This is a continuation of my first post at
http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/5870...emps-read.html.
As those of you who read that post know, a couple of weeks ago I received my new 295 Hydro. I tried it out, and quickly found some problems. Some games would go haywire with the graphics, screen corruption and the like. Load temps were approaching 70c - far, FAR too high for a card on water. I was about to RMA it when I received a suggestion from another member to try opening it up and replacing the thermal paste. Upon opening, I found that EVGA had done a truly terrible job with the thermal paste (see the previously linked thread for pictures), so I cleaned their white gunk off and replaced it with some MX-3. I reassembled, and all of my problems went away - no issues with corruption\crashing, load temps were ~34c. I thought all was well - until yesterday. After several days of 24\7 folding, my computer suddenly crashed. When I rebooted, EVERYTHING was corrupted. From the POST screen to the BIOS to windows itself, all the colors were a flickering mess of randomly changing colors that made it almost impossible to read the screen. I rebooted again, tried different monitors\cables - nothing. While I was thinking of what to do, it crashed again. I left it off for a few minutes, and when I turned it on the problem seemed to have gone away, but I don't plan on loading it again. I contacted EVGA - they agreed that it needed a RMA.
Let the record be straight - EVGAs tech support was, without question, the absolute BEST call experience I've ever had. I didn't wait on hold - I was on line with a person who had every detail on my account in under 30 seconds after keying in my serial number. He was very knowledgeable - he understood my problem, asked a question or two about my PSU and the like, and agreed that I needed a new card and explained that EVGA covers opening the card and replacing the TIM under their warranty. When I mentioned that I hadn't signed up for EVGAs cross-shipping program when I registered, and wondered if I could change that now (despite numerous messages on their website stating that was impossible), he quickly obliged, apologized for the issue with the card, acknowledged that it was the factory's fault, and upgraded me to cross shipping instantly. Within a few hours I got an email saying my RMA was accepted, provided a place for me to enter my credit card as collateral, and told me the new card should ship in 1-2 days. So my card should get here next week (3 day shipping) and I'll be good to go with no downtime (so far, the old card is doing fine running Windows, and I don't plan on loading it
)
I assume the second problem was a continuation of the first - certain areas of the GPU had heated up too much and been permanently damaged by the faulty TIM, and my new application just delayed the inevitable. The first thing I'll do when I get my new card is tear it apart and coat it with MX-3
Just wanted to point out, though, that EVGAs tech support\RMA process was absolutely flawless. I'm very impressed, and plan to buy EVGA exclusively from now on (with most manufactures price being the same per GPU, it's only the quality of the tech support\RMA that matters). The whole thing has been far less painful then any other faulty product issue that I've ever had. Kudos to EVGA
GTX 295 Hydro Bad Temps [PART 2]
3 Weeks Ago
GTX 295 Hydro Bad Temps [PART 2]
