Maybe being a lot more public about this will get support or their manager to actually step up and do their jobs. Because their response so far has been to tell me "go bug NVidia, we don't give a poo" and then to ignore the issue. There are clearly a number of problems with this card and I would expect EVGA to conduct themselves as they have in the past - which is to say, to provide above-and-beyond customer service and make sure things are right. That has DEFINITELY not been my experience here. Or even CLOSE to it.
 
First up, the system. Yes, this thing is a beast:
- EVGA 1080 DT Classified ACX 3.0 8GB purchased a week ago
- Seasonic X860 Platinum PSU
- Asus X79 Sabretooth, 4701 BIOS
- Intel i7-3820
- Kraken X61
- 32GB DDR3-1866, Mushkin, 7-7-7-24 Redline (tried SPD/XMP and manual with no change)
- Sound Blaster ZxR
- Dell PERC6i, 5x 500GB WDC RE4 in RAID5
- Samsung 850 Pro, Mushkin Chronos Deluxe in AHCI as System and Fast Data respectively
- 3x HP ZR24w 1920x1200 professional LCD using DisplayPort
 
Now the issue. Which is clearly not only driver. I'm running surround for obvious reasons. You know, the three LCDs. So native resolution is 5760x1200. I've had this problem across multiple cards, but the EVGA has been the absolute worst and is exhibiting other obvious problems. Problems which support completely failed to ask about, or even suggest checking. Consistently and CONSTANTLY, I am seeing video corruption. When playing World of Warcraft specifically, I experience repeated "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered" - but only after a certain amount of texture loads have occurred. So it can be perfectly fine for an hour before crashing, or it can be five minutes. But once it starts, it doesn't stop. The monitor configured as the right-most in surround - REGARDLESS of which monitor it is OR which card port it's connected to - will go completely black and often flicker with video corruption beforehand, during, and afterward.
I've tried cables. I've tried monitors. I've tried a DP hub. I've tried literally every driver version that supports the 1080. I've even tried three different cards from three different manufacturers - and EVGA's been the worst of the lot. Both in terms of behavior and support.
 
Now the real fun. This then continues AT THE DESKTOP afterward. With basically zero GPU load. Since support told me the equivalent of "screw off" and the feedback they allegedly take seriously has been ignored, I've been doing more debugging. Lo and behold, the card is NOT behaving right. With the NV driver in debug mode (clocks locked) and no overclocking in PrecisionX? I am seeing the card randomly jump to WAY over the boost clock. With no intervention on my part and no load. The system is basically idle at desktop, and PrecisionX will record it jumping to a clock of well over 1750MHz.
The record so far is an undesired boost jump to around 2100MHz GPU clock with ZERO GPU load and the fans at 0 RPM.
Yeah. The card is doing things it not only was not told to, but is being explicitly told not to do. Throughout, the GPU voltage is perfectly stable as are all system voltages. Being a 20 year system integrator, I also have tools for bus analysis. The card is not raising any SERRs or PERRs on the bus, but is clearly faulting. I literally have been through this system with everything short of a hardware PCIe bus analyzer bridge and found nothing. I got with NZXT and resolved some CAM idiocy, which ultimately did nothing.
 
So far from EVGA support I've gotten nothing but excuses and lies. "We don't do drivers, call NVIDIA." Great, you going to give me the 800# for their engineering folks? Because they're gonna HAVE to set up a reproduction case. It's YOUR job as an AIB partner to engage NV and work to find and fix, EVGA. "Well, World of Warcraft is known to be super bad and buggy." Seriously? What, you think I never played it before the 1080? I wouldn't say it was fine before if it wasn't. "Well that resolution is hard to drive." REALLY? You're gonna try THAT poo when an HD7970 3GB had ZERO problems driving it for many years? Sitting at desktop, EVGA's own utilities are reporting that my framerate and frame times are making random square waves jumping between 49 and 25 FPS and 20-45ms for frame times.
 
Anyone out there seen this before? Is this symptomatic of one of the many known defects they shipped? Or does anyone possibly know how to get EVGA to step up and actually stand behind their products? I'll take anything at this point, because otherwise I'm sitting on a $700 paperweight and a warranty fraud complaint.

AreEss
 I've even tried three different cards from three different manufacturers - and EVGA's been the worst of the lot.

Did the other cards from other manufacturers have similar problems?

 
Also what are you using to monitor the cards? Precision X, X OC? and what version - there's been a few issues with Precision, so maybe give MSI Afterburner a try.
 
You've maybe already done this but I'll cover it anyway; when you update NVidia drivers sometimes the uninstall does not remove everything it should from the prior version, particularly if you haven't done a fresh o/s install for some time and have updated drivers several times - particularly from one series to the next (like 980 to 1080). Many on these forums use DDU to solve similar issues, DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) is a free utility you can download here. Uninstall your existing drivers and run DDU to do the job properly, reboot and then try a fresh driver install.
 

Disabling hardware acceleration inside your browser will keep the clocks from jumping around while browsing the net. Video corruption on the desktop can most likely be solved by changing the power management mode under the global settings tab inside the nvidia control panel from optimal to adaptive. Reboot your computer after making the changes then retest the system.

AreEss

Sajin
Disabling hardware acceleration inside your browser will keep the clocks from jumping around while browsing the net. Video corruption on the desktop can most likely be solved by changing the power management mode under the global settings tab inside the nvidia control panel from optimal to adaptive. Reboot your computer after making the changes then retest the system.

False and falser. Video corruption on the desktop cannot be "solved" by changing the power management mode. That is literally in the top ten idiotic and flat out wrong things I've heard over the years.
Do not waste my time and insult my intelligence by parroting the garbage and flat out false information EVGA "support" staff read off a script. Especially when you clearly did the same crap with not bothering to read any of the problem description. I've been doing system integration for more than two decades.
The issue with the flickering and corruption is hardware, driver, or more likely both. Period.

Hello AreEss,
 
I am extremely sorry if our support was unable to meet your satisfaction.
 
I have looked over the support emails you have sent in to EVGA and see that there are many issues you have been experiencing with your 1080 Classified however all the issues are uncommon and difficult to diagnose.
 
I am going to email you directly with further information on having your card replaced in hopes that if it is a hardware issue it can be rectified with a new card.
 
Thank you
 
 

AreEss

Sajin
Disabling hardware acceleration inside your browser will keep the clocks from jumping around while browsing the net. Video corruption on the desktop can most likely be solved by changing the power management mode under the global settings tab inside the nvidia control panel from optimal to adaptive. Reboot your computer after making the changes then retest the system.

False and falser. Video corruption on the desktop cannot be "solved" by changing the power management mode. That is literally in the top ten idiotic and flat out wrong things I've heard over the years.
Do not waste my time and insult my intelligence by parroting the garbage and flat out false information EVGA "support" staff read off a script. Especially when you clearly did the same crap with not bothering to read any of the problem description. I've been doing system integration for more than two decades.
The issue with the flickering and corruption is hardware, driver, or more likely both. Period.

Wow dude...     


 
 

Yes.. there are.. including me.. a very CPU dependant game. Increasingly so in this expansion.

Edit: also tons of reports of frames dipping as of right now.

Yeah, that's kinda what I am thinking. I troubleshoot things for a living and that is exactly what I look for in my day to day operations. Likely hardware/bios/drivers/etc.

Sajin

AreEss

Sajin
Disabling hardware acceleration inside your browser will keep the clocks from jumping around while browsing the net. Video corruption on the desktop can most likely be solved by changing the power management mode under the global settings tab inside the nvidia control panel from optimal to adaptive. Reboot your computer after making the changes then retest the system.

False and falser. Video corruption on the desktop cannot be "solved" by changing the power management mode. That is literally in the top ten idiotic and flat out wrong things I've heard over the years.
Do not waste my time and insult my intelligence by parroting the garbage and flat out false information EVGA "support" staff read off a script. Especially when you clearly did the same crap with not bothering to read any of the problem description. I've been doing system integration for more than two decades.
The issue with the flickering and corruption is hardware, driver, or more likely both. Period.

Wasn't trying to insult you. Checkout what the power management modes mean...
 
Optimal power: Reduces power consumption when the computer is idle and nothing is changing on the screen, the driver will not make the gpu render a new frame, the driver will use the already rendered frame from the framestore and output directly to monitor to save power. Pretty sure you can see how optimal power could cause screen corruption on the desktop. This was introduced in driver 368.22.

Adaptive: Allows the graphics driver to automatically determine the proper performance state based on gpu usage. Allows the gpu to render a new frame when needed.

Prefer maximum performance: Makes the card run at its maximum performance state when 3d applications are running regardless of gpu usage. Prefer maximum performance shouldn't be set under the global tab as it can cause your gpu clocks to run at base clock all the time when web browsing.

 Sajin happens to be one of the most experienced and helpful members here at the EVGA forums, His advice is always thoughtful and worth a try rather than a abject dismissal.
 
"I've been doing system integration for more than two decades"
 
Well how come you dont understand simple Nvidia desktop boost clock behavior or how badly a program like precision can effect a setup like yours...
When issues like your having are encountered, you TEST (with testing software NOT games) and your OC/Monitoring programs, you do NOT run them when testing games for issues..  Everyone knows they can -cause- issues!
 
As a experienced user you should -know- that after 3 cards and the same issues to look at your drivers/config and game engine. The answer is fairly simple if you look at your CPU/MB and RAID setup at that screen res with WOW.... You are NOT the first to encounter them in surround with that game.
 
The answers are available but only if your willing to listen 
 
 

foxmino
Why are people so mean these days...

We have become a "throw away and want it now society". People throw abusive comments on all types of social media without no care. We don't interact one to one much anymore so we loose the basic skill of a 2 way visual connotation. We are basically loosing a filter process for communication.
 
edit an edit: But some are just plain not nice

Opolis
In the rare case that I had to deal with EVGA support they have always been very helpful.
Tech ran through necessary (even if the OP doesn't think so) steps to track down the issue and in the worst case, simply replaced the product.
Common sense dictates that if every GPU you tried has this issue, it is very likely that the problem lies elsewhere.
I know I'm repeating what other have just said but the point is that this opinion is shared by many, not just one or two people here.
 

maniacvvv
Sajin happens to be one of the most experienced and helpful members here at the EVGA forums, His advice is always thoughtful and worth a try rather than an abject dismissal.
 
The answers are available but only if you're willing to listen.

Truth^^

Yup evga was the best next to polk audio! Nice people and damn understanding. I'd have no problem calling evga customer support! Talk to a person real quick.

I think we have scared AreEss away from the Forum