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HIS X1900XT problems - Hum/noise & DVI LCD problem

stormy

stormy

stormy

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East Yorks, UK
HIS X1900XT problems - Hum/noise, DVI LCD problem, and fan speeds?

Hi,

Just got my HIS X1900XT from OcUK and I am having a couple of problems.

The first is that my LCD (Viewsonic VX910) with its DVI input doesnt seem to be working correctly with the Catalyst Drivers.

If I select "use centered timings" or "use monitor scaling" in the DVI options it makes no difference whatsoever, the picture is ALWAYS scaled to fill the panel, this is using ATI 6.8 Cats. Its pretty annoying to be honest as my old nVidia FX5900 had no problems running my LCD with centered timings. I had read that ATI's DVI/Flat Panel support was not as good as nVidia and it looks like thats correct. :(

Is there anyway I can get my monitor to use "centered timings" like my old nVidia card, so that resolutions lower than native (1280x1024) run in a box and pixel perfect with my ATI card?

The second is just as annoying, in 2D the card is nice and silent running away, but if I run in 3D (say Oblivion) it all looks fantastic yet the card emits a buzzing/huming/high pitched electrical noise, its actually not that loud but because I have built a pretty quiet system now its very noticable, if I move the mouse around (depending on graphic intensity of the view in Oblivion) the noise changes. (this is why my sound and speakers switched off). There is definately noise coming from the card, which isnt the fan. I did read about first gen 1900XTXs doing this, but I thought as not all people reported it that it was not a big issue. :(

Speaking of the fan, it seems to never run very fast, except for a brief second on bootup, is that normal?

So far, nice graphics and performance but not as nice usability as my old nVidia, and annoying electrical noises from the card which suggests its faulty or just a bad design.

Thanks,

Mike
 
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I have a Sapphire X1900XT and get a strange electrical noise too. When I run the ati tool overclocking option during the heat up process I get this strange noise. I haven't noticed it playing games but maybe that is because the noise of the fan makes it inaudible.

Michael
 
stormy said:
The second is just as annoying, in 2D the card is nice and silent running away, but if I run in 3D (say Oblivion) it all looks fantastic yet the card emits a buzzing/huming/high pitched electrical noise, its actually not that loud but because I have built a pretty quiet system now its very noticable, if I move the mouse around (depending on graphic intensity of the view in Oblivion) the noise changes. (this is why my sound and speakers switched off). There is definately noise coming from the card, which isnt the fan. I did read about first gen 1900XTXs doing this, but I thought as not all people reported it that it was not a big issue. :(
Click to expand...

I had the same problem. The noise changed depending on what you were doing. For instance the BF2 menu's the noise would change depnding on the menu.

I sorted my problem out in the end after trying a few cards which all did the same by reseating the gpu with AS5. I think the noise is coming from the heatsink compound. These GPU get very hot. Try it. Usually the manufacture will use a lot the the compound try to save some, then you can reappy this if you need to send it back ;)

Sounds bizzare but it worked for me :)
 
Is there a way to monitor the fan speed of the card?

Everest seems to log GPU, GPU Ambient and GPU VRM temps but not the speed of the fan. I'd like to check if the fan on my HIS X1900XT is working because the difference in noise between idle and load is like non-existant, I thought it would be quiet but not this quiet. :)
 
stormy said:
Is there a way to monitor the fan speed of the card?

Everest seems to log GPU, GPU Ambient and GPU VRM temps but not the speed of the fan. I'd like to check if the fan on my HIS X1900XT is working because the difference in noise between idle and load is like non-existant, I thought it would be quiet but not this quiet. :)
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about the fan noise if your temps are OK.

Idle on my noisy X1900xtx was about 50'c
Load was upto 92'c

If your in that range and its quiet think yourself lucky ;)
 
Hi,

What is odd is that the GPU is 46c idle according to Everest, while the GPU VRM is 54c idle, why so much higher for the RAM?

Not sure what it is under full load as yet as I really have not had chance to play with it a great deal.

Mike
 
Vrm Temp is the voltage regulators, ** temps seem ok, my vrm temp is 56 idle and sits around 72 in heavy gaming.

stormy said:
Is there a way to monitor the fan speed of the card?

Everest seems to log GPU, GPU Ambient and GPU VRM temps but not the speed of the fan. I'd like to check if the fan on my HIS X1900XT is working because the difference in noise between idle and load is like non-existant, I thought it would be quiet but not this quiet. :)
Click to expand...

Rivatuner logs the speeds ;)
 
Does the noise sound like a hard drive?

After gaming, the fan on my HIS X1900XT always sounds like a hard drive.
 
I think the fan is the culprit. If you feel brave ;) take the power away from the fan and listen to see if the sounds completely gone. I wouldn't boot into windows just give it a quick blast in the bios for a couple of mins or less :eek: .
Be very carefull my friend if you do try it.
 
Right, done a bit of testing, the sound is definately not the fan, its noise from the card and it changes in pitch and frequency depending on the 3D scene rendered.

The ATi Tool Cube seems to make it buzz the worst. Also they seem to give the worst temps, with that cube.

Temps full load:

3DMark06 = GPU 75c VRM = 70 (what is odd is the VRM starts higher than GPU but then gets overtaken

ATi Tool (cube) left running till it maxes the temp and settles = GPU 81c VRM = 71c

The Fan gets only to about 30-35% unless I force it higher with ATi Tray Tools then 100% is noisy.

Don't seem to get any artifacts in 3DMark05, 06 or Oblivion, so I think its ok to be honest.

Will have to live with the "buzzing" not sure I dare take off the cooler and reseat it yet. Will see if it bugs me.

Thanks for all the help.

Mike
 
Hmm, more oddness. According to ATI Tray Tools OSD my GPU is at 500Mhz when I am in 3DMark and Oblivion, I thought it was just the menu and 2D loading screens but it seems its like that ALL the time even in all the 3D scenes :(

Also CCC seems to think my card should be clocked at 621Mhz and not 625Mhz.

This is gonna be a long night......
 
Is it a whining capacitor or something? I'm sure I read on here the other day about a guy's X1900 that had a whining capacitor that sang while he was gaming...

One of my nf2 mobos used to do it, was so annoying, as it happened whenever I scrolled down webpages, or minimised/maximised the window etc...
 
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