Gigabyte has fallen...

[Dragam1337]

Amazon sent me a 7970 replacing a 7950 that died when Sapphire wouldn't help me and blamed my power supply which was a XFX seasonic based 850w unit. Ironically the 7970 worked just fine with the same psu.



Looks similar to mine locked at 340w which is the sweet spot for my card pwr/performance so pretty darn good.

I find that power locking is less efficient vs finding the lowest voltage your gpu is stabile at, and then doing a flat voltage curve at that. 925 mv, 950 mv, or whatever might be the case for you. If i want more performance i run 2900 mhz at 1000 mv, which still consumes slightly less power than stock, but gives better performance.

Update:
Newegg convinced me into a flat return. I am not happy w/ them either, now...
Got disconnected after the return was issued, and the 'bot' flat out ignores your questions.

Honestly i would consider a flat return a win - worst case scenario they wouldn't have taken it back, claiming you damaged the card.

Now you can get a different card that hopefully isn't borked out of the box

 

[LabRat 891]

Off to the UPS store. More info/updates upon my return.

 

[Nuckles56]

I've had a mixed run with gigabyte GPUs, the GTX 1080ti I had was a great card, it ran as cool and quiet as I could want. The RX 580 (noting that the card I had before the 1080ti in my main machine was a Nitro RX480) that I put into another machine, it was a card from hell, it had issues with the HDMI ports not working well with some displays (not an issue with the 480), and then there were all the issues with the fan control on it, where the card would bake itself alive because the fans would never spin up which started happening ~9 months after it was purchased. You needed to open afterburner every time you turned the PC on, so that the fans would work properly under load. I should have RMA'd it but I ended up just swapping in my RX 480 into the machine instead.

 

[ir_cow]

Put the screws back in. If nothing is wrong In temps move on. Otherwise send it back for exchange.

 

[KedsDead]

Like even the king, (EVGA) forgot to add thermal pads. So one screwup does not mean the end of a brand. Take Asus and their blowing up 7800x3d chips. People going to stop buying Asus. Nope.

The list goes on and on and on... screw ups happen, deal with them.

Welcome to the age of Profit. Most companies have moved to the profit is king narrative. Quality products are mostly a thing of the past. Everything you buy now adays is designed to break, since thiere is profit in replacement parts.

DLSS/FSR/XESS is designed so you dont have to buy the most powerful graphics cards to enjoy a game. But said graphics card will be obsolete in a few years, hence making you buy another. Something they all learned from the 1080ti..

 

[damric]

I had a stinker Gigabyte Vega 56 (hynix hbm) that artifacted a few years ago. Sent it back to newegg. They sent me a different one (samsung hbm) and it was good. My buddy runs it now.

I used to really like the GB AM2-AM3 boards, but not so much the AM4 boards. They turned me off from that brand.

I do think reference cards have a little bit better QA, but sometimes those can't even be trusted.

I voted to keep the card for a couple days and test it, but I certainly wouldn't blame you for sending it back.

 

[LabRat 891]

I'm back.

Here's the transcript, of the 2nd (of 3) agents, that was *actually* helpful.
[I am "A", the agent is "C J."]







note: I just realized the timestamps are incorrect. That's peculiar.
This is screenshot as-sent to me via e-mail. So, I assume Newegg's end is to blame.
Joy. /s

Newegg 'issued' a refund as soon as they confirmed UPS had the return in-hand.

However, I'm now about to pull crypto to get my order done.
Funny how everyone's willing to take your money immediately; yet, it takes 3-5 business days to get it back. I know, that's 'normal'.

Also, found out even 'store credit' would've taken 1-3 days. So, this appears to be the best possible outcome :/

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I'm back.

Here's the transcript, of the 2nd (of 3) agents that was *actually* helpful.
[I am "A", the agent is "C J."]

View attachment 338081

View attachment 338083

View attachment 338084
View attachment 338085
note: I just realized the timestamps are incorrect. That's peculiar.
This is screenshot as-sent to me via e-mail. So, I assume Newegg's end is to blame.
Joy. /s

Newegg 'issued' a refund as soon as they confirmed UPS had the return in-hand.

However, I'm now about to pull crypto to get my order done.
Funny how everyone's willing to take your money immediately; yet, it takes 3-5 business days to get it back. I know, that's 'normal'.

Also, found out even 'store credit' would've taken 1-3 days. So, this appears to be the best possible outcome :/

Glad newegg did the right thing they probably don't want GN all up in their $#!+ again

 

[Kapone33]

Mine had a hotspot delta of 23c, which was hardly surprising, considering that a large part of the chip didn't have any TIM.

Without oc

Spoiler

With oc (but stock 1.050 voltage)

Spoiler

And notice that fans were screaming while getting those temps.

After repaste the hotspot delta is down to 10c, and i can run the gpu at 2700 mhz @ 925 mv with fans at 800 rpm and remain in the 60's celcius. Nice and quiet, just as i like it

This was my exact experience with the Vega 64 and 6500XT. That is a long time in between to have not enough TIM from the factory. It did though force Gigabyte to sell their cards for cheaper. I even wrote in my review on Amazon of the Vega 64 about the TIM issue and it got a bunch of likes.

 

[LabRat 891]

Like even the king, (EVGA) forgot to add thermal pads. So one screwup does not mean the end of a brand.

This is not my first 1st-hand bad experiences w/ Gigabyte. I was gleefully foolish to think they'd changed after all the bad press on their cracking PCBs and series of PSUs that they actively tried to get NE to pawn off on customers (literal fire hazards, mind you).

1st time - Gigabyte 7950GT - bad VGA-out (blurry). They tested it, said it was fine, and returned to me. Later-on the card died; sent back to them AGAIN and they invalidated the warranty because of cosmetic damage (Also, first 1st-hand experience w/ Magnusson Moss being defacto non-existent)

2nd time - 2x Gigabyte 3850s - Out of box unstable, repasting 'helped'. Ended up putting on-clearance aftermarket coolers on 'em, flashing them to slower clocks, and selling as a Crossfire pair w/ full disclosure in the description.

Take Asus and their blowing up 7800x3d chips. People going to stop buying Asus. Nope.

The way Asus responded to that/those issues, has me considering ASrock over Asus, for all future motherboards
(my ASR Z77 extreme4 was rock solid, an ASR B450 I was given, and another ASR B450 I bought, are surprisingly featureful)

The list goes on and on and on... screw ups happen, deal with them.

True. I've had companies move on and off of my S-list. (XFX isn't leaving anytime soon tho...)
But, the MANNER of screw up (or out? )

This is the equivalent to letting a car leave the factory w/ something falling off it. ANYONE involved, should've caught the issue. It's indicative of extremely lacking QC.

Welcome to the age of Profit. Most companies have moved to the profit is king narrative. Quality products are mostly a thing of the past. Everything you buy now adays is designed to break, since thiere is profit in replacement parts.

Profit was always king. W/o edging too far into rule-breaking... It used to be that you made profit, by being competent and even exceptional in your company's products and services. -and, that used to be backed up by law.
From my Millennial PoV, it's a more-modern occurrence that (Consumer-Facing) companies have trended towards eschewing customers as 'just another number'.

DLSS/FSR/XESS is designed so you dont have to buy the most powerful graphics cards to enjoy a game. But said graphics card will be obsolete in a few years, hence making you buy another. Something they all learned from the 1080ti..

Not incorrect but, it's a little different for me.

I run a 144hz 1080p display; my Vega 64 and/or WX 9100 had been sufficient well beyond expectations (esp. AFMF'd thru a Navi 24).
However, my Vega(s) finally became 'long in the tooth' and I recognized the immense strides forward in technology. It was time to upgrade, and this upgrade is utter overkill for my (current) display.
TBQH, I view the RX 7900 GRE as this day-and-age's X800 GTO (man.. did I love that card)

In my specific case:
I don't upgrade unless I need to, and even then I will usually hold off as long as I can.
The games I play and the work I'm planning on doing hadn't needed more powah than my Vega and 5600; that changed.
Now, I have a 5800X3D, and have a (replacement) Sapphire 7900 GRE Nitro+ on the way.

~$32* more than I was originally willing to pay for the Steel Legend
Certainly, not worth the *transfer fees, time, hassle, and fuel...

But, the Nitro+ was the card I was recommended at the start of all of this. It was OOS @ the time, and the GB model looked like proper substitute for the Nitro+'s featureset.
Instead, I got a lesson in "Caveat Emptor" and a reminder that "You get what you pay for" still has a place today.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

View attachment 338087

~$32* more than I was originally willing to pay for the Steel Legend
Certainly, not worth the *transfer fees, time, hassle, and fuel...

But, the Nitro+ was the card I was recommended at the start of all of this. It was OOS @ the time, and the GB model looked like proper substitute for the Nitro+'s featureset.
Instead, I got a lesson in "Caveat Emptor" and a reminder that "You get what you pay for" still has a place today.

Shipping from my hood, nice! Shouldn't take very long to get to you.

Honestly the Nitro is the only card Aesthetically I really like on the AMD side currently if I was getting a 500+ card from them it would most likely be it.

Congrats on upgrading from that 580.

 

[LabRat 891]

Shipping from my hood, nice! Shouldn't take very long to get to you.

Due to time-of-day + time-of-week, it won't ship 'till Friday, arrive Monday.
Can't complain @ this point (everything that can be done to make things better, has been done).
TBQH, Karma probably kicked me in the butt for being so excited.

Honestly the Nitro is the only card Aesthetically I really like on the AMD side currently if I was getting a 500+ card from them it would most likely be it.

None of the options (avail. or otherwise) were 'perfect' for me.
I already had to get a long-arse riser for the x1 slot the cooler is going to cover.
However, I do wholeheartedly agree, the Nitro is the best looking of the lot, and has more structural reinforcement than most of the competing models.

Even w/ the on/off issues I've heard reported w/ Sapphire, them being more-less AMD's 1st-Tier Partner, makes me feel better.
AFAIK, at least they have RMA centers in the US, now. IIRC, Back in the day, you had to send them overseas, w/ high shipping rate(s) and long waits.
NtM (typically), Nitro/Nitro+ Trim level cards from Sapphire retain resale value better, too.
(not that I'm intending on reselling; I collect, now )

Congrats on upgrading from that 580.

Thank You
Though, my sys specs are out of date on TPU,
and I've yet to fill them in over @ EHW, etc.

Amusingly tho, I was recently running a 580 for testing and comparison w/ a friend's FuryX.
@TM, I have 2 Vega 10 cards in my system, for comparing and tweaking (Vega 64 v. MI25-turned-WX 9100).
It was that testing (in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora) that made me realize: It's time for a GPU upgrade.
My Vega 64 and WX 9100s will eventually find their way into PCI-e retro build(s) and my oddware F@H machine.

I'll still Vega and HBM, tho

 

[R-T-B]

tbh I've always felt like Gigabyte video cards and motherboards were a completely different quality level. Both suck on RMAs but at least Gigabyte mobos tend to come out of the box right and working more often than not. Video cards I've had less success with from them. Still, newegg should EVENTUALLY sort it out for you. Mixed bag all around yeah. Best of luck with the Saphire.

PS: It shouldn't need saying, but it always does. This is just my experience, YMMV.

 

[alwayssts]

You have my compassion. Situations like that suck, and I do not wish them on anyone. GLHF with the Nitro; it appears to be a solid card.

I once had an XFX card. It was 'fine' (I sold it fairly quickly), but certainly used lower-quality components than other brands I have used over the years. My biggest issue was with Powercolor (back in the day: 6870 had a bad HDMI connector, I RMA'ed it and they sent it back without doing a damn thing), and ofc my eVGA 970 started on fire. By many accounts, it appears Powercolor got their act together. eVGA, otoh and RIP, did some really weird stuff (like reuse coolers meant for older GPUs that didn't line up correctly iirc), but I'll always applaud the fact they had the smallest cards that fit in my HTPC case. Before someone says it: no...air circulation was not the reason the 970 exploded (it was a common issue with a faulty mosfet/cap or something...I forget, but many people have documented the same problem).

My tiny (also eVGA) 1080 lasted for years just fine, though. I don't hold a grudge against them. Most companies go SNAFU at some point, and as you pointed out, generally are brought back in line.

All my Sapphire cards have been solid (I miss their overbuilt passive/fanless designs on old cards, and my 7870 et al were solid), but no brand is perfect.

Except maybe old Abit (NF7-S was my fave OG board) in the Oskar Wu (whom then disappeared into DFI) days. /nostalgia.

Never had a GB product; always had some kind of less desirable stat compared to whatever I ended up choosing...which often ends up being Asus. Not the absurdly overpriced stuff, but still (better than stock design) Asus stuff, which is generally HQ across all areas and cost-competative. Yeah, the mobo chipset voltage thing was whack, but people forget MSI did that wrt their motherboards and gpus FOR YEARS (to look slightly better in reviews), it just never came back to bite them so notably in the ass.

While it's fair to blame Asus (and their response), I think AMD should've known to show better guidance. There has rarely been a time (in years) I can remember that running damn near ANYTHING over 1.35v has been 'safe' at stock, specifically when memory is intricately involved. Owning a Vega (with 1.35v HBM2), you may understand how the whole SOC voltage comes into play (unconventional compared to other designs, but perhaps applicable to the X3D cpus). Allowing something like 1.4v (using v-cache) was just...inadvisable...from the start. That is literally why those chips are locked down in the first place.

I'm not saying people should (always) buy Asus (if they can justify/afford it) and flash to a Sapphire Nitro+ bios (if they are comfortable doing that), but it's probably what I would do if it made financial sense.

I can understand if some people have qualms with them, though. I'm also thrifty (that's what overclocking USED to be about, not overpriced parts with minimal benefits), so I get that part too.

__________

As long as we're talking x800, and defunct companies; I had an XL that I bought right after it launched. I can respect grabbing a GTO. R430 bros!

I probably did not buy a review sample from [H] right after their review for dirt cheap, because that would probably be unethical of them or something, but somehow maybe something like that happened.

I knew going into it what to expect, but was still sad when it didn't respond well to wc/extra juice (110nm was a fickle lady). It was a good deal though, regardless, as was the GTO when it eventually launched.

FWIW, I get 'holding off'. I used to thrive on the latest and greatest (or overclocking the best bang-for-buck since the Celly 300A)...but minimal (real) generational gains, OC restrictions, and skyrocketing prices really killed it for me. Hence, 2080 Ti (I bought cheap years ago) until cheaper 7900xt/4080 replacement. I respect those that have them (or better) now, and I could certainly use it (on a 4k120 OLED), but I can and will wait until the price is reasonable (with or without overclocking). My hope/guess is still a cheap Navi 4 OCing from ~3200mhz (4070Ti Super) to ~3500mhz (and thus competing with the 4080 stock...or a little less perf than an OC 7900xt or stock XTX), but we'll see.


Regardless, I hope everything works out well for you. When it eventually does, enjoy your new hardware!

P.S. You can tell by how we write we're both millenials.

 

[LabRat 891]

tbh I've always felt like Gigabyte video cards and motherboards were a completely different quality level.

Same, but I'd add that there's at least 2 sub-levels on Mobos. I was 'happy enough' with my 965P-DS3 (E6600/E4500), and years-later an eWaste-pull EP45 from GB (771 Xeon modded fun )

OtOH, I've watched a long time friend of mine, burn up at least 3 lower-middle tier mobos from them, throughout the eras.
The 1st, 100% on him. The 2nd one, I feel was 0 fault of his own. The 3rd, I'm not sure which party to blame.

Both suck on RMAs but at least Gigabyte mobos tend to come out of the box right and working more often than not. Video cards I've had less success with from them.

Funny enough, that same friend has My Ex's Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming OC; and that card seems to be doing just fine 100% stock, never re-pasted.

See, that one must've been A-OK because penance was paid w/ the 3.5GB v. 4GB shenanigans

Still, newegg should EVENTUALLY sort it out for you. Mixed bag all around yeah. Best of luck with the Saphire.

Considering, I was able to get it sorted (at all), same-ish day, and before their people went home...
Yeah, I'd say NE got things 'sorted out'.

PS: It shouldn't need saying, but it always does. This is just my experience,
YMMV.

P.S. You can tell by how we write we're both millenials.

And yet... it was all a *very* engaging read, that I agree with (just about?) entirely.

Spoiler: off-topic nonsense

Seriously tho... our gen has earned a lot of the disdain we get.
Still, it's the way I am; I do the best I can to be better.
-and, best of all, Zed and Alpha are making us look better, not entirely unlike how the SW prequels look so much better by comparison to Disney's sequels.

 

[R0H1T]

I'm still not sure what a millennial is, does it mean you were born in this millennium

 

[Macro Device]

I'm still not sure what a millennial is, does it mean you were born in this millennium

Millennial is a person whose youth went around Y2K, thus people born around 1970 to 1990 give or take a couple years. I am the youngest Gen Y guy possible at my 29 y.o. And yeah, my sub-generation (1992 to 1996, post-USSR region) is a huge failure.

 

[LabRat 891]

I'm still not sure what a millennial is, does it mean you were born in this millennium

In technical terms (which, is why I outed myself, lol.)

Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. They are typically defined as people born from 1981 to 1996, with the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years.

T'was the easiest way to share just how limited my perspective is (on the topic), without directly-stating my age.

It's also worth noting, (nearly) no-two sources agree (precisely) on the birthyear range. See:

Millennial is a person whose youth went around Y2K, thus people born around 1970 to 1990 give or take a couple years. I am the youngest Gen Y guy possible at my 29 y.o.

My 'personal definition': Anyone "reaching adulthood" near/around Y2K.

And yeah, my sub-generation (1992 to 1996, post-USSR region) is a huge failure.

There is something to be said for circumstances... That's for dang sure.

 

[Yraggul666]

Gigabutt has fallen? I thought it cracked or exploded, hopefully not both at the same time but hey, it's gigabutt after all.

 

[LabRat 891]

Gigabutt has fallen? I thought it cracked or exploded, hopefully not both at the same time but hey, it's gigabutt after all.

I mean... they did kinda get ripped apart in a tear.

Together with Mouse and Dot, Bob eventually caught and defeated Gigabyte in a tear and, using Glitch, formed it into a portal which managed to split him back into Megabyte, Hexadecimal, and the Web-Creature, destroying Gigabyte for the second time, and reforming his components.

Gigabyte

"I am become Gigabyte, destroyer of systems!" - Gigabyte For the episode of the same name, see Gigabyte (episode) Gigabyte is a class 5 energy absorbing Super Virus created from the virus Killabyte. Killabyte was captured in the Super Computer and was scheduled for deletion, but just before the...

reboot.fandom.com

See! GIGABYTE just needs to pull a Pegatron, and split.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Not sure, but looking at RMA industry from the inside, every maker has fallen to substandard QC and making cheaper products and gimping on anything you can these days.

So you can blame GB here for sure, but same applies to most leading OEMs

 

[xtreemchaos]

I hate sending kit back its allways been a drawn out slow process for me, call me daft but we are good enough to trust them with our money so in turn should'nt they trust us to send a replacement out before they get the return ? if its clear through pics ect that the item is duff.

 

[LabRat 891]

I hate sending kit back its allways been a drawn out slow process for me,

The extra time and such is a PITA. However, I'm lucky this isn't needed for actual work.

(I wonder what sort of butt clenching moment it is for people that buy $6k+ Ada cards, and have them come in bad/falling apart? )

call me daft but we are good enough to trust them with our money so in turn should'nt they trust us to send a replacement out before they get the return ? if its clear through pics ect that the item is duff.

Amazon did/does. But, their Biz Strat is to operate on a loss, and let AWS cover it all. [this is an oversimplification]

 

[Sithaer]

Never had any problems with Gigabyte myself and still not going to stop buying their products. Though their quality has fallen, that's for sure, like those cracking PCBs, exploding PSUs etc.

Same tho my sample size is only 3 cards but personally I would be still A-okay to buy a Gigabyte GPU if it comes to that.
My HD 7770 worked with no issues for nearly 3 years until I've sold it, same with my Giga Xtreme GTX 950 which is still in a working condition at my friend who I sold it to and I've also used a Giga gaming RX 570 for ~3 years just fine and then sold it. 'and on top of that, I've bought that 570 from a miner, I did repaste and repad it when I sold it just to be sure'

Even my current 3060 Ti was supposed to be a Gigabyte Aorus Elite but then I've changed my mind and picked the TuF instead cause I wanted a single 8 pin model/+ I couldn't really find proper reviews of the Giga card. 'second hand GPU and the seller had both'
Tho I will say, I wasn't a fan of Gigabyte's software cause it was always conflicting with something else like my Afterburner or AMD driver profile at the time.

The only cards that died on me were a MSI 8800 GT after 2 and half years but it was covered by the 3 year retail warranty and then a second hand Palit GTX 560 Ti that simply fried itself after a year. 'I have it as a paper weight in my room ever since'

 

[Vario]

Personally I had bad experiences with Gigabyte HD7970 OC and Z77X UD3H, not doing Gigabyte again.