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I give up

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  • Graphics Cards
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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February 10, 2002 9:14:16 PM

I tried. I really tried. I really want to like the Radeon 8500. When my Creative GF2 Ultra died I needed a replacement. The story begins... I ordered the 8500 hot off the presses from my local warehouse. DOA. Went and got another. Also DOA. Went back for a third and final kick in the crotch. They were sold out of them. These things were selling like hotcakes. So, I asked for a Ti500. Sold out of those too. But they had a Ti200. I never like to take a step down from top of the line, but I was desperate. I took the Ti200, brought it home and as with all the previous Nvidia products, dating back to the Viper 550, it worked perfectly from the moment I installed it. A few days later another shipment of 8500s came in and so I went back to the warehouse and picked it up. This one worked. Well, in all this time they have yet to straighten out their drivers. In a last-ditch effort I downloaded and installed their latest beta drivers which corrected the problems with UT and cleaned up some issues with multimedia. However, now text is completely messed up on UT and in Internet Exploder. Also, on some MPEGS only 3/4 of the screen is visible. The bottom 1/4 is nothing but squiggly lines. It's not a codec problem because they work fine with the Ti200. Yes, the Radeon gets consistently better scores on most of the benchmarks, but what the hell good is it if I can't even read text on web sites? The moral of the story is that I have given up on the Radeon 8500 and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the GF4 4600. I think they released the 8500 too soon. These cards should have been delivered with solid drivers and with each subsequent driver release put forth a continued effort to improve the overall quality of the product, not use the consumer as beta testers. However, with Nvidia's stranglehold on the marketplace ATI had to do something. We, as consumers, need ATI to compete with Nvidia but unfortunately I think they will suffer the same fate as 3dfx and Kyro which is a shame. If that happens, rest assurred the Gforce 5 will be $1000.

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February 10, 2002 9:22:46 PM

I'm having none of the problems you mentioned, it sounds like you are having a driver conflict. Did you install the R8500 drivers over the GF3 Ti200 drivers or what?

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor
February 10, 2002 9:40:17 PM

Yes, I did install the ATI drivers over the Nvidia drivers. I see no reason why these drivers should conflict with one another. ATI drivers are ATI drivers and Nvidia drivers are Nvidia drivers. However, I am willing to give it a try. (I guess I'm not giving up) Should I merely uninstall the drivers or delete them from my system folder too?

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February 10, 2002 9:47:19 PM

which os do u have, cause if u have 9x, u must use detenator destroyer to uninstall Nv's drivers. If u have nt based, just goto remove software, and remove from there.

Only if you let me see the Umpa Lumpa- Homer Simpson.
February 10, 2002 9:51:23 PM

Hmm, you see, both nVidia and ATI drivers have a tendency of leaving files behind even after uninstall. First, uninstall the R8500 you have installed. Then search for nVidia files "NV*". Delete all nVidia files you can find. Also, it would be good if you can delete all the ATI files too, "AT*.HL*", "AT*.VX*", "AT*.CN*", "AT*.CH*", "AT*.FI*", "AT*.EN*", "AT*.PT*". I have more experience deleting ATI drivers manually than nVidia drivers, however. After you're done that, reinstall the ATI 6025 drivers.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor
February 10, 2002 10:02:27 PM

I'm using Win2k on my primary hard drive and Win Me on my other in a dual boot mode.

My System:
Athlon XP 1800+ with Swiftech 462 fan/hs
MSI K7T266 Pro2 (no RAID)
512MB Micron PC2100 DDR
IBM 60GB 7200RPM ATA100 (Win2k)
Seagate 20GB 7200RPM ATA100 (WinMe)
Soundblaster Live! Platinum (yeah, I know)
Adaptec 2940 (I think) SCSI
3com 10/100 nic
Pioneer 16X DVD
Yamaha SCSI 16X CD-RW
Iomega 2GB JAZ SCSI
LS-120
Enermax 550W PS
Klipsch Promedia 5.1 sound system

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February 10, 2002 10:04:19 PM

Okay. I'll try it. Be back in a few minutes. Good thing I have the screws that you can turn by hand on my case. Although my fingers are now getting sore. :) 

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February 10, 2002 10:34:49 PM

If you have Win9x I would follow flamethrowers advice and get the detonator destroyer to remove the nVidia drivers. It saves you the trouble of manually deleting something and avoids you deleting something you shouldn't have.

You can get it <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/stealthman80/Downloads.html" target="_new"> here </A><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Flyboy on 02/10/02 07:37 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
February 10, 2002 10:41:28 PM

um, also, watch out not to delete vxd files....windows will be pissed if u do.

Only if you let me see the Umpa Lumpa- Homer Simpson.
February 10, 2002 10:58:44 PM

Okay. I did everything you said and it seemed to fix the text problem I mentioned previously. However, the squiggly lines on some MPEGS is still there. Since it's occurring on some and not all MPEGS, I'm thinking now that it could be some sort of codec problem. ATI makes codecs for video also. Known as VCR1 and VCR2 and a few others. There could be some sort of compatibility issue with regard to the codec, the card and Win2k. I'm going to have to investigate further. In the meantime I will stick with the Radeon and see how it does. I forgot to mention also that I was disappointed in the look of a new game called Ghost Recon. White lines appeared to be very choppy. Perhaps now those lines will be smoothed along with the text in UT.

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February 10, 2002 11:02:54 PM

Hehe, glad to hear it's better! The choppy MPEG is a known issue with some systems and the Radeon 8500. The 3286 drivers don't have this problem. However, ATI is releasing a new driver in a few days so I suggest you wait.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor
February 10, 2002 11:11:16 PM

The video actually isn't choppy. What's happening is that there are squiggly lines on the bottom 1/3 of the veiwing area. It looks as though that someone is holding a comb or something in front of the camera. I went to ATI's site to find out more about their codecs. The site states that these codecs are for non-ATI video cards. "Aha!" I said. So I uninstalled those codecs and voila! It didn't work. Oh well. Maybe their next set of drivers will solve this. If you want to see a sample video (it's not goat porn or anything like that)and see if it does the same thing on your system let me have your e-mail address and I'll send it to you. And thanks again for your help.


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February 10, 2002 11:18:27 PM

Yes, I've seen that. It's a bug in the driver.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor
February 10, 2002 11:29:36 PM

Well, at least we've deduced what it was and I am able to play UT and read the text to find out who I killed. I will give ATI another chance when their new drivers are released to resolve the "comb effect". For all of our sakes I really, really want ATI to succeed.

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February 10, 2002 11:41:00 PM

With some major bug fixes and performance improvements coming, I think ATI is breathing new life into the R8500.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor
February 10, 2002 11:42:57 PM

Goat porn rules! Oh, I hope no onse sees this....

Only if you let me see the Umpa Lumpa- Homer Simpson.
February 11, 2002 12:39:36 AM

Gotta love them goats!

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a b U Graphics card
February 11, 2002 1:26:53 AM

go to goatse.cx

What's the frequency, Kenneth?
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