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

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Meehu

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So i bought a Radeon 9700 Pro
Problem is that after I get in into anything 3d, it usually crashs in under 10 seconds


I have tried everything from getting new drivers to updating my chipset, fooling with power settings in bios, changing AGP speed, turning of Fast Right, etc. etc. etc.

I spent 2 hours on phone with tech support yesterday and got pretty much nowhere. The guy said it could be a power issue even though I have a 310wat power supply and it only needs a 300wat. Oddly, it works in some games and not in others, Neverwinter Nights works fine, while anything that runs on the halflife engine crashs. Even more oddly, last night halflife based things started working, i thought the problem was fixed somehow, but then today it started crashing again.

So anyways, if you have any ideas please let me know :)

I dont feel like wating for a geforce 5900 or blowing another hundred bones on a new power source.
 
Also..


Mobo .. Iwill P4R533 series
CPU .. p4 1.7ghz
Ram .. 512 mb Rambus
Sound Card .. Soundblaster PCI 512
 
The tech guy is an *****, a 310 PSU just isnt sufficient. Sure it will run fine sometimes but I guarantee you that is your problem. I suggest getting a 350w or higher PSU. If you do get one make sure it isnt a cheap PSU cause you may just have the same problems again since cheap PSU's dont really put out the watts they are suppost to. Try a Enermax 350w PSU. You can get them for a decent price at www.newegg.com

You won't have to spend a "hundred bones" on a great PSU. You can get the Enermax 350w for about $60.
 
I had the All-in-Wonder version of that card, and I couldn't even get my PC to boot, despite having a 450 watt Enermax PSU. Those cards must be highly voltage sensitive, so I would just return it and buy a different brand.

Buying another PSU and *hoping* that it will work is just not worth the effort. What do you do if it doesn't, and you now have 2 PSUs, neither of which work with that card?

Maybe you could try it in a friends PC first (one with a better PSU).

Your problems could also be due to a faulty card. As far as I am aware NeverWinter Nights uses Direct-X, whereas Half-Life/Quake/etc. uses Open GL. Maybe your card has problems when Open GL games are played, which could be due to faulty card or defective Open GL drivers, or other incompatabilities in your system. If you had no previous problems with Open GL games using your previous card, then you can eliminate your other components as the cause.
 
hmm you seem pretty sure bout this so I am gonna go get a new power supply


just curious, if it takes a 350wat or so why the hell does it say 300 on the box
 
You have to understand all psu's are not created equal no matter what the voltages they are rated at. The 3 rails are what's important, not the wattage...the 3.3v-5v-12v.......the 3.3 and the 5 basically run the electronics on your board....while the 12 starts all the motors...fans/hard drive/cd drives, last but not least....the video card...the radeons are power hungry to say the least....stick with a good name brand, such as enermax or antec.

Jomo
 
Originally posted by Nic:
As far as I am aware NeverWinter Nights uses Direct-X, whereas Half-Life/Quake/etc. uses Open GL.
Click to expand...
Neverwinter Nights has only OpenGL support, Half-Life has Direct3D, OpenGL and software.

Originally posted by Meehu:
Problem is that after I get in into anything 3d, it usually crashs in under 10 seconds

Oddly, it works in some games and not in others
Click to expand...
"Anything" doesn't include some games after all? :confused:
 
Apologies, you are quite correct Mic, NeverWinter Nights does indeed run on Open GL Graphics, Direct-X is only used only for the sound (strange but true). It's not available for BeOS unfortunately.
 
meehu: You can run it with a 300w PSU, BUT that is a minimum requirement. Minimum requirements on hardware and software alike usually don't cut it. When it comes to software you can get by with just losing FPS in games. As far as hardware your dealing with possibly burning a power supply, frying a motherboard, etc when running hardware on the bare minimum requirements. Some people will tell you otherwise but those people will get you into trouble.

It also kind of depends on how much hardware in your system is running off of your PSU plus the quality of the PSU such as how much wattage it actually puts out compared to what it SAYS it will put out.

In systems such as Dell, Compaq, etc they put the bare minimum into those systems that will run what is inside the system. For example if I had a Dell with a 350w PSU and that was fine for what is in the system but then I upgraded and added more hardware then I may run the risk of something going wrong.

Other's here may say otherwise, but I dont think you will have a problem with running a 350w Enermax power supply in your system. If your problem indeed lies in the power supply then I'm sure that will 99% surely fix your problem. UNLESS your problem lies in your video card then in that case it may need to be RMA'd.

Before you RMA your card or spend any money try this first:

Lower AGP speeds in your BIOS to the lowest possible speed
Lower AGP speeds in SmartGart to lowest possible speed

Reboot and see if you have the same problems afterwards.

Keep in mind that tech support rep's will tell you facts to make their job easier, keep themselves out of trouble and to get you out of their hair quicker. So if them saying your 300w PSU is enough will get them off the phone with you quicker and indeed it is true, they will tell you that even though your problem may be somewhere else. Trust me on this one I work in tech support 20% of my time at my job. :D
 
Yeah, acidosmosis, I've got one of those systems you are talking about, a Gateway, with a 250 watt in it, and I agree with you, it's for sure a minimum, but it does run okay. If I ever upgrade to another card I will spend the extra money and get a bigger power supply, because it's not big enough.

Edit: acidosmosis, just saw your post at Rage3D on the new drivers. Givem heck man.
 
lol olefarte, yea I had to raise some hell about that pose on rage3d. was a bit pathetic. 95% of the people that posted in that thread need a dose of reality.
 
I just took my system over to a friends house who has a 450wat power supply and hooked it up to his, same thing was happening, so its not the power supply.. i have no idea wtf else it could be, looks like I am gonna return the card and wait for a geforce 5900 unless someone else has a good idea =(
 
Originally posted by acidosmosis
The tech guy is an *****, a 310 PSU just isnt sufficient.
Click to expand...

You say toomato.. I say tomaato... Or something like that. :)

Yes, 310 is cutting it close, but depending on your other system components, should be more than enough. Especially if it is a high quality PSU. The only reason people are having trouble with 300w or less PSUs is because they are cheaply constructed.

What I think you should do is change your AGP settings in the BIOS. Disable fast writes, and toggle between AGP 8x, 4x and 2x if possible.

Download the latest drivers, and of course update or remove your AGP drivers. Try using the latest catalysts from ATI's website.. NOT your manufacturer's website if they are not ATI.

Lots of people have been having problems with ATI's SMART GART, which you can turn off/on in the ATI control panel.
 
Originally posted by Rick
You say toomato.. I say tomaato... Or something like that. :)

Yes, 310 is cutting it close, but depending on your other system components, should be more than enough. Especially if it is a high quality PSU. The only reason people are having trouble with 300w or less PSUs is because they are cheaply constructed.

What I think you should do is change your AGP settings in the BIOS. Disable fast writes, and toggle between AGP 8x, 4x and 2x if possible.

Download the latest drivers, and of course update or remove your AGP drivers. Try using the latest catalysts from ATI's website.. NOT your manufacturer's website if they are not ATI.

Lots of people have been having problems with ATI's SMART GART, which you can turn off/on in the ATI control panel.
Click to expand...


I have done all those things.
 
Then take that thing back and get a new one! :) LOTS of people are having problems with these cards.
 
i'm pretty sure its somthing wrong with my system because we stuck his radeon 9700 pro in my comp and it didnt work, although his 9700 works in his computer
 
Originally posted by Rick
You say toomato.. I say tomaato... Or something like that. :)

Yes, 310 is cutting it close, but depending on your other system components, should be more than enough. Especially if it is a high quality PSU. The only reason people are having trouble with 300w or less PSUs is because they are cheaply constructed.

What I think you should do is change your AGP settings in the BIOS. Disable fast writes, and toggle between AGP 8x, 4x and 2x if possible.
Click to expand...

Well if he hasn't already said "hey I bought a quality PSU!", then he doesnt have one. That's how easy it is to figure that out.

and..

I already recommended doing that ;) (change agp settings) :p



Meehu: Yea, but just because your card doesn't work in his system either doesn't really mean anything. A lot of the time the card never works on most systems without some sort of tweaking on the system.

I suggest you RMA the card. That is my professional opinion. Sounds like a bad card to me.
 
i'm pretty sure its somthing wrong with my system because we stuck his radeon 9700 pro in my comp and it didnt work, although his 9700 works in his computer
Click to expand...
Can you swap your 9700 into his pc and test it?
 
Originally posted by Jomo
You have to understand all psu's are not created equal no matter what the voltages they are rated at. The 3 rails are what's important, not the wattage...the 3.3v-5v-12v.......the 3.3 and the 5 basically run the electronics on your board....while the 12 starts all the motors...fans/hard drive/cd drives, last but not least....the video card...the radeons are power hungry to say the least....stick with a good name brand, such as enermax or antec.

Jomo
Click to expand...

I would recommend PSU with 12v rails at 20A or more.
 
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. :confused: 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.
 
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