Catalyst Causes 9800Pro->XT Frame skipping, DNA Drivers fix, lower 3dMark03 score

[Awake77]

Catalyst Causes 9800Pro->XT Frame skipping, DNA Drivers fix, lower 3dMark03 score

Hey there - this is my first post on the OCForums...

I have an interesting problem that I havent been able to resolve with many hours of internet searching...

Sapphire 9800Pro flashed to XTBios, running comfortably at XT speeds with an Arctic Cooler. MSI K8N Neo Platinum, AMD64 3200+, 1GB Crucial DDR400. Everything was running great, but when running 3DMark03, I would notice the screen 'jumping' during the animations. Most notceable on "Battle of Proxycon', the FPS would stay high but the screen looked like it was skipping frames. With this going on, I was getting a 3DMark03 score of ~6650. It would skip a bit in games like FarCry and Doom3, but it wasnt very noticeable.

I tried re-installing the Catalyst drivers, and this would solve the problem for a while, but eventually it would start up again. I actually ended up re-formatting and re-installing my whole system. Again, everything worked for a while and then the skipping problem would rear its head, but always be resolved for a short while with a driver re-install.

I decided to try the latest DNA drivers, and what do you know, I havent seen a frame skip yet. The 3Dmark03 demos are actually running smoother then they were with the Catalyst drivers, BUT, when the test is done, Im only scoring ~6050!! Im not too concerned with it, because it seems like the system has improved performace-wise. What gives with the low 3dMark03 score, though?

Also - does anyone have an idea what was going on with the Catalyst drivers to cause the frame skipping? Is there anything I can do, possibly registry edits with RivaTuner, to alleviate this problem?

Thanks! Im looking foward to your responses.

Awake77

 

[aniwarp86]

Well, have you tried turning Fast Write off or disabling VPU recover? These can sometimes lead to some problems.

Oh, and Welcome to the Forums

 

[Awake77]

I did try disabling fast write but I didnt try turning off VPU recover. Now that Im running fine with the DNA drivers, I dont want to re-install the Catalyst just to check, you know?

Any idea what's causing the 600pt drop in 3dMark03 scores though, while performance seems to have improved?

Oh, and Welcome to the Forums

Thanks!!

Awake77

 

[Avg]

Could be that the DNA drivers improve the IQ but you may lose performance, the score is based on how many frames your gettting, the same thing happens with the omega drivers, they are optimized for quality not perfomance at least that is what i was told when I got lower scores with the omega driver. I had the skipping happen to me where there was a lot shaders used like in test 2 and 3 but that was because of driver setting or oc, but I never had it happen in games so i didn't worry about it.

 

[Awake77]

I did notice that the skipping happened whenever I tried to overclock the FSB. The DNA Drivers seemed to have cleared it up, however.

Another thing - I did try reinstalling the Catalyst drivers. I ran 3DMark03 and recieved the same lower score that I got with the DNADrivers!! Im assuming The DNA's left something on the system that would influence the benchmark, as I didnt use DriverCleaner after uninstalling them.

Either way, seems like i have the problem solved. I can live with the slight drop in FPS, I definately notice the boost in 'animation smoothness' (for lack of better term) with the DNA Drivers.

 

[Awake77]

Just wanted to follow up - I solved the problem. Now, even with a slightly overclocked system (FSB @ 205, AGP voltage @ 1.55v), Im running completely skip-free with DNA Drivers installed and at a better 3dMark03 score then with the original catalyst drivers.

I OC'd the system first, then completely uninstalled the DNA drivers, removing all traces of them with DriverCleaner. Then I just reinstalled the drivers. I got my performance back, with the DNA IQ, and the system is running smooth as silk. Im sure I could push it quite a bit further, but Im building it for a friend who lives far away and Id rather have the stability, as he's kind of computer illiterate.

Bottom line - Driver Cleaner is essential if your updating/changing your video card drivers!!!

Awake77