artifacts... so here i was, happily rushing home to try out this new SLi card. firstly, i inverted the selector card on the mobo, plug-in the extra 4-pin ATX power cable, insert the NVIDIA card onto the 2nd PCi-e slot, attach the SLi connector and viola! restarted Windows XP. so following the guide book, i went to the NVIDIA Gefore settings to enable SLi mode. but...it's not there! Oh my! so it wasn't detected as compatible afterall. hmm maybe i could flash its BIOS? oh well, at least i could try out the NVIDIA card and see if there is any difference in performance to my Winfast. so unplug both cards, place the NVIDIA into the 1st slot, redid everything above to SLi-single mode and rebooted. entered Windows and within 5 minutes, my system crashed. maybe driver problem? restarted again. oh ow, this time there are artifacts showing upon the bootup screen, windows logo etc...enter windows and monitor starts to flicker on and off. so i shut everything down, unplug the card and put back my Winfast. booted up beautifully. uninstall the driver. re-plug in the NVIDIA, reboot and...........ARTIFACTS! *sigh* so Boss...is there warranty with this card? anyway to contact NVIDIA to replace it?
ROTFL!! Actually, that was how NVIDIA sent me the card! The truth is... they do not make the cards themselves. This is one of the few samples they ordered for themselves. Hence, no proper packaging. Just the card.
I read in Viper007Bond's thread about his artifacts problem. seems like he fixed it by remounting the gpu's hsf...but i dun dare lar...later no warranty? dun really know how also le... anyone can point me to some guides on remounting gpu's hsf? seems like the thing is held down by two plastic "skrews". Viper007Bond's thread :- http://forums.rojakpot.com/showthread.php?p=222639#post222639
Okay, NVIDIA says they will replace it. Can you send me the dead card? Wait.. I've got a better idea. Send it directly to NVIDIA (I'll PM you the address later). I'll get NVIDIA to send you the replacement card directly. Okay?
okay! incidently, how do you contact them? i would very much like to inquire if it's SLI compatible with a leadtek winfast 6600gt card...
LOL! I'm not allowed to tell you that! But if I'm not wrong, they have already told you it's possible, right? It's in another thread you posted, I think.
crappy deal there aKho but hey at least you have a SLi setup now well sort till you get it working. Lucky bas... I mean...hehe
erm, actually..that reply i got was from leadtek. also, an article i found to confirm support between two vendors, same model was from ASUS. i've yet to find a contact email to NVIDIA. seems like they like being reclusive, and as you've said before, they do not manufacture the cards, they get someone else to do it for them?
Hehe...I'm just kidding. Must be the ATI pic I use as my avatar I don't have any strong loyalty to either camp.
The thing is most of the cards these days are based on the reference NVIDIA design. So, they are virtually the same card. The only difference may lie in the memory chips and the cooler used. So, it's definitely possible for SLI to work between cards of different vendors. It's worth a try anyhow. Of course, you will have to use generic NVIDIA drivers. Oh definitely. NVIDIA is merely a design house. They design the GPUs and get chip foundries to manufacture the GPUs for them. They sell the GPUs to graphics card manufacturers who either make the cards ... or subcontract the job out to an OEM manufacturer.
so, where do i send it to? and attention it to who? maybe need to write a short note to let them know it's from you?