EVGA RMA thoughts

[Mew]

If EVGA claims that they would replace your defective card with an equal or higher performing part, would it be a valid reason to complain about the replacement part not boosting as high due to GPU Boost 2.0?

The card that I RMAed boosted to 1379mhz out of the box but my replacement boosts one bin lower, only to 1366mhz. Would this be a valid reason to complain lol. It also doesn't overclock as well but that's a different story. 

 

 

Products sent in for RMA will be repaired and returned or replaced with a thoroughly tested recertified product of equal or greater performance.

 

http://www.evga.com/support/warranty/graphics-cards/

[Lays]

No it's not a reason -.-

 

If it still hits rated stock boost clock there's nothing you can do.

[Swndlr]

Sounds to me like ur just being a pain in the ass, but do you as feel necessary...

[Enderman]

does it say "boost: 1379MHz" on the product page of your card?

if not, then no you cant RMA

[Guest]

If EVGA claims that they would replace your defective card with an equal or higher performing part, would it be a valid reason to complain about the replacement part not boosting as high due to GPU Boost 2.0?

The card that I RMAed boosted to 1379mhz out of the box but my replacement boosts one bin lower, only to 1366mhz. Would this be a valid reason to complain lol. It also doesn't overclock as well but that's a different story. 

 

 

http://www.evga.com/support/warranty/graphics-cards/

Go ahead.

or you could not waste corporation time and resources add +20 in MSI afterburner / precision X ad get it to boost to 1386

[CapricaBuccaneers]

They're not talking about GPU Boost 2.0 so no, you'd be entirely down to their discretion if they did replace it for you - they're not obligated to.

[W-L]

If EVGA claims that they would replace your defective card with an equal or higher performing part, would it be a valid reason to complain about the replacement part not boosting as high due to GPU Boost 2.0?

The card that I RMAed boosted to 1379mhz out of the box but my replacement boosts one bin lower, only to 1366mhz. Would this be a valid reason to complain lol. It also doesn't overclock as well but that's a different story. 

http://www.evga.com/support/warranty/graphics-cards/

 

I think that would go under just the silicon lottery type situation since the card itself does function to at least the factory set minimums so I don't think it would be accepted as an RMA and it's not that far from your first card you had.

[Mew]

I think that would go under just the silicon lottery type situation since the card itself does function to at least the factory set minimums so I don't think it would be accepted as an RMA and it's not that far from your first card you had.

 

Yea, it's just a random thought that I had because of how the warranty terms are worded. 

[W-L]

 

Yea, it's just a random thought that I had because of how the warranty terms are worded. 

 

As others have said try overclocking it a bit more if you haven't already and see what you can get out of it.

[Mew]

 

 

 

As others have said try overclocking it a bit more if you haven't already and see what you can get out of it.

 

 

Mine is a piss poor overclocker. Power limit maxed out and +76mhz on the core results in throttling due to power limit, so it bounces between 1403-1443mhz. And this card is voltage locked, so I'm stuck at 1.2v. 

[W-L]

Mine is a piss poor overclocker. Power limit maxed out and +76mhz on the core results in throttling due to power limit, so it bounces between 1403-1443mhz. And this card is voltage locked, so I'm stuck at 1.2v. 

 

Your second best option is try to keep temps as low as possible to have GPU boost 2.0 boost up as much as possible and turn up the voltages as high as it can. I have a 970 that I watercooled which boosts shy of 1600Mhz with the lower temps during higher loads.

[don_svetlio]

if a card reaches the rated boost clock they will simply ship it back to you and tell you it's the way it is advertised. GPU Boost 2.0 is the living embodiment of the silicon lottery.

[Lays]

Your second best option is try to keep temps as low as possible to have GPU boost 2.0 boost up as much as possible and turn up the voltages as high as it can. I have a 970 that I watercooled which boosts shy of 1600Mhz with the lower temps during higher loads.

 

 

Turning the voltages up as high as you can does not mean it will continue to scale.

 

Maxwell is nothing like previous architectures where more voltage = more clocks.  Most 980 TI don't scale past 1.2-1.23v on air/watercooling and further voltage just increases temps and makes the OC unstable ( Thermal & electrical noise is really all it takes to make finicky maxwell unstable).  Occasionally you'll find one that will scale up to like 1.26-1.275v, but it's pretty rare and uncommon.

 

Maxwell is all about temps for OC'ing, colder = more mhz almost always. Out of the 3 maxwell cards I've owned, getting temps lower always helped me.  Every 2-3c I take off my load temp gains me 5-10 mhz in max bench-able overclock.

IE: my 980 will run valley/firestrike at 1620 mhz on the core if it's below 26c load, 1615 runs at 28c, 1610 runs at under 30, and 1600 runs at under 34-36 depending on the benchmark.

 

Smaller maxwell chips seem to respond better to voltage, probably due to less electrical noise and lower temps. Big maxwell chips, 980 ti / TitanX don't seem to play as nicely.  980 seems to be very luck of the draw if you get one that responds or doesn't respond on ambient cooling.

[W-L]

-SNIP-

 

Hmm interesting I've never thought that more voltage would cause instability, my card no matter how high I put it won't go past 1.25V after a certain point. I might have to give it a try and see if turning down the voltages affects my overclocking, I've always gone on the idea of turning the voltages as high as it can since the new cards have a physical limit on the voltages you can apply.

[Lays]

Hmm interesting I've never thought that more voltage would cause instability, my card no matter how high I put it won't go past 1.25V after a certain point. I might have to give it a try and see if turning down the voltages affects my overclocking, I've always gone on the idea of turning the voltages as high as it can since the new cards have a physical limit on the voltages you can apply.

 

Some people on OCN and Kingpincooling's forums seem to think it's because Maxwell runs at such high frequencies. So even the littlest things can cause instability, whether it be thermal noise (which apparently is a thing?) or electrical noise from to much voltage.

 

A lot of the 980 TI Kingpins hitting over 1500 mhz on air and water, are barely even at 1.2v because adding more just causes problems & instability. (I have seem the same on other cards, although I have seen a few Strix that seemed to respond decently to 1.26v.)

From my experience with helping people w/ modded BIOS on 970's, voltage does help them usually up to 1.275 or 1.3v, but sometimes it's a bit less. 

 

I think the best way to OC maxwell is to get a completely overkill TDP bios, and push as far as you can on stock voltage with 100% fan speed.  Then try adding voltage a little at a time and try to bump up the core.  Usually there is a point where the "sweet spot" is, where the card gets the most benefit.

 

I don't know why a lot of people seem to disagree with me about these things, despite so much evidence from REAL overclockers telling it like it is.   Maxwell isn't Kepler and for some reason people don't understand.  ( Not talking about you btw, I just get a lot of people on here that respond to me and tell me I'm wrong when they don't even own maxwell cards.)

 

 

Here is a post on overclock.net from K|ngp|n: 

 

 

 

 

Bottom of the thread on this page also confirms someone having same results:

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1411500/official-evga-classified-k-ngp-n-owners-club/19160

 

Dude hitting 1600 on a 980 ti kp 82% asic.

[Mew]

Turning the voltages up as high as you can does not mean it will continue to scale.

 

Maxwell is nothing like previous architectures where more voltage = more clocks.  Most 980 TI don't scale past 1.2-1.23v on air/watercooling and further voltage just increases temps and makes the OC unstable ( Thermal & electrical noise is really all it takes to make finicky maxwell unstable).  Occasionally you'll find one that will scale up to like 1.26-1.275v, but it's pretty rare and uncommon.

 

Maxwell is all about temps for OC'ing, colder = more mhz almost always. Out of the 3 maxwell cards I've owned, getting temps lower always helped me.  Every 2-3c I take off my load temp gains me 5-10 mhz in max bench-able overclock.

IE: my 980 will run valley/firestrike at 1620 mhz on the core if it's below 26c load, 1615 runs at 28c, 1610 runs at under 30, and 1600 runs at under 34-36 depending on the benchmark.

 

Smaller maxwell chips seem to respond better to voltage, probably due to less electrical noise and lower temps. Big maxwell chips, 980 ti / TitanX don't seem to play as nicely.  980 seems to be very luck of the draw if you get one that responds or doesn't respond on ambient cooling.

 

 

Hmm interesting I've never thought that more voltage would cause instability, my card no matter how high I put it won't go past 1.25V after a certain point. I might have to give it a try and see if turning down the voltages affects my overclocking, I've always gone on the idea of turning the voltages as high as it can since the new cards have a physical limit on the voltages you can apply.

 

Perhaps you guys can explain the issue I'm having with my card atm. I have power limit maxed out but my card never reaches the 110% power limit yet throttles due to the power limit. It doesn't throttle when I alt tab out to take a screenshot which is kinda annoying. 

 

Edit: Oh I also tried using DDU to wipe drivers and reinstall them as well as older drivers to see if the Power Limit issue was limited to the SWB drivers, but it's not; still happens on every driver I've tried. 

[W-L]

Perhaps you guys can explain the issue I'm having with my card atm. I have power limit maxed out but my card never reaches the 110% power limit yet throttles due to the power limit. It doesn't throttle when I alt tab out to take a screenshot which is kinda annoying. 

-PIC-

 

From the looks of things your not throttling, if it was the core speeds would have sudden dips to very low levels to protect itself. Does your card not perform well when you try to increase the core clock further, +76MHz is pretty tame on most 970 without adding more voltage, most times I see can do +100Mhz on a core clock.

[Mew]

From the looks of things your not throttling, if it was the core speeds would have sudden dips to very low levels to protect itself. Does your card not perform well when you try to increase the core clock further, +76MHz is pretty tame on most 970 without adding more voltage, most times I see can do +100Mhz on a core clock.

 

It's kinda hard to screenshot when it dips, but while running battlefront (in game) it would be pinging back and forth between 1403 or so and 1430. Gpuz shows the perf cap reason as power and voltage drops to around 1.13v or so. This card is voltage locked so I can't change anything about that. 1443mhz is the max boost with the oc btw

 

Edit: Managed to screenshot while in game

 

[W-L]

It's kinda hard to screenshot when it dips, but while running battlefront (in game) it would be pinging back and forth between 1403 or so and 1430. Gpuz shows the perf cap reason as power and voltage drops to around 1.13v or so. This card is voltage locked so I can't change anything about that. 1443mhz is the max boost with the oc btw

 

Edit: Managed to screenshot while in game

-PIC-

 

Well the core clock will dynamically change depending on load since you are just on the menu screen it's only showing 500MHz in MSI AB, try running some benchmarks like Valley and see if it does the same thing where it dips down suddenly after a while. If you don't see any problems try upping the core clock and testing again for like a 10-20 min stress test until your overclock becomes unstable. For this process though do it without changing voltages first to see how high your card can do on stock voltages.

[Mew]

Well the core clock will dynamically change depending on load since you are just on the menu screen it's only showing 500MHz in MSI AB, try running some benchmarks like Valley and see if it does the same thing where it dips down suddenly after a while. If you don't see any problems try upping the core clock and testing again for like a 10-20 min stress test until your overclock becomes unstable. For this process though do it without changing voltages first to see how high your card can do on stock voltages.

 

I guess AB bugged after the driver crashed, but here's a better screenshot.

 

 

I guess puush can't capture the 120% scaling right in the game. But pay attention to the gpuz window. When it's throttling, the voltage tanks down from 1.2v to 1.13v and I'm never able to hit the 110% power limit despite setting it to that. 

[W-L]

I guess AB bugged after the driver crashed, but here's a better screenshot.

-PIC-

I guess puush can't capture the 120% scaling right in the game. But pay attention to the gpuz window. When it's throttling, the voltage tanks down from 1.2v to 1.13v and I'm never able to hit the 110% power limit despite setting it to that. 

 

I don't think I've had my card ever hit that limit either but I've always taken that as a good thing since if it were to start hitting it that would be one of the main things for it to thermal throttle next to temps. Don't quote me on that though since I don't know for sure if that's how the power limit works. 

 

Everything looks good as said before try overclocking your card more and stress testing it to see how far you can push it.

[Mew]

I don't think I've had my card ever hit that limit either but I've always taken that as a good thing since if it were to start hitting it that would be one of the main things for it to thermal throttle next to temps. Don't quote me on that though since I don't know for sure if that's how the power limit works. 

 

Everything looks good as said before try overclocking your card more and stress testing it to see how far you can push it.

 

Ehhh I kinda accepted the fact that this card can't oc very well. I've tried +100mhz earlier and that resulted in driver crashing. There's really not much I can do about the locked voltage and today's high ambient temperature (I'm sitting in a 40c room right now). Thanks though.