nVidia + AMD = instability?

[Jespark]

Heard of people saying that Athlon or Duron processors
running on systems equipped with GeForce video cards could have instability or bugs.
I already know about the problems with VIA + Sound Blaster and how bad the VIA chipsets are, but about AMD + nVidia = problem, that is new for me, but I am starting to think that's right.

My problems:

After installing my new GeForce2 MX (Asus v7100) in my K7 Athlon 800 (VIA KX133) 2 new bugs came:
In Giants, poligons are having great conflicts. And just a few moments ago, I saw just a few wrong poligons in the enforcer weapon in UT.
In UT, I'm having some mouse lag when the monitor refresh
rate is set to 60 Hz.

Formatting didn't help.
I tested Giants and my GeForce in another PC, an Athlon 750 with AMD750 chipset and the problem continued. At that time I wasn't able to test UT.

Does anyone know why that?

Is It caused by any instability of the GeForce? Or Is It damaged? Should I return the GeForce AGAIN? This is the second one I have. The first had diferent bugs.

With my old voodoo3 none of those problems have ever hapenned.

[SOA]Jespark

 

[Bud]

65hz?? man you're gonna go blind...go to 85hz

I'm not in touch with my feeings, and I like it that way!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

hmms. via southbridge bug and soundblaster live...
i had both of those (a7v133 & sb live)
i didnt have any problems until i had the missfortune of installing the one set of 4in1 drivers that were known to be crap. lol

should have stuck with no drivers lol



My Hamster doesnt like sarcasm. He may very well bite you in your hard to reach places!

 

[HolyGrenade]

My System: Athlon650 + Asus K7v + CLAP (GeForce256DDR) + SB Live! Player = Perfectly Stable


<font color=red><i>Tomorrow I will live, the fool does say
today itself's too late; the wise lived yesterday

 

[FiberTech]

I am running a Duron 800 with a GF2mx and an SB Live. Only problems I have run into was an IRQ conflict between my AGP slot and the slot I had my sound board in. It did cause some graphics anomolies and also sound problems. I had to move the sound board from slot 2 to slot 3. Cleared everything up.

<b>Nothing is more dangerous than stupid people in large numbers</b>

 

[Jespark]

Looks like no one can help...

For those who might know the answer, What can be causing the problem? Damaged video card or instability?

I have already tested Win98/Me, Oficial drivers from Asus and several detonators, via 4in1, DirectX 7/8, a lot of stuff, nothing resolved.

[SOA]Jespark

 

[Negaverse23]

Do you have your video card running at 4X?¿? Try running it at 2X.

=
<font color=green><i>Will code HTML for food.</i></font color=green>

 

[Loonie]

Havta admit, I seen quite a few issues with nVidia cards.

I'm not sure of the exact details of your motherboard, but I know one of our comps had enormous stability problems with a Geforce 2 GTS. The culprit was AGP Fastwrite, and disabling this in the BIOS seemed to sort this out. This issue was originally noted on the Gigabyte 7ZX, however I have found this to affect all m/bs with a VIA KT133 chipset that I have come across.

I don't have a KX133 to examine, but if you have a Fastwrite option in your BIOS, disabling might help. I'm assuming you have the latest BIOS for yer m/b. The latest VIA 4-in-1 drivers might help too, I dared to install the latest version 4.32V, and they seem to be nice 'n' stable (oh, how i remember the fiasco of 4.25).

Also, the card in my situation was a Creative Labs solution, and using the nVidia reference drivers also seemed to produce various artifact/stability issues, but obtaining the latest drivers specifically created for this card from Creative's site (although they may be a tad older) made for a much happier GeForce 2 which seems to be chugging away happily now, with Gigabyte 7ZX, AMD Thunderbird 1.1G, SBLive! Value.

So if your card is branded, I'd strongly recommend downloading the branded drivers from the supplier's website, I have found this to help with many issues.

I can't say for certain obviously but I don't think your GFMX is broken, sounds like typical-ish config problems. I know what ya mean about the Voodoo 3, amazing how many things suddenly seem to stop working when 'improvements' are made. My V3 (after a couple o driver issues) seemed to run just about anything happily. Hello nVidia, bye bye 3DFX.

It's frustrating as hell when these problems happen, hope some of this proves useful. I'll keep an eye open for any info re. GFMX/ASUS...

 

[Jespark]

Thanks for the help. I' try setting AGP to 2x and disabling fastwrites.

That mouse lag in UT when the refresh is set to 60 Hz, in any resolution, was really a strage problem. But I found that It happen also on the Voodoo, when Direct3D is being used.
But another problem in UT, that the inicial screen of the game is very instable, "flickering", that does not happen with the Voodoo3 in any way.
The worst problem, for me, that is the corrupted poligons in Giants, that remains with no answer.
I'll get back the card, that by now is already on Its way back to the store, and try AGP 2x and no fastwrites.

[SOA]Jespark

 

[phsstpok]

The only time I have seen incorrect polygons is when using Geforce Tweak. This happens when selecting the "Fast" button and only effect OpenGL games. The problem, in this case, can be fixed by unchecking the Force 16-Bit Z-Buffer option under the OpenGL tab in Geforce Tweak.

Are you using Geforce Tweak?

If not there is some information about incorrect polygons at <A HREF="http://www.geforcefaq.com" target="_new">www.geforcefaq.com</A>. Use your browser's find option to locate "polygon".

Here is a direct link to the information (but sometimes these direct links don't work at www.geforcefaq.com)

<A HREF="http://www.geforcefaq.com/faq.cgi#hw:gef:troub:flicker" target="_new">http://www.geforcefaq.com/faq.cgi#hw:gef:troub:flicker</A>

 

[Jespark]

More bad news for me...

AGP 2x and disabling fastwrites didn't work. I'm not
using tweak, and changing advanced Direct3D
configurations didn't too.

But now something worse happened. The card's performance
decreased.
It hapenned also with the first GeForce (this is the
second in a month). 3DMark2001 dropped from 2000 points
to 1800, and Quake3 from 80 fps to 60, just like the
first card did, and I don't have a clue why. The drivers
are ok, like they were before. That's why I'm thinking
It can be a damaged card.

what do you think? Is It really damaged?

[SOA]Jespark

 

[phsstpok]

I don't know what happened. If the buffer flipping thing did not work then switch it back to "auto"

What make and model motherboard are you using?

 

[Jespark]

Asus K7V, VIA KX133 chipset (with the last via 4in1).

I didn't change that buffer flipping thing because the problem is only in Direct3D games.

[SOA]Jespark

 

[phsstpok]

The reason I asked is I had heard that there were some incompatibilities between Asus video cards and some motherboards. I doubt an Asus motherboard is one of them. lol!

I'm about out of ideas. Do you have a good power supply, capable of supplying 20 amps on the +3.3 volt line? www.geforcefaq.com recommends this for a Geforce and Athlon combination. (Although, now they have an update and say less is needed for a Geforce 2).

I didn't change that buffer flipping thing because the problem is only in Direct3D

Strange, the Detonator driver that I have (12.90), only has the Buffer Flipping Mode option under the OpenGL tab. Could be a typo-graphical error at www.geforcefaq.com. It's worth a try considering where you are at now.

Sorry, I couldn't be of more help.

 

[Jespark]

Yes, you are correct, buffer flipping is only in OpenGl here too, and I didn't changed that becouse the problem was only in UT and Giants, Direct3D games. UT problems are solved, just by turning on Vsinc.

Bu the bad problems are not...
The performance is still lowered.

I saw my power suplly, and It has only 10 amps on the +3,3V. And I'm thinking It is only 100W! It says

XX +5V N +3.3V TOTAL O/P 100W XX +5Vsb=1.0A XX

There isn't "300W" written anywere on It.
It's a cheap "Satellite SPX - 350/2.01" power suplly.

Is It possible a 100W power suplly work fine with CD-ROM, HD, floppy, video (voodoo3), sound, modem and ethernet card, and a Athlon 800?

[SOA]Jespark

 

[phsstpok]

I would guess that you have a 200-250 watt power supply. The 100 watts that you are reading is called combined power, the sum of the sustainable output capability of the 3.3 volt line plus the 5 volt line. 100 watts is extremely low. If you look at the approved PSU list at www.amd.com you will see that most of the PSU have a combined power rating of 160-180 watts.

Do yourself a favor and replace that power supply. The Enermax EG365P-VE is a good unit and only costs about $55 online. It is nominally rated at 350 watts with 185 watt combined power, 32 amp peak capability on both the 3.3 and 5 volt lines.

p.s. You'll find useful information regarding power supplies at the following link. Ignore the pricing information as the article is bit old.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1128" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1128</A>

You can find information regarding Enermax power supplies at

<A HREF="http://www.enermax.com.tw" target="_new">http://www.enermax.com.tw</A>
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by phsstpok on 07/02/01 03:04 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

I read a post in here last week about a similar problem it seems that the kx-133 chipset may not be compatible, somthing about not enough power to the graphics card do a search for geforce and kx133 and see if you can find the post. Use the search boards tab.


When lutefisk is outlawed, only outlaws will have lutefisk.

 

[Jespark]

I made a search and found nothing about that post. There was a post about some guy that had problems with Its GeForce3, but that does not help me.

I am going to search a good new power suplly for me... More news about that coming soon.

So far, thanks a lot!

[SOA]Jespark