URGENT-should i return my x700?

i just got the sapphire x700 256 from newegg less than a week ago. I put in Need For Speed Most Wanted and i'm dropping frames even at the lower settings. I oc'd my card a litle bit with ATItool-the max core was 474 and the max mem was around 276 or so. I set it to 459/259 and now need for speed has frozen on me twice.when i bought this card i thought i be able to run the latest games, at least at there lower settings.i ran 3dmark05 free version and got a score of 2500-something, maybe 2578-i dotn rememer,it was yesterday. I thought that was low. i was thinking of returnign my card and getting the powercolor x700-newegg
any one have any suggestions?am i doing something wrong, or jsut expecting to much out of this card?

Is your CPU overclocked? Is it stable?

its overclocked but its stable.there were no artifacts after 45 minutes of atitool.and temps are about 59 load,44 average

Artifacts have nothing to do with an overclocked cpu

you've overclocked it, thus voiding the warrenty
you shouldnt return it.
only if its artifacting @ stock speeds

oh man i thougth it said gpu.my system is oc'ed, but 4hrs prime 95 stable.i was wonderinig will the powercolor get better performance?

NFSPU2 locked up on me a lot. It had to do with my OC, somehow it would show artifacts and lock up on frequencies where other games (HL2, CS:S) would run perfectly.

Try and run it on stock settings and see how it goes.

dan

I would say run the entire system at stock speeds, then you will find out if that is the problem or not.

RMAing a card you messed up is just plain wrong. Eat the cost, learn from your mistakes and get a new card. You most likely pushed the card too much or without good enough cooling. Consider these things before you OC your next card.


BTW, 2500 seems about right for a X700.

d94 said:

you've overclocked it, thus voiding the warrenty
you shouldnt return it.
only if its artifacting @ stock speeds

Click to expand...

Overdrive does not void your warranty.

the card isnt messed up at all.it runs as good as it was when i got it. i jsut thought it was better.i can still refund it, and i might get the powercolor instead because ive heard it clocks much higher.

That wouldn't do you any good. You simply need a faster card, that's all. Like x8X0 series or GF6800 or higher series to really squeze some decent performance out of that game

There is something with the X700 Pro. Mine is evil I think. I was able to run NFS MW with MUCH higher settings than my old 9000 Pro (a card that performed worse clock for clock than the 8500), however at any settings, it would still feel unsmooth and kinda "stumble" every now and then. Playing CS1.6 (worked fine and insanely smooth on the 9000 pro, but this is a game I have played on a 500MHz P3 laptop with 4mb integrated onboard video), it does the same thing, kinda stumbling. It feels like I am lagging by my actual ping is fine it is just "computer lag."

I heard of someone who had this problem in CS with their 9800 Pro.

I am going to reformat and do a clean driver install of everything. Hopefully this will fix my problem.


EDIT: The card I am using is a 256mb AGP 8x Built By ATi X700 Pro. It has Samsung memory chips if that matters. I am running DX9C and my AGP aperature is 64mb, unchanged from what it was with my 128mb 9000 Pro.