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Major Artefacts > HIS ATI RADEON X1950 PRO ICEQ3 Turbo 256MB GDDR3 (AGP)

M1CRO said:
After reading ALL of this thread, I too am horrified by the thought of having a rather expensive HIS 1950 pro AGP card returned to me as NOT faulty.. I purchased the card on thursday last week and within 1 hour of use I was getting the pixelated patterns across the screen... Couldnt even run Aquamark 3 without it freaking out..I had just a few months before, bought an xpro 400watt psu which was (I thought ) sufficient for my system.On saturday I purchased a colourSI 550watt psu and discovered I still had the artifacts. I have been in this business of building and repairing systems for quite a few years and felt myself that the card was showing signs of overheating.Although it was only showing low 50's c and high 40's c. Nevertheless Should I return the card with the RMA which was given to me after a phone call to the Tech guys.They did seem very certain that the card was faulty.Even though I wasn't looking for it to be returned.

I too have screenshots of the pixel patterns, what use are they if OC's say the card is not faulty.?

Another very concerned customer.

M1CRO.
Click to expand...

Yes, RMA it while you are still in your 28 day window. I just RMA'd my second HIS ICEQ3 today and I'm getting a refund this time. If you are determined to get a replacement HIS, make sure it's a Rev.2 card. The Core is clocked lower but the memory is higher quality and clocked higher so pefromance is equal or slightly better than the Rev.1 cards.

http://www.hisdigital.com/html/product_ov.php?id=296&view=yes
 
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Guys, TODAY It seems, after extensive bench testing, this card has performed almost 100%, doom 3 ran flawless for more than 25 mins, mohaa spearhead, Aquamark 3, 3d Mark 2005 and testdrive unlimited All without any artifacts..

Let me just give you some info here.. I packed the card back into its box on Saturday,after being desperately disappointed with the artifacts and crashing. After reading the forums and this thread in particular,I wanted to check 100% that it wasn't something I had missed.So I fitted it back into the system today after a quick dusting of the Agp socket.. re installed Catalyst 7.2 and set the defaults to optimal performance.
The plan was to get some screens of the artifacts from the 3DMark 2005 and 2006 benchmark.Low and behold... It ran both with no errors.. I checked the temps and they remained under 55C. Strange?

I installed Doom 3, Half life 2 and Test drive unlimited. All three games played just as they should... Only once did the artifacts appear,I rebooted and tried to emulate the crash again.. but I havent been able to... What Does this mean? the card is still faulty.? should I still return it.?

Im planning to run it for a few days to see if it becomes unstable..

EDITED... sorry forget that....Once you change the standard settings to "optimal quality" the card freaks out again..Bah..

Image1-2.jpg



M1CRO
 
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There is a dilemma for me here.... Today I have tried for over an hour to get the card to reproduce the Artifacts... With no luck... If i send this card back and Overclockers cannot reproduce the Artifacts... Will they report it as "good working order" and return it to me? How many times does it have to occur before it is deemed Faulty.?

M1CRO.
 
M1CRO said:
There is a dilemma for me here.... Today I have tried for over an hour to get the card to reproduce the Artifacts... With no luck... If i send this card back and Overclockers cannot reproduce the Artifacts... Will they report it as "good working order" and return it to me? How many times does it have to occur before it is deemed Faulty.?

M1CRO.
Click to expand...


It could be on the edge. If your room is just 1* or 2* warmer and you have problems?
ATI cat 7.2 driver is fast, cat 7.1 is slower and balanced for more games, this may be better for you !
If your not happy, send it back for a tech to check it out.

I think its a bios problem and not so much hardware.
I think the factory rushed those setting and did not test them fully.
By editing the fan,core,voltage and memory settings in the bios,
I used RaBiT.v2.2.1 to edit my cards bios.
I bet most cards would work and can be clocked faster than stock!
 
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aircooled said:
It could be on the edge. If your room is just 1* or 2* warmer and you have problems?
ATI cat 7.2 driver is fast, cat 7.1 is slower and balanced for more games, this may be better for you !
If your not happy, send it back for a tech to check it out.

I think its a bios problem and not so much hardware.
I think the factory rushed those setting and did not test them fully.
By editing the fan,core,voltage and memory settings in the bios,
I used RaBiT.v2.2.1 to edit my cards bios.
I bet most cards would work and can be clocked faster than stock!
Click to expand...

Maybe you could share a little more information on what you did and what the chances are of fixing this problem?
 
M1CRO said:
Email me please [email protected]

Out of curiosity I would like to know what you did and if it stopped the Artifacting.
Click to expand...

Copy your bios, than edit
If you up the voltage from 1.3v to 1.35 with RaBiT.v2.2.1
Change the memory from CAS Latency to 9 or 10 with RaBiT.v2.2.0 (this very important for overclocking to 1700+)
Up the fan speeds
0@50%,
40@59%,
45@68%,
50@77%,
55@86%,
60@91%,
65@95%,
70@100%,
Now flash it !!
This should help it may need some more tweaking for your system.
I think mostly upping the voltage stops the artifacting..
My card does not have artifacting ( @ stock clocking ) but when I overclocked over its limits, I saw what you have ! So I know what causes this problem and this may fix it for you. Besure to make a BACKUP.rom !!!!!!!

My x1950pro is clocked @ 648 /1620 !!! It can be clocked higher but 648 / 1620 is the "SWEET SPOT" :D :cool:
 
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MICRO - Why are you going to these lengths? I recommend you do not even consider flashing the BIOS. If you do and the card is still "artefacting" afterwards, OcUK will never give you a refund and you might as well have thrown your money down the drain.

Lets face it mate, the card should work out of the box as soon as you plug it in. You should not have to mess about trying to underclock the card to get it to work. My HIS was not fit for purpose and these are the grounds underwhich I claimed my refund. I do not know if they tested it a second time but I do know they have given me a refund and also paid for the postage on the second RMA. They still owe me for the first RMA and I have just sent them a letter (cos I had to write rather than email the Tech Support Manager!) and hopefully I'll be getting my testing fee + postage back in due course.

If you can, I suggest you test this card on another system with a different mobo, processor, RAM and PSU. If you get artefacts after that then you know the card is faulty. If you send it back without doing this then you risk having the same problems as me.
 
ChemHazMat said:
MICRO - Why are you going to these lengths? I recommend you do not even consider flashing the BIOS. If you do and the card is still "artefacting" afterwards, OcUK will never give you a refund and you might as well have thrown your money down the drain.

Lets face it mate, the card should work out of the box as soon as you plug it in. You should not have to mess about trying to underclock the card to get it to work. My HIS was not fit for purpose and these are the grounds underwhich I claimed my refund. I do not know if they tested it a second time but I do know they have given me a refund and also paid for the postage on the second RMA. They still owe me for the first RMA and I have just sent them a letter (cos I had to write rather than email the Tech Support Manager!) and hopefully I'll be getting my testing fee + postage back in due course.

If you can, I suggest you test this card on another system with a different mobo, processor, RAM and PSU. If you get artefacts after that then you know the card is faulty. If you send it back without doing this then you risk having the same problems as me.
Click to expand...

SOMETHING TOO THINK ABOUT !!!!
 
yes guys, your right.. I'm just asking out of curiosity.. I'm no expert in clocking.I Already have an RMA and do plan to send it back. As you say ChemHazMat it would be foolish to lose out. I'll take your advice and hope that OC's find it faulty.

Thankyou.

M1CRO.
 
M1CRO said:
yes guys, your right.. I'm just asking out of curiosity.. I'm no expert in clocking.I Already have an RMA and do plan to send it back. As you say ChemHazMat it would be foolish to lose out. I'll take your advice and hope that OC's find it faulty.

Thankyou.

M1CRO.
Click to expand...


Smart Move :cool:
Why get less than you paid for !!! :(
You shouldn't have to do anything to get it to work 100%
Overclocking and flashing is to make it work 110% :D
 
Just to round off my part in this thread (cos I started it :) ) and for anyone else reading it because they have experienced the same artefact problems, I have just installed and fully tested my new Sapphire X1950 PRO 512 MB AGP. It works like a dream. I'm happy and so is my computer.

LESSONS LEARNED:

I won't be buying HIS again and I probably wont buy anything from OcUK again either. I feel let down because the faulty card was not picked up in the first RMA test and consequently, I wasted another 4 weeks trying to troubleshoot the problem. OcUK have given me a refund and I hope they will refund me for the first RMA, but they can't compensate me for the time I have spent and nor the new PSU I needlessly bought.

2 months on this story has a moderately happy ending for me at least. I hope anyone else with a faulty HIS X1950 Pro stumbling across this thread finds it useful and reaches their own suitable conclusion.

Finally, a massive thanks to everyone out there that took the time to read about my problem and help me find the solution.

Cheers! <S>
 
ChemHazMat, thanks for starting this thread off mate... Without the contributions from yourself and the many others who have posted.. we consumers would have less knowledge of bad and sub standard goods...

Thankyou for making this post happen.

M1CRO.
 
just had a quick look thru this thread and i've had the EXACT same problem with my Sapphire X1950Pro.(PciX)

I cured it by using the latest Omega Drivers, the Ati ones from 7.1 to 7.3 did exactly what is shown in the pics, never had a problem since omega ones installed.

Sorry if someone has already posted a similar reply, i'm just going off my own circumstances ;)
 
aircooled said:
My x1950pro is clocked @ 648 /1620 !!! It can be clocked higher but 648 / 1620 is the "SWEET SPOT" :D :cool:
Click to expand...

Hey Mate! Which side of your arse are you speaking out of today! :p :p That's a great overclock for an X1950 Pro. Do you have a link to a 3DMark Score? Cheers.

Previous Post
aircooled said:
Using overclocking tools as "atitool" is a NO NO , I would think! would you?
The HIS X1950 Pro ICEQ3 Turbo 512MB AGP is maxed-out-as-is.
You must use caution when tampering using 3rd party software as "atitool"
That is why I chose the overclocked HIS product ,so that I need not tamper with it,
and not Void The Warranty.
To play it safe I deleted all GPU overclocking software from my computer!
I would recommend all do the same!
I would not want my RMA product to be returned to me stamped with big red letters
"Voided Warranty"
Click to expand...
 
Right!!! listen up, all this waffle on the this topic is ridiculous unless you have had this happen to you before why post advice on something you know nothing about?! :rolleyes:

I bought an X1900 XTX with the exact same artifacts as you speak of - it's the ram probally thats screwed on the graphics card, I RMA'd the graphics card & recieved a fully working replacement that was about 1 year ago. :)
 
MrRoboto said:
Hey Mate! Which side of your arse are you speaking out of today! :p :p That's a great overclock for an X1950 Pro. Do you have a link to a 3DMark Score? Cheers.

Previous Post
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People change Mate , Those were my feelings then , Its was new and working great.. In time I wanted more , so I gave it a try , I am so happy I did , Its running better than ever now !!!!! As far as posting benchmarks my PRO versions won't link !! But is saves a lot of time in running tests. The trade off.. Posting scores is not important to me, since Im not a record breaker !!!

AMD 3000 @ 183 = 2380 mhz
2gb @ 183 mhz
This are about what they are as I last remember...
3dmark03 14350
3dmark05 8025
3dmark06 4150
Aquamark 58000
 
aircooled said:
Posting scores is not important to me, since Im not a record breaker !!!
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm sure it isn't. Just curious mate, are you still banned form Guru3D or was is it permanent? Glad your card is running so well. Performs much better than your old X850 doesn't it?
 
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