a custom block made up.

@ adya: please do divulge which e-tailer/retailer u bought from, so that ppl can avoid! :up:

thanks mate. thats a good explanation . and from what ive been reading so far it looks like that is the main cause. im fairly convinced as well that no waterblock or heatsink adjustment can make a difference. every thread i come accross seems to blame the shim and ihs.
i might just sell it cheap and buy a cheap gt . im over it, its not worth the stress just to play games.
bfg wins i loose.

tiro-
the retailer says its under warranty . according to the warranty it has to be returned to bfg. its bfg who are the rogues here. and imo they should be avoided.
by the way. after the second rma , bfg appologized for sending me two faulty cards and assured me the nxt replacement will be personally tested by the warehouse manager.
the thing is the 3rd replacement is the worst of them all. this one overheats to 107c in seconds. and is missing dvi screws and is scratched on the side panel.
obviously , the warehouse manager thinks this is a big joke and im just some dumb aussie. this is how these butholes think.
they wont reply to my emails anymore and even though they emailed me saying i was eligible for that rebate. they wont send it to me or answer my emails inregards to my rebate .
its bfg that needs to be avoided imo. sorry for the rage lol

As I said to start with, get a 4870 1GB and problem solved ;)

Sorry to hear about your loss, although rest assured BFG are going to lose sales from the people viewing this thread. I still say attempt to return it to the store for a refund - as both dinos and I are saying, you can actually do this and they're legally obligated to take it back.

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Originally Posted by adya

thanks mate. thats a good explanation . and from what ive been reading so far it looks like that is the main cause. im fairly convinced as well that no waterblock or heatsink adjustment can make a difference. every thread i come accross seems to blame the shim and ihs.
i might just sell it cheap and buy a cheap gt . im over it, its not worth the stress just to play games.
bfg wins i loose.

tiro-
the retailer says its under warranty . according to the warranty it has to be returned to bfg. its bfg who are the rogues here. and imo they should be avoided.
by the way. after the second rma , bfg appologized for sending me two faulty cards and assured me the nxt replacement will be personally tested by the warehouse manager.
the thing is the 3rd replacement is the worst of them all. this one overheats to 107c in seconds. and is missing dvi screws and is scratched on the side panel.
obviously , the warehouse manager thinks this is a big joke and im just some dumb aussie. this is how these butholes think.
they wont reply to my emails anymore and even though they emailed me saying i was eligible for that rebate. they wont send it to me or answer my emails inregards to my rebate .
its bfg that needs to be avoided imo. sorry for the rage lol

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mm ok, fair enough :)

it that case, go u know u want to.... email BFG with a link to this thread :D

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Originally Posted by tiro_uspsss

mm ok, fair enough :)

it that case, go u know u want to.... email BFG with a link to this thread :D

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yeh i did already and that link to nvforums that has 18 pages of people complaining about bfg and evga 280s overheating. and one other link i sent also .
they dont care there so arrogant. they would just delete it and move onto the nxt rma lol
i just emailed the gy i bought it from , ill try that avenue again.

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Originally Posted by adya

yeh i did already and that link to nvforums that has 18 pages of people complaining about bfg and evga 280s overheating. and one other link i sent also .
they dont care there so arrogant. they would just delete it and move onto the nxt rma lol
i just emailed the gy i bought it from , ill try that avenue again.

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Don't give up dude...

I feel like returning mine for a refund on principal!

......although it does only ever get to 77 degrees:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by wez3570

Don't give up dude...

I feel like returning mine for a refund on principal!

......although it does only ever get to 77 degrees:rolleyes:

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hahaha thanks man, but no dont rma ur card. theyll end up sending u a refurbished ,scratched card that overheats and has missing hex screws :rofl:

Although mine doesn't seem to be overheating, I think I will put it under water.

The D Tek GFX2 & unisink will be my block of choice once they're both available in the UK.

Let us know how you get on...

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Originally Posted by wez3570

Although mine doesn't seem to be overheating, I think I will put it under water.

The D Tek GFX2 & unisink will be my block of choice once they're both available in the UK.

Let us know how you get on...

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yeh well actually i do have some news. wasnt going to post until the replacement card is infront of me and furmarking away @85c.
but ,i went onto hardforum, to follow a link inregards to the overheating gtx280 issue. and there i found a thread run by bfgs technical support analyist gy.
it also happens to be the gy that tested my last replacement card.
so i managed to get in touch with him, and i let him know what i thought of all this .and to tell the truth ,he was very apologetic and willing to solve the problem.
he found a replacement and is testing it now on furmark for 4 hours i think he said .And it hasnt exceeded 85c ! so it shouldnt be long until i have this dud card replaced.
i do feel like i was burned by bfg , but i dont think he did it on purpose. there must of being some mix up there in the warehouse. i doubt he would of sent off a card thats missing hex screws etc and overheating so bad on purpose.
he doesnt sound like that kind of person.
so, im not one to keep a grudge, if this card works fine, ill be happy to be a bfg fan again. i just hope im not celebrating too soon though lol

edit*wanted to ask u, why did u go for the Dtek over the dd tieten or ek? just asking becuase eventually , id like wc it as well. id like to know if theres much difference between the 3?

Generally there's bugger all difference between the EK, DD, VJ or Swiftech FC blocks in terms of temps. EK and DD have a consistent reputation for quality, as do Swiftech (although they're not really known for making FC blocks) but provided you get a working block there'll be little difference in temps.

Great to hear you got your issues resolved the way they should be.

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Originally Posted by adya

yeh well actually i do have some news. wasnt going to post until the replacement card is infront of me and furmarking away @85c.
but ,i went onto hardforum, to follow a link inregards to the overheating gtx280 issue. and there i found a thread run by bfgs technical support analyist gy.
it also happens to be the gy that tested my last replacement card.
so i managed to get in touch with him, and i let him know what i thought of all this .and to tell the truth ,he was very apologetic and willing to solve the problem.
he found a replacement and is testing it now on furmark for 4 hours i think he said .And it hasnt exceeded 85c ! so it shouldnt be long until i have this dud card replaced.
i do feel like i was burned by bfg , but i dont think he did it on purpose. there must of being some mix up there in the warehouse. i doubt he would of sent off a card thats missing hex screws etc and overheating so bad on purpose.
he doesnt sound like that kind of person.
so, im not one to keep a grudge, if this card works fine, ill be happy to be a bfg fan again. i just hope im not celebrating too soon though lol

edit*wanted to ask u, why did u go for the Dtek over the dd tieten or ek? just asking becuase eventually , id like wc it as well. id like to know if theres much difference between the 3?

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Full cover blocks are more restrictive. I only have 1 loop with my CPU and NB under water already, so the GPU only block is more suited to my loop, thats all.

Great news BTW, glad BFG have stepped up to the (fur)mark!! lol

Faith restored!

full cover as in they cover ram chips as well ? yeh thats a good point. i only have one loop for cpu atm so i might go for dd since i really want the whole card covered . if this card has good temps ill definatly overclock it somewhat.

i suggest that if you buy a waterblock that you should seat it first and then remove it again to check for contact.
That should save you from messing up your card if there is bad contact.
if there is bad contact you could try adding a small sheet of copper to it..be carefull that its not to thick though so that you dont bend the card..

in the meantime i suggest you dont stress your card at all until something is done..

just reading about your experience with BFG is annoying me..how can they be so ignorant? :S

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Originally Posted by adya

full cover as in they cover ram chips as well ? yeh thats a good point. i only have one loop for cpu atm so i might go for dd since i really want the whole card covered . if this card has good temps ill definatly overclock it somewhat.

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The benefits of using the D-Tek GFX2 with a GTX 280/260 is that you can use their own 'unisink' which fits under/around the waterblock, covering the RAM chips and VRM's etc.

Look here http://tinyurl.com/4s6mdg

Are these available yet where you are?

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Originally Posted by wez3570

The benefits of using the D-Tek GFX2 with a GTX 280/260 is that you can use their own 'unisink' which fits under/around the waterblock, covering the RAM chips and VRM's etc.

Look here http://tinyurl.com/4s6mdg

Are these available yet where you are?

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that looks pretty good actually. i might go with Dtek then , depending on price/availability. there not quite here yet, but im sure it wont be long.
let us know how u went with installation. ;)

thanks Giannis86,
it has being a bad gtx280 experience for me, but ,like i said ,this gy is really trying hard to get this nxt working replacement to me asap. so im appreciative. he also tested this card on furmark this time.
thanks for the advice ,i read the same on dangerden ,about seating it first to test for contact. its a good tip.

This might be another possibility


http://tinyurl.com/4wm6wp

just got my replacement in this morning. :up:

i thought id post the results just for others trying to find out why there gtx280 overheats.
i had alot of people tell me it was my case and bad airflow. or that its normal for these cards to run at 107c.
so heres some proof that a normal working gtx280 shouldnt exceed temps of 85c.

i ran furmark for 30min. on 8x AA @1920x1200 res .same as my other gtx280 that overheats.
during load it never exceeded 80c with fan 100%
just want to mention also ,that i dont know where bfg went wrong with my other replacements, but jeff who personally tested this replacement was extremely helpful and apologetic. so im very grateful for his help.
and glad i can get back to gaming after 3 months of this lol

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/m...eenShot042.jpg

Great news mate!

Those temps are virtually the same as mine.

Like you say, it goes to show it had nothing to do with your case cooling.

Tried an OC yet?

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Originally Posted by wez3570

Great news mate!

Those temps are virtually the same as mine.

Like you say, it goes to show it had nothing to do with your case cooling.

Tried an OC yet?

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thanks mate,
although temps are great , i cant get it past 700mhz ,well if i keep shaders under 1400 i can up that abit . seems to not like shaders past this.
funny thing im trying to work out , is both rivatuner and precision keeps reseting itself . not to stock setting but to to previous saved setting?
its kind of weird ive never had that before. i think it might be a driver issue.
i am fussy though, the smallest artifact will convince me to lower the clock setting.
temp wise , i think it could handle 730mhz without overheating on air.
just wish i could get there. lol

i would advise you not to use furmark as there have been reports of that program frying cards over the past year. mainly on 8800gt's but could maybe fry other cards. just my 2 cents and i have never run it and havent had any problems. just letting you know if you didnt even though your on a totaly different card.

Hi all

ok... I have the following rig;

QX9770 @ 4.05GHZ (1800FSB)
Corsair Dominator 4GB (1800FSB)
3 x GTX280's Gainward
2 x 500GB Stripe + 2 x 1GB Mirror
OCZ SSD 120GB v2
Xifi sound card
Striker II Extreme 790i Ultra
Watercooling, 1 loop for CPU and northbridge and one separate loop for the 3 Way SLI

Now... I was running the system on air as i was waiting for my watercooling case to arrive, although i couldnt sustain a very good overclock I could run the system without issue and play Crysis etc...

I got my new case (Lian-Li 343b) and assembled the watercooling kit to my rig, one of the GPU's now I have out the waterblocks on is idling 10degrees higher that the other 2 and shooting up to 80 degrees after about 5 minutes of gameplay in Crysis... I tried swapping the card from the third slot (thought the water was warm by the time it got to the 3rd card) to the first and also re applying some thermal paste (I actually ran out of paste as I was finishing but spread it thinly over the chip) but temps doing exactly the same...

Now i'm sure it ran ok on air but I honestly can't remember if i really tested it

does it sound like a faulty card? I went and brought some silver today and will reapply later... the other 2 sit idle at 32degrees and barely hit 50 under load!

lots of threads about the 105degree issue after seconds but thankfully i'm not getting that...

thoughts anyone?

when it hits 80c during load ,what temps are the other cards? if it sits around 80c during load i wouldnt worry , since its not that high.
i know its a trip ,but if theres a significant temp difference between the 3 cards, id prolly pull it all apart and check that the blocks sitting ok and reapply thermal paste.
nice rig u got there, did u win lotto to buy all that gear? thats amazing . looks great as well, with the colours etc. i have two 280s but one hits 107c in 8 seconds flat so sli is out of the question. but its still good for anything dx9.