Gainward G4 Ti4200 Warning!

[mike breck]

Got one of these from reputable PC Shop at a price I couldn't refuse.

Card would not complete the PCMark2001 or PCMark2001SE Demo or Benchmark without locking up with a pink, pixelated, screen.

On reboot I got a checkered screen on POST.

Games such as Q3, UT2003, and NOLF2 crashed to pink screen.

Took it back and got a replacement - same problem.

The cards were tested on both Asus A7A266 and A7V333 mobos with a good selection of Nvidia drivers.

A bit of searching found this thread at amdmb.com

http://www.amdforums.com/showthread....i4200+crashing

Seems as though a lot of people have been unlucky with this card and there are still bad cards around.

[Alienware_Dude]

I heard about that when I was planning to buy a Gainward Ti 4200. Thanks for the heads-up, Mike.

[Tuf]

It's been happening for several months. I'm sure Gainward will take care of it. They need to do it soon though their reputation is taking quite a beating.

[TwoRails]

A friend of mine was going to get one of those, but I told him the Asus card would be a nice compliment to his new A7N8X, so he didn't get the Gainward.... talk about luck !!

[Tuf]

I with ya Two Rails, I wouldn't buy one right now either!

[ILLPHIL]

yeah im going with the asus for my build soon.

[Fastfly]

a Bad supply of mem is what i am thinking.

[beerman]

From the forum link above it appears the problem is temperature relating to a few bad capacitors. And Gainward is replacing the cards. I've been using one for about a month with no problems. In light of the bad news about them, I have my fingers crossed. I went with Gainward mainly because of price. Once again, you get what you pay for.

beerman

[mike breck]

Well, I've nothing against Gainward. I think they're a reasonable brand.

The guys at the shop reassured me that they've sold a swatch of Gainwards over the last year with no problems, and, I tend to believe them. They have a good reputation and it doesn't make good business sense to sell components that you know are going to cause a lot of hassle and returns.

I was going to order an Abit but as they offered to exchange the Gainward Ti4200 for a Ti4800, I decided to take up the offer.

Have tested it extensively today and it is running as smoothly as a baby's bottom

The advantage of dealing with a reputable, local shop is that you can sort these problems out in hours, rather than days.

However, I still wouldn't recommend a Gainward Ti4200. There's no way of knowing if you're getting a dud.

[DragonNOA1]

i have a gainward and it seems to act funny, prolly heat related like beerman mentioned. i actually bought one that didn't work in any games, got a replacement and it works 98% of the time. i lose vid signal while just sitting here sometimes, wierd. gainward is funny and i don't know if i'd buy another one

[Fuze]

I've never had a problem with my gainward Ti4200, had it for about 4 months now.

[Lord Prism]

Too bad...

My last two cards were Gainward GF3 and now GF4 Ti4600 and they both ROCK!!

Good Luck,

[ConLog]

As a matter of interest Mike, which shop did you buy the Gainward card from?

I don't really consider any PC shops in our area as "reputable". I do all of my PC shopping in Glasgow and don't find any of them better than others.

What really has annoyed me lately is most of them advertise as having such and such in stock and when you go to buy they say they have none. One example recently was me trying to buy the DRU-500 Sony DVD burner. Most advertised as having them in stock but NONE in fact did have them. Every shop said "We'll give you a Pioneer". It's like they are saying "We'll falsely advertise something in stock and when the customer comes in to buy it, we'll fob them off with something else".

Not good enough!

[(51)]

I've used two different Gainward card over the past year (Ti500 and Ti4400) with absolutely no problems whatsoever. I've ran PCMark2001 at least a dozen times. No pink.

[mike breck]

Yes (51),

This problem was only related to some Ti4200 cards; the other models seem fine.

UFOResearcher

http://www.creativecomputing.net/

This is a very professional setup with a sales counter and a separate tech department. Service is friendly and the chat as technical as you want it. Even the guys at the sales counter know their technical stuff - which means, of course, you've got to know your stuff.

Invariably, parts on the day are actually cheaper than in their current list. They seem to turn over a lot of stock and discount the old line as soon as the new line come in - or perhaps I've been lucky.

Having said that, I would always give them a ring first to make sure they did have the item in stock before paying them a visit.

However, the bottom line with any PC Shop is how they deal with complaints and returns. As far as I'm concerned, this shop gets 10/10.

[Jeff Roy]

I have a gainward ti 4200 and I run unreal 2003 fine