*** The Official X1950 Pro Thread ***

[Big.Wayne]

I do want some control over my Catalyst drivers because I have dual screen and its the only way i think to activate it.

Not sure if you mean Catalyst 'Control-Center', but you don't need that installed to set-up dual display.

Just bring up 'Display Properties' click the no.2 display in the top window (adjust its res, its always at 640x480?) then just put a check box where it says [v] Extend my Windows Desktop onto this monitor then 'Apply' . . . your done!

 

[Big.Wayne]

If you want to compare cards, check out tomshardware, VGA Charts, most cards are their

Added to opening page . . .

Comparisons:

Tom's Hardware Guide VGA Charts
Allows for interactive performance comparison, real-time!

 

[Big.Wayne]

When did u add that, just now?

yeah

did i say i got mine today?

its nice and quite! looks fab!!!

Which model?

 

[Big.Wayne]

Just installed the HIS, seems to be a very nice and is a little bit faster then the Power Colour card. I didn't even uninstall the CATs, just powered down, swapped cards, booted into windows, plug'n'played, rebooted, done!

here are a few before and after benches, system is loose (still being built) but it was loose for both of the tests so the only thing thats changed is the card . . . bear in mind these are at 1024x768 res, normal defaults.


Power Colour= 5633



HIS= 5811

The HIS package is very swish, games, software, dongles etc but the fan is 'niggling' me atm, its very quiet (although I think the Power Colour one was quieter) but this HIS fan is making a small 'rattle' sound, I may just be being picky so I'll leave it running for a bit. . . but if deffo coming from the fan, if I apply a little pressure to the fan the sound goes away, but after a while 'rattle rattle' hmmm . . . .

[edit] I have no idea what the actual clocks for 'this' HIS card are, will grab ATI Tools in a bit and check.

 

[Big.Wayne]

why did you buy a HIS wayne, as the powercolour is silent is it not?!!

I bought the HIS version because the Power-Colour wouldn't fit into the [HTPC] cases I have, the cooler is so tall I couldn't put the top cover back on!!

I just installed ATI Tray Tools, never used it before but its looks pretty handy, its got all kinda options!

Here is a screenie of how it sees the HIS card:

So thats 635MHz/GPU and 1486MHz/DDR out the box not bad! (I read that in a few of the reviews, wonder why they say 620MHz?).

The 'rattling' in the fan hasn't gone away . . . You probably wouldn't notice it in a normal system but these ones I'm working on are meant to be as quiet as poss . . . eeeee I'm hard to please sometimes!

 

[Big.Wayne]

How good would X1950pro be in crossfire?

Updated 'CROSSFIRE' info on opening page!

X1950 Pro 'CROSSFIRE'
Reviews: 1 2 3 4

 

[Big.Wayne]

Installation procedues?

For most users the simplest method of getting your new card set-up in Windows would be to download and install the latest Catalyst® 'Software Suite'. This contains the latest drivers for your card and includes the 'Catalyst® Control Centre' (C.C.C), which is a small app that gives u access to certain advanced features like AA/AF, Overdrive etc.

Catalyst® 'Software Suite' for Windows XP
Single download containing the latest drivers and the 'Control Centre' (34.6MB)
Note: Catalyst® 'Control Centre' needs Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed (22.4MB).


If you are not a fan of C.C.C or Microsoft.NET but still want access to all the functions of your card thats not a problem, simply download & install the Display Driver (12.2MB) and the WDM Integrated Driver (3.9MB) and your good to go.

Catalyst® Software 'Components' for Windows XP

As there is no way to adjust any 'advanced' graphic settings using just the display driver
you will probably want to download and install ATI Tray Tools for some major 'tweakage'!

 

[Big.Wayne]

dont u need the net framework before u install the display driver?

The Catalyst® 'Software Suite' needs .net installed if you wanna access the functions inside the 'Control Centre' (It says version 2.0 but mine works with .net 1.1 although it grumbles a bit).

If your just running with the drivers then you don't need .net

Sorry if I have caused confusion, I amended my earlier posts

 

[Big.Wayne]

is there any reason why I wouldn't want to install the full package?

Some people don't really use the control centre and consider it a bit of 'bloatware', some other people don't want MS .NET installed, I'm sure they have their reasons!

I'm running with just the display driver + ATI Tray Tools, wow that things got some options I tell ya!

Gonna have a go and ATI Tool later, been a while since I played with that . . .

Also somewhat confused about this link on the download page - specifically aimed at x1950 Pro users. What does that provide that's any different to standard Catalyst package?

ATI Customer Care has made available display drivers for the Radeon X1950 PRO as a courtesy to those customers who have misplaced or damaged their installation CD.

Looks just like a batch of dodgy CD's went out with some cards so they are offering to ship a replacement (some people may have dial-up still I guess)

Still worrying?

 

[Big.Wayne]

So thats 635MHz/GPU and 1486MHz/DDR out the box not bad! (I read that in a few of the reviews, wonder why they say 620MHz?).

I've also read that they always leave the factory over the quoted 620mhz. Bonus I say

Does the HIS come out of the box already overclocked?! or do you have to faff about?

out the box!

 

[Big.Wayne]

We know that the IceQ 2 cooler used on other HIS cards is supplied by the popular Arctic Cooling company. However looking at the IceQ 3 sticker we aren't familiar with the maker of this cooler.

Well 24 hours later I can state that I am not happy with the 'silent' cooler on this particular HIS card!

The machine its in is pretty quiet, you can hear the gentle 'whoosh!' of air passing through the system and then you can hear 'rattle rattle' from the HIS cooler. It is making this uber system I just built sound a bit 'cheap'

I may have to unwrap the second card just to check if its the same? hopefully its just a dodgy fan as I am quite taken with the HIS card, pity if a little thing like a 'rattling' fan spoils it!

[edit] update a week later: The second cards works perfectly, very quiet (no rattle!) meets my expectations 100%!

 

[Big.Wayne]

rattling sounds like a loose fitting to me. maybe a refit will solve it for ya

have read other posts before about ratly his coolers.

If I apply a little pressure on the fan hub (marked with white cross below) the 'rattle' stops?

Then a moment later it returns . . . dodgy fan? don't think its something I can fix?

[edit] one week later: yup it turns out to be a defective or badly mounted fan, the second HIS model I tried works as advertised!

 

[Big.Wayne]

Does the HIS come with the adapter that turns a normal 4-way PSU connector into the 6 pin jobby? as the sapphire does and I'll need one.

nope!

[edit] see the HIS bundle here

 

[Big.Wayne]

I take it you just had one on your PSU?

Yup! I've had a PCI-Express capable power supply for over 2 years, what you using?

You can pick a molex-PCI-e adapter pretty cheap though, or just use the one from the sapphire

 

[Big.Wayne]

neither of my 2 HIS's rattle....

Mine too, I thought something was wrong it was so quiet!

You both talking IceQ-3 coolers here? I will have to unwrapped the second card then to test this out . . . hic!

 

[Big.Wayne]

really dont know whether to get 2 of these and go crossfire.

might aswell get a single 8800 for the price.

Yeah, I think one is enough and will tide you over nicely until spring when there should be a lot more choices and most likely a price drop on current 'high-end' models . . .

The aim of the game is to get as much performance as possible for your money!

What games and what res are u intending to play tom?

 

[Big.Wayne]

Well the monitor im getting with my new system goes up to 1680x1050. Just getting it so when i do eventually get a very powerful card, maybe a G80 refresh or newer model or something, ill have a good monitor to play it on.

Yup, a good monitor is worth splashing out on, they seem to hold their value better than high end GPUs. I've had a DELL 24" (1920x1200) for 20 months now, lol that was fed by a 9800Pro for a while, then a X850XT. Only game I have played at 1920x1200 was guild wars which ran fine (even on a 9800pro) all the other games were run at a lower res but 'upscaled' to fill the big screen, not ideal but I can say I totally enjoyed playing Far-Cry this was (with a 9800pro).

For now games i want to play are Battlefield 2, Counter Strike source, Company of heroes, Medieval 2, Eve online and FEAR combat (fear multiplayer). For these games a single Pro should be fine i would have thought.

those games should be fine running at the res you want, however the two highlighted are real system killers so not so sure there (have a flick through the reviews though). What's the rest of your system like btw? (A64 - A64x2 - Core2 Duo?)

 

[Big.Wayne]

just for anyone whos interested in the power consumption side of things,

Good to see a GPU not needing a small power station to fuel it. This was one of the reasons I thought the X1950 Pro was a good choice for a HTPC system, and the fact it runs quite cool!

 

[Big.Wayne]

B.W - are you likely to have had the 2nd HIS card tested by thursday to see if that rattles too?

as i want to know which one to buy the HIS or the Sapphire lol

Will test it out tonight, been running with the Power-Colour one for the moment, that Artic Cooling Accelero X2 is a great bit of kit though! I'm pretty fussy about noise levels and I can honestly say the Accelero X2 is quiet enough for me. I even turned the fan to 100% using ATI Tray Tools and its still quiet.

I've done some 3DMark03/06 benchmarks of the Power-Colour card using an Opteron 170 (2GHz - 2.4GHz - 2.8Ghz) so will put them up later, will do the same for the HIS tonight. . .

 

[Big.Wayne]

i have already installed the driver and WDM, nothing else, dont want to download ccc if i can help it

Check out ATI Tray Tools