ATI Radeon Question :)

[GavinUK]

Im having extremely low performance with my ATI R9700PRO ever since i bought it. Tried numerous things like extra RAM, new ATA133 hard drive etc but none worked.

Im just wondering could running at AGP 4x instead of 8x cause a major problem?

System:
AMD Athlon 2000+
Abit AT7 KT333 DDR Motherboard
512MB DRR
120GB Maxtor ATA133 8mb cache 7200rpm
ATI Radeon 9700PRO (Gigabyte Maya 2)
Catalyst 3.2 Drivers

I cant get my games working fast at all, even with graphics turned down. If anybodys got any other ideas they would definitely be welcome

Thank you

 

[Nights_L]

all drivers up to date?
Via4 in 1 drivers?
did you upgrade a Video card, or you build a new computer with that?

 

[GavinUK]

Im using the ATI catalyst 3.2 drivers. I bought this card as an upgrade and formatted several times, to try and fix the problem so it cant be anything to do with conflicting drivers.

Thanks for the reply tho ..

ANY MORE SUGGESTIONS ANYBODY??!!
*is desperate*

 

[Twitch]

Other than the Catalyst drivers, did you install the newest VIA chipset drivers?

Those who live in glass houses shouldn't take showers. :tongue:

 

[Nights_L]

what was your previous Card?
what score in 3Dmark2001 did you get?

 

[UDHA]

I have a sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9500 Pro and was getting around 13000 2001 3d marks, I got a faster cpu off a friend, (big mistake) and I don't know how, but my marks dropped down to 9000 marks! so I KNOW the card does go faster, but I can't figure out, even with my old 1800+ back in the system, why it isn't running as fast anymore, I think it might have something to do with an XP motherboard or VIA driver that was messed with, that's where I'm looking, sorry I don't have a solution though; maybe try the board in another computer first to confirm performance or whatever, also www.rage3d.com/board might have some help

 

[phial]

wtf is a XP motherboard?

do this:

uninstall your video drivers. so that when you reboot it either uses Windows built in drivers or it is labelled standard video adapter or however windows labells the default video

then install your AGP drivers. then download the newest drivers from ATI's site and install it. also, you might wanna consider taking 20 minutes and reinstalling windows itself

tell us if this ddoesnt work

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[GavinUK]

Im sorry i replied to your post but the post didnt show up .. musnt have confirmed it :\

I said i got a score of 10053, althought im pretty sure ive had higher than that before last time i had it installed. WIll try formatting then running it again.

Also i have formatted system several times already, installed drivers in correct order, tried reinstalling. My performance with 3dMark2001 wasnt that bad before, but its just on GAMES its terrible. Im guessing its something else slowing it down but its just ... WHAT?

AMD 2000+ Processor CANT be bad
Abit AT7 KT333 Mobo ... surely not?
Ive added more DDR ram
Bougher a nice fast hard drive (8mb cache, 7200rpm, ATA133 and yes im running it thru RAID controller with appropriate cable).
Messed with BIOS for days

Im starting to think its just not good with this motherboard or something :\ I was so excited buying this card and ive had NO use out of it yet. IMAGINE !!!

and thank you for the replies everyone, any more suggestions?

 

[cleeve]

One idea:
Check your BIOS to make sure the CPU FSB is running at 133 and not 100...

Also, did you add that ram before the performance drop?
Try removing the new RAM and rebenchmark. Might be an incompatibility slowing down the system.

Also check the RAM latency timings in the BIOS...

Still, that's a helluva drop. Can't think of anything that would cause that huge a change...

- Cleeve

 

[Nights_L]

if you upgrade from an old card, then maybe you could try to Reset your CMOS
I had a RadeonSDR before, I upgraded to a Radeon8500LE after, this runs better, but still not good enough as it should be, I tried many things, it doesn't work
System runnning fine, but games aren't running good
my final solution is Reset the Bios, guess what? it works at full potential after
so, try it, and post it back~

 

[Guest]

I got a Radeon 9700 and use ATI drivers V7.84 and also install the ATI control Panel.

Theres a TAB in the Display Advanced Settings called "SmartGart" make sure all the AGP settings are on, also the Sideband is on. Also run "smartgart" from Run on the start menu, this will bring up an advanced control panel applet not normally accesible with both the PCI and AGP stuff. Set all these to "ON", or run the "Retest". After this you could get somewhere, maybe you had all the AGP features switched off.

Source: http://mirror.ati.com/products/pc/catalyst/SMARTGART-White-Paper-V2.pdf

 

[phial]

theres sooooooooooooo many things it could be...


do you hvae a virus checking program? it could very well be that as well...

i want to sudgest a full wipe and reinstall, but you might have stuff on your computer that you dont wanna lose..i find a fresh install is always teh best remedy for bad performance (depending on the circumstances of course)

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[TKH]

What games are you playing? Sometimes it may be an incompatible issue and this do happen.
And you may try to tune down your graphic card ability to get thing running flawlessly. Say if you set the AA/AF to maximum the game may not be able to handle this kind of extreme performance. Let me think of an example... oh yeah, when I set the AA/AF to max and play Command & Conquer General (set to highest detail level at 1024x768), when I have built dozens of buidlings and couples of units then the game will become soooooo slow that sometimes even unplayable but after I set the AA/AF to default (i.e. application preference) things will get much more better.

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[igo_hams]

You said you only have bad performance in games?
Try the DirectX diagnostics. Do you have DX9 already?
Again check bios agp setting.

Don't bother upgraden your PC, Microsoft wil alwayse be able to slow it down.

 

[GavinUK]

whoa guys thank you all for replying.

Alright, i have DX9 installed, and ive had these problems with 8 and 9 so it cant be that. DX Diag shows everythings working fine. I mean, yeah all my games RUN, just badly

If i do happen to go out and buy a new Mother board tomorrow, what would you recommend? and is it a bad time to buy one? is there new chipsets out soon etc?

*glares at radeon card*

 

[phial]

i TOTALLY recommend Solteks nForce2 mobo .. the L revision. its 140 bucks canadian, and overclocks better (some claim) than Epoxs somewhat famous nforce2 board.. ill post a link if you want

as per your problem.. man its very hard to say. its soemthing that one would have to sit down and tinker with for a couple hours ... elusive resource hog it sounds like...

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[Nights_L]

My opinion would say..
KT333 is still very nice thus, to put with ur XP2000+
but if you really want to change one, then no doubt about it, a motherboard based on nForce2 would be ur choice, any manufacturer like MSI, Asus, Abit..would be good
otherwise, buy the newest KT400A, but I think there aren't much of them yet, and even thought it's the best among all the VIA's chipset, it still can't match with nForce2

 

[phial]

i said Soltek dammit!

lolz j/k

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[GavinUK]

ill definitely consider the soltek. when i saw the reviews at the time of buying my motherboard, id have totally recommended the KT333, and it seemed like an amazing board, and it probably IS. but it just doesnt seem to do the business for ME. (IF its the motherboard!)

just what else can it be tho. ive systematically been thru every component. Done the bios to bits. Drivers, ive installed windows, drivers, and a game and tested it straight away and no. so it cant be any crappy program in the background.

lol if this goes on much longer ill give you all my address and you can wait outside my bedroom window. therell be a free R9700Pro falling from the sky and itll be up for grabs

again, thats for the help guys. If youve any more ideas, however little or obvious they might seem to you, id definitely like to try them out.

 

[GavinUK]

the place where i buy my hardware from www.scan.co.uk has quite a few KT400 and Nforce2 motherboards. My R9700 is gigabyte so maybe go with a gigabyte motherboard?

I cant see a mention of soltek ... which scan product would be the better one? ATA133 and agp 8x would be preferable.

Wouldnt mind keeping the price down a bit too

 

[pekstein]

did you try disabling Hardware Sound Acceleration in the direct x diagnostic tool? that screwed up some games for me.

eh, you probably tried this already so never mind.

<i> Garth, marriage is punishment for shoplifting in some countries. </i>

 

[LtBlue14]

how much are you looking to pay, in pounds?

don't worry about ATA133 and AGP8x too much, hard drives can't use all the bandwidth that ATA133 provides (except on burst, and often not even then, am i right, someone?) and graphics cards don't use AGP8x fully (it provides no real benefits over 4x)
any new board you get will probably have them anyway, but i thought i should point out that you shouldn't stress over them.

The MSI K7N2-L looks to be a cheap solution - <A HREF="http://www.hexus.net/review.php?review=485" target="_new">here's a review</A>
it's only 63 pounds + VAT on your site
it's an nForce2 board, btw

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[Nights_L]

??
I don't get what you mean, phial
I said KT333 not bad...did I ever mention Soltek?
I'm just curious, not tryint to start a war~
I still have a lot to learn as you see~

 

[GavinUK]

Nights, he was just joking, he recommended the Soltek and you recommended something else.

hehe! i might go pick a board up soon ...
any last minute recommendations?

 

[GavinUK]

Toms Hardware reviews show NForce2 chipsets to be much faster, so theyre sounding the best right now. The benchmark results of the MSI card you showed me LtBlue didnt seem so amazing tho i dunno how reliable that site is.. NForce2 seems the one to go for though