huge radeon 9700 problemo

[BeZ]

ive had this radeon9700 for about 9 months now and recently when i goto play a game, or anything that requires a significant number of fps, the monitor turns into like 16 colour mode, a bunch of vertical blotchy lines appear, my mouse turns into a giant flashing square, etc. And this doesnt happen right away, i can play a game fine for about 10 seconds.

 

[cleeve]

Possibly a power supply issue. This happened to me with a generic 300W power supply.

I got a 480 watt job, the problem went away... not a guaranteed problem, it could be overheating or any number of things, but it's a place to start.

 

[BeZ]

hmm, i believe it might be that. My front side bus set itself to 100/100 when it should have been at 133/133. Right after this the problems started.
Could it be that the motherboard cannot handle all the power so it set itself lower to handle the 9700?

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Thats a possibility... the GPU draws too much juice, making other things unstable, and the mobo has compensated in the only way it knows how, by going back to defaults.

<font color=blue>Many modern games <b>must</b> be played multiplayer. And those you encounter online are, almost as a rule, <b>complete and utter cockmongers.</b></font color=blue> :frown:

 

[cleeve]

More likely that you have an ECS motherboard that isn't getting enough juice. When they crash, they reset the BIOS sometimes, and the system/CPU bus along with it.

A real pain in the a$$.

 

[BeZ]

wow, i do have an ecs motherboard...
k7s5a
i think we are onto something
how can i be sure?

 

[cleeve]

Find the wattage of your power supply. It's written on the top or side of it. All you have to do is remove the side of your computer case to see.

 

[BeZ]

its a 300watt max

 

[BeZ]

but note that the problem started nine months after i purchased the card

 

[BeZ]

gotta be sure of this, either its a new motherboard or new videocard

 

[cleeve]

Sounds to me like your power supply isn't sufficient, or is dying.

Can you maybe borrow a 350+ watt power supply from a friend's computer and try it out on your machine? That's the best way to diagnose.

 

[speeduk]

I had my 9700pro runnin ok for 2 months or so before i had problems of a similar kind, got a 550w psu and never looked back

 

[ddarby]

The power supply is the obvious first choice to replace.Change it to a 400watt or larger, it will pay off in the future!

 

[BeZ]

but if it isn't the power supply and its the motherboard, then i dont wanna be spending money where its not needed

 

[cleeve]

In that case, take my advice on the top of this page.

And TRUST US on this one.
You need a better power supply than that 300watt generic job to run the kind of rig you have.
It WILL be more stable with a decent name brand power supply, there is no doubt about it.

 

[BeZ]

i must post a picture of the screen effect

 

[James35]

your running a generic 300 wps plus you have an amd chip in there that requires a min of 300 watts to run PLUS a 9700pro? that requires a min of 350 watts and if you carry more than one drive that in itself requires 300 min to run for system stability. IF you were only running one item that required a 300 wps then you would be alright. since you added the vid card. you been slowly killing the PS. and it took nine months before it is giving up the ghost.
and your wondering why? they are adament on this?

Trust them there right. just get a new ps at 450 watts min not some generic jobber either. and live long and prosper


Just do it...do it....do it now! {points finger at door} go.

 

[Willamette_sucks]

Holy crap james... I.. I .. I just dont know how to put it.
When an item, a 9700 Pro for example, recommends at least a 300W power supply, they dont mean it DRAWS 300 WATTS YOU ASS!!
the CPU and a 9700 pro (with its additional power connector) take power from two seperate voltage lines on the power supply. Holy crap i just dont know what to say.
Youre just so frickin wrong.
So because i have a cpu that recommends at LEAST a 350W power supply and a vid card that recommends at LEAST a power supply, and 4 drives, and 12 fans, do i need AT LEAST a 750 watt power supply?

Dude... I just cant explain the feeling I got from reading that post. Its not exactly a pleasant one though.

Long live ATI.

 

[BeZ]

oh god...
now u got me confused again

 

[cleeve]

Confused?

Well, the actual numbers you have to add up are the amps each device takes, and you have to pay attention to which rail it draws off... there are 3 rails on each power supply: 3.3 volt, 5 volt, and 12 volt rails. Each rail is rated as far as how many amps it can supply on the side of your power supply.

But none of this matters right now, Bez. No 300 watt power supply in the world would run your rig stable.

Just get a freakin power suppy already! Make it at least a 350 watt name brand, or a 450 watt generic!

If you don't want our advice, stop asking us for it dude...

 

[BeZ]

I do want the help. Its just that this problem is so awkward to me. the videocard was displaying the problem on the monitor so i assumed that it was the videocard for sure. Like how does a power supply make the screen look like a digital cable signal going fuzzy... anyway you guys know much more than me so ill take your word. its just that im broke, counting pennies, so this is kinda a big purchase which i have to research kinda..

 

[BeZ]

http://www.thermaltake.com/products/purepower/w0009r.htm
this is what im thinking of getting

 

[cleeve]

That'll work juuust fine.

I know you're worried about money Bez, but trust me... a PSU is cheaper than a motherboard.

Don't you know somebody with a computer whose PSU you can borrow to check?

 

[ianmills]

The FIRST thing you should have done is post your system specs (including fans)
That would make it ALOT easier to help you. It IS possible to run the 9700 pro on a 300w power supply, it just depends on it's quality as well as what else you have in your system. Don't forget to post what the fsb is of your processor (eg. 100/133/166)

The first thing I would reccomenf you do is UNDERCLOCK your processor. That will make it draw less power. Go into the k7s5a bios and set the fsb to 100.
Also, unplug any component that is unnecessary to test playing the games (eg. CDRom, floppy, case fans, but NOT the cpu fan). Leave the side of the case open just to make sure it doesn't overheat.

If this fixes the problem then it is your power supply (or maybe heat too haha), but if it doesn't, then it doesn't mean anything.

Actually, have you tried to run your comp with the side of the case open to see it makes any difference?

The last thing you could try doing is severely underclocking your gpu to see (like 50% speed). This will draw a lot less power from the ps and could make a difference too. The only thing is that if this helps it could be the ps, and it could be vidcard or heat...

Anyways, try what I said out out and report back. I'll see if I can help you more then.


Please give more info!

 

[BeZ]

ok this is what im running
Generic 300 watt max
1800 xp+
256 ddr
40 gig 7200
five 80 mm led fans on a glass case
radeon 9700
sb live 5.1 gamerx
cdrom52x
fsb at 133/133