GTX 2xx series clock degadation?

[RPGWiZaRD]

Any1 else have had problem with their GTX 2xx cards eventually starting to degrade in stability prematurely? Has happened to both a EVGA GTX 260 SP216 OC after like 9~10 months and now for EVGA GTX 280 after 14 months or so.

The GTX 260 got so bad it would only randomly boot at stock clocks but sometimes freeze during windows login and had to run below stock clocks etc b4 it finally gave up.

Now this same issue have plagued my GTX 280, my clocks only getting more and more unstable so have to lower my clocks and now it's that bad it happens at stock clocks and even got my first lockup with the clocks slightly below stock... when it happens the whole screen gets filled with a weird colored and textured pattern and have to reset.

Are the caps/vregs etc really of that bad quality on GTX 2xx series or it's only my bad luck? I've been playing UT3 like a couple of hrs in average daily. Now I'd really wanna wait for at least Barts to be released before I'd decide what card to pick next but looks like I may not be able to wait that long.... sux, it's like running out of fuel on the last lap in a Formula 1 race while you were about to win... so close, yet so far away... suppose I'll have to start concidering getting a GTX 460 perhaps but I really would wanna wait for Barts... :/

[CrazyNutz]

Did these two cards go south in the same machine? If so perhaps you have a bad PSU killing your cards (low voltage can damage hardware as well, with low voltage the current will be in higher demand), or somthing bad happening on your PCIe slot?

[RPGWiZaRD]

Did these two cards go south in the same machine? If so perhaps you have a bad PSU killing your cards (low voltage can damage hardware as well, with low voltage the current will be in higher demand), or somthing bad happening on your PCIe slot?

GTX 260 degradaded with another PSU and mobo. I forgot to mention I bought both 2nd-hand though so they could a bit older or abused b4 that. :p

If I'd buy a new card now would a Gigabyte GTX 460 OC be worth it? It's among the cheaper GTX 460 and you get a custom designed card with lower power consumption than standard GTX 460 even. I'm not a fan of power inefficient cards why a GTX 470 doesn't attract me that much, I'd rather pick a HD5870 or 5850.

[BenchZowner]

I have 2 GTX 280's that I used to run on two different setups overclocked on stock cooling and pushing them under LN2 quite a few times ( I had those 2 since the launch day ).
They are still hitting the same clocks ( both on air & LN2 ).
My cousins enjoy their daily gaming with them.

Same applies to the other cards I used to "punish" GTX 285s, 5870, 9800GTX, etc, none of them showed any signs of degradation.

[RPGWiZaRD]

Hmm, I'm somewhat starting to concider a Gigabyte GTX 470 SOC as well cuz I found one site in Finland that sells it for a very attractive price taken into account the high cost in this country: http://www.tietokonekauppa.fi/tuotet...hp?koodi=33957 - that's 31 EUR cheaper than on the 2nd cheapest site.

I've seen the capability and quality of this card and the cheapest standard GTX 470 goes for like 290 EUR around here so this looks like a good option too. Then again I'm not a fan of its power consumption even if it's slightly better than stock GTX 470 though but hey electricity is incl in the rent so shouldn't be that much of a prob. The Gigabyte GTX 460 costs 219 EUR.

So what would you guys pick:

http://www.tietokonekauppa.fi/tuotet...hp?koodi=29646 - Gigabyte GTX 460 OC - 219 EUR
http://www.tietokonekauppa.fi/tuotet...hp?koodi=33957 - Gigabyte GTX 470 SOC - 325 EUR

I'd really wanna wait for Barts as I expect this will be the best option when it gets released... but I fear it'll be early November or very end of October b4 cards hits stores in Finland and I doubt I could wait that long with this broken GTX 280 and the only backup card I have is a 7900GTO atm. It just feels like spending 325 EUR today is a very bad thing to do on a GTX 470 as I expect Barts and Cayman to seriously affect Nvidia pricing soon.

EDIT: I think I'm gonna hold on as long as I can. I need all luck in the world I can get. :p