BFG GTX 285 OCX owners... I need your help (please)

[xarot]

EDIT: after posting this I saw your PM and responded :-)

Have you heard anything from Jeff yet? Dunno if he's still around, but I'd check OcUK's forums if there are new successfull RMA's involving Jeff? :-)

Just checked my OC2 cards and the temps are idle 47 and 50 degrees so BFG got VERY low temps in their tests? My ambient temp is 19 deg Celsius. I might get those temps if I took my computer outside the house, it's -20 degrees Celcius outside at the moment. Dunno if BFG did the same?

Idk if your reseller provides any kind of warranty or is willing to help just for good customer service (I actually don't know how RMA's are handled outside my country, in Finland we always go to the reseller in the first place)?

Just trying to help you out, as I had my fight with BFG last summer.

[madmax999]

Well, it's obvious that your card is unfortunately ed up

[JohnZS]

Thanks for the PM xarot

Usually in the UK we can go back to the reseller for 1 year and then if the manufacturer offers warranties past this period we have to go to them. I was foolish enough to deal with BFG after my 1st GTX 280 GTX developed the pink screen of death bug. (after just 3 months).
This meant that as soon as I received a replacement card the retailer was not responsible for any defects which occurred thereafter as I sent the card they sold me onto BFG.

In hindsight I wish I sent it back to Scan and then.. fingers crossed I would not have ended up in Referb central.

From what limited information I have gathered from literally trawling lots of forums, BFG RMA's are a bit like Russian Roulette.

Cards come in, they are repaired and then sent out. Sometimes a Repair process is a simple "downgrade" (eg an OCX down to a OC2 or something like that) and then that is shipped out to someone as a "refurnished OC2".

Sometimes an RMA'd card can be fine and last for years, other times you can be unlucky and have it die within less than a year. I believe that BFG's QA in Europe has gone downhill dramatically because they no longer sell cards here. (Officially BFG pulled out of Europe in December 09 and are now only honouring warranties).

It would not surprise me if we all had the same bunch of cards floating around, literally being repaired, cleaned up a bit and reflashed.

Out of curiosity xarot what colour PCB does your GTX 285 OC2s have and what BIOS revision is on the cards?

Crikey -20C outside, now that is what I call cooling potential
Your Idle temps are pretty much the same as mine, between 46C and 48C. Sadly the card crashes out when I try to stress it or game so I do not know what my Maximum load temperatures are, however I have seen it reach 86C before it judders and eventually black screens. (artefacts start at 74C)

Indeed it is madmax999, sadly BFG are convinced the card is in full working order because of the print out they provided me with, a print out which may I add has rather ambiguous temperatures on it to say the least.

Seriously has anyone with an ambient temperature of 18-20C managed to use their GTX 285 OCX in ATi Tool for one hour and get Maximum load temperatures of 48C?

Thanks for the support and help guys

John