9700 card problems

[Spacelord]

I been lagging really bad in Vampires:Bloodlines so i tried to figure what was the problem.

First the ATI control center says it's a 9500 pro / 9700 card ...uh why does it not says 9700 pro? I'm suspicious with that one.

The major problem is that i found out in ATI control center that the core clock is at 263mhz, same for ram speed. I know a 9700 pro is supposed to be at 325mhz core clock and like 600-625mhz clock for the RAM.

Anyone know why it's underclocked? Know any fix?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

First, whats the board maker and where did you get it?

Now, if it's an R9700(not pro) then the core and memory would be clocked at 275mhz(550DDR), and the pro @ 325/310(620).

Sound like you have either a bum board (which you could return to the company if it's new) or wherever you got it its been messed with (overclocked, flashed, moded, etc) and they underclocked it because now it'll only work at those speeds without artifacting.

In order to fix it you would need to grab an overclocking tool and get the card back to it's stock/standard speeds. AtiTools, Rage3DTweak and a few others would do that pretty easily.

As for the detection of the card, the R9500 and 9700 series share the same cores. It's not really an 'issue' but you could consider it a 'known issue' for people unfamiliar with the R300 and it's variants.


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[Spacelord]

I got it off Ebay. Advertised as a 9700 pro.
Control Center says it's built by ATI.

I tried to restore the speed with ATI Tool but control center won't let me..VPU recover and stuff.

EDIT: I disabled VPU recover and the system crash and reboot with a 3mhz "overclock" lol

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Spacelord on 01/10/05 07:59 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

I don't know the exact clock rates for this, but it might be a 9700TX card. The 9700TX was a card produced for Dell by ATI (probably Saphire because I believe they make ATI's own-brand cards for them). The 9700TX was known to have the same specifications as the Pro, except for slower clock speeds.

If it says your memory is 263, that's the clock rate, the data rate would be DDR526, so called "526MHz".

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[cleeve]

Yep, that's no pro. 9700TX...

Try to overclock it. If you're lucky the core will go up to stock PRO speeds, maybe a little more.

But the RAM is probably cheap, so cross your fingers and maybe you'll get a decent o/c from it...

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[Spacelord]

I'm unable to O/C it, 2mhz more with ATI TOOL = instant pc reboot..major hardware failure so says windows.

 

[cleeve]

Odd. Try a different overclocking tool, or do some research into the BIOS... maybe the BIOS on the TX cards are locked, meaning you'd need to flash a new BIOS on it to oc.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[Spacelord]

I tried with rivatuner as well. I'll try again but i dunno...
For bios access/flash...i have no idea how to do that or where to get a default 9700 pro bios.

 

[cleeve]

Well, you wouldn't want a 9700 PRO bios because it'd likely puch your RAM too far.

A plain-old 9700 non-pro BIOS (not TX) should allow you to overclock, and start you off at the default 275/275 clockspeeds.

Still, if you want to go this route you should do some hard research into videocard BIOS flashing you you understand the process/dangers and how to get yourself out of trouble on the slim chance you get into it...

LOL... I just did a search for the BIOS - it turns out that other 9700TX owners have had this problem and made a comprehensive guide for other 9700TX owners to follow:

<A HREF="http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=425dfc169da4c743f60ac201454dc251&threadid=33650621&perpage=20&pagenumber=2" target="_new">http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=425dfc169da4c743f60ac201454dc251&threadid=33650621&perpage=20&pagenumber=2</A>

Good luck, mate.


________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[pitsi]

Sorry for jumping in but I didn't want to start a new thread just for this. Anyway .. I just got a 9700 Pro from eBay as well. Radlinker says core @ 324MHz and memory @ 290MHz. Isn't memory a little low? What's the deal here?

 

[cleeve]

What kind of memory on the board, and what is it rated?

Looks a little fishy, but if it's quality memory there's nothing to worry about.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>