Be Excellent To Each Other

What's a multiplexer, what use would it have on a video card with a DVI output? can it be replaced, if so what prices?

Thanks.

I guess it mixes video and audio to pass both down one cable.

Guess, mind

What do you want it for/ to do, JC?

It's an automatic switch, for want of a better description.

Imagine if you had a load of, er, robot cars that were in three lanes, but there were roadworks so everything had do go down the same lane. The multiplexer would filter the cars down into the one lane, and a demultiplexer would separate them out into three lanes again (the same three lanes as they were on) at the other end.

In theory it can be replaced, anything can, but as you're having to ask you can't do it. It's not something you can unbolt.

If you have no idea what it is, why do you want to replace it?!

Grim.. it's soldered on.

Basically I have been offered an EVGA 8800 Ultra (sell for about £120) for £50. Shipped.

Only problem? Well one of the DVI heads is only displaying purple (a picture not a blank screen) the other is 100%. He said he investigated and one of the legs on one of the MPs was burnt. This would explain the lack of green. He's provided furmark benchmark results after 8 hours and the other was 100% indicating it's not a GPU or Memory issue (it passed all tests).

TBH I don't really need the other head as I only have one monitor, but you never know I may need to replace them both at some point. I'm good with a solder iron...

Thanks guys, appreciate that. I think I'll buy it. 521 100% feedback can't be too bad so I guess he's being straight with me. And at £50 if it lasts 6 months I'll be pleased.

Yeah, that's what I meant.
If you're really good with a soldering iron you could try and replace that burnt out bit but you'll probably short something and end up in a worse situation.

Send the £50 to Bill and tell him to knock it off what you owe him

Um. Precocious little kid you've got there, Grim...

Brilliant. Engineering advice from a two year old.

What do you need another graphics card for? Even if it's cheap, that money can go towards your 360.

If it turns up broken he can tell eBay/Paypal he openly described it as faulty and you're £50 down.

Was there ever any doubt?

He claims the other head of the card works perfectly 100% and has posted benchmarks etc.

It's already showing signs of significant electrical damage. Any slight static discharge to the board during installation could trip the entire thing. I imagine he could argue. Then again, I believe eBay/PayPal are being arseholes in favour of buyers these days so maybe that wouldn't wash.

I just know I'd certainly not buy something that already has signs of electrical burn and faults. Especially off eBay.

Also: the multiplexor will be surface-mount and have very narrowly-spaced, thin legs. There's soldering and there's soldering, as Grim... said.

It can be repaired if you can identify and source the dead part.

But yes, why are you buying yet another graphics card?!

I'm familar with braids. Sadly I don't have a good adjustable solder iron so I have knocked off bits of the PCB before.

However, all is not lost. A friend of mine who I worked with in IT is so good he can replace DIMM slots. And that's no mean feat so I will just send it to him.

The only game I play on that machine is Fallout 3. It runs OK with the 8600GTS in SLI. However when you enter large open enviroments it freezes. Sometimes it recovers but it usually happens in VATS. I just want something with more than 256mb texture memory. I tried lowering the res to medium and turning off AA and ani etc but then from where I play (about 12ft back from the monitor) I just couldn't make things out. Turning off HDR stops Nuka Cola quantum bottles from glowing making them look like empty soda bottles ETC.

I didn't pay cash for it in the end. I swapped that Asus xonar for it.. Basically if I run a dual slot card in the top PCIE it eats the only available PCIE1x slot I have (in both machines, the Asrock simply won't take it anywhere). Also the Xonar, whilst stunningly great with audio and video sucks ass for gaming.

I have two other sound cards any way, an Asus Xfi (pcie1x only works in the very top short slot) or a Terratec Aureon (which tbh I really like).

I have used the buy it now function which he has accepted and marked as paid so if anything I can chase a refund. I would also leave him bad feedback which when you have 521 100% you wouldn't be best pleased about..

It's worth a punt. The Xonar would go for about £60 minus fees but they are really hard to sell as they are notorious for not working very well in certain boards and being poo for gaming. This dude works in a music studio in North London so he needed a sound board.

Plus, the Xonar cost me nothing, my mate was fine with it (he hated it so much he wanted me to destroy it) and I am not out of pocket with any cash.

100% Positive feedback

Get fast delivery and excellent service from eBay Top-rated sellers.

* Consistently receives highest buyer ratings
* Dispatches items quickly
* Has earned a track record of excellent service

Which is reassuring.

Game time ! spot the multiplexer on the 8800u

http://www.ixbt.com/video3/images/ref/g ... -front.jpg

Edit. Actually I think I have spotted them on the back of the card. Doing some research it seems they are about 50p. Not the exact ones but I don't know exactly what they are yet.

From this point on, I understood nothing.

That actually makes a lot of sense. If it's three lanes then that would explain why the Green channel isn't working. After studying the board photo hard I can see that everything is put on there as pairs. So if one is faulty and the other one works then it should do what he has said it will with no problems.

EDIT.. For Mal..

From what I can remember video cards output RGB. Red green blue. He is saying that one of the DVI outputs only puts out purple (mix of red and blue) so obviously there is no green to complete the mix. He said he has seen a multiplexer/demultiplexer with a burnt leg. By the time the signal reaches those it has gone from the GPU and the memory and all of the crucial parts.

But but but... You already have a second computer more than capable of playing fallout 3. Why not use that one?

Why not sell your second PC and buy a 360?

An analogue multiplexer is normally used to time-slice analogue signals into a single ADC. For example, red, green and blue channels. That ties in with you losing one.

Or it is used to provide a switch between two video signals.

But neither of those make any sense on a graphics card, since the source is digital and the eventual output is digital (DVI), right?

Why does the signal exist in the analogue domain at all? An Dave?

Also: get a 360.

An Dave exists in the anal gag domain.

I don't know. I know on VGA on the output it is R G B Vsync and so on as I have played with it. But with DVI I know very very little.

If they are indeed mux/demux then I would imagine they are these. Reason I assume that is because there are two of them and he said he could see one with a burnt leg. He also says he has not removed the HSF and you can't see anything unless you do. Also, what I have circled looks pretty smack on the ones I have found for sale. Obs they're not right as I need to read them and get the exact ones but they are 8 legged and look almost identical.

So, basically, he's trying to sell you a £120 video card that's fucked "but only needs a 50p part, and it isn't tricky to fix it" for £50, and you want to buy it?

It's a bit dubious anyway. A signal pin on a chip is "burnt"? Seriously? That never happens. If it is related to the problem you can bet your life that wherever that signal is coming from will also be fried.

I wouldn't bank on fixing it, personally (and I have a degree in electronics engineering and do stuff like this for a job).

He's not said that. The 8800u goes for about £120. New they were about £550. All they are in theory is an overclocked 8800GTX. I asked if he knew what was causing the lack of green on one port (obs if it's purple it's only sending out R B) and he said he could see w multiplexer with a burnt leg. This was long before I offered him money for it or sent off the Xonar.

He's been completely honest with me thus far. TBH Mal if it does what he says it does (works perfectly on one of the DVI) then I will be more than happy with it.

I ran Furmark last night and it's an animal. Even on Unigene Heaven my cards only reach 59c. I was laughing, thinking Furmark could never get them warmer. Olbocks, within 5 minutes Furmark was pushing them to 79c on default clocks. If that card handles Furmark (and I have no reason not to believe him as he's been very honest and his feedback speaks volumes) then that card will be fine with gaming. In gaming it will reach half the temps it will in Furmark.

K fair enough dude. TBH as I said if it does what he says it does it won't even need repairing.

If you can live without the extra output then you're OK I guess.

I do think it's a good illustration of the crazy path you end up on with PC gaming though!

Yes, there is burned pin on rgb or one leg of
multiplexor is burned, so the there is only purple
text, purple windows logo and purple world around. I
would definitely resolder a new multiplexor if I
had one which I don't at the moment. The other
output if fine.

^ that's what he said. And looking through his feedback he has sold countless cards.

Err, sure?

Stop getting in the way of the Coffey justifying getting broken, pointless electronics for himself.

The one that sold for £65 is the one I got. I offered him £50 which he accepted but then offered the Xonar.

Only other ones there? One for £85 wasn't an ultra. It was a GTX with an Ultra sink on it.

Yes one went for £30. I obviously missed that. But generally the price on an ultra is £120. The GTX sells for anything between £65 and £90.

You know, whenever you post regarding me it's usually the same kind of theme. And it reminds me of this.

I'm beginning to think this.

Why buy a broken card for £50, when the new one is only £80, and why trust people selling shit to you?

<looks mournfully at 306>

@JC: It reminds you of the place that guy got the GFX card he just sold you?

Should've bought a 360

Swapped me.

Hopefully he will rip me off and won't even send it. I'm sure that will cause more happiness than it actually being good for the task I want it for.

Is it broken? Yes.
Is it pointless? Yes. You already have a better computer for Fallout 3.
Did it cost? Yes. However much you could've sold the audio card for.
Could you have got a less broken one for a similar price? Yes, if you had any patience.
But would you have needed it? Still no.

By all means, continue what you're doing, but that doesn't mean many people aren't going to look on bemused, and perhaps suggest you don't waste your money whenever you come up with your latest waste of money scheme.

How does what I do with my money affect you to the point where it bothers you?

I would say (hopefully) that it's because you give a shit about me but then being an internet name I would imagine not.

If it doesn't pan out I have lost nothing. Well, I have lost a sound card that I couldn't use. I don't really like selling things on Ebay.

Because sooner or later you may well regret it. And that's not overly pleasant.

What he said.

We actually do give a chimp's wank about you.

If I lived with regrets Dave I would have done myself in long ago. Some things are not worth getting worked up over really. If I lose the Asus I have lost nothing. I can't even really use it.

Now if I was risking money? yeah would be a lot more worrying tbh. But then in all honesty I just can't afford to buy a GPU now any way. If it doesn't work out I still have what I had minus a sound card and I have others laying around

That's very nice to know mate, really.

TBH the Asus had to come out. Even if my GPUs stayed the same. In audio and video it's just incredible but for gaming it's terrible.

Bingo bango bongo I'm so happy in the co co co co co co co co co AD AD AD AD AD AD ADA *glitch glitch CRASH*

At which point it continues to play the looped sample over and over and over until you go into system properties and disable and re-enable the sound card.

And this is not an isolated incident, ALL Xonar D2x do that. Infact, I am using a hacked driver written by one of the top bods @ Corsair who simply got fucked off with Asus' excuses. But even that doesn't resolve the issue completely (nor does disabling 3D sound).

Kalmar or any one with ten minutes spare. Can you do me a huge favour please?

Can you download this pic and put labels on anything you can identify?

Thanks !

http://www.ixbt.com/video3/images/ref/g ... -front.jpg

Done!

No fair. My entry was going to have a flux capacitor.