NEED HELP! Ati 3850 AGP

I upgrade my 128mb Nvidia 6800 with the new Sapphire 3850 AGP. Don't have the cash for a new system and I just wanted the new areas of WOW to smooth out. My issue is green screens for all video. Really messed up graphics in games. And my Meta links (ie in a google search) are red in stead of blue. I have tryed all the different drivers, codecs etc. No go on guru for those. I have seen many sites that say you have to use the disk. I have seen many that say use the new downloadable drivers and some say to get them from Sapphire's site. I am getting the exact same results with all of them. So I am starting to think the issue lies in the common denominator. Many forums threads say to turn down the graphics hardware acceleration to medium or low to solve the issue. But then what is the point of the card. After hours and hours I am near giving up. If anyone has any ideas I would be forever in your debt. I am missing my game time. . Thanks in advance. Seaborn

Follow "doubletake33's" advice.

Also, it would be helpful to have a little more information. What motherboard to you have? What power supply? What is your processor and what other peripherals do you have attached? You should have a name brand power supply with preferably greater than 450 watts with at least 30 amps on the 12 volt rail. Also, there are issues between the 3850 and certain Via chipset motherboards. These are probably the problems that most people are having, coupled with non WHQL drivers. Hopefully, the CAT 8.3s will solve the software compatibility issues - we'll see - they should be out soon.

And of course if its does work...

l33t cereal for life!

From here:
http://www.ascully.com/images/revi [...] elabel.jpg
I'm seeing 18-28A on the 12V rail, so that could be the problem. I'd get a quality PSU and try that out. I'm betting that the GPU is not getting enough power. Do you have the 6 pin PCI-e power connector hooked up?

Yep, missed the 8 Pin power connector, I looked at a different one. The picture I looked at said it had 28A on the 12V rail, but that link didn't work. This only is good if the 3.3V and 5V rails don't interfere with the 12V rail, so it has a maximum of 28 amps, which might not be enough for the GPU. Should normally be okay, but just something to be concerned about.
You can look here for the original review and picutres:
http://www.ascully.com/modules.php [...] ent&id=148

Do you guys have any suggestions on what brands to look at. I went back to new egg and looked at a few. They say there is a 12v PCIe 8 pin connecter but in the specs it no where near 30A. This is on the 600 Apevia. And considering I bought some new ram when i got the card, I probably should send the ram and the card back and just get the a new MB, CPU, rebuy the ram in DDR2, rebuy the card in PCIe, get the PSU. ANd i would only be out a few hundred more if I went with the best speed to cash ratio. Man what a week.

cool thanks for the PSU link. I was looking at several on newegg and missed this one.

One thing that I just did was I went to the advanced setting in windows and turned the graphic acceleration down. The link colors went back to blue but the games are still all skewed.

After thinking about it I may just send the card and the ram back. Then buy a new PSU, MB, CPU, GPU, and ram. I will only end up spending a couple hundred more and have all up to date stuff. That should solve the issue lol. I would hate to buy a new PSU and that not be it. Although I am pretty confident that it is. If I am going to have to rewire I might as well just rebuild.

Here is a pic before I installed the HD3850.

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums [...] GE_183.jpg

Hey all. I too am buying this Radeon HD 3850 AGP video card, my question is , will my COOLMAX NW-550B 550W ATX12V Power Supply work with this card??!?!?! it has 3 +12V Rails, they are as follows: +12V1@17A, +12V2@17A, and +12V@15A. im really stressed out about this because everything is on its way and i dont know weather its all going to be compatible! :S