Video Card/Mobo problems
Ok, so I'm building someone a new computer for college. I'm a system builder, and have done about a dozen systems in the last 2 months alone. He wanted something that would last him a bunch of years but was on somewhat of a budget (around 1000). So, I figured I'd build him a solid, but not insane socket 754 64bit system. Here are the parts, all from newegg.com :
AMD socket 754 2800+
2x512 Geil Value Series PC3200
Chaintech CT-SK8T800 board
2x80gb Hitachi SATA drives at RAID 0
Sapphire Radeon 9600 w/ 256 mb (8x)
The board isn't the best board out there, but it was dirt dirt cheap. I know motherboard isn't a great thing to skimp on, but reviews weren't all that bad and the chipset is fast, and since he was on a budget it seemed like a reasonable way to build him a good 64 bit system. So I put in RAM and proc, connect front panel and turn on. No system beeps....but nothing on the screen. First thing I thought: dead board. Clear CMOS; no change. Put in an old Radeon 7000 on the unlikely hope it was the video card, and system starts up and posts no problem. So now I assume dead video card. I install Windoze and get everything running. I'm about to RMA the card for a replacement, when I decide to test it first.
I put the "dead" card in my computer (AMD athlon 2200+, and a board that only supports 4x) and voila. Everything is worknig. So I put it back in his to make sure I just didnt' have it in wrong, but I get nothing. I have another card around for a system I'm building later this week. So I took that card (a Sapphire 9600 SE with 128mb ram, 8x) and put it in. Again I get nothing. So both my old, 4x cards work fine in this board. Neither of my new, 8x cards (both also sapphire) will work. This is a problem for me. Is their a known compatibility issue? Thus far googling has revealed nothing. Thanks for any help.
AMD socket 754 2800+
2x512 Geil Value Series PC3200
Chaintech CT-SK8T800 board
2x80gb Hitachi SATA drives at RAID 0
Sapphire Radeon 9600 w/ 256 mb (8x)
The board isn't the best board out there, but it was dirt dirt cheap. I know motherboard isn't a great thing to skimp on, but reviews weren't all that bad and the chipset is fast, and since he was on a budget it seemed like a reasonable way to build him a good 64 bit system. So I put in RAM and proc, connect front panel and turn on. No system beeps....but nothing on the screen. First thing I thought: dead board. Clear CMOS; no change. Put in an old Radeon 7000 on the unlikely hope it was the video card, and system starts up and posts no problem. So now I assume dead video card. I install Windoze and get everything running. I'm about to RMA the card for a replacement, when I decide to test it first.
I put the "dead" card in my computer (AMD athlon 2200+, and a board that only supports 4x) and voila. Everything is worknig. So I put it back in his to make sure I just didnt' have it in wrong, but I get nothing. I have another card around for a system I'm building later this week. So I took that card (a Sapphire 9600 SE with 128mb ram, 8x) and put it in. Again I get nothing. So both my old, 4x cards work fine in this board. Neither of my new, 8x cards (both also sapphire) will work. This is a problem for me. Is their a known compatibility issue? Thus far googling has revealed nothing. Thanks for any help.
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Comments
Tex
I went to high school with the guys who own the company and they give me a good deal, especially on that combo, which makes building complete systems for low low prices even easier. Thats why I opted for this rather than for something from Enermax or Thermaltake..
Good thougth tho, I may have a better PSU around I can try running the system with. I almost hope that is the problem, as it'd be easy and fairly cheap to remedy. Thanks for the idea, I'll keep you posted.
Even if I had to RMA the card and get a new one, I don't know what to get because I don't know what is causing the problem. I could just order the exact same card I have, but I'd really like to give him something better than a Radeon 9000 Pro w/ 64mb. Since I dunno whats causing the issue tho, I can't order a good card I know will work
:banghead:
What an annoying problem to have. Any other suggestions?