Asus FX9560 problems

[Edvardas]

I sent this to asus tech support, thru their web form with lots of serial numbers and so on, about 2 weeks ago, but no response. So any ideas?

"Quite often when I play games (Need for speed underground, Ricochet, Ricochet Lost worlds and other), the video card at first shows a horizontal line, after 5 min the resolution changes to 320*240 (resolution reported by Samsung Sync Master 171P menu) (no matter on which resolution I play). The only way to restore settings is to suspend my pc for a couple seconds, but in about 1 of 5 cases my pc reboots and windows tells me that it has recovered from a serous problem "GeForce 5600 was unable to draw something". After reporting it to Microsoft a window pop-up saying that the cause was the video driver. I tried different drivers. Those which came on cd, latest from asus home page (those are the worst), and various versions of NVIDIA drivers. Smart doctor 4.31 shows cards temperature at 57C/132F and RAM 42C/107F, fan rotates at 6200RPM (100% in the settings). After corruption of video the temperature is about 60C for the card and 50C RAM. The only way to make it run stabily in games for a long term i found is to under clock memory from default 550 to about 500MHz. I tried this card on a couple other computers with Intel (with Kingston RAM) and asus (for AMD) motherboards, the results are the same."
I had this card about 5 months. I am thinking to return it, and get something other.
I looked around locally, and at the prices on the net. I was surprised how much they differ. This is to waht I narowed my choises:
ASUS GeFORCE V9570/TD FX5700 8xAGP, 128MB DDR, 128bit US$181
LEADTEK GF FX 5700 128 MB VIVO DVI OEM US$160
PixelView GeForce4 TI 4200, 64 MB DDR, AGP 8x US$165
SAPPHIRE RADEON 9600 128M DVI/VGA/TVO 64-BIT 8MX1 US$111
SAPPHIRE R9600 128MB,DVI,TV-OUT,OEM US$131
SAPPHIRE R9000PRO AIW 64MB,TOMB RDR,PINAC,OEM US$172
SAPPHIRE VALUE R9600PRO 128MB,L RET,DVI,T,OEM US$182
SAPPHIRE FIREBLADE R9600PRO 128MB,L RET,OEM US$188

I tend to R9600. What are the differences between 9600, value 9600pro and fireblade 9600pro???

P.S.
I don't over clock and I can't buy online.

Thank you for your time

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Can't help you with your FX problems, does sound like something's just smoked on it.

As for the 9600 vs 9600PPRO vs R9600Fireblade.

Here's a few reviews from Rage3D, Beyond3D, Digit-Life;

<A HREF="http://www.rage3d.com/content/reviews/video/sapphire9600s/index.php" target="_new">R9600 vs R9600Pro Fireblade @ Rage3D</A>

<A HREF="http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/sapphire/9600pro/" target="_new">Beyond Looks at Fireblade</A>

<A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/r9600-2.html" target="_new">DigitLife looks at the Sapphire R9600-256 & R9600Pro-UE, along with a few other R9600s</A>

As you can see the R9600(non-pro) is an underclocked core (usually picked from those that can't reach higher rsults, but sometimes not), and has crummy memory, all with lower stock speeds, so if you're not overclcokign it will simply perform slower.

The R9600Pro value is clocked at 400/300 stock. It is the standard, and since you're not overclocking, then the quality of the memory (a question with the standard Atlantis line) makes no difference to you.

The Fireblade has the same clock rates as the R9600PRO, but is guaranteed to overclock well compared to their standard editions (which doesn't matter much to you).

So keeping that in mind, I'd still say the Fireblade edition is worth the $6 extra and the ValueR9600Pro is ok too, for something cheaper get the Leadtek FX5700, it will be faster than the regular R9600 in most cases. Forget the GF4ti in most cases, for that price it's worth the small amount to get the R9600PRO or FX5700, even the R9600(as long as it's not an SE) for $111 would likely do better long term and cheaper. Forget the AIW 9000PRO unless you absolutely NEED the built in TV tuner function.

Well, that's my two frames worth.


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[Edvardas]

By the way on that FireBlade edition. On some cards (on my asus in the SmartDoctor help) it is said "Manufacturer do not provide any warranty or support for any damage caused by this utility. Do not use this feature if you are not well acquainted with your graphics card."
So they mean that i can overclock and if it burns its still under warranty?

 

[Edvardas]

SAPPHIRE RADEON 9600 128M DVI/VGA/TVO 64-BIT 8MX1 US$111

this one apears to be SE. On sapphires site only the r9600SE has 64 bit memory interface.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Stay away from ALL SE models. They are as bad as an FX5200 and even worse some time.

I would recommend that you get the value R9600pro then. Best bet from what you listed IMO.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

 

[Slava]

Before you go through the trouble of returning it, try uninstalling all ASUS software. They make great hardware, but 90% of the time their software and drivers SUCK. And while I love their products I hate their tech support. ASUS products are not for novices ) Anyhow, Remove all ASUS software and install the latest drivers from nVIDIA. If the problems persist, you may have a defective card.

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green>

 

[Edvardas]

Tried to do this its the same. Same problems. But works a little longer 5 in longer