GTX 580 Problem?

[vrdublu]

Hoping someone can chime on a potential problem I may have with a Zotac GTX 580 Amp!. I recently purchased this card and did the Windows performance check to see how the new system compares to the older i7 system I had. Everything checks out except for the GTX 580 which rates at a 4.2 for 2D applications and 6.2 for 3D applications. This seems a bit low to me as my dual GTX 275 did better than this. Any insight would be appreciated.

System specs:
i7 3930K stock
Asus X79 Sabertooth
Kingston Ram 4x4 @ 2133
Seasonic 800W
Zotac GTX 580 Amp! Stock.

 

[erocker]

Don't put any stock into W.E.I. Run some other benchmarks (3DMark 11, Unengine, etc.) and see what you get.

 

[vrdublu]

I ran 3D Mark 11 last night also at the basic settings and that was not even close to smooth, more of an accelerated slide show. I would have thought that this card could run that bench smooth as butter at such a low resolution, unless of course there's something actually wrong with this card? I also noticed that HW Monitor reports voltage to be .95V or something to this affect, is this about right?

 

[erocker]

If it is at .95v in 3D mode, that is a problem. Uninstall and reinstall your video drivers.

 

[vrdublu]

I'll run Furmark and see if the Voltage goes up with load? Thx for the help so far

 

[qubit]

I've got this exact graphics card and I can tell you that it blasts through everything. Therefore, you're right to suspect a fault.

Tell me, did you get it second hand? I'm thinking that it might have been tampered with such as having a non-standard BIOS flashed to it, or a board mod that could screw it up.

It could well be drivers like erocker said. If reinstalling them doesn't work then try starting from a clean slate, as follows:

- grab another hard drive or partition and install a clean copy of Windows
- install chipset and video drivers and any others to make it go, but don't bother with sound or anything else
- don't bother running all the Windows updates at this point as it takes ages, unless you get weird errors and incompatibilites
- install a game or benchmark and test

If this also runs like crap, then there's likely something wrong with your card. Try fitting another card if possible for comparison and see if it benches at the expected level for that card. Let us know how you get on.

www.fraps.com - very useful free framerate utility.

 

[vrdublu]

I've got this exact graphics card and I can tell you that it blasts through everything. Therefore, you're right to suspect a fault.

Tell me, did you get it second hand? I'm thinking that it might have been tampered with such as having a non-standard BIOS flashed to it, or a board mod that could screw it up.

It could well be drivers like erocker said. If reinstalling them doesn't work then try starting from a clean slate, as follows:

- grab another hard drive or partition and install a clean copy of Windows
- install chipset and video drivers and any others to make it go, but don't bother with sound or anything else
- don't bother running all the Windows updates at this point as it takes ages, unless you get weird errors and incompatibilites
- install a game or benchmark and test

If this also runs like crap, then there's likely something wrong with your card. Try fitting another card if possible for comparison and see if it benches at the expected level for that card. Let us know how you get on.

www.fraps.com - very useful free framerate utility.

The card is brand new bought online from NCIX. Just tested it with Furmark and got 2fps and max 1.06V under load. Furmark reported 50MHZ for core speed and 135 MHZ for Mem, never surpassed 50C. I'll try re-installing drivers, but I'm not holding my breath. brand new install of Windows 7 X64, so I can check that at least. Will update as soon as I know more, thanks for all the advice guys.
Did another run of Furmark after re-install of driver and got 9fps this time . The core is at 405Mhz, Mem is at 324 Mhz, and it tells me it's "throtteling". I'm confused as to the problem here.

 

[qubit]

The card is brand new bought online from NCIX. Just tested it with Furmark and got 2fps and max 1.06V under load. Furmark reported 50MHZ for core speed and 135 MHZ for Mem, never surpassed 50C. I'll try re-installing drivers, but I'm not holding my breath. brand new install of Windows 7 X64, so I can check that at least. Will update as soon as I know more, thanks for all the advice guys.
Did another run of Furmark after re-install of driver and got 9fps this time . The core is at 405Mhz, Mem is at 324 Mhz, and it tells me it's "throtteling". I'm confused as to the problem here.

There's definitely a fault here somewhere. If it's reporting throttling, then what temps are you getting on the card and CPU? Still, it sounds too low even under throttled conditions.

I'd still try the clean Windows install option, because you never know what little thing could have screwed it up on this install. Also, do you have the latest mobo BIOS? It's not likely to make a difference, but is worth considering. While I'm talking BIOS, it might not hurt to completely reset the cmos settings by removing the battery and hitting the reset jumper - I've seen strange effects with corrupted settings that could only be fixed with such a low level clear.

 

[vrdublu]

There's definitely a fault here somewhere. If it's reporting throttling, then what temps are you getting on the card and CPU? Still, it sounds too low even under throttled conditions.

I'd still try the clean Windows install option, because you never know what little thing could have screwed it up on this install. Also, do you have the latest mobo BIOS? It's not likely to make a difference, but is worth considering. While I'm talking BIOS, it might not hurt to completely reset the cmos settings by removing the battery and hitting the reset jumper - I've seen strange effects with corrupted settings that could only be fixed with such a low level clear.

Getting anywhere from 52C -62C, the cpu is stock right now and everything else is functioning as it should. I'm getting no windows crashes or anything strange for that matter, just the video card. Bios has been updated to the latest X79 Sabertooth bios 2104. This is the first time I have ever had something go bad, in 15+ years of messing with gear, I guess it's about time something shit the bed? I'll try a few more things and report back, oh btw; could it be a bad video card bios? Should I try reflashing it?

 

[qubit]

oh btw; could it be a bad video card bios? Should I try reflashing it?

No, the vbios isn't bad. If it was, it would likely not work at all.

Couple of things to try:

- stick the card in another PC and see how it runs. If it's good, then it's very unlikely that the card is bad

- check for a vbios update on the Zotac website. There's not likely to be one, but a quick check costs nothing

 

[vrdublu]

Checked today and confirmed it's the card and not my system. I put my trusty old gtx 275 back in and everything worked flawlessly, put the gtx 580 in and I was getting a slide show. It's getting RMA'd, too bad really as I've already order a full card water block for it Thanks to all for the helpful advice.

 

[qubit]

Sounds like something's wrong with the power limiter on it, doesn't it? These cards have this protection circuit on them to stop them getting destroyed by the likes of Furmark, so if it's on all the time, it could cause this.

You getting a replacement card, or another model?

 

[vrdublu]

Sounds like something's wrong with the power limiter on it, doesn't it? These cards have this protection circuit on them to stop them getting destroyed by the likes of Furmark, so if it's on all the time, it could cause this.

You getting a replacement card, or another model?

I'm returning the card for a refund and looking to buy another model. If I didn't already have a GTX 580 waterblock on the way I might have even looked at the 6xx or 79xx gen cards.

 

[vrdublu]

Picked up a Gigabyte GTX 580 SOC yesterday. Got a really good deal on it and it's already overclocked so that's nice. Water block should be here later in the week so we'll se what it can really do then. Right now it gets toasty at 98°C while running F@H

 

[qubit]

Picked up a Gigabyte GTX 580 SOC yesterday. Got a really good deal on it and it's already overclocked so that's nice. Water block should be here later in the week so we'll se what it can really do then. Right now it gets toasty at 98°C while running F@H

100C - ouch. But I bet this one blasts through your games now.

 

[vrdublu]

To be honest my GTX 275 in SLI never broke a sweat either, the eye candy is nice though . Gonna have to lay off the F@H until the waterblock gets here, can't imagine the card can take much of the 98°C for a 7 hour run of protein folding?