Sapphire ATI Radeon 3650 AGP - help please !!!! - Graphics-Cards

About two months ago I purchased a Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3650 512mb 128-bit GDDR2 AGP card to replace my old ATI Radeon 128-bit 9600. Wanted to stretch my 7 year old system a little longer before purchasing a new one since I'm only a casual gamer and average techy on knowledge.
I'm familiar with ATI's software and install went fine (had to use the hot-fix drivers from Sapphire site since ATI's does not work on this card which (Sapphire) may be the problem or one problem). Normal system use is fine (internet and video's also) but as soon as I play any game, no matter what the settings, card crashes into a blank screen and the resolution defaults into the 16-bit 800x400 mode. I can still hear the game going on but have to reboot and reset the resolution (I use 1360x768 since my Sharp LCD only accepts analog signal on the DVI connection). That is one way it crashes. The other is the screen freezes and the sound freezes into a buzzing like the signal is in a loop. I have to reboot then also but this crash doesn't default the resolution. Maybe I have two problems, the driver and the sound card driver? Been through ATI tech support and they can't figure it out. As they asked, updated all my drivers (chipset, BIOS and sound card). Then ATI support states I should put into another system to see if card is good. Problem is I don't have another system. The also state my motherboard is probably too old for his card and its not compatible since the latest drivers are all 2002-2004 (Intel doesn't support the old boy know more). I also tried shutting off the sound card and lowering the AGP speed to 2x and both did not work.
Any help would be appreciated. Would hate to throw away and waste the money with another card. My system info is below:

Dell Dimension 8250 (approx 7 years old)
P4 - 2.4ghz, Intel 850 chipset, board is by Dell, AGP 4x (card supports this speed)
1066 Rambus Ram 1 gig
250g HD (only 50% usage)
Ultra LS ATX power supply 500w (just purchased)
Sound card is SB Live 5.1 (original old one)

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by gjianop on 04-04-2009 at 10:38:52 PM

Add a reply

Register or log in to remove.

Welcome to the forums!

Is the floppy type power connector plugged in?
Try the Omega drivers.
The power supply is not the best.

------------------------------ Google is your friend and Bob's your uncle
Reply to evongugg

Test your memory with memtest86+.

------------------------------ Google is your friend and Bob's your uncle
Reply to evongugg

Thanks anyway. Hard drive crashed this weekend and decided to give up the old boy for a new one.

Reply to gjianop

All these problems could have been the result of a faulty power supply. You should have it professionally tested to make sure it doesn't kill anything else.

Reply to RazberyBandit

Do not use the AMD drivers, since they are not meant for the AGP versions. Go straight back to the Sapphire website to download the drivers.

PS. The 9.4 AMD hotfix drivers are broken for DXVA. Do not use these ones. The latest you can use is CCC 9.3,

Reply to AKM880

Hello, I found the drivers your going to need.

Sapphire 3650 AGP Drivers :
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presen [...] 337&pid=82

Download the 9.3 drivers. Nice card tho.

Reply to AKM880

i just bought the ddr2 version of this card, is a very a good card, but was using the original 2008 drivers that come on the cd, but have just upgraded to the sapphire latest hotfix and whoooahh!!! holy ***, 2x smoother, 2x faster, the address for these drivers:

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presen [...] 337&pid=82

Reply to chunkarama

I have the same problem with my hd 4650, what do i do. ive tried the new drivers

Reply to garrett16

gjianop wrote :

About two months ago I purchased a Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3650 512mb 128-bit GDDR2 AGP card to replace my old ATI Radeon 128-bit 9600. Wanted to stretch my 7 year old system a little longer before purchasing a new one since I'm only a casual gamer and average techy on knowledge.
I'm familiar with ATI's software and install went fine (had to use the hot-fix drivers from Sapphire site since ATI's does not work on this card which (Sapphire) may be the problem or one problem). Normal system use is fine (internet and video's also) but as soon as I play any game, no matter what the settings, card crashes into a blank screen and the resolution defaults into the 16-bit 800x400 mode. I can still hear the game going on but have to reboot and reset the resolution (I use 1360x768 since my Sharp LCD only accepts analog signal on the DVI connection). That is one way it crashes. The other is the screen freezes and the sound freezes into a buzzing like the signal is in a loop. I have to reboot then also but this crash doesn't default the resolution. Maybe I have two problems, the driver and the sound card driver? Been through ATI tech support and they can't figure it out. As they asked, updated all my drivers (chipset, BIOS and sound card). Then ATI support states I should put into another system to see if card is good. Problem is I don't have another system. The also state my motherboard is probably too old for his card and its not compatible since the latest drivers are all 2002-2004 (Intel doesn't support the old boy know more). I also tried shutting off the sound card and lowering the AGP speed to 2x and both did not work.
Any help would be appreciated. Would hate to throw away and waste the money with another card. My system info is below:

Dell Dimension 8250 (approx 7 years old)
P4 - 2.4ghz, Intel 850 chipset, board is by Dell, AGP 4x (card supports this speed)
1066 Rambus Ram 1 gig
250g HD (only 50% usage)
Ultra LS ATX power supply 500w (just purchased)
Sound card is SB Live 5.1 (original old one)

Put in the 3880 OMEGA drivers and PAY ATTENTION to the reading in the prompts as you do so.
Search OMEGA DRIVERS and you'll find them - it fixes the craptastic ati cards of that note -
Don't try FS9 either with that card in agp - HD2900 tho is good for it.

Reply to silicondoc

Focus On

Sapphire ATI Radeon 3650 AGP - help please !!!!

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Sapphire ATI Radeon 3650 AGP - help please !!!!