ATi 9800 pro settings

[Steve_Butka]

Ok, now I have a bunch of PMs from great folks here who helped me solve my 9800xt problems when i first got it last year.  however, i seem to be running into a problem with the new card (got it today  ;D)

I want to set my AGP Speed to 8x like I know I had it, however the card just will not let me do it.  i set it to 8x, restart as prompted, and it defsaults to "OFF".  I set it to 4x to test it out, restart, and same story.

I am pretty sure this worked for me with the 9800xt so I am a little confused by this issue.

I can fly in the sim but I am noticing some choppiness and I am running next to zero programs outside of FS9 while doing so.

What gives??

[JBaymore]

Maybe check your BIOS settings?

best,

.................john

[Steve_Butka]

Maybe check your BIOS settings?

best,

.................john

that's chinese to me, mate

[Steve_Butka]

update-- this i what happens

my game lags like hell.  then if I "alt + tab" it to the desktop, when I bring it back up it's fine (well, better) for a little bit, then it gets horriblly laggy again.  then i just repeat that process but i really shouldn't have to do that with a machine like mine.

i have no idea what updating BIOS means.  I have the most recent catalyst drivers, too.  This is really confusing me.

[congo]

Make BIOS your Friend!  (spoken in old wise chinese accent)    ;)

[congo]

You don't update the bios unless you do stupid things like I do, or unless there is a good reason to do it.

When the PC boots up and you see the RAM counting up onscreen, a key is hit, usually DELETE, and then the BIOS setup screen will soon appear.

This is where all the PC's configuration settings are made and balanced, enabled and disabled.

If you get scared in there, just exit without saving. If you are fairly certain of a setting change, make it and save the changes and exit.

It may not help your graphics to go there, but there may be an incorrect setting causes the probs.

[cableguy]

The reason why you cant switch to x8 is probably because u need to update your motherboard drivers
I had the same poblem too, till i found out

[NicksFXHouse]

[quote]a problem with the new card (got it today

[NicksFXHouse]

Flight Sim settings:

Scenery tab:
1.

[congo]

Video drivers should NEVER be installed until ALL motherboard drivers have been completely uninstalled/reinstalled and verified.

Not everyone who reads this thread is gonna be an expert, so a warning needs to accompany it methinks.

I can just see a bunch of guys doing a format after the above advice, or just totally losing performance after wiping out the mainboard drivers and not knowing where, what or even realising they need to install mobo drivers.

I tried using driver cleaner for about a year, it caused me re-formats, so I dumped it. It may have a place, but not in my pc. I've always resolved issues without it.

I usually just install a driver over the top of everything, though I sometimes uninstall the driver to be replaced first. (When I remember before clicking the new driver install!)
It always seems to work ok. And, yes, I can hear you screaming, but I don't care, it works when I do it.

The average Joe is gonna make a mess of his PC if he starts messing about with drivers. Unless there is a real problem with your display, best to leave it alone.

Despite contrary opinion, even at the corporate level, with software titles stating the requirements of the "latest" video drivers............ I always find there is an "old" driver somewhere that works better than any of them. I'm still using nv43.51 for my TI4200 and it rocks for what it is.

A good reason to update a video driver would be a known driver fix for an issue with a particular piece of software you want to use. (like flourescent colors on textures for instance).

Driver updating for performance gains is a dubious exercise at best, with very small gains ever realised, and usually resulting in some other issue to offset your success, even if you did get 1 more frame per second out of the update.

Don't un-install your mainboard drivers unless you know what they all are and exactly where you have backup install programs for them. Typically, people misplace them after first installing their pc's, then they are forgotten.

[NicksFXHouse]

Not everyone who reads this thread is gonna be an expert, so a warning needs to accompany it methinks.

I can just see a bunch of guys doing a format after the above advice, or just totally losing performance after wiping out the mainboard drivers and not knowing where, what or even realising they need to install mobo drivers.

I tried using driver cleaner for about a year, it caused me re-formats, so I dumped it. It may have a place, but not in my pc. I've always resolved issues without it.

I usually just install a driver over the top of everything, though I sometimes uninstall the driver to be replaced first. (When I remember before clicking the new driver install!)
It always seems to work ok. And, yes, I can hear you screaming, but I don't care, it works when I do it.

The average Joe is gonna make a mess of his PC if he starts messing about with drivers. Unless there is a real problem with your display, best to leave it alone.

Despite contrary opinion, even at the corporate level, with software titles stating the requirements of the "latest" video drivers............ I always find there is an "old" driver somewhere that works better than any of them. I'm still using nv43.51 for my TI4200 and it rocks for what it is.

A good reason to update a video driver would be a known driver fix for an issue with a particular piece of software you want to use. (like flourescent colors on textures for instance).

Driver updating for performance gains is a dubious exercise at best, with very small gains ever realised, and usually resulting in some other issue to offset your success, even if you did get 1 more frame per second out of the update.

Don't un-install your mainboard drivers unless you know what they all are and exactly where you have backup install programs for them. Typically, people misplace them after first installing their pc's, then they are forgotten.

If you dont uninstall at LEAST the motherboard AGP (GART) driver, ATI driver installation may not work right. The ATI 9800, or X800 manual states that at minimum the AGP driver should be replaced(updated) or reinstalled prior to running the new video driver installation. I had an ATI engineer clarify those instructions quite some time ago. She apologized for the unlcear nomencature (whoch ATI has never fixed)  and clarified the correct driver installation routine, which is what I posted above.


I have seen more performance problems traced back to improper driver installation routine than any other reason. Allot of people dont even know they have a perfomance problem and think their adapter is running at 100%

...hint: one of the reasons 'clean installs' clears up stability and performance problems is because of all the improper driver overlays.


I have yet to 'clean install' any of my systems for years now and never will need to for performance reasons. Its all in knowing how to correctly install and maintain that installation as driver updates, etc are added.

[RollerBall]

I tried using driver cleaner for about a year, it caused me re-formats, so I dumped it. It may have a place, but not in my pc.

Same here. I don't use it either

I usually just install a driver over the top of everything, though I sometimes uninstall the driver to be replaced first.

Me too. There are dozens and dozens of drivers on a PC and a device only recognises and uses those which it needs to work. Also, it doesn't matter if you remove an nVidia card and replace it with an ATI even, because as far as the new card is concerned, the old drivers which are left are no different from those which run any other device and they don't interfere. However, they take up unnecessary space and it's therefore a good idea to uninstall them as they can often run to quite a Megs

Driver updating for performance gains is a dubious exercise at best, with very small gains ever realised, and usually resulting in some other issue to offset your success, even if you did get 1 more frame per second out of the update.

Absolutely. I just confirmed this during my latest update stuff. I benchmarked the graphics driver that came out of the box and then installed and benchmarked the latest nVidia drivers. They were appreciably slower. Not surprising really as all that has been added to them are drivers for other newer cards in the nVidia range ie data has been added that my card does not need.

I quickly reverted to the older drivers and I won't bother messing with them again.