[Stianby]

Hi all, just expressing my sorrow here, and hoping for some support!

Last night i was watching a documentary on my computer. It was James May's big ideas for those of you who now him. From Top Gear etc.....
Lately i've been enjoying my new 4870 1gb PCS+ edition from powercolor, it's given me a decent 3dmark06 score, decent fps in all the games i play, and very nice HD picture on my flatscreen.
Anyway, during my "relaxation" hour last night with the somewhat boring mr. May, the fan on my 4870 suddenly accelerates to what sounded like 100%, and then back to idle, back up again to 100%, a routine it repeated 5 or 6 times......
I jumped up from my rather comfortable position in the sofa, and in my disMay (hehe) i pushed the reset button..... and the system said klick, and died......

The smell in the room certainly gave a omonous sign as to what had happened. At first i suspectded the PSU, since it was very hot, and smelled the worst. but i saw the control light on the MB was on, so i suspected a number of things.

When i tried to turn my baby on again, a red light flashed briefly on the 4870, and the computer died again.
SO, i took the 4870 out, and installed my old 3870, and the system sprung back to life.....

This has led me to the conclution that my 4870 just went and died on me, for no apparent reason! This is ofcourse a giant blow for me, as well as my FPS's in nearly all my computer related ventures.......
I am no in the process of returning the card within warranty, which is no easy task with the shop i bought it from....

I loved that card man! silent and cool, good performance..... AAAAHHHHHH!

Hoping for some compassion......

Sincerely

Graphics widower from Norway

 

[quakermaas]

Sorry to hear, hope for a speedy return of the 4870
But you are lucky that you had an old 3870 to get you up and running again.

 

[Stianby]

Quote:

But you are lucky that you had an old 3870 to get you up and running again.

Yeah i know.... had the 3870 up for sale yesterday, and 10 minutes after the meltdown the first interested buyer called......

 

[98uk]

Why isn't an RMA easy?

 

[Stianby]

Well, being a netbased shop, all correspondanse goes by snailmail. SO i just learned that the confirmation wether i can send the card back for inspection or not, arrives in a week or so.
After that the card goes back, takes another week. Then it's approx a week in inspection. Then i get my money back, and can order a new card.
I've actually ordered a new card allready, and i hope i get my money back for the new one once the old card is inspected and found faulty.....

 

[smoothjk]

Why'd you hit the reset button? It might have been some weird case where the temps were teetering on some temperature threshold where the fan is set to come on full blast (then again, you know your system better than we do, obviously).

Anyhow, best of luck to you. That's a fine card...

 

[Stianby]

Why i hit the reset button i can't really say..... the combination of that god awful smell, the fan running like mad, i don't know.....
It's been 3 days now, and the 4870 smells like ***** still.....

 

[coffeejunky]

It could be the PSU still. The 3870 uses alot less power than the 4870 - and so is not pushing the PSU to its limit as much - might be something to consider. The light will come on on the 4870 if it isn't getting sufficient power.

 

[Lukeatluke]

True, i would say PSU went down from those 620watts.I had the same exp. with mine.
Lights on mb glowed and i couldn't boot.Mine was only 500W, so even 100W lower was obvious that it won't boot.
I ordered new one and it worked fine again :\\

 

[Negativity]

*leans over and gives you a hug* bad times

 

[The Red]

I know how you feel mate. Been there, done that, spent a month with no vid card or functioning computer.

*hug*

Time to go out for a change though, get a friend and hit the pool tables.

 

[Stianby]

Last update!

The shop has tested the 4870, and it's confirmed as dead.
So it's not an power issue.... The 620 ought to be powerful enough to run the single 4870. That said as i'm about to maybe perhaps upgrade to a cf setup, the 750 from corsair should be good enough!