ATI 9700pro sub-optimal performance problem

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2003-09-28 01:13am

My primary system (XP21, a7v8x, 512/266, 9700pro) has never delivered the best performance in 3d apps. Last night I was lanning with some friends and one of them has almost the exact same setup. His system runs super-smooth Vietcong in 1280, while mine drops frames in 1024. He even has a clocked up non-pro 9700. My board has horrible crashing death issues with AGP 8x, and I have to use the drivers to limit it to 4x. I've determined that this is likely a power issue, since jacking up the agp volts solves alot of the crashing. Any recomendations on how I can narrow down where the bottleneck is? I'm running xp, latest cats (3.6) and a flashed to buggery board. Any help would be appreciated.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-28 01:23am

Well, one suggestion would be to completely uninstall your drivers and control panel. Then install Cat 3.6 or 3.7 (the later has some issues with HW2, though).

You aren't overclocking, right? Also, what make and rating power supply do you have? The R300 is a very power-hungry card.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2003-09-28 01:28am

I've redone cat 3.6 already, but I'll grab the 3.7s anyway. And my card is factory spec, no overclocking. My PSU, on the other hand, is a crappy $A30 '350W', and I've suspected it as the cause of issues for awhile. But a decent antec 420w costs $A160, so I'm interested in ruling everything else out first. My friend, btw, clocked his non-pro up to pro speeds (he's running the core a bit higher I think).
You mentioned uninstalling the control panel - are there any control-panel related issues with the revisions? I remove the old drivers when I update, but let the control panel be installed over.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-28 01:40am

I'd suggest nuking the control panel just to be sure.

That crappy PSU might be having issues delivering enough power across all the rails.

If you can't get an Antec, there are a few other brands that may work better. Fortron (a.k.a. Sparkle) makes decent quiet ones (the PN line - not the PN(PF) line) as does Zalman, which IIRC uses Fortron OEM parts. Enermax can be iffy.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2003-09-28 02:19am

Would a low-volt problem cause a performance drop tho? I would expect graphical artefacts and crashes.
Whats the go with Antec's claims of superclean reliable power down all the rails? Is it marketing speak, or does it actually work?

Rebooting for reinstall - and btw, I already had the 3.7s, and I've had no issues with HW2 at all.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2003-09-29 01:01pm

I have somthing similar, around 2 weeks ago I ran 3dmark2003, got 4600, now I run and its 3000 and I have strange flickers all over the screen. just to ask, how do I know my power supply?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-29 01:07pm

Stark wrote:Would a low-volt problem cause a performance drop tho? I would expect graphical artefacts and crashes.
Whats the go with Antec's claims of superclean reliable power down all the rails? Is it marketing speak, or does it actually work?

It's clean, reliable power.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-29 01:08pm

Ace Pace wrote:I have somthing similar, around 2 weeks ago I ran 3dmark2003, got 4600, now I run and its 3000 and I have strange flickers all over the screen. just to ask, how do I know my power supply?

Open your computer and look at the PSU spec sheet. Also, check for cooling problems in your computer.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2003-10-01 01:11am

Okay, the plot thickens. I bought a r350 for my backup pc, and it demonstrates the same jerkiness in VC. However, aside from the power issue with the 300, I think it could be my mx700 rf mice. The game drops frames when turning, but any amount of straightline is fine. I note the HL has options for mouse 'smoothing'... could my problems be related to the sample rate? On the weekend I'm trying my cards in a similar system with a clean 450W PSU and a wired mouse, so I'll find out one way or the other.