• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

New love for old cards - [GPU restoration]

Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
773 (0.37/day)
Location
Germany
System Name FATTYDOVE-R-SPEC
Processor Intel i9 10980XE
Motherboard EVGA X299 Dark
Cooling Water (1x 240mm, 1x 280mm, 1x 420mm + 2x Mo-Ra 360 external radiator)
Memory 64GB DDR4
Video Card(s) RTX 2080 Super / RTX 3090
Storage Crucial MX500
Display(s) 24", 1440p, freesync, 144hz
Case Open Benchtable (OBT)
Audio Device(s) beyerdynamic MMX 300
Power Supply EVGA Supernova T2 1600W
Mouse OG steelseries Sensei
Keyboard steelseries 6Gv2
Software Windows 10
Hello dear people out there!

I´m Dinnercore, on this board for some days now and enjoying myself around here. I thought of opening this thread to celebrate my new found love for 'older' GPU´s.
They once had been the latest tech and were in use for a long time, decades in some cases. Now they land on my doorstep, beaten, dusty, still trying all they have left in them but in the tech world time is moving fast. Consuming to much power, while not suitable for any modern game they desperatly look for a purpose and I want to give them one in my machines.

But before they can live in a happy retirement under my watch they need some serious attention. I put a bit more time and effort into them then just spraying air and throwing new paste on. I want to restore them as best as I can. I find the work very relaxing. And I can relive all the memories that come up with the dream hardware from my childhood.
On top of that, I want to try different aftermarket coolers, watercooling etc.. Multi-GPU setups and some OC adventures.

What´s in it for you? A closer look at a lot of pcbs and coolers from different times, the comparison of before/after if you´re into that. Every now and then I plan to show them running in a system (not necessarily a perfect time-matching system for now, I lack the time and space for that much hardware).
The rough time period you can expect is anything from the late 90s up to 2010.

NOTE: If you like any of the photos I took and want a high res version, you can ask me and I´ll see where I can upload it for you. I just can´t upload all photos in original 4K res because of filesizes.
Same goes if you want to know or see a specific detail of one of my cards.

The following table contains my collection and results so far:
Please note that temps are in delta T over ambient due to fluctuation in ambient temp. Power draw is measured by my PSUs 'Power-in' reading.


GPU
Cooler TypeIdle beforeLoad test beforeIdle afterLoad test afterTemp improvementPower draw IdlePower draw LoadStock CoreStock Memory
GeForce GTX295 Zotac 1792MB sPCBStock Cooler20 °Cn/a17 °C48 °C-3 °C130 W400 W576 MHz1008 MHz
GeForce 9800 GX2 Leadtek 1024MBStock Cooler39 °COTP33 °C70 °C-6 °C175 W370 W602 MHz999 MHz
GeForce 9800 GTX+ XFX Black Edition 512MBArctic Accelero Xtreme 980012.9 °Cn/a11 °C36 °C-1.9 °C125 W275 W785 MHz1150 MHz
GeForce 9800 GTX+ EVGA 512MBStock Cooler12 °C55 °C11.7 °C51.7 °C-3.3 °C L/-0.3 °C i98 W255 W738 MHz1100 MHz
GeForce 7900 GTO MSI 512MBStock Cooler15 °C36 °C16 °C43 °C+7 °C L/+1 °C i98 W176 W650 MHz660 MHz
ATi Radeon HD4870 512MBStock Cooler46 °C56 °C46 °C56 °C0 °C L / i161 W271 W750 MHz900 MHz
ATi Radeon HD4850 X2 1024MB2x Zalman Quiet VGA Cooler13 °C28°Ctbdtbdtbd172 W294 W625 MHz993 MHz
ATi Radeon X1950 XTX 512MBStock Cooler41.4 °C61 °C39.9 °C61 °C-1.4 °C i117 W185 W648 MHz999 MHz
ATi All-In-Wonder X1900 256MBStock Cooler31.3 °C59.1 °C31.6 °C56.9 °C-2.2 °C L/+0.3 °C i125 W175 W500 MHz477 MHz

Additional information for this table: n/a usually means that I could not take this measurement because of e.g. the load test crashing or cooler parts missing. The Furmark load test will always be 10 minutes on aircoolers, since they don´t take that much time to saturate. Note that for some more delicate dual GPU-Cards I will try to avoid Furmark in the future. On future watercooling I plan to use a Mo-Ra3 loop just for the GPU/s. I will make some tests as to when the water temp has settled and plan a time accordingly.
Ambient for calculating delta T is measured right at the front intake fan in the case.
All my repasting is done with Arctic MX-4.

Anyway, let´s start this off with my latest puppy:

An XFX 9800 GTX+ Black Edition.



Already came with an Arctic Accelero Xtreme but the voltage regulator cooling must have fallen off. There is only the glue residue left. Oh well I´ll see what I can do.



Interesting mod (not by me) on the cooler for the GPU-status LED cable.



This is nasty, but could be worse.



Atleast the thermal pad could tell me what memory this card has:




The card is tested and runs fine, gets picked up by driver and GPU-z and it can run 3D-load however I did not make an endurance test and I´m very happy with that decision now that I see that VRM cooling is no longer present. It may be fine like this, but I don´t want to risk it.
Next post from me will be the result, after I got some thermal glue.
 
Last edited:

dorsetknob

"YOUR RMA REQUEST IS CON-REFUSED"
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Messages
9,105 (1.31/day)
Location
Dorset where else eh? >>> Thats ENGLAND<<<
Keep them coming :)
 

phill

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 8, 2011
Messages
15,861 (3.39/day)
Location
Somerset, UK
System Name Not so complete or overkill - There are others!! Just no room to put! :D
Processor Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
Motherboard Asus Zenith 2 Extreme Alpha
Cooling Lots!! Dual GTX 560 rads with D5 pumps for each rad. One rad for each component
Memory Viper Steel 4 x 16GB DDR4 3600MHz not sure on the timings... Probably still at 2667!! :(
Video Card(s) Asus Strix 3090 with front and rear active full cover water blocks
Storage I'm bound to forget something here - 250GB OS, 2 x 1TB NVME, 2 x 1TB SSD, 4TB SSD, 2 x 8TB HD etc...
Display(s) 3 x Dell 27" S2721DGFA @ 7680 x 1440P @ 144Hz or 165Hz - working on it!!
Case The big Thermaltake that looks like a Case Mods
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply EVGA 1600W T2
Mouse Corsair thingy
Keyboard Razer something or other....
VR HMD No headset yet
Software Windows 11 OS... Not a fan!!
Benchmark Scores I've actually never benched it!! Too busy with WCG and FAH and not gaming! :( :( Not OC'd it!! :(
Subbed :)
 
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Messages
2,097 (0.51/day)
Location
Spencerport NY
System Name Master
Processor Pair of Xeon X5675's @ 4.3
Motherboard SR-2 Classified
Memory 12 GB of Corsair Dominator GT's @ 2000 7-7-7-21
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX680
Power Supply EVGA Supernova 750
Subbed also. :)
 
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
8,115 (2.29/day)
Location
SE Michigan
System Name Dumbass
Processor AMD Ryzen 7800X3D
Motherboard ASUS TUF gaming B650
Cooling Artic Liquid Freezer 2 - 420mm
Memory G.Skill Sniper 32gb DDR5 6000
Video Card(s) GreenTeam 4070 ti super 16gb
Storage Samsung EVO 500gb & 1Tb, 2tb HDD, 500gb WD Black
Display(s) 1x Nixeus NX_EDG27, 2x Dell S2440L (16:9)
Case Phanteks Enthoo Primo w/8 140mm SP Fans
Audio Device(s) onboard (realtek?) - SPKRS:Logitech Z623 200w 2.1
Power Supply Corsair HX1000i
Mouse Steeseries Esports Wireless
Keyboard Corsair K100
Software windows 10 H
Benchmark Scores https://i.imgur.com/aoz3vWY.jpg?2
Subbed too! :D
 

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast
Supporter
Joined
Jul 25, 2008
Messages
13,909 (2.43/day)
Location
Louisiana -Laissez les bons temps rouler!
System Name Bayou Phantom
Processor Core i7-8700k 4.4Ghz @ 1.18v
Motherboard ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 6
Cooling All air: 2x140mm Fractal exhaust; 3x 140mm Cougar Intake; Enermax T40F Black CPU cooler
Memory 2x 16GB Mushkin Redline DDR-4 3200
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Xc
Storage 1x 500 MX500 SSD; 2x 6TB WD Black; 1x 4TB WD Black; 1x400GB VelRptr; 1x 4TB WD Blue storage (eSATA)
Display(s) HP 27q 27" IPS @ 2560 x 1440
Case Fractal Design Define R4 Black w/Titanium front -windowed
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster Z
Power Supply Seasonic X-850
Mouse Coolermaster Sentinel III (large palm grip!)
Keyboard Logitech G610 Orion mechanical (Cherry Brown switches)
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Start10 & Fences 3.0 installed)
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
8,115 (2.29/day)
Location
SE Michigan
System Name Dumbass
Processor AMD Ryzen 7800X3D
Motherboard ASUS TUF gaming B650
Cooling Artic Liquid Freezer 2 - 420mm
Memory G.Skill Sniper 32gb DDR5 6000
Video Card(s) GreenTeam 4070 ti super 16gb
Storage Samsung EVO 500gb & 1Tb, 2tb HDD, 500gb WD Black
Display(s) 1x Nixeus NX_EDG27, 2x Dell S2440L (16:9)
Case Phanteks Enthoo Primo w/8 140mm SP Fans
Audio Device(s) onboard (realtek?) - SPKRS:Logitech Z623 200w 2.1
Power Supply Corsair HX1000i
Mouse Steeseries Esports Wireless
Keyboard Corsair K100
Software windows 10 H
Benchmark Scores https://i.imgur.com/aoz3vWY.jpg?2

Urlyin

I still do pencil mods
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
2,272 (0.32/day)
take some pics when their all cleaned up afterwards... perhaps some GPU temps before and after? Welcome to TPU Dinnercore
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
773 (0.37/day)
Location
Germany
System Name FATTYDOVE-R-SPEC
Processor Intel i9 10980XE
Motherboard EVGA X299 Dark
Cooling Water (1x 240mm, 1x 280mm, 1x 420mm + 2x Mo-Ra 360 external radiator)
Memory 64GB DDR4
Video Card(s) RTX 2080 Super / RTX 3090
Storage Crucial MX500
Display(s) 24", 1440p, freesync, 144hz
Case Open Benchtable (OBT)
Audio Device(s) beyerdynamic MMX 300
Power Supply EVGA Supernova T2 1600W
Mouse OG steelseries Sensei
Keyboard steelseries 6Gv2
Software Windows 10
Oh wow, thanks! Wouldn´t have thought so many would like to see these cards.
The suggestion with temps is nice, I´ll see how I work that into the whole thing. Maybe I could create a spreadsheet in the first post or sth.. But I´m worried about the fluctuations in data by my ambient temp. It´s all over the place in the next weeks, like today it´s 26°C in here and if I open up a window tomorrow it´ll be more like 20°C.

Anyway, some progress on the XFX card:
I´m not happy with those stains from the paste that someone left there (e.g. in the middle of the 4 top left memory modules). It is barely removable with alcohol.

EDIT: these noisy smartphone cam pictures dont do it justice, from now on I´ll bust out the DSLR no matter what. (replaced old pics in this post already)



This part is looking a little bit better now.



And do you prefer the dark side....



Or the light side?



And with my CSI super zoom I tried to catch some strange marking on the die:



There is two of those squares, they seem perfectly aligned on the same height. Was this where the tool grabbed it after it was cut from the wafer? I have no idea.

Full assembly will be tomorrow when I get the glue for VRM cooling. I have sourced some fitting heatsinks from broken plasma TV pcb´s for free, but forgot that I will actually need something to hold them in place...
I´ve got 3M double sided thermal tape, some thermal glue and some xbox branded thermal glue-pad thingy incoming, I want to test which of those things work better.

And a teaser for what´s coming up next:

 
Last edited:

Urlyin

I still do pencil mods
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
2,272 (0.32/day)
not sure if you're aware but I found acetone to work better than alcohol... pics look fine.
 

qubit

Overclocked quantum bit
Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Messages
17,866 (3.00/day)
Location
Quantum Well UK
System Name Quantumville™
Processor Intel Core i7-2700K @ 4GHz
Motherboard Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
Cooling Noctua NH-D14
Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance Black DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz)
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio
Storage Samsung 850 Pro 256GB | WD Black 4TB | WD Blue 6TB
Display(s) ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQR (4K, 144Hz, G-SYNC compatible) | Asus MG28UQ (4K, 60Hz, FreeSync compatible)
Case Cooler Master HAF 922
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty PCIe
Power Supply Corsair AX1600i
Mouse Microsoft Intellimouse Pro - Black Shadow
Keyboard Yes
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Hey, I look forward to your restorations, dinnercore. This is properly nerdy so the qubit approvez. :cool:
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
773 (0.37/day)
Location
Germany
System Name FATTYDOVE-R-SPEC
Processor Intel i9 10980XE
Motherboard EVGA X299 Dark
Cooling Water (1x 240mm, 1x 280mm, 1x 420mm + 2x Mo-Ra 360 external radiator)
Memory 64GB DDR4
Video Card(s) RTX 2080 Super / RTX 3090
Storage Crucial MX500
Display(s) 24", 1440p, freesync, 144hz
Case Open Benchtable (OBT)
Audio Device(s) beyerdynamic MMX 300
Power Supply EVGA Supernova T2 1600W
Mouse OG steelseries Sensei
Keyboard steelseries 6Gv2
Software Windows 10
Time for the next update. As life is, I got some good news and some bad results with one of my thermal glue solutions.

And thanks @Urlyin for the hint on acetone, did not try that yet and will give it a go in the future.


Cleaned cooler.



Next up, my try on the VRM heatsinks. I tried the first and cheapest solution to stick them on first: A double sided 'thermal conductive tape' from some chinese no name reseller. 10€ for a 25m roll is a bit expensive for just tape, but much to cheap to be anything that can transfer heat. It is however really really thin so I hoped that it would be ok. It isn´t. I interrupted the long term load test after 5 minutes, because the backside pcb was burning to the touch, while the heatsinks I could reach felt cold or lukewarm at best.
Lesson learned. I now have to take it apart again and try the second option from a company that does stuff for modding consoles. It´s a 100x100mm sheet, only 0.15mm thick and rated at ~3W/mK... The instructions on it suggest that the glue on it is a bit tricky to work with, I hope it will do. The 2 compound glue I ordered takes 2-3 weeks shipping.



Fully assembled, and by the time im typing this already on it´s back and loosing screws again :p





Temps!:
Ambient 24°C / Idle temperature now 35°C. Before taking it apart the idle was at 38-39°C with an ambient temp of 25,6°C.
I did not win much there, but it´s the feeling that counts.



And right after I cut short the first endurance test due to slight worry about VRM:
(Looks like it would have settled at 49°C anyway).
Full load test with furmark has to wait until I get those damn heatsinks to do their job. No idea if the card can run without, the reference cooler for this card seems to be lacking there but every other 9800 I saw online had some.



Another thing I want to monitor for this one and all the following cards is power draw. They will, if possible, all run on the same machine with the same config. I will measure power draw at the wall in idle and under furmark.
This one is for now: 124W @ idle // 234W @ GPU-z render thingy.

Finally, look what the previous owner send me without a word:



Aww yiss, DHE-stock cooler. I love those. They are my absolute favorite for looks. Especially the ones from around 2008-2010 with rendered artwork on them.



That´s it for today, I´m going back to testing these xbox thermal sticky pads.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Messages
2,785 (0.67/day)
System Name BoX-Server | 775PC
Processor I3 3.5GHZ (3150) | Modded Xeon E5450 (OC @3.60)
Motherboard ASRock B85M-ITX | ASUS P5Q-EM
Cooling OEZM HSK | 92MM Heatsink RGB
Memory 8GB DDR3 | 8GB DDR2
Video Card(s) AMD 6450 | AMD RX 550 4GB
Storage 120GB SSD 1TB WD | 120GB SSD 1TB Seagate 500GB HDD <<
Display(s) DELL 17" LCD 1280x1024 | ASUS 24" LCD IPS
Case CoolerMaster 110 | RoseWill ZIRCON
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Rosewill 610WATT | Rosewill 550WATT
Mouse Input-Director| RoseWill FUSION C40
Keyboard Input-Director | RoseWill FUSION
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit
That Light-Side photo should be in a Comp-Por¦ Magazine :laugh::toast:
 
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Messages
2,097 (0.51/day)
Location
Spencerport NY
System Name Master
Processor Pair of Xeon X5675's @ 4.3
Motherboard SR-2 Classified
Memory 12 GB of Corsair Dominator GT's @ 2000 7-7-7-21
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX680
Power Supply EVGA Supernova 750
For your heatsinks, no tape. :p
Your favorite non conductive TIM in the middle, and a dot of superglue on opposite corners.
Works titties. :)
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
773 (0.37/day)
Location
Germany
System Name FATTYDOVE-R-SPEC
Processor Intel i9 10980XE
Motherboard EVGA X299 Dark
Cooling Water (1x 240mm, 1x 280mm, 1x 420mm + 2x Mo-Ra 360 external radiator)
Memory 64GB DDR4
Video Card(s) RTX 2080 Super / RTX 3090
Storage Crucial MX500
Display(s) 24", 1440p, freesync, 144hz
Case Open Benchtable (OBT)
Audio Device(s) beyerdynamic MMX 300
Power Supply EVGA Supernova T2 1600W
Mouse OG steelseries Sensei
Keyboard steelseries 6Gv2
Software Windows 10
Final numbers for the XFX 9800 GTX+ Black Edition (@21°C ambient):

10min Furmark: 57°C // 275W Power in
Idle after Furmark: 32°C // 125W Power in





And @Mr.Scott that is another great idea. I was a bit paranoid to use superglue, I always have 100 what-if´s in mind (superglue and the stuff inside the coils fighting each other, glue to solid for temperature cycles = cracking and falling off etc.) But if it works that´s great news.
For now tho the adhesive worked.

A question for anyone who knows how to do things properly in a forum, what would be the best way to implement a chart for temps and power draw in this thread? I can´t edit my first post, so no adding there. I could just make another post, but will loose the ability to edit that one too. I could create one somwhere and link to it, but who would find that link between all the other posts?

PS: If anyone wants to see a specific test or benchmark, just ask and I´ll see what I can do.
 

hat

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
21,731 (3.43/day)
Location
Ohio
System Name Starlifter :: Dragonfly
Processor i7 2600k 4.4GHz :: i5 10400
Motherboard ASUS P8P67 Pro :: ASUS Prime H570-Plus
Cooling Cryorig M9 :: Stock
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 2133 :: 2x8GB DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) PNY GTX1070 :: Integrated UHD 630
Storage Crucial MX500 1TB, 2x1TB Seagate RAID 0 :: Mushkin Enhanced 60GB SSD, 3x4TB Seagate HDD RAID5
Display(s) Onn 165hz 1080p :: Acer 1080p
Case Antec SOHO 1030B :: Old White Full Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Bose Companion 2 Series III :: None
Power Supply FSP Hydro GE 550w :: EVGA Supernova 550
Software Windows 10 Pro - Plex Server on Dragonfly
Benchmark Scores >9000
Not sure why you can't edit your post. Under your own posts, there should be an Edit button, near your signature (if you had one) and whre the Report button is for other's posts.

@FordGT90Concept posts tables more than anyone else I know of on the forums
 

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast
Supporter
Joined
Jul 25, 2008
Messages
13,909 (2.43/day)
Location
Louisiana -Laissez les bons temps rouler!
System Name Bayou Phantom
Processor Core i7-8700k 4.4Ghz @ 1.18v
Motherboard ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 6
Cooling All air: 2x140mm Fractal exhaust; 3x 140mm Cougar Intake; Enermax T40F Black CPU cooler
Memory 2x 16GB Mushkin Redline DDR-4 3200
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Xc
Storage 1x 500 MX500 SSD; 2x 6TB WD Black; 1x 4TB WD Black; 1x400GB VelRptr; 1x 4TB WD Blue storage (eSATA)
Display(s) HP 27q 27" IPS @ 2560 x 1440
Case Fractal Design Define R4 Black w/Titanium front -windowed
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster Z
Power Supply Seasonic X-850
Mouse Coolermaster Sentinel III (large palm grip!)
Keyboard Logitech G610 Orion mechanical (Cherry Brown switches)
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Start10 & Fences 3.0 installed)
A question for anyone who knows how to do things properly in a forum, what would be the best way to implement a chart for temps and power draw in this thread? I can´t edit my first post, so no adding there. I could just make another post, but will loose the ability to edit that one too. I could create one somwhere and link to it, but who would find that link between all the other posts?
There is a time limit on editing. PM a Supermod and see if they can extend your editing period on your posts in your own thread. Or it may be on an as needed basis. It's also possible I may recall that W1zzard keeps that locked down for himself. In any case, he doesn't usually have a problem if you explain the need.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
12,280 (2.37/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Juliette // HTPC
Processor Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s) ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro
Had this for years. Never been taken apart. Should I?
I tested it a couple of years ago. Its only scores a 400 on Heaven 4.0. My GTX150 ti scores an 800





Someone want to get in on the shoot

 
Last edited:

hat

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
21,731 (3.43/day)
Location
Ohio
System Name Starlifter :: Dragonfly
Processor i7 2600k 4.4GHz :: i5 10400
Motherboard ASUS P8P67 Pro :: ASUS Prime H570-Plus
Cooling Cryorig M9 :: Stock
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 2133 :: 2x8GB DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) PNY GTX1070 :: Integrated UHD 630
Storage Crucial MX500 1TB, 2x1TB Seagate RAID 0 :: Mushkin Enhanced 60GB SSD, 3x4TB Seagate HDD RAID5
Display(s) Onn 165hz 1080p :: Acer 1080p
Case Antec SOHO 1030B :: Old White Full Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Bose Companion 2 Series III :: None
Power Supply FSP Hydro GE 550w :: EVGA Supernova 550
Software Windows 10 Pro - Plex Server on Dragonfly
Benchmark Scores >9000
Heh, I've got a BFG GTX 260 Maxcore 55. It served me well for a while, then I got a 5870 and tried to sell it, but nobody bought it, so in the parts bin it sits.
 

FordGT90Concept

"I go fast!1!11!1!"
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
26,259 (4.65/day)
Location
IA, USA
System Name BY-2021
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (65w eco profile)
Motherboard MSI B550 Gaming Plus
Cooling Scythe Mugen (rev 5)
Memory 2 x Kingston HyperX DDR4-3200 32 GiB
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
Storage Samsung 980 Pro, Seagate Exos X20 TB 7200 RPM
Display(s) Nixeus NX-EDG274K (3840x2160@144 DP) + Samsung SyncMaster 906BW (1440x900@60 HDMI-DVI)
Case Coolermaster HAF 932 w/ USB 3.0 5.25" bay + USB 3.2 (A+C) 3.5" bay
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1150, Micca OriGen+
Power Supply Enermax Platimax 850w
Mouse Nixeus REVEL-X
Keyboard Tesoro Excalibur
Software Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Faster than the tortoise; slower than the hare.
Last edited:
Joined
Mar 23, 2016
Messages
4,839 (1.65/day)
Processor Ryzen 9 5900X
Motherboard MSI B450 Tomahawk ATX
Cooling Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition
Memory VENGEANCE LPX 2 x 16GB DDR4-3600 C18 OCed 3800
Video Card(s) XFX Speedster SWFT309 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT CORE Gaming
Storage 970 EVO NVMe M.2 500 GB, 870 QVO 1 TB
Display(s) Samsung 28” 4K monitor
Case Phantek Eclipse P400S (PH-EC416PS)
Audio Device(s) EVGA NU Audio
Power Supply EVGA 850 BQ
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 310
Keyboard Logitech G G413 Silver
Software Windows 10 Professional 64-bit v22H2
Heh, I've got a BFG GTX 260 Maxcore 55.
Still have my BFG Geforce GTS 250 (later version of the 8800 GTX after the 9800 GTX)
(but in a roundabout way I lend it to my brother for a Xeon build (Ivy Bridge) I donated to help him out on moving from his older Athlon 5200+ build.)
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
773 (0.37/day)
Location
Germany
System Name FATTYDOVE-R-SPEC
Processor Intel i9 10980XE
Motherboard EVGA X299 Dark
Cooling Water (1x 240mm, 1x 280mm, 1x 420mm + 2x Mo-Ra 360 external radiator)
Memory 64GB DDR4
Video Card(s) RTX 2080 Super / RTX 3090
Storage Crucial MX500
Display(s) 24", 1440p, freesync, 144hz
Case Open Benchtable (OBT)
Audio Device(s) beyerdynamic MMX 300
Power Supply EVGA Supernova T2 1600W
Mouse OG steelseries Sensei
Keyboard steelseries 6Gv2
Software Windows 10
Time for the next card. And chart is otw I hope, I contacted a mod via pm.

This card is giving me a real headache:
Zotac GTX 295, a dual GPU card.

DSC_0001 (2).jpg


It looks fine on the outside. But already gave me trouble just getting it to boot.

DSC_0002 (2).jpg


This one will be a longer story for sure...

DSC_0003 (2).jpg


Got it running into idle, but have trouble getting it to work under load in SLI.
Idle Temp @ 22°C ambient: 41°C / 42°C
Power draw: ~130W




For those interested in my troubleshooting journey with it (and it´s not over yet):

My testsystem for reference:
Ryzen 7 1800x
MSI X370 Gaming Pro Carbon (I hate this thing, never buy cheap)
16GB (2x8) DDR4 G.Skill Flare X @ 3200 14-14-14-34
Corsair RMI 850W PSU
120GB SSD

Got the card like usual, stupid me did NOT use DDU before changing the card from the GTX 9800+ to this, thinking oh it´s the same driver version it may be fine for now...
Well before it even got to the driver stage it didn´t post. No signal out. PC stuck, every 3rd power on it initialized keyboard and mouse, but still no signal. Fan spinning 100% on the GPU, green LED on.
Alrighty, off to a great start. Next thing I did, instead of using 2 seperate PSU cables, I used a single Y for 6+8pin.
Oh wow look at that it posts and boots. Wait a minute, why does my memory initialisation now fail?! Mainboard boot looped 3 times, went into standard config. Ok. Deep breath. This will be a long day.

Now it did boot. I got into OS (Win7 64Bit), checked that the card was picked up by driver and GPU-z. Went just fine. Scratching my head about why my system can´t hold OC settings or my ram profile now. So I rebooted, went into Bios, tried some higher voltages all around. Nothing, as soon as PC starts it completly shuts down, goes back up 3x (Mainboard retry setting) and then just proceeds with stock settings. Alright then. Time for a BIOS-Update.

BIOS-Update done, oh my god it finally starts without any delay at startup like it did before all the time. Wow thanks MSI, I can finally set subtimings! Just about a year late. Went into windows, everything still ok? Nope. BSOD within 2 minutes / related to me removing USB-Stick. Blaming the pci.sys as the fault. Well i´m not done anyway. Back into BIOS, getting all my settings back in order after the update, then I updated my Chipset-Drivers too. Time for some coffee.
Finally it seemed stable. Took the Idle temp measurement and went ahead into Furmark. Single GPU runs fine. SLI activated, 20 seconds in @64°C it died again with a BSOD. This time nvlddmkm.sys is stated as the cause.
Since it crashed pretty much related to the load I hope it´s not the card that reached EOL. The error code hints more towards driver tho, I hope I can fix this with DDU and a clean reinstall after all the changes I made. However, due to the possibilty of it being a heat/stress issue on the card in it´s current state, I´ll now go ahead and take a closer look at it before I do more testing.




Had this for years. Never been taken apart. Should I?

It doesn´t look bad from the outside, but since I see a cat around it there could be a lot of hairs inside. Not the nvidia hairworks you would want.
Maybe plug it in, check if it works and if temperatures seem reasonable. Does the fan spin, what noise does it make etc..

I have great memories of my GTX260, had to rma the first one I got due to cooler not making good contact. It was the first upgrade for my first pc!
And I need a GTS250, I would like to have the whole 200 series family. Got a 260 and 295 now.
 
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Messages
2,097 (0.51/day)
Location
Spencerport NY
System Name Master
Processor Pair of Xeon X5675's @ 4.3
Motherboard SR-2 Classified
Memory 12 GB of Corsair Dominator GT's @ 2000 7-7-7-21
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX680
Power Supply EVGA Supernova 750
Driver issue. 295 was always driver picky.
332.21 I know works.
No longer have a 295. Just a couple 260's (65nm and 55nm), 275FTW, and 280.
Really want to find another.
 
Last edited:

Tatty_Two

Gone Fishing
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
25,793 (3.88/day)
Location
Worcestershire, UK
Processor Rocket Lake Core i5 11600K @ 5 Ghz with PL tweaks
Motherboard MSI MAG Z490 TOMAHAWK
Cooling Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120SE + 4 Phanteks 140mm case fans
Memory 32GB (4 x 8GB SR) Patriot Viper Steel 4133Mhz DDR4 @ 3600Mhz CL14@1.45v Gear 1
Video Card(s) Asus Dual RTX 4070 OC
Storage WD Blue SN550 1TB M.2 NVME//Crucial MX500 500GB SSD (OS)
Display(s) AOC Q2781PQ 27 inch Ultra Slim 2560 x 1440 IPS
Case Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Windowed - Gunmetal
Audio Device(s) Onboard Realtek ALC1200/SPDIF to Sony AVR @ 5.1
Power Supply Seasonic CORE GM650w Gold Semi modular
Mouse Coolermaster Storm Octane wired
Keyboard Element Gaming Carbon Mk2 Tournament Mech
Software Win 10 Home x64
Op..... I have unlocked your first post so you can add/edit there should you wish.
 
Top