ATI 9800 Pro Graphics Problem
MMOEnthusiast
Lawls-ville, Rofl-SA!
'Lo all, i'm kinda new, so hello. Hope someone here can help me out..
Recently i've been noticing that my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, 128 MByte Mem Version, has started... well, not drawing things. I'll get into a game, and start playing. About 4-5 seconds into moving around (in FPS's) and about 1 minute into other games (GTA: Vice City), the environment, the shadows, the sprites themselves will begin to disappear, and there will be huge holes in the environment, and sprites will disappear and reappear randomly. I've recently used the program ATITool to check my max core and max memory settings, but didn't OC the card. I'm a big believer in OEM and that's it, no OC, nothing. I've had the card for a little over a year and a half. The funny thing is, the only games not affected are those that aren't -very- graphically intense. Final Fantasy XI runs fine, Counterstrike and Half-Life 1 work fine. I also tried using things like 3DMark '01 and '05. The '01 version works perfectly, the FPS is up there around 80-90 average, and everything looks good with no artifacts. However, in the '05 version, I get the same thing that happens in Counterstrike: Source, Tribes: Vengeance, Farcry and Half-Life 2. Things will not be drawn, the sprites will start phasing in and out, and the image itself will start to drop to 0-4 FPS. If someone could perhaps try and help me out, maybe see if there's a way to reset the card or something, I would appreciate it. I'm using the newest 5.7 Catalyst drivers, I hope it's not them that's causing the problem. Thanks in advance. ^^
Recently i've been noticing that my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, 128 MByte Mem Version, has started... well, not drawing things. I'll get into a game, and start playing. About 4-5 seconds into moving around (in FPS's) and about 1 minute into other games (GTA: Vice City), the environment, the shadows, the sprites themselves will begin to disappear, and there will be huge holes in the environment, and sprites will disappear and reappear randomly. I've recently used the program ATITool to check my max core and max memory settings, but didn't OC the card. I'm a big believer in OEM and that's it, no OC, nothing. I've had the card for a little over a year and a half. The funny thing is, the only games not affected are those that aren't -very- graphically intense. Final Fantasy XI runs fine, Counterstrike and Half-Life 1 work fine. I also tried using things like 3DMark '01 and '05. The '01 version works perfectly, the FPS is up there around 80-90 average, and everything looks good with no artifacts. However, in the '05 version, I get the same thing that happens in Counterstrike: Source, Tribes: Vengeance, Farcry and Half-Life 2. Things will not be drawn, the sprites will start phasing in and out, and the image itself will start to drop to 0-4 FPS. If someone could perhaps try and help me out, maybe see if there's a way to reset the card or something, I would appreciate it. I'm using the newest 5.7 Catalyst drivers, I hope it's not them that's causing the problem. Thanks in advance. ^^
0
Comments
overheating - check the fan on the card to make sure it's spinning. If it is running, open the case and see if you still have the problems with the case side open. Is the heatsink on the card clogged with dust?
AGP voltage - voltage supplied by the motherboard, high enough? Install Motherboard Monitor and report your voltages. (Check out Short-Media's download page for MBM5.)
General system overheating. Is your house warmer than it was a few days ago? (Good test is to open your case for ventilation and see if this makes a difference.)
Could be a video card going bad. But I would check the other probably causes first.
Thanks for the reply...
In terms of overheating, i've tested it with the case side on and off. Same problems. However, I don't beleive it's an overheating issue with the card, because i've got about 6 fans running in the computer at once (one PCI fan right beneath the Radeon, one in the side of the case, two in the power supply itself, one on the Radeon, and one on the CPU). In terms of dust clogging the Radeon's heatsink/fan, I thought that might have been it, but it turns out that I had cleaned it off just recently, like, the night before.
In terms of CPU voltage, i'm not a complete computer genius, but I downloaded the MBM 5 utility (thanks for that), and this is what I got...
8/9/2005 - 10:21:44 AM
CPU Running Speed - 1659 MHz
Case Temperature - 104° F
CPU Temperature - 104° F
Sensor 3 - 32° F
Core 0 - 1.65 V
Core 1 - 0.00 V
+3.3 - 3.33 V
+5.0 - 4.85 V
+12.00 - 12.30 V
-12.00 - 0.00 V
-5.00 - 0.00 V
Fan 1 - 4115 RPM
Fan 2 - 0 RPM
Fan 3 - 0 RPM
Now, I can make out what the RPMs for the fans mean (duh), but when it comes to the voltage and sensor numbers, i'm completely lost. Perhaps you could translate for me? I'm running an Asus A7V8X-X, which i've had for about 2 years now, and the thing is running perfectly (shameless Asus plug).
In terms of general overheating, my house is running at a cool 74 degrees, and I really haven't noticed a temperature change. As I said at the top of the reply, running it with the case side off didn't change the performance of it. I still get artifacts and missing sprites/environment parts.
If it is the video card going bad, i'm not -really- worried, but as I can't get a new video card right off the bat, i'm kinda holding out on some questions until I see what all these voltage numbers mean. Thanks again in advance! ^^