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

[JohnZS]

I finally got an RMA number after going on Skype again.
Card is being posted off to BFG tomorrow, fingers crossed I have a working replacement by the weekend or at least early next week
John

[gifaro]

Are you sure your PSU is not defective on VGA line ? Cooking slowly your card ? Good luck for next 285

[HelixPC]

Its simple really, BFG didnt test that card for those clocks, your card is probably better ioff with stock clocks, i would flash to the original BFG gtx 285 bios, im about 90% sure this will fix your problems, also BFG stating they wont do anymore RMA's is beyond stupid, they can get slapped with a nice lawsuit for that. They cannot deny your warranty, simple and plain, as long as the card is under warranty they cannot deny it, dont let them walk all over you as a customer, get some legal knowledge of the situation and take control, or else they will take advantage of you.

[JohnZS]

Thanks Helix
Well things have gone from good (them accepting the RMA) to bad them denying there is a fault with the card.

Hi John,

Just e-mailing you that the gtx 285 oc id working fine been on ati tool for 3 hours now and just played crysis on it,

I recommend than you check your pc for faults

Regards

That is totally unfounded.
1) It messes up. on TWO PC's
2) Crysis cannot last more than a few minutes.
3) I sent them a BFG GTX 285 OCX... NOT AN OC?!?!

What gives?
John

[Rattle]

wow BFG in the UK is FAIL

[JohnZS]

wow BFG in the UK is FAIL

Oh I wouldn't say that, BFG UK are very efficient.
My package arrived at the RMA warehouse at 1023GMT
I received the e-mail above at 1300GMT stating that they had tested the card in ATi tool for 3 hours and even played Crysis on it too... I'm amazed how they managed to fit all that in within such a small amount of time.

Oh and something was dispatched to me at 1430GMT.

I never got a reply to my reply which was sent @ 1328GMT requesting that BFG gave me more information on what drivers, PSU and test system they used. I also requested they ran Unigine Sanctuary, Furmark and 3dmark Vantage on the card.... sadly no response.

The return package (I do not even know if they are sending the defective card back. or a different one), is being sent to me by the lowest Fed Ex option... economy, I MIGHT have it by Tuesday.

If it is the same defective card, which BFG USA say has invalid seriel numbers, then I will not be too pleased.

Oh well... I will need to wait and see what BFG have sent me

John

[zalbard]

Good luck, I admire your patience.

[JohnZS]

Good luck, I admire your patience.

Sadly I wish I could say the same, I am probably the most impatient person on this forum
I guess because where I work we tend to deal with everything in that day and nothing gets moved onto the next day. We always reply to e-mails..even if it is just to let a customer know we have passed their enquiry onto the relavent department.
Ah well, at the end of the day the package will get here when it gets here, I just hope it is not the same defective card.

BFG did admit in a previous conversation when I first reported the card as defective that it DID artifact in their Top PCI-E slot on their Tri SLI motherobard, however lower slots did not artifact.
Sadly both test PC's here are X38 based
John

[FischOderAal]

Oh my god, this appears to be nearly an endless story Bad luck! I keep my fingers crossed that your next card will run until eternity! After having quite a few issues myself (DOA RAM and driver related issues) I finally tend to agree to the statement "never touch a running system"... I'm cured from overclocking

[JohnZS]

Oh my god, this appears to be nearly an endless story Bad luck! I keep my fingers crossed that your next card will run until eternity! After having quite a few issues myself (DOA RAM and driver related issues) I finally tend to agree to the statement "never touch a running system"... I'm cured from overclocking

Thanks FischOderAal
I would also like to thank everyone else for their support
Fed Ex were on my side today, as even though my replacement card was posted by "within 3 working days delivery", it arrived today.

So far I have managed to play GTA IV for around an hour, Stalker Clearsky for around an hour. and have succeeded 3 loops of 3dmark vantage. And 10 mins of Furmark Xtremeburn mode.

For the record, I was not able to achieve this at all with the RMA replacement which was an RMA replacement for an RMA (it would crash after 3-5mins of GTA IV with serious artifacting).

My replacement card *touches wood* appears to be working.

Once again, thanks for your advice, help and morale support.

John

[andressergio]

Thanks FischOderAal
I would also like to thank everyone else for their support
Fed Ex were on my side today, as even though my replacement card was posted by "within 3 working days delivery", it arrived today.

So far I have managed to play GTA IV for around an hour, Stalker Clearsky for around an hour. and have succeeded 3 loops of 3dmark vantage. And 10 mins of Furmark Xtremeburn mode.

For the record, I was not able to achieve this at all with the RMA replacement which was an RMA replacement for an RMA (it would crash after 3-5mins of GTA IV with serious artifacting).

My replacement card *touches wood* appears to be working.

Once again, thanks for your advice, help and morale support.

John

Glad to hear this story ended good Tony

[JohnZS]

Glad to hear this story ended good Tony

Thanks for your help along the way Sergio
Played Clearsky for well... nearly 2 hours before I made dinner and went out on a nice winter walk.
I think it's fair to say (while touching wood and crossing fingers) this replacement card is in working order.

John

[xarot]

So did the swapped card have a different serial number than the one you sent back? Anyway, glad to hear it's working finally.

[JohnZS]

Thanks Xarot
Not only does the swapped card have a different serial number, it also has a different BIOS revision to the returned card.
Still so far so good as played more Stalker Clearsky yesterday.
John

[garbageacc3]

i had almost the same problems as you (graphical glitches, aero dots) on my old 260 gtx.

the problem was NOT due to gpu, it was due to RAM

even though the ram passed memtest 86+ for hours and several cycles, i ran it through (then) vista memory diagnostic, and it failed.

try running your ram though windows mem diagnostic rather than memtest and see if it passes

FYI, i had this problem initially with a 4870 512mb, then RMAed for another one, then i got a 260, RMAed again and finally figured out i can't trust memtest.

BFG is a good company and they are correct that the chances of you getting 5 bad cards are a billion to one.

probability states that the DOA cards were probably due to you failing to take the right procedure in installing the cards (aka maybe you didn't use ESD protection, etc...) and that caused doa cards.

[madmax999]

Well, John does not have problems with new card as he had with his old card so I think that it's obvious where the problem was

[JohnZS]

Thanks Madmax
Just thought I would say that I am really loving this replacement card right now, the only problem I have is that is if I play games, I lose track of time.

garbageacc3
I agree with what you are saying, which is why I tested the cards in a different PC before even contacting BFG. I always use an antistatic strap and ensure I am earthed while handling and installing PC hardware to avoid ESD.
As for memtest, yes I do use it (am 4 full passes stable), as well as OCCT stable, IntelBurntest Stable and now with my replacement card 5 passes of 3dmark Vantage and gaming stable.
Sadly I was just very unlucky.
1 card died within 3 months with a well known GTX 280 issue (pink screen of death).
2nd card was a DOA (it died within 10mins of use)
3rd card lasted 10months before developing chessboard and flashing black rectangle error (again this issue is sadly a potential issue for the GTX 280 series cards)
4th card did not even POST.
5th card was what this thread was about (artifacted terribly after 2-5mins of gaming)
6th card is going very well and touch wood no more RMA's for me
John

[garbageacc3]

glad to see that your prob was resolved

just wanted to help.

i was so frustrated when i to exchange and return cards 4 times and i thought it was my gpu.

kinda embarrassing to go return the card that many times.

[JohnZS]

Thanks again guys
Just re-bumping this as recent news about BFG says that many people are having RMA's turned away and that BFG have gone into liquidation. The replacement card I received back in February is still working perfectly and I have been enjoying gaming in lots of titles which would most likely stress it (Metro2033, Stalker COP and Just Cause 2, just to name a few..)
My only concern is that BFG apparently sent out a lot of defective or just about repaired cards which became defective pretty quickly....what happens to those who do have say a card from BFG RMA which is only a few months old?!
John

[andressergio]

Thanks again guys
Just re-bumping this as recent news about BFG says that many people are having RMA's turned away and that BFG have gone into liquidation. The replacement card I received back in February is still working perfectly and I have been enjoying gaming in lots of titles which would most likely stress it (Metro2033, Stalker COP and Just Cause 2, just to name a few..)
My only concern is that BFG apparently sent out a lot of defective or just about repaired cards which became defective pretty quickly....what happens to those who do have say a card from BFG RMA which is only a few months old?!
John

hey mate so long what happened to you never connected again

glad to hear your card is rocking mine still i gonna try some I7 and X58 in some weeks

[JohnZS]

Hey mate
Good to hear from you!!!
Are you still enjoying that fantastic ES 775 Quad chip you had?
I must admit I am tempted by i7, just I feel something more powerful is around the corner, (or at least a huge price drop on the 32nm processors).
Card is still going strong, and thank you very much for your help and troubleshooting with the defective BFG one back in February
John