Recommendations: ATI X800 GTO? ATI X800XT

[zazazoom]

nah Rage don't think i can get the same aftermarket cooler as the other X800s..my AIW won't snug it in right.. i need a different one ..maybe a zalman fatal1ty

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Oh, right I forgot it was an AIW version. Well, I think the Fatal1ty should be great in that case.

 

[Sharkfood]

Ahh 2.5-3-3-7, that's the timing. And yes, those should work fine.

Those are CAS 2.5, not CAS 5 and they are DDR's, so those will work fine. Good deal.

 

[wolfram]

wolfram has an X800GTO and it was giving him heat artifacting and all sorts of other heat-related problems recently (he even scorched his finger touching the memory on the card! OUCH!). But he got an aftermarket cooler for it and all is well.

I had a X800GTO. And after I applied some AS5 on the core, the problems went away (at least on the games). But now I sold it, and I'm gonna get a X850XT, and mount the Silencer 5 rev.2

And yes, get rid of the stock HSF, because X800 series cards run hot ( that damn toasty R420-23 or R480 core) and their RAM run very hot to the touch. Just make sure that the RAM's get cooled too. They really need it
And hopefully, you'll find a good cooler that fits on your AIW card.

 

[zazazoom]

yeah i think i had some artifacting in cs just now....kinda went purple.... ARGH!!! what fits on the AIW X800XT? and also have another problem when i install the updated catalyst drivers in the settings i can't see the little preview of the car driving on the road...it give me a direct x error

 

[wolfram]

Do you have Direct X 9.0c June or later?

 

[zazazoom]

yeah i just downloaded it and installed it. it doesn't artifact anymore just now i exited cs ..cards temp was around 67 ..soo i think i'm just gonnna put at 100 percent when i game...anyway not much improvement in cs...im sure you guys know the map called office.. around the spawn point of the Ts goes down to around 30..going outside in the snow around 17.. around the hallways its around 89..hmm somethin not right here? i've uninstalled the latest drivers and try omega ones ..hmm

 

[Sharkfood]

Keep in mind, there are some occasional spots that even a Core 2 Duo with SLI will spin down to 30-35 FPS when playing Counter Strike:Source due to laggy/faulty network coding on Valve's part. They are few and far between though so 90% of the time, framerates should be stellar.

Also, if you're playing with VSYNC on, it's a problem to ensure you get triple-bufferring working right else you'll have LOTS of 30/sub-30 framerates. DXTweaker is the only tool I know of that can get this working, but some other CS:S pro's here might know easier methods.

I'd also highly recommend going with the Catalyst 6.9's and CCC. Just install .NET 2.0 Framework from MS, then uninstall all ATI drivers, boot in safe mode and use Driver Cleaner Pro for all ATI filters... then boot-up normal mode and install the 6.9 CCC Full driver install. I'd also create a "Default" profile with all default settings, except add Geometry Instancing for D3D Settings and Force Triple Buffers for OGL (if you have an LCD). Lastly, you should also make sure your monitor shows up in desktop properties as the correct monitor and NOT "Plug N Play Monitor".. It's a bit odd, but several LCD's and CRT's will have problems with Windows -> CCC if they have default PnP versus real monitor INF and proper refresh rates.

Lastly, I'd run some overall system benchmarks as well as defrag all your drives. Did you install your new memory as well? You should have >1 gig memory, correct? I'd download/run CPU-Z as well and provide the register dump (zip and attach) here as we can likely diagnose how the new memory and FSB:HOST ratio is and determine if you need any BIOS/BySPD tweaks for your new memory. Northwood's need really well tuned memory and you can likely buy some more fps if this isn't 100% optimal.

 

[zazazoom]

i'm going to try all that sharkfood.
i have a question regarding the CCC when ure configuring your settings.. you know the car driving on the road...letting u see the details of which u selected..for some reason i get an error. i believe it is something to do with DirectX..once i get the 6.9 running after cleaning out all the drivers i'll fill you in with some more issues regarding this.

 

[zazazoom]

Hey guys Now I'm getting this error with the 6.9 CCC drivers I've attached the screen shot!

 

[zazazoom]

hmm got another question if my card is running around 60 deg c during game play or around 70 is that still considered ok? hmm

 

[Sharkfood]

70C is just fine for this chipset. I'd say the "average" is about 82-86C range for maximum peak operating temperatures for these R4xx series chips (which you're is).

I'd be more concerned with the SmartGART tab in the CCC to see if the error is SiS AGP GART related. Make sure SmartGART has AGP read/write and I believe your board supports up to 4x. You may need to upgrade your chipset/agp drivers for this mammoth card to work trouble-free in your SiS chipset motherboard.

 

[zazazoom]

my fast write is on
AGP write was off
AGP read is on.. soo i'll try and turn on AGP write see if that works out..
FAST write ON is fine right? thought it was suppose to be off

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Enabling fast writes sometimes causes display corruption since it speeds up relay of information to the monitor. Unless ur getting graphical anomalies of any kind, I don't think it needs to be turned off.

 

[zazazoom]

hmm ok, i guess i'll leave it on if it doesn't downgrade the fps i get.
Sharkfood I used CPU-Z i'll attach the file! thanks alot buddy

 

[zazazoom]

that's odd, ever single time i try to turn on AGP write and restart my computer it turns off.

 

[Sharkfood]

While AGP write off or on really isn't a big deal, it could be indication of older/incompatible SiS GART drivers.

I'd go through the steps for a *clean* install, but ensuring to get the latest SiS GART driver (1.21 or 1.22 I believe) prior. I'd do the following:
1) Download, but don't install the full Cat 6.9 + CCC bundle and have it handy (desktop for example)
2) Download, install, but DONT RUN- Driver Cleaner Pro (www.drivercleaner.net.
3) Download, but don't install SiS GART AGP driver from http://www.sis.com/download/. Just click Windows XP, AGP (GART), then AGP (GART) driver. Download and leave handy.

Now, go into Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs and uninstall each of the following you may have, but don't reboot when prompted. Just keep on going until the last uninstall. Don't worry about any of these you may or may not have, just do in this order what you DO have:
Ray Adams ATI Tray Tools
GuidePlus+
ATI Remote Wonder
ATI Multimedia Center
ATI DVD Decoder
AVIVO Codecs
ATI Parental Controls and Encoder
ATI Control Panel
ATI Catalyst Control Center
ATI Display Drivers (click Select All, then ok.. then no to reboot)
ATI Software Uninstall Utility

After this, you may now restart the computer... BUT, restart in Safe Mode (press F8 after POST tests and select Safe Mode). Pick Administrator.

Now, navigate to C:, Program Files, Driver Cleaner Pro (or wherever you have installed this) and run it as administrator. Pick multiple cleaning filters and select ALL ATI entries. Then start the cleaner.

Once it completes, go ahead and reboot in Normal Mode as per usual.

Now-
1) Install the SiS AGP Gart drivers, reboot.
2) Install Cat V6.9 drivers plus CCC. Reboot.
3) Hit www.microsoft.com/directx. Click the "Get latest version of DirectX" link and download the web installer. Let it run it's course.
4) Reboot once more, even if it does not ask you to.
5) On this reboot, launch the CCC and visit the SmartGART tab. See if you have AGP writes/reads enabled. Don't try to force anything- just note the settings.

It would also be useful to see if you're getting the 3d preview to work at this stage as well.

From here, we can help you install the multimedia stuff, tools/tweakers and the like.

 

[zazazoom]

Yeah Still no 3d preview, and every now and then i try to change settings in cs:source some things turn neon purpleish :T

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

I think you should try the card in another PC if u can. If it gives the same problems, then I think an RMA is in order.

 

[zazazoom]

Before I even try to RMA I'm going to format my computer and reinstall everything. This will be the last thing I try..if that doesn't work then i'm definitely going to RMA it.

BTW: Hey sharkfood did you see the attachment of the CPU-Z dump i did? just wondering if my ram is using its full potential

check out my screen shot. happens after i change settings in cs source...but when i restart cs source it goes back to normal.

 

[Sharkfood]

You're CPU-Z output looks GREAT for your memory. Although the HTML dump would give us more information if you can use that other button and zip/attach.

It appears your memory is running at the full 200mhz speed, but as it's a 133mhz CPU host speed, the ratio is more important (i.e. a higher memory to cpu ratio/divider) for best performance. I'm assuming since it's an Asus BIOS, it's picking the best ratio... but the other dump/html of CPU-Z would confirm that.

The purple stuff is not normal by any stretch of the imagination. I'm also unsure if a total re-install is warranted as these are problems typical of newer AGP cards and SiS chipset motherboards. Did you follow all steps in the above post, to the letter, and in order? If so, we should have a clean install... but if problems persist after all those steps (verbatim), I'm leaning with Rage that it sounds like a bad card.

 

[zazazoom]

lol i benched 330 points on 3dmark 06
i run some of the things i get like 15 fps

 

[Sharkfood]

lol i benched 330 points on 3dmark 06

That actually sounds about right given your system. Do yourself a favor and toss 3dmark as it's designed for X2/SLI rigs and even brings those to their knees.

i run some of the things i get like 15 fps

What games are you having problems with? And what are you using to measure them? I'd also be interested what settings you are using.

I'd first start with getting SiSoft Sandra and running it's memory bandwidth tests. This will pin-point how efficient your chipset/motherboard is running. I'd then try the Video Stress Test in Counter Strike:Source and provide what settings you have it set to (resolution + advanced settings).

 

[zazazoom]

What games are you having problems with? And what are you using to measure them? I'd also be interested what settings you are using.

The 3DMark Test. I run the tests..with settings up at 1280x1024 with trillinear settings..actually billinear or 2x doesn't make a difference the fps stay around the same..around 15fps >_< I'm going over to my friend's house who has a nice build on his computer see if it works perfect on his..if it does then it is my computer..if not i'l request a RMA

 

[Sharkfood]

The 3DMark Test.

There is your problem right there. 3dmark06 is really, really tough work for even SLI rigs, as mentioned previously.

It's also very lopsided in it's comparisons as it penalizes some things, then ignores others (that is should be rewarding). CPU score also greatly impacts the overall score, which is arguably a better thing for gamers, but this difference went without much fanfare compared to prior versions (which seemed to leverage GPU/3d card moreso than cpu in the overall score).

As an example, a X800XT here can score 450 on a T-Bird/Athlon here.. yet the same X800XT on a dual-channel, dual-core Pentium-D system with DDR2-800 will score 2300+ in 3dmark06. Same videocard!

I run the tests..with settings up at 1280x1024 with trillinear settings..actually billinear or 2x doesn't make a difference the fps stay around the same..around 15fps >_<

Again, correct. Toss 3dmark06 as it's measuring a lot of things unrelated to your X800XT.

I'm going over to my friend's house who has a nice build on his computer see if it works perfect on his..if it does then it is my computer..if not i'l request a RMA

If he has a fire-breathing dragon for a PC as far as cpu/memory performance, you can expect to see a ~1500+ variance with the same card, as shown above.

What's more important is what was in the previous reply- getting your system, cpu, memory in-tune and performing to the extent a 533mhz bus P4 Northwood can. While it's already semi-crippled with single-channel, it's likely even moreso if you're not getting the full memory ratio or bandwidth single-channel can offer. SiS chipsets are notoriously bad for their need of tuning/mods to get decent power from them. It just takes work though.