9800 refurb pixelation

[jeritude]

just got a refurb sapphire 9800pro from new egg for $166 , I installed card and drivers and seemed to work fine. then i started up halo to see how it looked, and was fine in 2d then when 3d started up it went crazy with spikes and pixels, so i unistalled and reinstalled drivers like 4 times still no help. then i lowered the memory down to 314 from 337.5 and it is running stable @ 380/314 any higher it started to pixelate.
3dmark03 is 5217.
the question is should i rma this card or is this acceptable for price i paid ? and is this expected for a refurbed card , seems to me it should at least run the speced clock speed..

 

[Fern]

IMHO I think even a refurb should run at spec, I say RMA

Here's a link where they got a brand new one for $174, it looks to be the regualr 256 bit as well
linky Ooops, never mind, when I drilled down to it, it was a refurb too. Sorry

 

[Delorian]

I'd RMA that immediately, I just got a 9800 SE which runs just like a pro, NEW for $152. It runs 390/350 stable w/8 pipes and 256-bit interface. If yours shows any kind of distortion at stock speeds, something is definitely wrong. Remember Newegg only accepts refurbed RMAs for 15 days after purchase. Expect a refurb to act just like a new one, without all the fancy packaging.

One thing you might try first is driver cleaner if you haven't already, and also try the omega or w1zzard driver sets. These have been known to be faster/more stable on certain systems. Also look at your ram chips (2 above and 2 to the side of the GPU) for any sign of physical defect.

Good Luck!

 

[jeritude]

yes i used driver cleaner and i am using omega drivers..

 

[Concillian]

It is never expected that you pay money for a steaming pile of dung.

What use is it if it has texture corruption/artifacts? If you just wanted a card for 2D, you'd have bought a $50 card.

I'd call them right away.

 

[Matthias99]

You can return it, but I don't think you can RMA refurb parts. They're provided "as is", although the manufacturer MAY still provide warranty coverage for them (but this is not guaranteed).

 

[DerwenArtos12]

newegg carries a 15day return policy on their refurbished parts. I would say return it.