ASUS EN7800GTX TOP problems... huge...

[raiserroofer]

After checking out the site for quite some time now, I've decided to register on these forums and seek a bit of help after failed attempts looking into ASUS' and NVidia's websites. They're rather useless when it comes to technical support...

Anyways, I just bought a EN7800GTX TOP by ASUS, and I'm having a couple serious issues with it.

1. Shader Model 3.0
Doesn't work at all. I don't know if HDR and SM3.0 are the same, but wherever I've checked off "SM3.0" my computer just crashes and reboots. I'm talking about Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and 3DMark06, in particular, where when SM3.0 is loading, the thing reboots. Anyone know why I'm having this particular problem with SM3.0? All of my latest display drivers are installed (DirectX, NVidia display, etc.), so the problem doesn't lie within there.

2. How damn slow it is
Even though Shader Model 3.0 doesn't work for me, I've run 3dMark06 on other tests. My SM2.0 score is 1940! 1940! What?!
Some things work better than others. For instance, on Counter-Strike Source I'm getting a solid 60 (maximum with VSync enabled), but in games such as Doom 3, FEAR, Rome: Total War, Call of Duty 2, Age of Empires 3, framerates can drop to 10. (Mind you, I put all of my games at 1600x1200 maxed out - and why not?)

Here are my specs:
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
AMD Athlon64 4000+
ASUS EN7800GTX TOP
2GB RAM
SONY CPD-E200/E200E Monitor
Windows XP SP2

Thank you.

 

[Cobragt88]

RMA time

get a new 1 go evga asus sux

 

[PX7800GT]

I Dont Agree With U ... Asus Is Good and I Saw 7800GTX Top , It Can Easily Got Over 8500 Point in 3DMark 2005 , But For Frame Rate Dropping To 10 , I Say Its Right !!!! Hey RaiseRRoofeR You CANT PLAY ALL THE NEW GAMES in 1600x1200 WITH ONE 7800GTX !!
F.E.A.R. and Call of Duty2 Needs at Least X1900XTX Or 2x 7800GTX To Run Fine at 1600x1200 !! Dont Think Your Card Is That Powerfull To Play any Game in 1600x1200 ... You Should Get One More 7800GTX in SLI in Order To Be Able To Play all New Games in 1600x1200 ...

 

[Cobragt88]

RMA RMA RMA

get EVGA 7900GTX*2

asus is crap

 

[raiserroofer]

That doesn't sound good at all...

See, before I got this card, I did a lot of extensive research, and it's reviews all say how great the thing is, etc. etc.

Could this one card just be faulty? I don't have enough money to get a twin EVGA 7900!

*EDIT* I'm going to take Doom 3 as a benchmarking tool here.

I'm getting around 20 FPS on this at 1600x1200 with full settings.

T-Break reviews say that they got just under 60FPS at these settings, and they have a worse computer than I do.

GamePC got even better results on a worse testbed, getting around 84FPS.

DriverHeaven.net got 72 FPS, although they have a better processor, I have better RAM.

PC Perspective got an average of 57.

So the conclusion that I'm coming to is that it's just a bad card.

 

[raiserroofer]

Decided to run NVidia tech demo "Mad Mod Mike" for the 7800GTX - it freezes around 20 seconds in.

Also, I can install NVidia drivers on the ASUS card, right? I presume so since ASUS drivers are so damn hard to get.

 

[aolmos]

I have the Asus premium, AMD 4400, One Asus EN7800GTX, 2 GB of ram.

It's only crashed during a game once in the few months I've had it, so it was probably the game. I am running the latest beta BIOS and the Nvidia drivers.

Your benchmarks are fine. 3D mark 06 gives smaller numbers than 05, which is what most people quote.

Here are my results (stock clocks):
3DMark Score 4367 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 1774 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 1761 Marks
CPU Score 1638 Marks

They are less than yours. I play games at 1920X1200 if they let me, if not 1600X1200. Fear will run at 30 fps, just barely. Half Life 2 can hit 60 or so on the benchmark.

If you search results on futuremark.com you can see other people's results.

Your crashing problems could be due to almost anything.

I just ran Mad Mod Mike all the way through fine.

Sorry you are having these problems. I had similar crashing problems with my last setup and it was due to a bad motherboard, that's why I switched to Asus for my latest PC.

 

[raiserroofer]

Thank you for your post, aolmos. I also found the problem. I had simply NVidia drivers installed, but I needed the latest ASUS Enhanced driver installed on top of it.

My 3dmark score: 4226.

Your CPU score is what made the difference with mine. I had something under 1000. That's odd though, since I thought the 4000+ should run better in single video intensive applications/games, and the double runs better with multitasking.

 

[aolmos]

I had simply NVidia drivers installed, but I needed the latest ASUS Enhanced driver installed on top of it.

Wow, that is good to know! I'll double check my setup, thanks. I'm glad your problem is solved without having to spend any money or RMA.

I went back and forth for a long time between getting the 4000 and the 4400 since they are so close in price. I agree with your analysis, and would expect single threaded games to be faster on your machine.

I think it's absolutely absurd that it has come to buying $1000 worth of graphics hardware to be able to play games at high resolutions. How can the game programmers design for a level of hardware that is owned by a small percentage of the market? Makes me keep a close eye on the PS3...

Have fun with your new stable machine...