GTX 670 Windforce known issue - possible to RMA?

[Akumasama]

There's a known issue for many (not all) GTX 670 Windforce, and even some 680.
They do not work in PCIE 3.0 16x if you're on a motherboeard with Z77 chipset.

I'm one of the unlucky owners of one of these defective models (which work just fine in any setting other than PCIE 3.0 16x)
My reseller is unable to detect which models are "fine" and which are "defective", so while they're offering me to RMA, they're also saying they would be sending me a different brand.
But I do want Gigabyte!

So I was wondering, is there a chance I can RMA directly at gigabyte instead? Or if someone tells me that the "next bios" will solve the issue (currently the latest released, called "F2" does not) and that this bios will come out soon, I wouldn't mind waiting.
Anybody at gigabyte has something to tell me about all of these things?

Thanks for your attention.

[Beekeeper]

i am not aware of any such issues. could you post some thread maybe from other with kind of evidence?

if you want official reply from gigabyte then submit a ticket at http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/support-downloads.aspx

[Akumasama]

This is going to be a lenghty post, sorry about that but english is not my mother language and I'm not particularly good in summing things up.
THIS is one thread, there were others but I can't find them right now, I probably have them bookmarked at home. It's only 2 pages, please read all the posts because the thread starts talking about a different thing.

Talking about me I've been performing tests since last week, when I received my new PC. Won't list all the components but the main one are 3770 CPU and Asrock Z77 Extreme 4.
The issues is about appearent driver reset issues, BSODs, freezes and crashes whenever you use the videocard. They happen randomly even in idle, but if you run a game or a 3D benchmark they happen 100% of the time. The rest of the system is a bit slowed down anyway even without the errors, you notice that by moving windows around with Aero active etc.

I started testing every single bit in my PC, let me name some of the tests I performed in this week
1) Multiple clean re-installations of Windows 7 Professional x64 (including all winupdate patches)
2) Multiple clean re-install of drivers, both WHQL and beta
3) Used only the latest chipset and periferal drivers from Asrock website, not the CD
4) Tested CPU with Prime95, CPU-Z and superpi, multiple cycles
5) Tested RAM with Prime95, Memtest windows and Memtest86+ Iso boot
6) Tested multiple power cables and multiple PSUs
7) Tested the videocard on the second videocard PCIE slot of my motherboeard
Tested my videocard in an another PC (my old one, E8400 + Asus P5Q-Pro)
9) Tested my old system videocard in my PC (GTX 460, Gigabyte Windforce)
10) Tested another GTX 670 (a friend's) in my system
11) Tested my GTX 670 on the first slot but capping the speed of the PCIE to gen1 (PCIE 1.1)

None of the test showed any sort of error.
The strange part is that my GTX 670 Videocard was working perfectly on my older system and on the second slot, but I couldn't understand why.
I started to think maybe my first PCIE slot on the motherboard was broken, but then the older 460 and my friend's 670 were working perfectly on that slot.

Then I started to ask what was the difference, and I found it out.
My GTX 670 in the second slot runs at PCIE 3.0 8x
On the older system instead it runs on PCIE 2.0 16x
While with the capped gen1 bus of course it runs on the first slot at PCIE 1.1 8x.

Nobody in the typical HW forums I surf knew anything about this issue, and I have some friends with my same  CPU, my same motherboard and my same GPU who experienced no issues at all, showing that it wasn't an issue affecting ALL MODELS of GTX 670 Windforce.
Then I found that topic on Anandtech and other topics, and it was clear, the issue happens only when the videocard runs at PCIE 3.0 16x and appearently only on Z77 chipset motherboards.


My reseller is offering me RMA, altough they are talking about 2-3 months time to send the card back to China (actually  Taiwan I guess?)
In all this time I won't have a videocard to run my system, and when it will come back to me I won't be sure that it's not another defective model.
Now... if someone told me It will be fixed in the near future with a new Bios it wouldn't be a big deal for me to wait until then and keep it in PCIE 1.1 16x in the meantime. But the thing is that I'm not even sure that such a strange issue can be fixed with a new bios release, or that a new GPU bios will ever be released at all.

So yeah, this is why I was wondering if it could be possible for me to ask for a faster and more efficient RMA directly to Gigabyte.
I'm willing to give further information by phone or email if you want me to.


Edit:
I already submitted a ticket yesterday of course Thanks for remindin me though.

[Akumasama]

I received an answer from Gigabyte on the http://ggts.gigabyte.com technical service.
Sadly it's just another copy/paste answer where they rightfully suggest me to check drivers etc.

Of course I already did all of that.
From that reply it seems to me Gigabyte hasn't still acknowledged this issue or, if they did, they still haven't informed all of their employees.
This leads me to think that this issue only affects a very very very very small percentage of Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce videocards, which also leads me to the obvious cosnequence that, given such a small number, they'll never do anything to solve it, like releasing a new specific bios for example.

Supposing you could actually solve this issue through bios, I have no clue what's the source of it of course. If it's hardware, there's hardly anything a new bios could do.
But given the fact the card works perfectly in all protocols except PCIE 3.0 16x I'd be leaning to think that, yes, it might be solvable through a bios update.

[Altair]

I have the same issue with my gigabyte GTX670 and Asus P8Z68 Deluxe, I explained the problem in this thread: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,9144.0.html
I was hoping in a bios update to fix the crashing problem.

[clembo1990]

Hi there, registered just to help out with this thread as it has made me feel better about my choice to RMA my Windforce GTX 670.

I tested literally everything in every way that I could but, as feared, it is just a faulty card.  Which is a giant shame because it is so damned quiet and very cool in my Fractal R3 case.

Anyway, here's the shtick:

>TF2, anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 hours in will crash or minimise with a report saying that the nVidia kernel has stopped working.  You might have thought that this means it's a driver issue, but don't be so quick to blame nVidia just yet.

The sporadic nature of the crashes occurring at times with not-necessarily heavy loads suggests that it is not a power supply or voltage issue, but an issue with the card itself, perhaps from the tweaking that Gigabyte did to make it go faster.

>Shogun 2, weird lines and colour appear and the game either crashes or prompts the game to load the assets again.  I am no expert but that HAS to have something to do with the sprites and stuff being dumped from memory.

>Other games, do better with minimising yet still the same problem can occur at a (seemingly) completely random time.  The word I am using is 'unstable' because that is an indictment on the physical state of the card and not the drivers or bios settings, which are not at fault in this case.

I suggest that you RMA it.  It looks like the best solution.  If you really want this particular card then hopefully it's not going to be trial and error for you.  I, however, am going with the ASUS, just so I know for sure what is wrong with this setup.

glhf.

[Akumasama]

Yeah I RMAed it and bought an Asus DirectCU II Top.

Problem is the shop I RMAed it to say the card works fine for them... they haven't tested it with my chpset though, just with a Z68.

[Therion]

I'm in the same boat. My retailer couldn't find a fault and has sent it to Gigabyte. If I get a refund I'll probably get the Asus too as I've been without a GPU for almost a month now and the possibility of getting a new Gigabyte card with the same fault and having to go through the same process again  leaves me with a sick feeling.

[Therion]

Apparently my 670 is coming back to me tomorrow. The retailer who RMA'ed it doesn't know what Gigabyte did. They can't tell me if it's a new card, my old card repaired, if GB found a fault, or even if it will now work. GB GTS told me to contact the RMA department via email but the RMA department failed to read my email and send me a generic "fill in this form" email. They have since ignored all my subsequent emails.

Have to say this:

Worst RMA experience I've ever had.