A new graphics card to watch out for

In trying to upgrade the graphics in my HP dx2250 tower (AMD64, 2GB RAM, XPSP3) I chose the Radeon HD 5670 for its low power draw and reasonable price/performance. The particular model was the Gigabyte GV-R5670C-1GI as sold by Newegg. That turned out to be a bad choice... here's why:

This is a pretty new card, and it apparently has compatibility issues that Gigabyte didn't sort out before releasing it for sale. My computer would not even display the BIOS boot screen - it just sat there with the CPU fan revved up to full speed, the disk activity light on, and a black screen. Thinking it was a sample defect, I RMA'd the card to Newegg and got a second one. Same result. Gigabyte is pointing its finger at the BIOS, although it's the newest available. My hunch is it's a backward-compatibility issue - the computer is PCI Express x16 and the card is PCI Express 2.0 - although the two standards are supposed to mix-and-match between slots and cards.

The previous card in the computer was a GeForce 8400GS which was completely overwhelmed by TS2009 (and -2006) but at least worked. Last evening I bought a GeForce 9800GT card locally which is also PCI Express 2.0 and which works just fine in the computer (tweaking and frame rate results to follow at some point). And while Newegg did agree to a refund (which is beyond their "exchange-only" graphics card policy), I may still be out two $10+ shipping charges to return the first and second Gigabyte cards.

All in all, a couple of weeks' frustration and delay and (so far) extra expense. Not worth whatever "buy online!" savings I might've anticipated. Gigabyte and Newegg did not have my permission to use me as an unpaid beta tester!

Okay, that's enough ranting. As always, buyer beware...

That's rather strange. My good friend just bought a Sapphire 5670 1 GB from Newegg and had zero problems with it. He plays Crysis and Call of Duty a lot (at 1440 x 900, mind you), and he's as happy as can be with it. It is possible that either you could have received 2 defective cards in a row, but I understand having to shell out $10 or so each time for shipping to return the cards is a hassle.

saintjimmy said:

That's rather strange. My good friend just bought a Sapphire 5670 1 GB from Newegg and had zero problems with it.

Click to expand...

Bear in mind that ATI makes the chipset but individual vendors produce cards of their own design implementation. I would certainly hope that the chipset itself is sound; my complaint is with Gigabyte's lapses.

This is why we don't buy junk from Gigabyte.

evan123 said:

This is why we don't buy junk from Gigabyte.

Click to expand...

Ditto, motherboards are the only way to go with Gigabyte in my opinion, nothing else. It might be more but buy the Radeon or Sapphire versions of ATI cards, much better.

Cheers,
Adam

Or you can stick with Nvidia and only buy from EVGA or BFG Tech...preferibly BFG Tech because they have a 10 year/lifetime warranty on all there products.

Gandalf0444 said:

Or you can stick with Nvidia and only buy from EVGA or BFG Tech...preferibly BFG Tech because they have a 10 year/lifetime warranty on all there products.

Click to expand...

Well, the PNY 9800GT card I wound up with has a five-year warranty; no telling what graphics cards will look like in five years.

Got my first personal computer in 1977, four years before there was such a thing as an IBM PC... amazing how far things have come. (Note to Gandalf - that was when I lived in Killingworth )

Two99Point80 said:

Well, the PNY 9800GT card I wound up with has a five-year warranty; no telling what graphics cards will look like in five years.

Got my first personal computer in 1977, four years before there was such a thing as an IBM PC... amazing how far things have come. (Note to Gandalf - that was when I lived in Killingworth )

Click to expand...

Ah I forgot about PNY...Yes PNY has good products to. Killingworth huh? used to live there:hehe: Nice to see someone else familiar with the area.

eVGA, BFG & XFX are the companies I stick with when it comes to mobo's/GPU's. I have been buying from them for years and have never had a problem.

evan123 said:

This is why we don't buy junk from Gigabyte.

Click to expand...

titaniclover said:

Ditto, motherboards are the only way to go with Gigabyte in my opinion, nothing else. It might be more but buy the Radeon or Sapphire versions of ATI cards, much better.

Click to expand...

I had a Gigabyte motherboard for a while - all the capacitors "bloomed" or "crowned" on me just shortly after I got it. It worked fine for about 3 years in that state, at which point I sold the whole system (minus hard-discs) to a friend for $10 and a 4-pack of Boddingtons' Pub Draught..

Now I tend to buy Asus or MSI motherboards. I also remember to register my warranties (the main reason I didn't return the Gigabyte).

Latest word from Gigabyte tech support

"It should be the Mobo because we have seen this issue with some of our AMD mobo and ATI HD5xxxx video cards."

In other words, Gigabyte's ATI HD5xxx graphics cards do not work with some of Gigabyte's own AMD motherboards(!)

I have advised Newegg to change their product description to include this remarkable state of affairs. They've sent me a prepaid return label for a refund on the card.

Okay, some clarification

According to Gigabyte the issue involves Radeon HD5xxx cards from various vendors when put into AMD systems - a BIOS update is required for the cards to operate. Gigabyte evidently has one available for their boards; some computer vendors do and some (like HP as of this writing) do not.