AGP 4650 Catalyst/Overclock Problem

[benoit]

Hello again everyone,

After RMAing the last video card (Sapphire 3850 AGP), I've just gotten a Gigabyte 4650 AGP for my H.P. Workstation (XW6000).
My new card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125281&Tpk=agp%204650

The drivers loaded alright from Gigabyte's web site, but I noticed that trying to download any updated software from ATI resulted in complete lockups after windows retsarted.
I resorted to installing only the driver form Gigabyte and I was uble to play Unreal Tournament 3 at about 30FPS using Fraps.
Oddly, the old EVga 7600GT (512MB) card wirked much better, especially when overclocked a bit using EVga's Precision Tool.
I then tried the CCC to overclock and it simply will not allow for it at all-- no options for overdirve are available. I then tried updating my drivers through ATI, and it said that my device was not supported for any driver. Rivatuner also provides nothing but "low level" options-- nothing with a slider to provide performace options. I've tried clicking power used, but to no effect.
This all could be that it's a new card, but the overclock tool provided by Gigabyte completely locks up Windows when trying to open it at all.
Also, ATI Tools does the same thing as the Gigabyte utility.
Oddly, there doesn't seem to be a need for the AGP "Hotfix" with the new gigabyte drivers. The Hotfix drivers which other have used for other ATI cards would not install at all, since it said there was no supported device found.
Here's my old thread for system specs:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259427-33-card-dual-xeon-xw6000-workstation


Now the issue is this-- although the cards works at a minimal level, shouldn't it provide a much, much bigger perfomance boost than simply matching a 3 year old card?
And although now Windows isn't providing any error messages, what can be done?
I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling using Driver Sweeper, and the result are the same.
My level of tech savvy is fairly low, so any help is appreciated!

Thanks for your help in advance,
Ben

 

[mactronix]

Hi again benoit,
Well its not unusual for an older card to appear to be performing as well as a newer card but the reason is that the newer card is performing more advanced shader operations for one and as such is using more processing power to render the image, the older card doesn't have the hardware to do these newer functions so it just does the best it can which means it isn't performing these extra calculations so FPS wise it seems to be keeping up. The image quality was more obvious between shader 2 and 3 as 3 introduced HDDR which was a pleasing effect but its the same thing between 3 and 4.

Can you tell me what resolution and detail settings you are using and what the max the monitor supports is ? We may be able to do some resolution testing.

The 4650 isn't that great a gaming card I'm afraid to say and reviews will be nothing like the performance you should expect as they have much more CPU power than you.
Sometimes when upgrading hardware games will give you a message saying something like detecting new hardware settings for your graphics hardware. These settings will be higher than the older card and so it will run slower.

Mactronix

 

[benoit]

Hello Again All!

I've finally gotten that above Gigabyte 4650 AGP card to work!
The newest AGP hotfix provided by searching for the AMD/ATI AGP Hotfix should provide the newest download which worked when I downloaded it about a week ago. I'm using Windows XP SP3 & it worked as long as you DON'T install the Catalyst control center-- just download the Hotfix and then if it doesn't work, use driver sweeper and just re-install the Hotfix with the DRIVER ONLY.
Also, I was losing my sanity trying to get the thing to overclock, but found that CCC, RivaT****, and ATI T**ls wouldn't recognize the card at all for any overclock options-- period.
Then I found the following link, and it DOES provide instruction to follow (at your own risk, of course) to find a bypass to overclock it.

http://twisted-reviews.com/overclocking-ati-mobility-radeon-hd4570-hd4650-hd4670/

I somehow muddled through it & it actually worked for me!
Oddly, however, UT3 took a major performance hit when i used overclock settings of 725/425. Also, I have to re-start RivaT**** every time I wish to engage in overclocking, but at least we know it can be done!
I hope this helps someone else-- and a huge thanks to Mactronix for not giving up on me!

Sincerely,
Ben

 

[mactronix]

Your welcome

Glad you got it sorted and many thanks for being considerate of others and posting back what worked for you. Im sure the info will be of use to others down the line.

Enjoy your gaming

Mactronix