Hi,
 
I purchased a GTX 480 in Mid March and have been having difficulties getting it to function on the Primary PCI-E slot on my motherboard.
The card works fine in the Secondary PCI-E slot which suggests the card is OK however I've tested the Primary slot with 2 other cards and they work with no issues.
 
I started an EVGA support ticket and after all the troubleshooting it seems all parts of my system are functioning correctly except when the GTX 480 is connected to the Primary slot on my motherboard.
 
It's a bizarre problem which suggest a possible incompatibility issue of some kind and I was advised to RMA the card. Being based in the UK I was advised to contact the retailer or email . 
 
I contacted the retailer and despite explaining the issue was advised "if our engineers cannot replicate a fault with the card you would incur the charges outlined on the collection email and our terms and conditions. In this situation the manufacturer themselves may offer a more favorable solution." The charges mentioned would come to about £42.
 
As the card works on my second slot there is a good chance it will test OK. I didn't really want to return the card get charged £42 and get the same card back so I emailed supportEU@evga.com. I sent the email a little more than a week ago and have yet to receive an response.
 
EVGA and the retailer I bought the card from are suppose to have great customer service but I've yet to see any evidence of this. It is now over a month since I purchased the card and I am no closer to resolving my issue.
 
Any help or advise on what I do next would be gratefully received.
 
 

Hi,

Thanks for your quick response.

While I can understand the obvious answer to the problem would be the primary PCI-E slot I don't think this is the problem.

Until December I had 5850 CF and before selling the cards both were tested in the slot without issue. Obviously faults can occur but since troubleshooting this issue i've tried an 8600GT and 8600GTS (old but only cards available to test with) both worked fine.

If I plug the GTX 480 into the primary slot the PC will boot and I can enter bios, enter safemode etc. However when starting normally it appears as soon as the nvidia drivers start to load the monitor loses signal. This is the case in windows and ubuntu.

I should say all this is done at stock speeds and I've reinstalled both windows and ubuntu.

What do you think the chances are the graphic card and motherboard are just incompatible as other users on the nvidia forums seem to have found with the 400 Series.


In addition to what is mentioned above I've tried :
Disabling HD audio and onboard audio,
Setting memory timings manually,
Running memtest86+,
Checked PSU +12V is giving consistent power without fluctuation (11.968V),
Updated Motherboard bios to latest version,


Any other ideas?
 

Hi,
 
voklskier4452 while I can see your logic about the 480 power draw the problem happens when idle/doing very little so I would be surprised if the power requirement would be more than a 5850 under load which worked fine for the best part of a year. St least from the benchmarks I've seen.

 
Just to add that I've been using the GTX 480 on my second pci-e slot over the past few days and have noticed I am getting occasional random lockup/crashes.
 
This behavior doesn't occur when using the other (8600gt or 8600gts).
 
Where do I go from here?
 
I'm starting to get a little fed up with this problem and don't seem to be getting anywhere.
 
 
 
 

kind of thinking you already solved your issue.....mobo slot one may be damaged or failing .You need to test the 480 in a complete different system .What mobo is this anyways?>
If it is a 8x or 16x issue  its mobo bound not gpu as all it(gpu) does is plug into it and the mobo decides what input speed it allows and sends to the processor.Any chance your Bios need adjusting to 16x from 8x settings? As i dont know the model i cant say much more atm.
 
5850 CF (2 cards im assuming )on certain mobo's will force 8x...issue could have been active even back then.Not knowing the mobo its hard to say more

the incompatibility issues are scarce and few ,ive yet to see any here since launch of the 480's.As someone said if the pci slot isnt sending clean continuous power (faulty PCI lane) sure maybe it could handle much lesser demanding voltages but the 480 draws much more then a 5850 TDP of 151w, 8600gt 47w ,8600gts 75w verses a 480 TDP of 250 ....that's alot of difference in power delivered in the lane....Its worth putting this in another pc to test or another PSU .Both options ive laid out are very valid and possible issues

Biohazardsperm I completely agree that testing with another PC / PSU is usually an appropriate way to troubleshoot an issue however in this case it won't help me.
 
The 480 works in both PCI - E slots on my motherboard under certain circumstances as explained in previous posts so lets assume it works in a different PC. I ran Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0 for over an hour this morning (GPU usage 99%).I honestly don't know if running the 480 in 16x or 8x changes the power draw but I'd be surprised if the 480 consumes a great deal more using 16x. So if my motherboard / PSU can run it fine at 8x then why not 16x?
 
EVGA_NickM I've already raised a support ticket on the 31/03. After following all the support I was advised to RMA the card. As I'm in the EU I was advised to do this via retailer but because they'll likely charge me £42 and give me the same card back it seemed pointless. This is when I emailed supporteu and after no response this thread was born.
 
I do apologised if I come across argumentative but I'm just fed up.
 
It seems from my troubleshooting that the card is ok in most situations but also the rest of my setup is working as it should. This is what leads me to think that there could possibly be some sort of compatibility issue. I agree its unusual but I don't know what else it could be.
 
So EVGA_NickM where do I go from here?

 
 

After asking for advice on other forums somone suggested checking the PCI E connector. I didn't check  previously as the card works in some situations and assumed would be ok.
 
I did this and found no obvious problem however just above the PCI E connector there is a 12mm or so scratch on the PCB and what appears to be a very small spot of glue?
 
Considering the lack of communication and support I've recieved from EVGA I'm going to have to RMA the card to the retailer and hope they listen to what I say and just don't pass the card without checking for the fault I've described.
 
What can I say I've been dealing with evga for a month on this issue and I am no closer to resolving it. Very dissapointed considering the awesome customer support reputation EVGA have.

I don't expect EVGA to wave a magic wand and solve everything in an instant but I think it is unacceptable the way this has been handled.
 
The card might be faulty or it might not but I expected more from EVGA. Maybe I expected too much but a lot of forums I've read consider EVGA to be one of the best when it comes to support and warranty issues(which is one of the reasons I purchased an EVGA card in the first place) but I've just not seen it.
 
I raised support ticket over a month ago and was told by EVGA in the ticket to RMA the card after speaking with them for nearly 2 weeks about the issue. I was told to email the supporteu email address which I did on the 12/4 and received no response. I emailed EVGATech_JaysonC on the 20/04 as he suggested and I received no response.  I emailed EVGA_NickM yesterday and received no response. I used the online contact us form and received no response. Is this acceptable?

 
I can totally see your point quadlatte and biohazard and I'm not stubbornly ignoring it but I simply don't have an easy way to test the card in another system. My other systems are old x8 gen 1 slots so using those aren't going to help. Anyway the card is going back and I guess I'll just have to see the outcome. Again sorry to come across argumentative but just a bit annoyed with the whole situation. Wished I hadn't bought the card now.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions.