DarkFury

I have a XFX GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition video card...

Over the past month or so, I've been in a back and forth battle with XFX about their card overheating and shutting down.

Whenever the card gets above 78C (measured by GPU-Z) it tends to shut down on me. However, I noticed that if I use the RivaTuner to up the fan speed to about 75%, then it keeps on running perfectly (as it rarely ramps up the fan speed above 50% on its own.) It does this when I'm playing Champions Online and it shut down within 3 minutes of being on Furmark 1.7.0 in "extreme burning mode".

I actually sent my original card in for repairs and the replacement card they sent back did the exact same thing. Funny thing is... I bought an EVGA GTX 260 Superclocked while the original card was out for repair as a replacement and it never overheats. I tested their card using Furmark and it ran for over 10 minutes in extreme burning mode and never even flinched.

So now I'm back and forth arguing with XFX again about their product not properly cooling itself... and they are currently blowing smoke and making excuses (such as "Furmark is not a legitimate test program of our product...) as to why their card can't take the heat.

Anyone else experience a problem like this with their GeForce 200 series card?

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DarkFury's Pimptopia - Don't Hate the Playa, Hate the Game!
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crashdummy35

This is all you need. Make the fan a bit more aggressive:

joshconsulting

So just set the fan speed manually. If you want, flash the BIOS. Yes, it is their fault that it isn't ramping up high enough, but you probably won't get anywhere arguing with them. It shouldn't be shutting down at 78C, though.

xToaDx

Replace the thermal paste?

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NrGx

Interesting. My card idles at 42C and max load is around 65C. Perhaps your card is faulty? I think the XT and Black Edition have the same cooler as well and the clocks don't explain the discrepancy.

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Q9550 @ 4.0GHz

XiDillon

I have set it @ 90% before I game just to be safe but have never had a shut down. No matter what, thermal paste is a good idea to replace just cuz it should.

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DarkFury

I hear what you guys are saying... however, since XFX offers a Double Lifetime warranty... wouldn't doing anything like changing the fan, or adding paste void that warranty? Pretty much, in this case, I don't want to risk losing the lifetime warranty on the card (especially since most GeForce dealers these days don't do the lifetime thing anymore..)

But yeah.. arguing with them up to this point has been kinda pointless/frustrating... especially since I've already proven to them that a competitor's product doesn't experience the same failure under the same load.

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DarkFury's Pimptopia - Don't Hate the Playa, Hate the Game!
Home of the Original OG Pimp (accept NO imitations)

crashdummy35

Using Riva Tuner to overclock or raise the fan speed will not void your warranty; it won't make permanent changes to the card; it only applies the changes in Windows. Trust me on that. You don't have to change the thermal paste if you aren't comfortable doing that, but, 99% of the people here on OCN (me included) do because it lowers temps. If I were you I'd use the tut video and make 3 fan profiles: 55% 75% 100% and apply them respectively.

This little 9500GT (XFX) got RMA'ed 3 times because I ran the hell out of it. I told them directly "I bought XFX for the warranty, this is a video card...it's meant for gaming...I expect a replacement," and got one every time. This last mod voided the warranty of course, lol.

This is how you void an XFX warranty--picture:

Crank those fans and if you keep having trouble call them back and lay it on the line:
#1 Tell them you game and your case is well ventilated.
#2 Tell them the card was never overclocked.
#3 Tell them your temps never passed 79c so there is no reason why you should be crashing/blue screening.
#4 Tell them you bought XFX for the warranty and you would expect them to honor it out of respect for a loyal customer.

Good luck to you. I know hardware troubles are a real bummer.

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