Are 9800SE 256mb that bad ?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"liam" <lm2000uk@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:cp17ka$7gh$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> My friend has just bought a Tiny 3.4Ghz Pentium HT with 1GB Memory and a
> 9800SE 256Mb PC to replace his old Geforce P3.
> Anyway this is the 3rd PC from Tiny as the 1st one kept crashing, the
> second one had a broken Sata Power connector and he called me to have a
> look at it as it kept crashing out playing Half Life 2 with what he said
> was the VPU error.
> I updtated him to the latest Cat 4.12 Beta's and played a bit of Half Life
> and all seemed well, ran the CS: Source Stress Test and was amazed that on
> default settings at 1024*768 he was only getting 43 fps. He played a bit
> more of half life 2 then the screen went black and he had to reboot the
> PC.
> Updated him to Omega Drivers with Soft Mod and checked Stress Test again
> and it had gone up to 63fps which was quite amazing as my AMD2100+ 768MB
> 9800Pro 128Mb gets 68fps @ 1024*768 with all but AA turn to max. So my old
> AMD2100 beats his P4 3.4 ?
> Any way it still crashed out to a black screen whilst playing HAlf Life 2
> and he even said it did it running disk defrag ?
>
> Any ideas on the problem... ????
>

Maybe his PSU isn't up to par, or he just has anlther dud card.
The SE series are cut down versions, and from my reading the 9800SE is on
par with a 9600pro.
See if he can test the card in another machine.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 20:07:17 +0800, "wazza" <wazzw@mindyerown.biz>
wrote:

>Maybe his PSU isn't up to par, or he just has anlther dud card.
>The SE series are cut down versions, and from my reading the 9800SE is on
>par with a 9600pro.
>See if he can test the card in another machine.

Boo! Let's hear it for the SE. If you can get the pipelines open you
can get into pro/XT territory especially with an Arctic cooler. My
first one was a dud (although tests by the dealer supposedly showed it
working). It had one of the four (not eight) pipelines bust. The
replacement can use all eight.

You are right to recommend that he try another machine, preferrably
one with a bit of surplus power (few extras or a meaty PSU).
Underclocking may show where the problem lies.
--

Julian Richards
computer "at" richardsuk.f9.co.uk

XP Home
L7S7A2 motherboard
Powercolor 9800 SE 8 pipelines 438/364 with Omega drivers
1 GB RAM
10 GB + 80 GB HDs
CD+DVD/CDRW drives

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"Julian Richards" <see@sig.co.uk> wrote in message
news:vfj8r0tnmlfqdjdttocl1r204v9ujbot48@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 20:07:17 +0800, "wazza" <wazzw@mindyerown.biz>
> wrote:
>
>>Maybe his PSU isn't up to par, or he just has anlther dud card.
>>The SE series are cut down versions, and from my reading the 9800SE is on
>>par with a 9600pro.
>>See if he can test the card in another machine.
>
> Boo! Let's hear it for the SE. If you can get the pipelines open you
> can get into pro/XT territory especially with an Arctic cooler. My
> first one was a dud (although tests by the dealer supposedly showed it
> working). It had one of the four (not eight) pipelines bust. The
> replacement can use all eight.
>

Seems like too much of a lottery for me. I would rather buy and get what I
expect rather than buying on the promise of "maybe" better performance. I
could pretty well guarantee that for every happy 9800SE user there are a
dozen or more unhappy ones.
(IMHO or course)
:-)