ATI Card?,

[wjester]

Ok here goes,

  I built a new system to act as a Server and when not a Server, a kick butt gamer.  I may or may not have made a mistake in choosing some of the Products.  I will list a brief Spec:

ASROCK p4vbt8+ - I never liked VIA chipsets but all they had.

-P4 3.0Ghz HT 478 (Prescott- I think)

1024 RAM -DDR PC3200

ATI Radeon 9600se 128MB DDR SGRAM. Set at 4x Although this SMARTGART Thing says it'll do 8x. And, What the heck is VPU recover? It has saved me a few times but I will get to that bck to the system.

Twin Seagate 150Gb BArracuda 10,000 RPM Set on A Raid Mirror for Speediness.

DVD Dual LAyer Writer
DVD Single Layer Writer 8x
DVD ROM
CD-DVD-CDRW Combi

CRT is LC700 NEC

A Decent Lil' ol' System----  I  thought--  Here is what is happening.

I have been an Avid FS buff since GOD was a child. Quietly i have watchhed all of the Forums Grow into a global hobby of enthusiasts as well as myself.  I will always be landing my Concorde at Heathrow, whenever I am not working on Web Apps

I Still have FS4 from Windows 95 Days still installed in the background of one of my machiwenes.

I recently GOT FS9.  A lovely Packeage.

I installed all file to my drive as always.

Started Playing....

 Then It happened.  The first time wasn;t so bad thought maybe some settings were wrong in the game. Checked and RE-started.  There it was again..  The Whole thing Just Locks....  Just before I can get the SST off the ground it Dies...

  OK says I, want to play hard ball lets try again.  Download Plane from Web, Manuel's F-16, Lockheed I think.

Same Thing.   Got it in the Air this time about 5,000 Locked on a Barrel Roll.

Can't Beat me..... Original Installation 747-400..  Get to about 160knts Just before roll to TO.   Locked  And, this time I get "ATI's VPU recover has saved your system from a serious error!!!"    :o Oh my, Oh My! Someone deserves a cookie!  

Ok, this is getting very repetative== So I went through all of my Graphics setting and tried again.... Nope Still locking on every plane.

Alright Maybe I will see if it is the system-  Buy and D/L Mad Onions 3dmark2001SE.
..I Score 6215 marks.... I think that is good.  Don't Know.

Now, here is the real kicker, I can ellieviate the problem by going to my display settings and in the troubleshoot section, setting my Hardware Accelelration to the middle which:
   :o "Disables all Direct Draw and Direct 3D aceelerations, as well as all cursor and advanced drawing accelerations"  :o   - what is the point in playing then when half of the graphics are out of it.

So I went out and Downloaded Directx 9.0c and installed that, Still the same result.

What in the World is Going on?

  Did I f--- up and buy a wrong card.... I have always bought ATI.  Last one I had was a All In Wonder RADEON 7200.  I used to do alot of DVD and Video Work for Streaming Video as well as FS 2002 on that card No Problems Ever.

Or Have I overlooked something and just not done something right.

I am goign to uninstall FS9 and Re-install tonight see if it helps but for some reason I think not.

Please Help!!!!!  Because I am  ???

[zeberdee]

Hi, try geting updated drivers for the ATI. I had a similer problem with my Matrox G550, downloaded new driver for it totaly uninstaled the old driver, then loaded the new one, it now works fine. I hope this helps! Regards Chris

[wjester]

Been there.   Updated Last week.  Soory should have clarified

Also, I am not OverClocking anything either.--  Yet.

Also should note the Sound is Creative Labs Audigy2 7.1

Speakers make no Diff. but are Boston Acocustic 7.1 Wireless.

Also Complete Wireless Setup in House for Network and Keyboard Mouse.

[Gixer]

I was gonna say it sounds like an unstable system.  I got these random crashes when I played with o-clocking.  

Have you adjusted your ram timings at all? they can have quite an effect over stability.  The 8x thing for your G/card should be able to be set through BIOS if your mobo is 8x capable.

Could you also look to see if there is an option for 'Fastwrites' in your BIOS, I cant remeber what section it will be under.  If there is and its enabled disable it and see if this helps.

Ensure you have all the latest drivers (sounds like you have) just double check your Via chipset ones are the latest.

[Delta_]

Have you ever thought of turning it off.  It is known to cause problems.  I turned it off as soon as i got into the control panel when i got my card.

[wjester]

Ok, After careful and compliciant opinionating.  I have come to the conclusion that possibly the G/Card can't handle the system.

The RAM on the Bios Says DDR-400Mhz, Not Sure.  I Know I  bought DDR-PC3200 What kind, couldn't tell you.  

With the few settings I had been given, (Thanx to HI-D for that) I have been able to get my 3dMarks up to 6535.

I am going to Re-intall the Smart GART and Original Drivers then Up them again see if it helps.  If not I am going to reintall FS9

However,

I am going to replace the G/Card Anyway.  I am looking at alot of the users here and see alot of them Are on the FX5500 and FX5200 Chipset.  (Nvidia always has been decent with Games.)

With the RAM and Processor available in this System (Contents Above) Which Graphics cars would you be prompted to install?   Of Course Gaming and Grphics Capabilities Have to be at the Umost level,

Ok So, Here is the Question, and knowing that it may possibly start a Flame Thread (which I do not want to StART), I invite users. PLEASE, DO NOT REPLY HERE to me with their opinion.  Instead, you may E-MAIL me sent to wjester3@utvinternet.com.

I look forward to your opinions

[richardd43]

I have a Radeon 9600 in the AGP slot and a Radeon 9200 in a PCI slot running three screens and have never had a problem with FS-9.

I have a 2500+ Barton clocked to 3200 with a Gagabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2. Other that running the FSB at 200 everything is stock and it all works great with the ATI boards and Cat 4.7

[bm]

I am looking at alot of the users here and see alot of them Are on the FX5500 and FX5200 Chipset

Please don't say this is too late Don't buy any of these! Your 9600SE is way better! (9200=5200 9500=5500 9600=5600, at least in theory but mostly the ATi's have better IQ and performance)

[Iroquois]

I am going to replace the G/Card Anyway.  I am looking at alot of the users here and see alot of them Are on the FX5500 and FX5200 Chipset.  (Nvidia always has been decent with Games.)

The nVidia FX series was a flop. I use nVidia because I've bought two ATI cards in the past that simply did not work. I couldn't even get decent help even though the factory is only in the next town over. I will continue to buy nVidia because they make good solid products.

Your best buy right now is the Geforce 6800GT or 6800Ultra. These are the best cards on the market, most people agree. They support features like SM 3.0 which is the new standard for image shadding in modern games like Far Cry and Doom3. The X800 series doesn't. As for general preformance, the Geforce 6800 and Radeon X800 are about the same. The x800 beats the 6800 in some benchmarks but not others. Basically nVidia and ATI are back on an equal playing field. The Geforce 6800 is also cheaper than it's ATI counterparts.

[Akula.]

This'll sound crazy, but, here goes...
Did you plug the card in properly?
told you it'd sound crazy...
Akula

PS.btw, this did happen with a teacher's computer at my school. funnily enough, the teacher asked me, not the IT techie! i've got a friend!!!

[Iroquois]

This'll sound crazy, but, here goes...
Did you plug the card in properly?
told you it'd sound crazy...
Akula

PS.btw, this did happen with a teacher's computer at my school. funnily enough, the teacher asked me, not the IT techie! i've got a friend!!!

This was a while ago. It was a Radeon 8500LE. Tried a ton of drivers,  but it kept showing artifacts on the screen. Triangles darting everywhere. I've owned several video cards over the years. A Trident VGA PCI card (that was before 3d acceleration was necessary), Radeon 32mb PCI (wouldn't work when I upgraded to Windows 98), Geforce 2 MX64-TV (great card, worked perfectly with FS2002), Radeon 8500LE (didn't work period), and a Geforce FX5200 which has worked flawlessly since the day I installed it. I've been working with computers for a while so I know how to read an instruction booklet and how to install an expansion card. I returned the 8500 and bought the FX5200 a week later so I don't have it anymore. Needless to say, us Canadians can produce the worlds tallest building, the most passenger planes, a robotic arm for the space shuttle, but we seem to have trouble with graphics cards.

[Tchkinjiu]

I really have no idea, i just want to pop in with my idea. You have the se version. Basically, se is just a very stripped down version of the original. So that MIGHT have to do with it, maybe not. And best bet right now is with the x800 series. But if thats out of your price range. Go to here. Click on Video Cards and it will give a big list and there prices. Just skim down and see what you like.

[noen]

First thing.

This is happening for one of two reasons.  Either you have a shitty power supply that can't handle the load, or you have a faulty video card that has probably been tampered with before you got it.

Go get the video card exchanged, and if you can afford it go ahead and get a 9600XT or Pro.  The 9600SE is an extremely crippled card, and you will see 25-30% better performance on a 9600XT versus the SE.

I will almost garauntee the problem is the power supply though, especially if you are running a prescott processor.  Also if it is a prescott, that motherboard is going to give you trouble.

Replace that motherboard with a decent chipset if you can afford it.

ASUS "P4P800 SE" i865PE  - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 484&depa=0

Best socket 478 motherboard on the market.

[Gary R.]

I just bought a 9200se friday. Wife has me on a budget and so far I've updated dx9b-dx9c and the graphics card drivers.  Now, I still can't get agp acceleration so I went to my moboard maufactureres site and found an agp flash bios update.  I am going to apply that today and hope it works.  If not, and the shop I bought this card at doesn't have any answers tomorrow, it's going back and I am writing off ati forever and buying a comparable nvidia.  I've had bad exeriences with ati beofre like 3 different 64ddr radeon cards frying on me.  Never had a problem though with either of the nvidia cards I've owned nor have out of date drivers ever adversely hanpered anything i've run using them.  At this point, ati $ucks in my book.

[Delta_]

Please don't say this is too late Don't buy any of these! Your 9600SE is way better! (9200=5200 9500=5500 9600=5600, at least in theory but mostly the ATi's have better IQ and performance)

Actually 9500=5600 and 9600=5700.  The 5500 was a card released to fill a hole between the 5200 and 5700, after budget buyers looking for increased performance did not want to pay out for a 5700 but found a 5200 too weak for them.