Video card issue, I doubt anyone can help, but please try =)

Tomshardware's Inadequate and Deceptive Product Labeling: Comparison of 21 Power Supplies. Very interesting read. Explains the differences between power ratings on one PSU and another...

Ok people once your done reading this...either your going to fully agree, or your you'll shake your head and call me a few choice words....

The problem with Radeons, isn't so much the card, granted some early versions were indeed bad....the problem lies between the computer chair and the keyboard, I'd say 90% of the time. That's why you have one person with a board, and another with the exact, who simply can not get it to run...people need to know what they're doing to an extent with these high-end graphics cards, in numerous forums I've seen this problem with too small of power supplies become almost epidemic...read the system specs before you buy a 9700/9800 pro, expecting it to run with a 300 psu...along with your hard drive/fans/cd/etc....is just asking for problems..

Jomo

ATI recommend a 300w PSU for their Radeon card. I had a 450w Enermax (and very little hardware) and still couldn't get my card to work. Others have had similar experience. Go figure that out. There is probably more to this than meets the eye - maybe some of the cards produced have been 'out of spec', or been subject to manufacturing variations. Only time will tell.

Can you run 3dmark?
Doesn't really matter which version...

Does it crash too?

The problem could be overheating, as some 9700pro has a little problem with it's cooling... There's a small gap between the core and the hsf, which needs either a lot of thermal paste or a thermal pad... And when it's too little paste....

Anyways, if that's the problem, the only thing to do is to RMA it, as if you take of the HSF you void your warranty....

But let's say it's not...
Are you overclocking your system in any way?
Have you pushed your cpu a couple of FSB upwards?
Changed the RAM timings?

If so, set it back to default and see if that helps...

I read that you updated you chipset drivers, but have you downloaded and flashed your mobo BIOS the the most current one?

Since you friends working R9700 works fine in his rig, but not yours, your system is suspect.

Unistall ATI drivers, remove the card, and then re-install it.


Also, try to raise your AGP voltage just ONE notch up.

Use the latest CAT's

What are the voltages on the 3.3, 5v and 12v rails?

Re-formatt if you have to.

Surely if a graphics card has an additional power connector, for direct attachment to the PSU, then it shouldn't be hogging an excess of power from the AGP bus. If it does, then it's obviously been badly designed.

Unless the mobo is out of spec, AGP voltage just being one issue, and why a current BIOS is vital.

I am going to try and flash my bios, as that is just about the only thing that I havnt done yet, what it currently has is pretty old, the one that came with the mobo when I bought it over a year ago.

Jomo..
An entire board of computer g33ks can't figure out what is wrong, but the problem lies between the chair and the keyboard?
As for the power supply thing, like I said, i ran it on my friends 450watt and it didnt change anything. So thats not the issue unless the problem is that my mobo receives enough power, but doesnt transfer enough to the AGP slot.


McGari..
Yes, 3d mark crashs as well,
I will look on the card to see about that thermal paste thing when I get home today.

As for teh over clocking, FSB, RAM speeds, etc. They are all at default at the moment, but I have fiddled with them all alot.

PreservedPoliceMan... or anyone really
If the problem is that my PSU has enough power, but my MOBO doesn't send enough to the AGP slot, will flashing the BIOS fix this Or will I need an entirely new MOBO ?
oh well, probly doesnt matter.
also.. What are CATs? (haha funny)
and I am at school for the moment, but I will check on those rail voltages when I get home.

A MOBO BIOS FLASH is the first thing you should have done when you recieved this card! The R9700 does indeed stress the mobo, and if certian specs are out of tolerance, she won't work. When the crad was first introduced, many mobo's were not in spec, and m,anyt folks thought that the problem was with their shiny new R9700's, when the problem was as easy to fix as a new BIOS.

Some mobo's still don't send the proper amount of voltage through the AGP slot, and upping it one notch above default has fixed it for many folks, along with a NEW BIOS.

CAT's are the the CATALYST drivers from ati, grab the latest set here (for winxp) http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/...800 PRO 128MB&eula=&choice=agree&cmdNext=Next
and follwo the download and installing dir3ctions. These drivers were just released today (May 15th), and are the best yet.

Only after installing new drivers and flashing to a new BIOS woudl I consider a new PSU. I don't see nay reason to buy a new mobo.

I'd like to interject something here. Depending on what else is running in the system, a 300W PSU may not be enough power... BUT what if the power suply is going bad? Perhaps the PSU sporadically fluxuates the power output within the system, resulting in system instability and system crashes. Only way to test that is with one of those power measuring thingies of which the name escapes me... or trying a new PSU. I'd recommend buying like a 400W from Best buy strictly to test this. I used to work there and can vouch for the fact that as long as you keep your receipt, you can return that 400W bastard within 30 Days regardless of opened, used, faulty, or anything. Try that to see if it helps. If it does, then you should invest in a good quality Power supply.

It's strange, but Powersupplies are probably one of the most likely things to break in a users PC.

Perhaps the system was left on during a storm, and that messed up the powersupply?

Anyway, another possibility could very well be the overheating. If this system loves to crash during proc and graphic card intensive programs, there's some significant heat coming off. You may want to look at the heatsink on your current Proc and make sure it's strong enough to handle your current CPU specs.

Just a couple of thoughts, but it looks like a majority of these thoughts have been expressed already.

Hope this helps.

Here is the BIOS for your mobo.

From this site

Yea, just don't use that BestBuy power supply for too long. Those cheap, bad brand name processors will be bad for your system in the long run just the same as the theoretically faulty PSU that you have now. Possibly larger problems such as them blowing up due to not putting out the power that they say they put out.

I have an antec 310 wat PSU, thats one of the better brands isnt it?

Meehu: Yes, thats one of the higher quality brand names. Not sure about how high quality they are though. I think most people would say they are second best to PSU's such as Enermax but all in all I believe, if I'm correct, that Antec is regarded as a very high quality PSU among us techies. I don't think you should have any problems with the Antec putting out the wattage that it says it's rated for unless maybe their is a problem with it or something else.

I am going to agree with Jomo on saying most of the problem is with the computer user. Though I have to say you can't really blame it on the user because even IF your a highly knowledgeable techie you still may not know what the problem is and have a really hard time fixing it. Even in these user error instances it isnt really an error on the persons part but instead something the user needs to change that they dont know about. So in a way it isn't really the user's fault.

ATI's cards really are meant for the more knowledgeable of us all. I would have to say if your going to use an ATI card then your going to need to buy a pre-built system that is game tested just due to the fact that ATI's drivers cause the need for system tweaking 98% of the time. Regular people won't know this, much less understand it or know how to do it so it's better to either not buy ATI's cards if your a regular user like most people are.

I think it might be better than us techies decide between Nvidia/ATI due to our preferences and non-techies try to stay with Nvidia cards, unless they have friends that can surely tweak their system the right way to make it run correctly with the ATI card.

Antec SL300 300w PSU only supplies 15A @ +12v, which is too low for modern PCs. Even the newer 'True Power' model only has 17A @ +12v. The build quality is excellent, but performance (power output configuration) is not so good.

Get an Enermax 365AX-VE FMA 360w with 26A @ +12v, though the 465AX-VE FMA 460w with 33A @ + 12v would be better.

There's no guarantee that these will solve your problem, but they are definitely very capable PSUs.

350W and 430W or 460W sometimes respectively..to be a little bit precise.

Have you tried the most recent BIOS for your mobo yet? I'd do that WELL before investing in a new PSU that you may or may not need.

~Good luck

PreservedSwine,
If you are talking about flashing BIOS', let me just express my opinion. Only flash your BIOS when it is absolutely necessary, several things can go wrong rendering your computer royally screwed (would have been another choice word, but then remembered the rules ). Personally, I don't think it's worth the risk to flash my BIOS unless my computer actually DOESN'T work.

Looking back at your post PreservedSwine, I see that you might be referring to something else, if so, I apologize. I just thought I would warn people about this as it has happened to me a few times and I have heard it happen to others, and it's no fun to sort out.

A BIOS flash is a peice of cake, and indded his MOBO may well need one. If he's never updated his BIOS, his R9700PRO may well nenver work no matter what other hardware he buys.

It is one of the FIRST things recomended on ATI's support site.

I feel you are blowing this completely out of proportion. A MOBO BIOS flash may indeed go wrong, if your power goes out in the middle of the flash, but otherwise, there's nothing to.

I suggest this fellow go to overclockers.com or rage3d.com for some more advice.

While it may indeed be a faulty PSU, it's pretty silly to go that route b-4 taking 5 minutes to flash your MOBO BIOS, which has indeed soved issues for many, many people.

~Swine