Well...I am pretty much stumped on what is goin on with my vid card. I recently recieved a OEM Connect3D x800XT PE and it is not up to par with my expectations. I ran 3dMark03 at 1024 with (I think) no AA and 4x AF (I might be backwards on this). I got a score of ~11000. But when I play Half Life 2 at 1024 with all recommended Valve settings (mostly full with a few mediums) and 4xAA/8xAF I get a average of about 30fps. That cant be right for a top of the line ~$500 card. So I start experimenting...

>Cat 4.12 displayed results described above.
>Cat 4.12b made no difference.
>I did switch from a nVidia card so I made sure to uninstall the forceware completely and used "Nasty File Remover" and "Driver Cleaner 3.3" from http://www.driverheaven.net/.
>Defragged my heavily fragmented drive and that helped but not how Id like.
>Tried BF1942 briefly (2 minutes) this morning before work and I dont have numbers but I wasnt impressed.

My next step was gonna be to try Omega and then try previous Cat drivers. I am at work now So I cant do much. I have Win Xp SP2 fully updated. My chipset and bios are fully updated. Could there be something in my bios limiting the card's speed? I looked and couldnt find much. I did change the AGP aperture size from 64mb (my old gf3) to 256mb. Also made sure my agp was running at 8x and it is. The thing I dread it being is maybe that since it is a OEM card it is flawed.

Let me know anything you guys can think of and I will help as much as I can from work.

Thanks!

My friends XT/PE can run 1600x1200 @ 8AA 16 AF (hl;2)all setting on high with about 50 fps, so that isnt right.

Quote: Originally Posted by TYCOON My friends XT/PE can run 1600x1200 @ 8AA 16 AF (hl;2)all setting on high with about 50 fps, so that isnt right.

Ya it is really strange.

How about a fresh format?

I have tried swapping hardware like vid cards and noticed odd glitches at times until I do a clean install, even after following the proper procedures like running driver cleaner.

AS a matter of fact, I recently put my X-800 Pro back into my Mobile 2500+ rig, and now everyonce in a while it decides to play the Matrix on me..the video looks all weird until I reboot.

This same card worked fine a few months ago in this rig..if I weren't taking it back out soon..I would be formatting the HD in a heartbeet

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro How about a fresh format? I have tried swapping hardware like vid cards and noticed odd glitches at times until I do a clean install, even after following the proper procedures like running driver cleaner.

That crossed my mind but its just such a pain in my arse. I just reformated like 10 weeks ago cuz I got a new processor lol.

I hear ya..but If you didn't t find anything else wrong with drivers, or hardware config..then it's probalby the best bet.

You could try running the full tests at PCPITSOP.com, I have a thread on it in the benchamrking results section. It has found issues for me in the past I could not find anywhere else.

http://pcpitstop.com/

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro I hear ya..but If you didn't t find anything else wrong with drivers, or hardware config..then it's probalby the best bet. You could try running the full tests at PCPITSOP.com, I have a thread on it in the benchamrking results section. It has found issues for me in the past I could not find anywhere else. http://pcpitstop.com/

Thanks, I get home in a few hours and I'll try it then. Til then I will test on one of these narly Dell comps at work haha.

Well that pcpitstop didnt find anything wrong. I tried Omega drivers with alittle improvement so I reformatted and it is pretty much the same. Guess I will be RMA'ing, this is the biggest pain in my ass ever. Worse than switching my processor in a watercooled setup lol.

They refunded me the money and I turned around and bought a Asus AX800XT PE. Turns out I get worse scores on this card. I figure the prob. must reside in my 350W PSU. Heres what I have using power:
2x 7.92W (120mm Fans)
1x 4.56W (120mm Fan)
2x 8.600W (Hard drives)
1x DVDrom (No info available other than Sony DDU-1621)
1x CD-RW (MFG Link )

You can see the rest of my setup to the bottom. I get a score of ~10300 on 3DMark03 on 1024 with 4xAF and 0xAA. I should be getting ~12300, correct?

doesn't the x800xt underclock itself if it detects its not getting enough power? or was that the 6800 ultra . ..

well either way you'll probably want to get a new psu.

I dont know if it does or not.

Quote: Originally Posted by TyP3-R They refunded me the money and I turned around and bought a Asus AX800XT PE. Turns out I get worse scores on this card. I figure the prob. must reside in my 350W PSU.

You're going to need a 430 watt PSU minimum with something like an X800. ATi was already including warnings in the box about needing a 400 watt PSU with Radeon 9700's!!! And not some flaky PSU that might explode on you, you need a top of the line to handle an X800, like an Antec or a Vantec.

I just picked up a 500W Ultra X-Connect. I'll post later.

Here's a link to download FU3LMAN's Overclockulator (it'll make your life easier when figuring out just how much juice your rig uses): http://www.pcapex.com/downloads/inde...nd%20Utilities
I checked the user's manual for the x800 AGP series cards on ATI's site. ATI's bare minimun PSU for the XT is a 350 Watt.

EDIT: Ya posted as i was typing ....SWEET new PSU: hope it solves your dilema

Got an open box item because I planned on only using it to test then return it and order one online for cheaper. This way I could just see if the PSU makes a difference and not open ne of their brand new boxes. Lucky me ended up getting a PSU that was broke and my system would not run more than 10 minutes without the PSU just cutting out. I'll have to go back tomorrow and get a exchange and test again. I could never find a minimum watt spec on this damn box or manual guess the ATi site is the place to go.

EDIT : That calculator you guys have is very nice better than anyone I have ever used. It says I am using 396W. If it is anywhere near correct I do need a new PSU.

"300 watt or greater power supply recommended for RADEON™ X800 Pro and 350 watt for RADEON™ X800 XT Platinum." Thats directly from manual. Probably what you read. Thanks for mentioning that.

Quote: Originally Posted by TyP3-R Got an open box item because I planned on only using it to test then return it and order one online for cheaper. This way I could just see if the PSU makes a difference and not open ne of their brand new boxes. Lucky me ended up getting a PSU that was broke and my system would not run more than 10 minutes without the PSU just cutting out. I'll have to go back tomorrow and get a exchange and test again. I could never find a minimum watt spec on this damn box or manual guess the ATi site is the place to go. EDIT : That calculator you guys have is very nice better than anyone I have ever used. It says I am using 396W. If it is anywhere near correct I do need a new PSU. "300 watt or greater power supply recommended for RADEON™ X800 Pro and 350 watt for RADEON™ X800 XT Platinum." Thats directly from manual. Probably what you read. Thanks for mentioning that.

those warnings are always the bare minimums though. i always get a psu that's way past the minimums just to be safe

Quote: Originally Posted by Enko those warnings are always the bare minimums though. i always get a psu that's way past the minimums just to be safe

Ya I understand, I wish I didnt get a broken X-Connect, I would be enjoying high HL2 FPS right now.

I'm guessing you have the motherboard chipset drivers installed, paticularly the GART drivers...?
If a new X-Connect does not alleviate the issue, you should just suck it up and format.

At this point I would have already myself.

Quote: Originally Posted by TekXoID I'm guessing you have the motherboard chipset drivers installed, paticularly the GART drivers...? If a new X-Connect does not alleviate the issue, you should just suck it up and format. At this point I would have already myself.

I already did when I got my connect3d card. I didnt re-reformat for this card cuz thats just getting silly lol. GART drivers? Is that just chipset drivers? I have newest Bios and Intel Chipset drivers from MSI's update utility.

And instead of putting your aperture as 256mb, you should put it about 128mb, and try that. If you use too much memory for textures and graphics, you wont have memory for anything else. Just a thought.

I believe a rule of thumb is like setting it to 1/3 or 1/2 of your system memory. Say.. if you have a 512mb system memory, put the AGP aperture at 128mb or so.