Survey: ATI Radeon 9700

That may be the explanation. See what happens is that alot of units are mass created by triggers, thus creating some lag.

Try playing a normal game. You know, click the Play Game button, and then search.

I had MAJOR headaches. Had to do a complete reinstall of XP PRo from scratch to get the dang video card to work.

I was also getting the notorious "delayed write failure" errors.

So far, it took me 2 weeks and around 70 hours to get the video card to work properly. Absolutely ridiculas IMHO. But then again, now that it's working, the card just smokes.

That's great to here that you got things working, eventually.

I'm still waiting for my 9800 Pro to turn up as the company I ordered from sent a 9600 Pro by mistake. So far they haven't arranged collection of the wrong item, and delivery of correct item, as they promised. Customer service in the computer retail industry is shockingly poor. Between that, and problems with hardware, its enough to drive anyone nuts.

What I hate about Windows XP is that the same company who produces a NIC, for instance, has a different card with different drivers and a different name. Windows thinks its soo cool and has all the drivers. It never wants to update. I had to reformat for that.

Nothing special, it was a D-Link NIC. The newer one was manufactured in 2002, the older one was in 1999.

Yes, I've looked into possible solutions, none worked.

I know it lags with lots of units for those reasons, but it lags when it shouldnt. My other slower PCs dont lag (on the same settings) at the same time (LAN game). I cant try playing a normal game now, because the PC is no longer in my posetion.

You have enough RAM right? Do you run memturbo or a memory defrag program? That has proven to be the cause of lag for me.

You think 1 GB of DDR333 is enough?? I do.

No RAM progies btw

In the BIOS did you set the correct aperature size (32MB, 64, 128, 256)? How about AGP 1/2/4/8x? Running in DC mode?

Also, I'm not exactly positive but there are some settings in the BIOS that toy with your vid card, in addition to those above.

This is an update to the problems that myself, and others here, have experience regarding Radeon AIW 9700 Pro.

I just received my brand new Radeon 9800 Pro today, and it worked perfectly, without a hitch, first time.

This leads me to suspect that there are a lot of Radeon cards being sold without having been tested properly during manufacture. This is probably due to cost cutting, and to expected failure rates being low.

If you receive a card that simply doesn't work, and kills your PSU, then you most likely have a faulty card. My Radeon 9800 Pro works perfectly, and I am really going to enjoy using this card, as its very fast.

Nic, doesn't that seem just a *little* presumptuous? Everything I've heard from those who have been to and visited ATI is in direct contrast to your theory. Have you spoken to anyone who has been there?

My *faulty* card was manufactured by Sapphire Technology, not ATI.

Furthermore, what conclusions would you draw, when a card that is physically perfect (no signs of damage) simply doesn't work and short circuits your PSU causing the overcurrent circuits to shut it down?

This has happened to others also, not just myself. As far as I can see, what I said is correct. These cards cannot possibly have been fully tested during manufacture, though some testing will have taken place, but not enough to pick up this particular defect. Maybe ATI has better testing with cards that they manufacture themselves, but I suspect not.

Sometimes manufacturers get it wrong and then have to change their manufacturing methods to put things right. I have worked in the electronics industry for over ten years, and I can tell you that even large companies get it wrong and make assumptions to cut costs, regardless of how good you think their methods might be. Also, you can't tell much from a factory visit unless you are phsycic, and have a deep knowledge of the product and testing strategy. In this case the evidence speaks for itself. Take a look at this thread ...

Radeon AWI 9700 Pro - DOA

Frankly, I wouldn't draw any conclusions. I'd form a hypothesis, but that's about it. Right now, i feel that most of the hardware related R9700 problems are due to the shim being too high, not allowing contact between the heatsink and core...but these are just my thoughts......most problems are simply software conflicts and poor configuration issues. Being in an industry where I see thousands upon thousands of PCB's every year (not computer related- Pool & Spa) I have an *small* idea of how some customers feel that if they have an issue, and find a couple others who may have another unrelated issue, yet w/ the same symptoms, they'll draw conslusions that are far off base. I'm not saying that's the deal w/ you or other R9700 owners, it's just something to keep in mind...Facts are, EVERYONE (Manufactures) sends out a bad part on occasion. This doesn't mean the QC was poor, it simply means something broke. It happens. Since it happened to you, it's perfectly reasonable for you to assume it happens to many others. It sucks, and it's some bad luck as well. It just opens your eyes to what may happen, no matter what you buy....

On another note- Glad to hear you R9800PRO installation was flawless- enjoy :grinthumb

If your video card is running slowly, it might help you to ensure that your card was actually running in AGP mode. I'm not sure how to do this on an ATI card, owning only an nVidia GeForce 3 myself, but certain motherboards, VIA-based in particular, will not run in AGP mode unless you have the AGP bridge drivers installed (there's a reason they give you a driver CD with the motherboard). If you don't have the AGP driver, the bus will only operate at PCI speeds, giving you a whole lot less bandwidth to play with. This could easily explain any slowdowns.

Yepp that was all done

Give me a few days as I will look into this. I'm waiting for my processor and my case to arrive. I already have my 9700 Pro, though, I hanve't used it yet. It's made by Saphire.

MOST of the time the Radeon 9700 Pro has problems because of the motherboards incompatibilitys, drivers, bios, etc. If the 9700 Pro is the problem then a simple RMA would fix that problem. If you got it back and the replacement card is ok, then it is usually something to do with your hardware, drivers, software, etc.

Test the 9700 Pro in another system and see if you have the same problems. If so you may want to be RMA it.

Is RMA sort of like flashing the BIOS or something? What does it stand for?

RMA is when you send it back to the manufacturer to have them fix it under warranty and send you a new device.

It also stands for Return Merchandise Agreement

No problems for me.

- Lian-Li PC-50 midi aluminium case(2xAdda Case fan @ 2000rpm)
- Abit NF7-S V2.0 motherboard
- Athlon XP 2100+ Thoroughbred B (AIUHB) @ 2.00Ghz (10x200)
- SLK-800 with 80mm Thermaltake SFII (3600rpm)
- 512mb OCZ EL-DDR PC3500
- Sapphire Radeon 9700 Pro 128mb
- Creative Audigy 2
- 2 x Seagate Barracuda IV ATA100 40gb 7200rpm
- 550w Antec True Power PSU

I also had the 9700Pro running in the GA-7VAXP KT400 board at 8x AGP with no problems.

Humm maybe its the chipset? (nForce2). Thats weird..