I am not even going to bother getting a replacement - will revert to onboard graphics and go back to the retailer (Maplin) and get a refund.

And will avoid NVIDIA, XFX, like the plague.

The only problem now is that all the new cards are PCI Express and our system only has PCI or AGP slots :(

I got the new one(in a new box and everything - they even sent me an all-new 7950! W00T!)…I get it in, and just to be on the safe side, set up a 5 gallon watercooling system for it and the processor - 600 gpH pump and all(put my welding/soldering/plumbing skills to good use). CPU AND VGA block - it’s really a wild setup.

I tested the watercooling for 72 hours(outside of the system) - no leaks whatsoever - so, ok, I’ll throw it all together.

I put it all together - poof - same problem - vertical lines from POST(BEFORE windows), and windows wouldn’t even load(so long as the nVidia/EVGA driver is installed). So I uninstalled the driver(through safe mode), and here I am, running at 60Hz@1600×1200, can’t do a darn thing for video or 3d whatsoever.

So I figured its probably the RAM, right? I mean, I have corsair DDR2 667, but I have a bunch of sticks of mushkin DDR2 667 lying around, too - so I throw those in - same problem. So, I triple check my system for any signs of leaking with the watercooling system - none found - the whole system is dry as a bone(the radiator is OUTSIDE the system, even :p[thank you dremel lol]) and the Pentium D 3.2Ghz(940 I think) is running at a cool 88degF. No problem with overheating, of course.

So, I see a post about someone replacing their power supply and everything working like a charm. well, my current one was a ThermalTake 750Watt, but, hey - what do I know? I throw in my old 600 Watt.

Can you guess yet? Same problem.

So, now, I think I’ve narrowed it to the motherboard(an ECS PF5 1.0) and/or the processor - guess what? I ordered a new one of EACH(I’m stupid sometimes, but in this case not really stupid stupid - I figure, hey, if the problem isn’t the mobo/proc, well that leaves me with a decent server/media center/render engine lol).

The weirdest part about the current setup is that the FSB speed changes on each boot - sometimes it’s 800, and sometimes it goes to 801 or even 821. And, no, I’m not even trying to overclock - with the standard setup, this thing ran WoW at 100fps, before it started having problems, and that’s waaaay more than fine for me.

The mobo/new proc will be in on Thursday - I’ll let everyone here know what I find out from it - if you have any suggestions, please email me - this is really insane.

Be that as it may, my original and replacement were defective. That seems like a horrible gamble to me, to keep buying from a company with such an enormous inventory of failed boards. Spending four weeks shipping defective parts back and forth, at my expense on the way out in both coin, time, and frustration, I shall take a pass on XFX cards.

The guys at XFX RMA Rock. Daniel and Shannon were incredibly helpful in trying to get this “problem” solved, they were knowledgeable, uncondescending, and very professional. I will buy ALL my cards from this company, just for the service and the lifetime warranty (offered at no cost to whomever you unload your machine on, as well). I am So darned tired of dirter tech support outsourced to (fill in the blank), where english is neither a first, nor asecond language, and women are talked to like we’re all stupid.

One empiric solution - switching the monitor from one video card DVI output to the other seems to make the problem go away (for a variable length of time).