ATI X1900 GT Problems

[psychodad]

I just replaced my ATI X800 XT with a X1900 GT and I'm getting some wierd poly type shapes in GRAW. Also little lines on my desktop sometimes. I had a similar problem with the x800 back in the Joint Ops days, but the latest Omega drivers took care of it. I'm running the latest Omegas now. I'm thinking of sending it back and switching brands to a GeForce card. Any ideas?
(The middle image shows the little lines)

[Daletheman]

sounds like a bad card to me i had a similar problem with mine and found out it was a bad card.i havent used the ATI cards but the GForce cards are the only way to go in my book.the lines in the screen are called architecturing and thats a sign of a bad card,also it could be overheating....have you checked you fan?

[psychodad]

Thanks for the reply, the fan is spinning. I think I'll try the official ATI drivers after doing a "driver clean". If that does nothing, I'll send it back.

I was looking at the GeForce 7900 GT and the 7950 GT cards. The DX10 cards are just too much for my budget right now.

[Ninja]

My X1800XT had that problem with GRAW as well but it didn't do it on the desktop. If I remember right, a clean install of the latest ATI drivers took care of the problem. I switched to an X1900XTX shortly after though.

[psychodad]

I just unloaded the Omegas, and installed the official ATI drivers. Same thing...GRAW actually crashed this time. R6 Vegas locked up and I got a "no signal" window on my monitor. Looks like this card is toast, like Daletheman thought.

I called newegg, got an RMA, and it's on to my first GeForce card. Nothing against ATI, but this is the second ATI that gave me these kinds of fits. I'm sure it happens to all brands, but I figured I'd give the NVidia chipset a try since so many people swear by them. Plus my BIOS is NVidia, I doubt if that makes any difference, but it can't hurt.

[Tortelvis]

I just unloaded the Omegas, and installed the official ATI drivers. Same thing...GRAW actually crashed this time. R6 Vegas locked up and I got a "no signal" window on my monitor. Looks like this card is toast, like Daletheman thought.

I called newegg, got an RMA, and it's on to my first GeForce card. Nothing against ATI, but this is the second ATI that gave me these kinds of fits. I'm sure it happens to all brands, but I figured I'd give the NVidia chipset a try since so many people swear by them. Plus my BIOS is NVidia, I doubt if that makes any difference, but it can't hurt.

With the 8800's out now you can probably get a better deal on the 7900 or 7950 compared to a few months ago. Happy hunting.

[Daletheman]

if you go with the GForce chipset may i suggest buying BFG....mainly because of the lifetime warranty....if ti breaks they replace it no questions asked.i had an issue with mine like i said before and they replaced it no problem and the card was over a year old,so i got a new one.

[psychodad]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

After a good bit of research, I ordered an eVGA Geforce 7950GT KO 512MB. If you register at their website, they also give you a lifetime warranty. It was about $15 cheaper than the BFG, so with the warranties the same, I need every penny I can keep!

From what I've been reading, it should be a great card!

[Tombstone]

I ordered an eVGA Geforce 7950GT KO 512MB.

In building a system for Roo I started with a eVGA 7800GT it ended up having a bent circuit board. I got Roo a 7900GT to replace it (by that time same price as 7800GT) and was able to RMA the damaged 7800GT to eVGA with no problem. The card they sent back to me I used in a system for Punisher. Neither have had any problems with cards that I know of. eVGA also has a great step up program. Keep that in mind if you find some extra change laying around and want to step up to the 8800s.

Personally I like the BFGs because they OC very well and usually have upgraded cooling intsalled. I threw a BFG 7800GS AGP card in my racing PC and it almost tripled my 3D graphics scores of my ATI9800. It actually is allowing my AMD XP 2500+ to compete with my AMD 64 3200+ which has the ATI X850Pro. Next step will have to be a new motherboard and PCI-e video. Anyone wanting to get the last little bit from their AGP system should look at the 7800GS cards (approx $179 with rebates). They do like a little more power as I found out. I had to upgrade the PSU but would have had to for a new system anyway.

Hope you get up and running with the new card P-Dad.

']['

[psychodad]

eVGA also has a great step up program. Keep that in mind if you find some extra change laying around and want to step up to the 8800s.


Hope you get up and running with the new card P-Dad.

']['

Well Tomb, not one to make these decisions easily, I called Newegg back and canceled the 7950 and ordered an EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR 8800GTS. It was about $150 more than the 7950, so I figured it would be good to get ahead of the game.

Now if Psycho MOM finds out...well, I figured it would be better to explain it now, than in 6 months to a year when I would want a new one. LOL Then maybe I can do the "step-up" to a GTX!

[psychodad]

Next step will have to be a new motherboard and PCI-e video. Anyone wanting to get the last little bit from their AGP system should look at the 7800GS cards (approx $179 with rebates). They do like a little more power as I found out. I had to upgrade the PSU but would have had to for a new system anyway.
']['

Tomb or anyone considering an upgrade from AGP to PCIe...

I picked up the DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra at Newegg for $72.99! It's a great board (I've overclocked my Athlon 64 3500 2.2 to 2.66 and could probably go more), plus by using my old CPU and memory, that was the only expense other than the price of the new video card...gulp. Be sure to check, but most video cards come with a free game. Mine came with Dark Messiah, but I have heard some have Rainbow Six Vegas as their freebee.

That board with my old CPU and memory plus a GeForce 8800 GTS took me from a 1900 to a 6300 3DMark06 score.

PS This only worked because my old AGP board and Athlon 64 3500+ was a socket 939 as well.

[Eagle1]

I see your issue. here is my experience and question. are you running the official ATI drivers? I recommend using only official drivers. as far as the difference between ATI and NVIDIA I highly recommend ATI. I used ATI for years and loved it, then I decided to go with NVIDIA when I built my new system because I heard all the hype about how fast and good NVIDIA is. I found that NVIDIA cards are faster and are good but then my NVIDIA GForce 6800 GS PCIe which was 2 years old starting giving me issues when trying to play R6 Vegas. So I went out and bought and ATI card ATI 1950XTX and all my issues disappeared I also noticed that ATI cards do have better video/graphics quality. here is the comparison if you want a great ATI card that will beat NVIDIA you will have to spend a little more money, but if you want to go cheaper and have a card that will handle just as much and don't care about quality then you can go faster with NVIDIA. I decided to spend the extra 100dollars and from my experience with both brands I can now say I will stay with ATI from now on, also ATI has improved 10fold because now they are owned and running AMD processors. check this website to compare all the card for ATI and NVIDIA, it will show you the speed, pixels etc.

ATI cards comparison - http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/131

NVIDIA cards comparison - http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/132

important qualities to look at:

besides processor speed you need to focus on
Memory Interface
Pixels per clock

would you like forcing a baseballl through a garden hose, the better the interface and pixels per clock the more graphics information can flow through your card and PC or do you want a fast card that chokes the quality down.

Eagle1

Eagle1

[psychodad]

Thanks for the info Eagle, but I already pulled the trigger on the GeForce 8800 GTS about a week ago. (and I did try going back to the official ATI drivers with no luck)

Every card I've owned up until now was an ATI, and I always liked them. I did have some strange problems though, so I always wondered. All in all I think ATI and Nvidia (being in such close competition) are both great cards.

After looking at the charts you linked in, I'm liking my decision about the 8800 GTS even more! That bad boy has 96 pixels per clock, the closest ATI has 48, plus the 8800 is DX10 compliant, so I'll be ready for Vista (and CrySis) when it hits. Not to mention the fact that it runs and looks great.