First off I would like to say calling Dell Tech support can be a real stress machine. First off the calls are routed all over the world. If you get disconnected and call back you will likely get someone in a completely different country. The most important tool in this is your case number. Take your case number and love it, learn it, and use it to your advantage as you will be likely giving this to anyone you contact.
Before I finally got someone to really help me I probaly went through 8 different techs and thier supervisors. I have the crappy basic warranty and told them I could not send my machine to the depot. I also told them I have my own business and am a certified(a+, MCSA, N+) Technician.
To be honest, my 7800 ran ok sometimes. But when playing games it often would hit the (93C) mark and slow the core down. I would have to go to the desktop for a few minutes to cool it down and then go back to the game. On idle, it ran 70c-80c continually going in this loop. My main concern is the life of the card. With this kind of temperature the card will have a significally shorter life span and this bothered me the most.
From the very start, dell knew the card had a heat problem. This is why the card was very underclocked to 250/550 instead of the recommended 350/850(these numbers are estimates).
Tired and weary I stayed on hold with Dell about 10+ hours on the phone holding while each one talked to thier supervisor. I would often be told they would call me back or get disconnected while on hold. Luckily, on one of my calls I got A woman that spoke significantly better english than most of them. She looked at my case number and created a dispatch for a new heatsink, fans and the 7900 gs Immediately. I was very suprised as most had to get thier supervisor. It arrived in 1 day of the dispatch.
This is not a guide or anything. I am sharing my personal experience in this matter. The fact is the 7800 DOES have a defect and was put on engineering hold. This information is in Dells database and they are aware of it.
The biggest problem is getting it shiped to you. I recommend if you have a defected 7800 send it in to the depot and it might save you many many hours and headaches.
Good luck to all that have this issue.
Viper out
Before I finally got someone to really help me I probaly went through 8 different techs and thier supervisors. I have the crappy basic warranty and told them I could not send my machine to the depot. I also told them I have my own business and am a certified(a+, MCSA, N+) Technician.
To be honest, my 7800 ran ok sometimes. But when playing games it often would hit the (93C) mark and slow the core down. I would have to go to the desktop for a few minutes to cool it down and then go back to the game. On idle, it ran 70c-80c continually going in this loop. My main concern is the life of the card. With this kind of temperature the card will have a significally shorter life span and this bothered me the most.
From the very start, dell knew the card had a heat problem. This is why the card was very underclocked to 250/550 instead of the recommended 350/850(these numbers are estimates).
Tired and weary I stayed on hold with Dell about 10+ hours on the phone holding while each one talked to thier supervisor. I would often be told they would call me back or get disconnected while on hold. Luckily, on one of my calls I got A woman that spoke significantly better english than most of them. She looked at my case number and created a dispatch for a new heatsink, fans and the 7900 gs Immediately. I was very suprised as most had to get thier supervisor. It arrived in 1 day of the dispatch.
This is not a guide or anything. I am sharing my personal experience in this matter. The fact is the 7800 DOES have a defect and was put on engineering hold. This information is in Dells database and they are aware of it.
The biggest problem is getting it shiped to you. I recommend if you have a defected 7800 send it in to the depot and it might save you many many hours and headaches.
Good luck to all that have this issue.
Viper out
COSTCO!
