ATI Cards prone to failure?

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RT

I had two 9800's fail, no problem returned to ATi for a replacement. My
XL800 failed just recently, unfortunately wasn't covered by warranty. It
did however give me an excuse to buy a new vid card (X1950 Pro).

Is this unusual? Perhaps I need better cooling but my case is usually open
with a fan blowing on the interior in the summer.

RT
 
If your system keeps going through video cards, then I'd assume that there's
something wrong with your computer, not the ATI cards.
 
I had two 9800's fail, no problem returned to ATi for a replacement. My
XL800 failed just recently, unfortunately wasn't covered by warranty. It
did however give me an excuse to buy a new vid card (X1950 Pro).

Is this unusual? Perhaps I need better cooling but my case is usually open
with a fan blowing on the interior in the summer.
Click to expand...
I have RMA'ed my 9700/9800 Pro four times each time getting new one in
exchange. They are very unreliable. I have three X800's and they seem to be
OK but now ATI has reduced to warrantee period from 3 years to one year. If
you get a card not "Built by ATI" forget any RMA. I have had it. The nVidia
brands eVGA, BFG and XFX all have lifetime (or more) warranty. So I am
thinking to go that route for my next $300+ video card. The only trouble is
that the X1950's are so darned cheap it is tempting to save the money and
hope for the best. Hopefully a 7800GS can be had for a similar price.
 
RT said:
I had two 9800's fail, no problem returned to ATi for a replacement. My
XL800 failed just recently, unfortunately wasn't covered by warranty. It
did however give me an excuse to buy a new vid card (X1950 Pro).

Is this unusual? Perhaps I need better cooling but my case is usually open
with a fan blowing on the interior in the summer.
Click to expand...

I've owned multiple ATI (some Sapphire, rest ATI) cards and never have had
one quit on me. They've all been o/c and run 24/7 in every system. The
9800Pro (which has run for 4 years now at slightly over XT clocks 24/7) is
still going strong in my kid's system. I've also owned multiple Nvidia cards
from different maufacturers and found them equally reliable. Currently using
an eVGA 7800GTX OC for the last 1 1/2 years.
 
Augustus said:
I've owned multiple ATI (some Sapphire, rest ATI) cards and never have had
one quit on me. They've all been o/c and run 24/7 in every system. The
9800Pro (which has run for 4 years now at slightly over XT clocks 24/7) is
still going strong in my kid's system. I've also owned multiple Nvidia cards
from different maufacturers and found them equally reliable. Currently using
an eVGA 7800GTX OC for the last 1 1/2 years.
Click to expand...
Same here. 2xRage 32 AGP cards, 1 Radeon 7200, 1 9700Pro, 1 9800 Pro, an
X850 PCIe, and now a 1950xtx. all flawless, , except, , my own fault,
bashed the 9700 mounting my waterblock on it and it was trashed, , and
Comp-usa exchanged it (had the extended warranty thing from them). By
then they only had 9800 pros, so that's what I got. All of them
overclocked, run hard, ect. I am willing to bet that people that are
having repetative problems with their card are running cheap PSUs. I
have NEVER bought a cheap or smallish PSU and I rarely have problems
with anything failing.

If you have to open your case and blow a fan into it, you really need to
do something about the cooling. I use Lian-Li cases, and they're cool
and quiet. They seem to have figured out the whole airflow aspect of it
because my systems, no matter how much they are OCd stay cool.
 
Kent_Diego said:
I have RMA'ed my 9700/9800 Pro four times each time getting new one in
exchange. They are very unreliable. I have three X800's and they seem to be
OK but now ATI has reduced to warrantee period from 3 years to one year. If
you get a card not "Built by ATI" forget any RMA. I have had it. The nVidia
brands eVGA, BFG and XFX all have lifetime (or more) warranty. So I am
thinking to go that route for my next $300+ video card. The only trouble is
that the X1950's are so darned cheap it is tempting to save the money and
hope for the best. Hopefully a 7800GS can be had for a similar price.
Click to expand...
All 4 97/9800s in the same system? If so, that's more likely to be
something else causing it. . .
 
..........
All 4 97/9800s in the same system? If so, that's more likely to be
something else causing it. . .
Click to expand...

In various computers over the years. I have 5 and I have kids and relatives
that get my old parts. No boot seems to be the biggest problem. I was stuck
with a Power Color 9800 Pro that quit. In looking at it, I found a large
inductor was getting very hot causing solder connection to fail. I have
repaired twice and resorted to lowering GPU clock speed to keep cooler. I
just quit again last week. When I touched an other inductor, it fell off. I
will re-solder and hope for fix. The Power Color card is exact same as
"Built by ATI" except serial number. I think there is generic solder issue.
Maybe they just went to lead free solder and still have not worked out the
bugs?
 
I am willing to bet that people that are
having repetative problems with their card are running cheap PSUs. I have
NEVER bought a cheap or smallish PSU and I rarely have problems with
anything failing.

If you have to open your case and blow a fan into it, you really need to
do something about the cooling.
Click to expand...

I think you've hit the nail on the head here.
 
No, they are not. Otherwise everyone who ever bought one would be
complaining.

PS Are you an nVidia fanboi?
 
Interestingly my X1950 has worked fine in an enclosed case with room
temperatures as high as 30C without problem.
 
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