9800 Pro is a joke!

[TekeTorvo]

I have seen a few post about the 9800Pro. Too bad I didn't see the negative post before I bought one. I went from pure stability with my TI4200, to Random reboots, and lock-ups being the norm with my Saphire 9800Pro.


Saphire 9800Pro
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe mother board
AMD 3200+ Processor
2x512 pc3200 Kingston ram
500watt Power supply
2xSATA 80gb SeaGate Hard Drives
ThermalTake XaserIII case, (7 fans on case alone)


I am useing the latest Omega drivers, (Have tried several different drivers)

Updated my Motherboard Drivers

My BIOS has been flashed to current 1008

What more info do you need on specs?

I get awesome 3DMarks, but when I play EverQuest, I lock-up/Random Reboot after playing for a while. Length of time before reboot depends on how much the graphics are.

I may get awesome 3DMarks with my 9800Pro, but my TI4200 ran smooth as silk, with the graphics turned all the way to max! Too bad I have already put that card in my Wife's computer.

If you had my system, where would you begin looking for the problem? Nothing is Overclocked.

:mad:

[Top Hat Theater]

Did you uninstall the Detonator drivers before putting the new card in? I had a problem similar to yours that resulted from not removing the old drivers prior to installing the new hardware. Formatted the machine and the problem went away.

~THT

[LtBlue14]

did you either reinstall windows or use detonator destroyer to completely get rid of the nvidia drivers?
are there any known everquest driver issues?

EDIT: ha, beat me to it!

[#18]

If all the settings of your system is still the same as when you were using Ti4200, then it could be driver issue with windows.

Try to do a format. Reinstall everything in the order of windows, chipset driver, video card driver, rest drivers, and everything else.

[Rezin777]

Perhaps the power supply? Is it a good quality or cheapie 500watt? Radeons like juice.

[TekeTorvo]

I have done a reformat since the nvidia card. The only NVidia drivers on my computer now are for my nforce drivers. I even deleted my RAID-0 and recreated it and reformatted, (kinda like cutting one hard drive in 2 and then putting it back together). There is no way that it is a conflict between NVidia video drivers, and ATI drivers. I am at a total loss. I will check on EQ to see if there is a conflict, but considering I have tried the Driver at Windows update, the new 4.1, and the Omega Drivers, I doubt it is that either.

[TekeTorvo]

The 500 watt PSU is a Comp USA brand. I know it is not top of the line, but they do not normally make junk either, (Hope anyways).

[TekeTorvo]

Gonna unplug my 2 CD-RW's and my Maxtor slave and see if that helps on the power. Other than doing that, is there another way to test the power supply? I know when I bought my first A7N8X, it loved power so much it destroyed my Antec true 430w PSU, (They make the same sound that the big trasformers on the light poles make, and ALOT more smoke). You might be on to something Rezin777. I am sure this will take a bit to test so I will get back to you with a (YAY!) or a (DAMNED!!!) as soon as I know more.

[DDR-PIII]

Flame baiting heh, dosent go here.

[SK8]

same thing happend to me, thermal issues! My 9800pUltimate was a joke the thing didnt even work, sent it back and bought a $229 9800p from the egg. Btw i had a ti4200 and i notice A HUGE!!! dffrence keep @ it the rewards are mind blowing!

[Darth]

the ultimate editions suck. despite the heatpipe, they actually run hotter than conventional air cooling setups.

[snvpa]

also might want to disable fast writes in the settings menu as well as in the bios for your mobo if its an option. THis has been known to cause issues with many games.

[TekeTorvo]

My point exactly! Why in the world Saphire would make a Video Card, that can't run the games it was desinged to run is just plain wrong! Why would I even have to buy a better fan/heat sink? I unpluged everything using power last night except for the things that are needed to run. My 500watt PSU is not the problem becuase it did the same thing. Thanks for responding, and trying to help me. I am so freaking mad right now I could throw it out the window. Isn't this that they have done Illegal? I have recently found that MANY people are going through this same thing. The card says it was designed on the DX9, but it can't run them. In order to run them, I have to go out and buy more things for it. Something is not right about that to me. Sorry if I sound so negative. I am trying to keep a positive outlook on this. But 229 bucks, and the belief it was the best thing ever, I feel led astray. Anyother ideas?

[lancingfury]

dont know, but some audigy gamer sound card comes bundled with a game(halo) that has sytaticky, flickery sound with that game and that game only... *shrugs* anything to make a buck i guess.

[TekeTorvo]

Hmmmm, just re-read over all of this. Sounds like I am just a whiner. Sorry all. I didn't mean for it to come out like this at all. Upset to say the least, but I will get over this.
I am using the onboard nvidia sound.

[Bailey]

Not that this will be of any help but I had an Nvidia card & switched to 9800p & it works fine (though I don't play that specific game). I also have an NF-2 board. I must be something with either that specfic board or the drivers.

Have you tried going w/ older Cat drivers? (like 3.1's or 3.9's) I've heard of some issues w/ the 4.1's.

I realize that companies can't test every combo, but the fact that so many have gotten an NF-2/9800 w/ onboard sound to work means it should be do-able. Have you posted in the MB forum? Maybe someone has used this combo?

No need to apologise, sometimes driver issues can drive the best of us nuts - lol

[TekeTorvo]

I have not posted in the mother bord section, but thanks for the advise.

People keep saying it is probably a driver conflict. Is this really probable? I ask that because of this point. I can play the game for a few hours with no problems. It's when it starts getting graphic's intensive, or when I just sit down and no graphics, just a wall I am looking at, that the lock-up/reboot happenes. Seems to me that if it was a Driver problem, it would happen much sooner, or lock-up more often. The rebooting is what is throwing me off.

[Bailey]

It just occured to me, I have had issues w/ games crashing when changing cards - it was the game. It seems as if sometimes the game detects one card & then doesn't want to "adapt" (it keeps trying to load the stuff for the old card) when you switch to a new one. It seems I had the issue w/ Q3 once, I had to re-install the game.

Yeah, I know that sucks cause you'll probably loose all your saves.

Just a thought.

[TekeTorvo]

Complete fresh install after reformating.

[TekeTorvo]

Tomorrow I am going to pay that 2.49 a minute to get ATI to help me.

[snvpa]

Teke did disabling fast writes help at all? you also might want to try different AA and AF settings as some games seem to not like lower intensity settings on ati cards, then again some don't like higher intensity settings. Unfortunately this is just a fact of the computer world. There are so many different parts all coming together to form a system its nearly impossible to ensure perfect support accross all platform options, It just takes patience but I'm sure we'll figure it out.

[Aeon Flux]

Im willing to bet its your drivers. I know you said you tried different drivers but most of the posts I see you refering to the omega's 4.1. The only problem is there are known issues with the 3.9's and 4.1's. The 3.8's tend to make youre card get a little to toasty. Try the cats 3.7's. They're still one of the better driver sets with very few known bad issues.

[coolcpu2]

TekeTorvo, I just want to relate to you my experience with Everquest. If you're looking for good EQ performance, right now, Nvidia is probably the best bet. I had a 5200FX which I think was a 64 bit version, and it ran EQ much better than my 9600XT does. Apparently, the present EQ engine doesn't really like ATI cards (or at least some of them). I read this might be fixed in the future though. A new EQ engine is in the works.

Outside of EQ though, the ATI card has looked much better. I think there's even a post on the EQ tech forum from someone saying that his old, relatively outdated (forget which) Nvidia card runs EQ better than the 9800 Pro he got.

[TekeTorvo]

I just locked up again. I am going to try the 3.7's that someone mentioned earlier. I do now know it is a Driver thing, because I finally managed to not reboot, and there was an error and it said something about the VPU.

[Strida]

Try the 3.10 drivers then.

When you installed the nForce drivers for your motherboard you made absolutely sure it didn't include video drivers with it right?

I installed mine once and the video drivers came with it.

[Wam]

If you haven't already head over to the Rage3D forums as you'll get the most help for Radeon problems. There might be driver problems with you're particular game which should be easier to find out as there are threads from the driver developers on particular game/driver issues.

I actually use 3.7 with the Opengl drivers from 4.1 as 3.7 is the most compatible with the games I play (AA in Madden04 doesn't work after 3.7) and Call of Duty plays best with the 4.1 openGL drives.

[ajrettke]

I would RMA the card, you did all the troubleshooting I would have done, and I would blame this on a bad apple.

[Mike360000]

I feel your pain. I really do.
I bought a Ati 8500 the day they came out.
It never ran without crashing my system after a few minutes of gameplay. No matter which game.
BTW I had an intel 845 chipset on an Abit mobo.
I worked with the 8500s for 5 months, going through 3 of them.
I done everything mentioned here PLUS a whole lot more.
Nothing worked. Called Ati tech support, lived in Rage3D, and finally RMA'ed the 2nd card for my 3td one.

In the end after 3 8500s I sold it for 100 bux and took almost a 500 buck loss on the whole escapade. I then installed a Ti200 and everything was fine. No problems watsoever! (I mean my crashes was so often and so bad I kept a fresh install of WinXP and 98 on a mirrored hard drive, doing MANY fresh installs of each. The mirror had no video drivers installed on them.)

For some odd reason it seems some Ati v cards just don't work sometimes no matter what you do. If my past experiences means anything to you, I would suggest you cut your losses before they equal mine.

Some peeps here likes to call me biased, and worse now because I don't run or knock Ati for their problems. But I think it obvious that when a person gets burned bad enough, it will bias the person against the product that burned them. BTW I had also been badly burned by the Rage Fury v card a year or so earlier. The 8500 was my first attempt at giving Ati the chance to redeem themselves. It didn't work out.

Sorry I couldn't be of any more help.

Good Luck,
Mike

[Mr.Guvernment]

^^^ i dont know if it is ATI that does not work as look @ the amount of people who have ATi and never have issue - myself being one of them starting back to the days of 8mb ATI card and up to my know 9700PRO and not once have i had issues that people describe.

i have also had nvidia cards and have receive more BSOD's because of their drivers.

But anyways - it could be a bad card - it happens - it could bea conflict between the sound card - try to take out your sound card coimpletly! and run the games (make sure to uninstall it from the System / hardware area as well - reboot and then try it - also try your PCI card in other PCI slots as sometimes they share IRQ's with the video when they should not.

[Mike360000]

Life just seems to work differently for different people.
I guess that is a reason we have choices.
What works for 1 person doesn't for the next. And from all I can tell, it doesn't have to be any 1 specific problem, just the whole combination.

An ole saying goes, "One man's bread is another man's poison.", aptly apllies here. I do know and understand that concerning v cards the same could be applied to nvidia or any other make. My point being, if something works for someone, then they should stay with it.

Mike

[kct2]

When it crashes, touch the card on the back of the core.

a) Does it burn your finger?

b) Can you loop 3dmark a few times (10 or so)?

If the answers are: a) YES b) NO;
I would return the card as it is an overheating issue. Or you could get a rev.2 VGA silencer, but I understand your point that you should not have to purchase something else for the card to work correctly.


Originally posted by Aeon Flux
The 3.8's tend to make youre card get a little to toasty.

This was proven to be absolutely false. Many people tested this out when 3.8 came out and no one was able to verify any overheating due to 3.8.

[(v)estra]

Try upping the agp voltage from 1.5 to 1.6 My card refused to work until i did that.

[TekeTorvo]

Ok,
I am going to try to answer as many questions and ideas as I can remember.

Will going from 1.5 to 1.6 Void the warantee? If I am going to do a RMA, then that is the last thing I should do.

It does not burn my finger, but it does get quite hot. How hot is too hot I do not know.

What program is there that will delete ALL ATI drivers and files on my comp so I can reinstall a new Driver.

The NForce drivers do not contain any Video Drivers.

[kct2]

Originally posted by TekeTorvo
Ok,
Will going from 1.5 to 1.6 Void the warantee? If I am going to do a RMA, then that is the last thing I should do.

I can't imagine it would. It is a common troubleshooting step.

Originally posted by TekeTorvo

It does not burn my finger, but it does get quite hot. How hot is too hot I do not know.

Doh - I wish there was some calibration method for the finger thermometer :(

Did you get a chance to loop 3dmark?

Originally posted by TekeTorvo

What program is there that will delete ALL ATI drivers and files on my comp so I can reinstall a new Driver.

ATI has a driver cleaner here: http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/misc/catalystutils.html
or
Driver Cleaner: http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/

Originally posted by TekeTorvo

The NForce drivers do not contain any Video Drivers.

Well, they do (version 52.16 to be exact), but they shouldn't be installed if you don't have an nvidia graphics card. It is just part of the package because of the IGP version of the Nforce.

[youngbuck]

The fact that your system is rebooting makes me think it is one of the following: power problem, or an IRQ conflict. I think it's more likely the latter.

If you have anything in your PCI slots try moving them further away from you video card.

I have had a lot of problems like you mention, and it always came down to either driver issues or an IRQ conflict.

[Xtc4u]

what OS are you using? Check in the event log and see if you can find the error for when it rebooted. I found a couple in my event logs from when I was troubleshooting mine.

[TekeTorvo]

LOL, Finger thermometer would so ROCK! LOL!
Have not had a chance to loop 3dmark. will try that next, but what will it tell me? I already know I lock up in EQ.

I have used the Driver Cleaner 2.0 between trying new drivers. I have tried the 4.1, 3.10, 3.8. 3.9 would not install for some reason, and I didn't really feel like fighting with it so went to the next one. LOL.

I have no PCI slots used. It does seem like a IRQ problem to me, now that you mention it.

http://eqlive.station.sony.com/support/tech_support/ts_video.jsp

shows the supported Driver as the 4.1.

I have not rebooted all day. I have locked up many times though.

I sure do wished there was a way to export my error log, cause there is a bunch of stuff there that I have no clue what it means.

VSS Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine CoCreateInstance. hr = 0x80040206.

Event Syste m The COM+ Event System detected a bad return code during its internal processing. HRESULT was 80070422 from line 44 of d:\nt\com\com1x\src\events\tie r1\eventsystemobj.cpp. Please contact Microsoft Product Support Services to report this error.

System Error Error code 10000050, parameter1 fffffffb, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 8053434e, parameter4 00000000.

And a bunch of;
DCOM DCOM got error "%1058" attempting to start the service EventSystem with arguments "" in order to run the server: {1BE1F766-5536-11D1-B 726-00C04FB926AF}

What does that mean I have no clue. Maybe it is code saying that The Brain is going over his evil plot to take over the World? LOL, Just trying to find some humor in this.

[TekeTorvo]

I just went to change my vcore from 1.5 to 1.6, and it is on auto at 1.65.


Gonna loop 3dmark. Be back in a few.

I just found where to change it from 1.5 to 1.6 and I have done so.


BTW, I disbaled fast write a while back. Forgot to mention it.

[ProBoner]

I've had some quirks with the drivers for an ATI rage2 turbo (or some crap like that) back in the day, but from my 9000pro to 9800pro, I've never had any issues or crashes because of the cards... and I never formatted since removing my GeForce2... or upgrading from 1800+ to 2500+ for that matter :D

It could be a bad card, but you should get a buddy to test it out in his system (or on a back-up system if you have one). Once you get this thing running right, you'll absolutely love it!

[Mustanley]

If heat is an issue, open up the case and aim a desk fan in there. Or you might also try underclocking the card and see if it makes a difference.

[TekeTorvo]

Well, what started out as a major hinderence, is now a Major catastrophe! My computer will only boot into safe mode. I logged on to EQ last night, and left it running. Woke up this morning, and it seemed stable. Was gone to work for a few hours, came home, and it had a black screen. Now it won't even boot to normal windows.

[TekeTorvo]

This has gotten comical.

I could NOT get system restore to work. I took the ATI out, stuck in an old Nvidia GeForce MX420. WORKS PERFECT! Calling ATI.

I would like to thank everyone that has joined me in this roller coaster ride. Although I would not wish this on my worst enemy, it has been quite the learning experience to say the least.

[TekeTorvo]

I even got a star under my name from all of these post. At least something good came from this.

[kct2]

Originally posted by ProBoner
It could be a bad card, but you should get a buddy to test it out in his system (or on a back-up system if you have one).

Do that.

There is really no other way to determine if there is something wrong with the card or if it just a driver issue on your system.

It is probably just a bad card...

[TekeTorvo]

After makeing that poor guy at ATI feel really bad, I still had to go through NewEgg.com to get a RMA. Newegg ROCKS! Absolutely no problems on a refund! Sending it out today. Income tax refund gets here in about 10 days, and getting me a Nvidia FX5950. ATI will never touch another one of my computers again. No disrespect to any ATI owners intended. But my luck with ATI has been horrible. My luck with NVidia has been Superb!


*On a sub note*---Is it possible that my NVidia board conflicts with an ATI Video card?

[Oni]

Originally posted by TekeTorvo
*On a sub note*---Is it possible that my NVidia board conflicts with an ATI Video card?

Pro'lly not. My 9700 Pro is running just fine on my 8RDA+.

I think you just ended up getting a bad card is all. It happens.

Most people will swear by a certain brand. Lots here swear by Saphire. Personally, I won't touch anything that ATI hasn't made themselves. It's all personal preference.

I wouldn't be so quick to write off ATI. Like I said (and others here have said) you pro'lly just got a bad one. Lots of people here run ATI w/ absolutely no problems whatsoever (me included).

[#18]

Originally posted by TekeTorvo
ATI will never touch another one of my computers again. No disrespect to any ATI owners intended. But my luck with ATI has been horrible. My luck with NVidia has been Superb!




One day if you get a bad Nvidia card by accident. Remember what you said here today. Please be fair. So Matrox next? ;)

Soon or later, you'll say "OK! That's it! NO MORE video cards! I had enough with all of them!"

Try to work out with the reseller get a new one. It's what people normally do, instead of "kill" the manufacturer with "You only have one chance!".

[Mustanley]

Originally posted by TekeTorvo
*On a sub note*---Is it possible that my NVidia board conflicts with an ATI Video card?

Look in the sig. I've got two nvidia mobo/ATI video combinations. Never had serious problems from either machine. I was an Nvidia man since 1998 -- never even owned an ATI card until the 9800. ATM, the only way I'd go back to nvidia would be kicking and screaming. But I can understand how this experience would leave a bad taste in your mouth.

[Tw00sh]

Did you ever try to play another game other than EQ to make sure it was not the actual game causing the lock ups?

[hi_its_ryan]

did you ever disable VPU recovery? i read that it has issues with some games

[Mr.Guvernment]

Originally posted by #18



One day if you get a bad Nvidia card by accident. Remember what you said here today. Please be fair. So Matrox next? ;)

Soon or later, you'll say "OK! That's it! NO MORE video cards! I had enough with all of them!"

Try to work out with the reseller get a new one. It's what people normally do, instead of "kill" the manufacturer with "You only have one chance!".



yes - i strongly SECOND this - my uncle had a similar experience i with a AMD system h built - turne dout the MOBO died for whate ver reasons - but he is sitll going to give it anotehr try.

to straight out BLAME ATI for this matter is not fair because i think it is contributing factors of many part and not just the card makers fualt - be reasonable instead of looking for one place to dump the blame.

[kct2]

Originally posted by Mr.Guvernment




yes - i strongly SECOND this - my uncle had a similar experience i with a AMD system h built - turne dout the MOBO died for whate ver reasons - but he is sitll going to give it anotehr try.

to straight out BLAME ATI for this matter is not fair because i think it is contributing factors of many part and not just the card makers fualt - be reasonable instead of looking for one place to dump the blame.

He isn't even blaming the right people. ATI didn't make the card, it is a sapphire card, not BBA. If blame must be placed it should be with sapphire. But that isn't really fair to blame them either; they can't fully test every card (unless you want all cards to cost much more) and obviously a certain number of 'duds' will make it through to the end user.

Nvidia probably has just as many duds, but since there are no Nvidia branded card's people are more likely to blame the card's manufacture, not nvidia.

Obviously it is frustrating that this happens, but it's just the way it is.

[TekeTorvo]

LOL.

I don't hate ATI. I don't hate Saphire. I hate my luck. I do however think NVidia has ATI stomped when it comes to ease of instalation with the Drivers. I took the TI4200 that was in this computer before the 9800Pro, and placed it in my wifes computer. She had the MX420. I didn't have to install a single driver, didn't have to update a thing.

The MX420 that was in her computer, I placed in this computer with the ATI drivers still installed. Installed a NVidia driver and runs like a charm.

My only beef with ATI is that their Driver instalation seems to need alot more patience, and finess to get it to run correctly. NVidia seems to be much closer to a plug and play, (if there is such a thing for Video Cards).

I just played EQ for about 11 hours straight, (Addict I know), without a single problem. This with the ATI drivers / control panel / still installed. On a MX420 no less. That's just about as bottom dollar on the Graphics cars as you can get.

[Mike360000]

Yes that is my biggest beef with Ati, sorry drivers.
I think Ati has better hardware, but nvidia has the best drivers and ease of installation. Just my opinion though. But I have heard of several other people who agrees with me. I still suggest you cut your losses and maybe see if you can swap the Ati out for a 5900. I'd say that is your best or easiest route. At least you wouldn't have to continueally troubleshoot the Ati for who knows how long. I gave up after about 5 months.

A lot of peeps here wouldn't agree or like you going the nvidia route though. They would take a few jabs at you for it.

Cheers,
Mike

[snyper1982]

what about all the people who have never had a problem with ATi? lol. i have never had a problem with my ati, be it drivers or hardware. no drivers can hold a candle to the voodoo drivers, it doesnt matter what previous card you have installed, it will run like a sewing machine, with out a format, or even an uninstall of the old drivers. well at least mine does.

[dreIU]

This thread worries me, I have basically the same mobo/setup as Teke, and am getting ready to get ATi card. I hope all will go well as long as I properly remove NV drivers first and then insert ATi card. :(

[TekeTorvo]

Buy the ATI. I think I just have bad luck with ATI, (2nd time in about 5 years). My problem turned out to be a bad card this time. And the first time it was probably becuause I had no clue what I was doing. I Have my ATI 9800Pro on it's way back to newegg.com as I type this. I do highly recomend NewEgg.com though. Amazeing servive!

[PreservedSwine]

NewEgg is excellent.....

btw-ever check the AGP bus freq? one things Nvdia cards handle that RADEONS don't is an overclocked AGP bus...

Better luck next time:)

[abitavenger]

i wish i would have found this thread sooner...

ok well i had the same problems with random reboots and such and narrowed it down to the graphics card. Its in the sig i know i need to upgrade. Well to find out if its a driver issue you could have right clicked My Computer, properties, advanced tab, startup and recovery settings, and unclick automatically restart. When i did this I would just get a BSOD and google what it said in the BSOD. DRIVER_IRQL_MORE_OR_LESS. When i googled it it gave me an answer that it was graphics card. So i uninstalled them and installed an older version and everything worked fine. Well sorry I coulnd't give my $.02 earlier. Good luck with the 5950

abitavenger

[theELVISCERATOR]

I have the exact same card and Its rock solid on cat 3.7s and 4.1s....only has locked due to excessive ocing.... at 405/369 stable on stock cooling...I believe you have a game specific issue, and its very common for games to run better on certain models....my motto is if my card runs everything else fine..but one app it doesnt? must be the one app.....

[Neeseius]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! thats so funny!!! you waisted all that time, lost files, spent hours and hours, when all this time it was just a bad card, and from looking at all these posts (trust me ive had experience) its definately a bad card.
see with me, i buy from Fry's Electronics, so the first sign I get at all of bad hardware, I ammediately return it the same day, no troubles. hehehe you gotta cheat the system

my9800Xt runs fine by the way :D

[Ad Rock]

Originally posted by Neeseius
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! thats so funny!!! you waisted all that time, lost files, spent hours and hours, when all this time it was just a bad card, and from looking at all these posts (trust me ive had experience) its definately a bad card.
see with me, i buy from Fry's Electronics, so the first sign I get at all of bad hardware, I ammediately return it the same day, no troubles. hehehe you gotta cheat the system

my9800Xt runs fine by the way :D

If your gonna post something you could at least be helpful instead of laughing at someones misfourtune. The reason this board is so popular is because people do not post crap like you just did making fun of their situation :mad: . Like my mom used to say "If you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all" :D .

[Steven4563]

Originally posted by Ad Rock


If your gonna post something you could at least be helpful instead of laughing at someones misfourtune. The reason this board is so popular is because people do not post crap like you just did making fun of their situation :mad: . Like my mom used to say "If you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all" :D .

I agree

when i first came to this forum it was the nicest place on the net to have discussions about computers and now theres so many idiots that ruined it all :rolleyes:

[harryinny3]

It was a bad card. But The first thing i would have done was to turn off VPU recovery. Its a bad thing in my mind. Me, I would have definately tried another 9800p Ya have no idea what your gonna be missing IQ wise. :( I would have also stuck with The CAT 3.7 driver.

Harry

[germanjulian]

this thread should be closed.
this is to the thread starter.

the 9800 card is just as good as a Ti4200 stability wise.
i upgraded from a ti4600 to a rad and I did not have any serious issues which are not game related.

i also run the zalman passive cooler on it. the latest version. so i do have a sapphire own build ultima edition. the thing gets warm when playing but it cools enough.
the stock cooler just got HOT straight away. the passive cooler cools better then the stock cooler if you have good airflow in the case.

some of you flame way to much. just because you bought a faulty product or you cant get something working on your computer doesnt mean its the manufactures fault.

[Neeseius]

sorry... but you see the problem has already been solved, and it was more of a goofy comment than a put down... so maybe these forums might actually be missing a sense of humor... maybe ppl like you are just way too serious all the time and should loosten up. Not only that i had to make that comment as i made the same mistake myself

[shortyes]

The problem you are encountering seems to be a windows conflict with ATI drivers. ATI cards are very picky about what you change in the windows setting. Anything that effects the way Windows handles Memory aka the performance tab in my computer or the registery will cause the computer to reboot if you have an ATI card. I found that out the hard way. ATI is a good card but leaves little room to tinker with the memory settings.

[fldrice]

Try the Cat 3.7, pretty stable so far. FYI Saphire is ATI's board partner.

[Mr.Guvernment]

Originally posted by snyper1982
what about all the people who have never had a problem with ATi? lol. i have never had a problem with my ati, be it drivers or hardware. no drivers can hold a candle to the voodoo drivers, it doesnt matter what previous card you have installed, it will run like a sewing machine, with out a format, or even an uninstall of the old drivers. well at least mine does.

was about to say the same thing


i often am swithicn video card between systems here they range froma radeon 7500 / 8500 / 128 rage pro /9700PRO

and on the NVIDIA side 400?mx / 2 x 440mx / ti4200 / ti4600


and the ATI installtion of drivers is fine when switching into a system that had nvidia before,

if anything - to soujnd liek afan boy - NVIDIA is the one you have to use a 3rd party program to get ride of all nvidia drivers simply to install new NVIDIA drivers over top or you may have problems - i beleive nvidia installation states this - to be sure previous drivers are taken out - i dont beleive this is something ATI warns that you better do, or else!

:D

[Mr.Guvernment]

Originally posted by TekeTorvo
Buy the ATI. I think I just have bad luck with ATI, (2nd time in about 5 years). My problem turned out to be a bad card this time. And the first time it was probably becuause I had no clue what I was doing. I Have my ATI 9800Pro on it's way back to newegg.com as I type this. I do highly recomend NewEgg.com though. Amazeing servive!


Well - in the end of it all - as long as you dont HATE ATi is all good, to each their own - i prefer ATi as i have had less problems, your self the exact opposite - i hope that if you do get a new 9800 it works - if not then off to NVIDIA you go :)

[Mr.Guvernment]

Originally posted by shortyes
The problem you are encountering seems to be a windows conflict with ATI drivers. ATI cards are very picky about what you change in the windows setting. Anything that effects the way Windows handles Memory aka the performance tab in my computer or the registery will cause the computer to reboot if you have an ATI card. I found that out the hard way. ATI is a good card but leaves little room to tinker with the memory settings.

You mean your memory timing in the BIOS? or overclocking your video card?


i think your statement is complete false to say that ATI cards are picky about what you change in windows - the complete opposite is more true - especially in my case and also look @ how many people overclock and tweak their O/S to death with ATI cards since ATi cards have been out.......

[SF101]

about the PPL being ********..
it seems to be a epidemic anymore..
so manny tourny sites are like that too. you see someone poast
everyone knows they are a noob or there miss informed. but there always has to be a person or persons that flame them or make fun of them ..
i think we have all had problems with something or all been noobs once .. and none of us would have liked being made fun of or laughed at so im glad ppl here still can standup and stop that behaviour, cuz i for one have seen flameing ect ruin way to manny forums..

as for the ATI card i think you got a bad one because i have 2 Asus boards and 2 ati cards aswell as 2nvidia cards and a Voodoo3
all of them run np and even when i didnt uninstall the drivers before it never restarted but it did act funny untill i uninstalled and reinstalled the cat drivers. which worked flawlessly afterwords.. so far both my 9600XT and my 9800Pro have never so much as coughed.. my FX5600 also ran decent but i was never that impressed with it .. i had a 5700U also and it ran alright but i sold it to a friend...

so i do think you got a bad card, because like ive said before to others. if you could have goten your card running which usually isnt this, dificult its a dream come true. as far as vidcards go..

l8er!

[roid]

Well I wish I saw this thread sooner I may have had a fix for you.I had the same problem with my ati 9700aiw in games (not eq I dont own it,but every 3d app ) and trying to use the multimedia center.

I knew it wasnt the card because it worked fine in another pc I have,so after many hours of trubleshooting and reinstalling windows,it turned out to be the onboard sound driver conflicting with the ati card.

I tried an older driver and all was good no more lockups or reboots.Also disabeling the onboard sound and installing a seperate sound card also fixed it.Hope this info may help someone else.

On a side note the pc previously had a nvidia card(gf2)and the same driver that conflicted with the ati card worked ok with the nvidia card.

[FatesWarning]

I had a 400 watt Comp USA power supply. After playing games for 5 months it suddenly died. I did not buy an extended warranty and I was screwed out of $75. I will never buy any Comp USA products again.

[harryinny3]

Its an electronic part. ALWAYS buy thre extended warrenty. Its NO questions asked and they will replace it asap.

The warrenty is 90days on that. Thats why if i buy any electronic parts for my rig there i pay the couple bucks and get a 2 year warrenty. Ive had 4 steeringwheels replaced by them in 2 years. Awesone warrenty policy id say.


Didnt cost me a penny to replace.

Harry

[capmuffin]

well i had same prob,cept no bad card drivers going from NVIDIA to ATI,i just reformatted i lost a lot of stuff,nothign i kant re-dl.anyway **** happends man we ger good ones we get bad ones,hey my friend ordered crap off NEWEGG!!!! turns out everything was fried CEPT PSU(static in the box wtf)


****ZA HAPPENDS MAN just RMA no biggie

[DocGiggs]

Okay, after reading this thread from start to last post, I have a couple of things to input...

there seems to be 2 possible problems regarding your dilema with the 9800 pro.... one is you CRAPPY, and I do mean CRAPPY power supply.

Look, I used to work at compusa and I had seen more then I care to remember of those power supplies being returned after completely BLOWING UP. I'm not talking just burning out, I mean I bought one for my friend, when I was dumb, installed it in his old system and within 5 minutes and 10 foot jet of flame shot out the side of his case and roasted his computer and his carpet.

While the problem could be with the card, I swear upon my undying soul and mother's grave that power supply you are using is a big piece of crap. Get rid of it before something bad happens. I'm being serious.

Go get yourself an inexpensive and badass power supply from newegg. It's a 350 watt sparkle that runs $27 bucks there. It's what I use and what I use now in every computer I build. It's perfect for the price. Only P&C power supplies are better. Period.

Now that being said, I'm not holy certain the problem is PSU related. I had purchased a GF FX 5900 card to upgrade my GF4 ti4600 card. It was a Pyrolink card. Anyhow, It booted right the first time but after half an hour it crashed. I tried rebooting and it would crash or lock up as well. Same problem as you are having. However, after about the dozenth time of trying the screen was full of inch thick red vertical bands. I knew at that point it was the card.

RMA'd it back to newegg for a new one and it's working like a champ.

[Neeseius]

newegg sells a lot of bad cards, I myself bought two from there that were bad. Plus like a million other posts. No wonder stuff is cheaper there, cuz everything has probably been dropped or returned and newegg sells them

[harryinny3]

Newegg has worked like a charm Period. If you buy something there it will be listed as used. And any implied warrenty will be stated. Every single thing i have ever bought there has been NEW and NEVER used, so please stop spreading Your missinformed Imformation or opinion.


Newegg isnt the only retailer i use neither. Zipzoomfly is another great retailer i use. So im not Bias in my comments on newegg.


Harry

[Neeseius]

lol woe you need to think about what you say, cuz for one, I was stating more than my opinion, I think the two cards and powersupply I got from newegg that were bad are pretty factual! And that said I rarely buy nething from there since. And Im not sure if this is a fact or not, but a lot of companies can place a card right back on the shelf, or in the new category, if someone decides to return a card cuz they dont like it, or say it doesn't work, and when newegg gets it back and tests the card to see if it works, they can just put it back up for sell for the same value

[johan851]

newegg sells a lot of bad cards, I myself bought two from there that were bad. Plus like a million other posts. No wonder stuff is cheaper there, cuz everything has probably been dropped or returned and newegg sells them
And it's ALL Newegg's fault, of course. Seriously, why don't they just take some time to test every single product that comes through their warehouse? Stupid, lazy...:rolleyes: [/Sarcasm]

A million other posts? Because people only say something when they have something to COMPLAIN about. Newegg's a great store with incredible customer service and an amazingly easy return policy. It's not their fault that they get a bad product every once in a while.