FAULTY ATI X1900 XT-X?

Overslop · 21 Mar 2006 at 14:46

Hey guys.

I just received my ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X today but I think it may be faulty.

I uninstalled my previous graphics card and used Driver Cleaner Pro to remove the extra files lying around. I plugged in the new one and when it was booting up the colours of my Abit screen were all garbled up.

I installed the latest Xtreme G War Cat 6.3 graphics drivers and everything in Windows seems to be fine. However, upon running 3DMark 05 it seemed slower than it should and the frame rates were definitely much lower than I expected. Upon completing the test, it scored 9875. This is a good score, but seems too low for what has been dubbed the fastest graphics card in the world. I was expecting a score between 11,000 and 12,500. My other hardware should not be limiting this.

I'm going to use different drivers to see if that helps. What else can I do?

Overslop · 21 Mar 2006 at 15:01

Thanks for responses guys.

Good to know that garbled screen is common!

I will try the official drivers first of all and see if that helps. If it doesn't, then I will perform a complete fresh installation, but I would rather not ideally. Oh well, good job I have no work today!

I will post back when I have progressed.

Overslop · 21 Mar 2006 at 15:18

@ Loadsamoney: I only have the free version of 3DMark 05 and I just launched it at default.

Overslop · 21 Mar 2006 at 15:46

I uninstalled the War Cat drivers, used Driver Cleaner Pro, and then installed the official ATI drivers. I re-ran 3dMark 05 and this time I scored 10623. This is still lower than I expected, but just within what you describe as the ideal level Gibbo.

If I performed a fresh installation of Windows is it likely that it would improve the performance of the card?

Overslop · 21 Mar 2006 at 16:41

I just tested Age of Empires III and Far Cry. AOE3 was good but the frame rate was dropping fairly often. Far Cry had a very low frame rate throughout. Surely these games should run at maximum settings and an excellent frame rate right?

I will perform a system reinstall soon, when my new antivirus and firewall software arrives. If that doesn't solve it, what could be the problem?

Overslop · 21 Mar 2006 at 16:42

Thanks Loadsamoney - all settings in the CCC were default. Do I need to change these to what you said or is default what it should be?

Overslop · 21 Mar 2006 at 18:31

I changed all the settings as stated, and ended all the programmes I could in the tray. I got 10850, so there was a slight but significant improvement. Thanks!

Far Cry is still not running at acceptable levels though. I will try more games and see how they run too.

Overslop · 21 Mar 2006 at 21:41

For some reason Print Screen + Shift won't work right now in Far Cry. I tried using the Fraps screenshot facility instead but it doesn't show the frame counter.

At the exact point you indicated I had 23 FPS. I had all settings on max except resolution at 1280 x 1024.

I also tried Sid Meier's Civilization IV and had similarly poor results in that game. Something is clearly wrong...

Is this just happening because I have all settings maxed out in the CCC? Do I have to leave them all at default?

TaKen - I am pretty sure my graphics card is in the correct slot. It is in the highest slot, which is the correct one yes?

Overslop · 21 Mar 2006 at 22:10

Yep, that is definitely in the right way.

I have another problem I have noticed. On certain backgrounds I can see what I can only describe as endless diagonal lines scrolling down the screen. It is subtle but quite annoying once noticed.

This card is rapidly pi$$ing me off! :mad:

I can only hope that my reinstallation will fix my problems, and I can't think what else I can do.

Overslop · 21 Mar 2006 at 23:38

Thx for the suggestion leezer. Removing the CCC did help quite substantially but alas is still not at desirable levels. My average frame rate in Far Cry is about 40FPS now.

AOE3 gets really bad when there is a large fight, it went down to 2FPS at one stage! :eek:

Overslop · 22 Mar 2006 at 17:47

So mine is broken then?

Overslop · 22 Mar 2006 at 22:57

I'm stuck in a rut on this one.

I can't perform a complete reinstallation of Windows until my new Antivirus and Firewall software arrives, which won't be for a few days at least. Once it does arrive I will do the reinstallation ASAP, but if I do so and it proves to be a faulty card, will Overclockers UK still take it back after this time?

Also, if I have to return it and buy a replacement, the offer will not be on then, so I may have to end up paying more for this card than when I bought it.

Overslop · 23 Mar 2006 at 00:23

One thing I have managed to fix is the garbled screen on boot-up. I updated my motherboard's BIOS and this solved it. So I recommend everyone else who has this issue to do that if they haven't done so already.

Overslop · 30 Mar 2006 at 07:00

I finally got my new Internet Security software so I performed my complete reinstallation of my PC.

Unfortunately my problem persists!!! :eek:

Does anyone have any ideas why my PC is performing so poorly? Is the graphics card faulty?

My FPS at the scene in Far Cry is now 41 FPS. This is at 1280X1024 res and all other in-game settings at max. I am using version 1.33 (latest official).

I have tried using the official Catalyst graphics drivers, War Cat and Omega. Some work better than others but none near par. The other X1900 X-TX owner who posted a screenie had 1900x1200 res with all settings at max AND HD and yet has a 50% higher FPS rate! WTF! :confused:

Please help anyone, this is driving me dotty! Should I have the card RMA'd?

One thing I did think of, is there possibly some way my PSU is not supplying the card with enough power and this is causing the poor performance?

Overslop · 30 Mar 2006 at 17:49

Thx for responses everyone.

Hi,

have you applied any overclocks, to the card or your cpu's?

also what level have you set Anti-Aliasing to in CCC?

Have you enabled Adaptive Anti Aliasing? (this can slow down performance quite considerably)

Raja

No overclocking applied, I currently have the Omega drivers installed with all default settings, no CCC.

I don't think AAA is an in-game option in Far Cry, all available settings are on max except resolution at 1280x1024.

Power Supply should be fine, have you definately got your motherboard chipset drivers installed, is there no way you can test the card in another machine, or take it your local shop and see if they will give it a quick test for you, thats what i did when i thought my x1800 was faulty.

Failing that just RMA it, and get OcUK to test it, its not performing how it should, although if it turns out to be fine, then they'll charge you.

The best bet is as said, try and get it tested in another machine if you can, see if you can find out if its definately the card.

I have the latest chipset drivers installed.

I am afraid I do not know anybody else who has a high-end PC.

It is possible the local shop will test it for me. I will give them a call.

I am worried that it is not the card at fault in this predicament, though the wavy lines must be caused by the graphics card I assume. Maybe that alone could warrant an RMA. I would be really annoyed if I get charged for an RMA and it turns out there is nothing wrong with it.

As the some guys have already said it's most likely a driver issue.

It's possible I guess but I have tried all three different versions, all of which are the latest available. People using the same drivers have no troubles.

One thing I have noticed, is that when playing about with IRQ designation I gave the graphics card its own unique channel (it was shared with USB before). This reduced performance dramatically and in the same scene in Far Cry I had a FPS of 27. Maybe fiddling about with those more could help?

Overslop · 30 Mar 2006 at 18:22

I would expect to be over 60FPS at all times in Far Cry. Dropping below 10 in places is clearly an error.

There are no major difference between all 3 sets of drivers for me.

I have tried more assignments with IRQ channels but it isn't helping.

Overslop · 30 Mar 2006 at 19:51

I tried reinstalling on the other hard drive but this didn't help whatsoever.

I have also tried with a single stick of RAM but again no improvement.

Any more ideas fellas?

Overslop · 30 Mar 2006 at 21:07

I have them set to default which is 2-3-2-5.

Overslop · 31 Mar 2006 at 04:16

Hi Gregan, that is interesting that you have a system almost identical to mine and we both have the same issue. Are you similarly amazed by how poorly it is performing for you?

Surely our systems should be running games better right?

Overslop · 31 Mar 2006 at 19:38

As far as I know Raja Far Cry does not support dual core processors so you would in fact be more CPU limited than Gregan with his overclock at 2.6Ghz.

Gregan, my card is indeed a Connect 3D one. I was also thinking that possibly it was stuck in 2D mode. Is there some way we can test this? I am going to call OcUK ASAP and see what they have to say.