New ATI experience

[lstucz]

I just upgraded my video card to a new Radeon X1950 Pro w/512Mb of ram and thought I would share my experience with you. It was an uphill battle to be able to play Links 2k3 again, after the install, but I am back in the game!

First off, this card is huge and requires 2 nomex power connectors to power it. I have it installed inside a Coolermaster Praetorian 730 case, which is fairly large, with 4 external 5" bays, 2 external 3.5" bays, 4 internal 3.5" bays and 4 case fans. Installed, it is so long that the power connectors b u t t right up against my hard drives with little room to spare. I am running 2 SATA hard drives in a RAID 1 array. If they were older ATA drives the power connectors would be on the same side of the drives as the power connectors for the video card and I would have had to relocate my drives to the bottom of the case instead of centered where they are cooled better from the 120mm front fan.

Requiring 2 power connectors for power, this card uses a lot of power. My older Thermaltake 560W power supply did not have enough +12 rails to deliver the needed power. So, I installed a new OCZ ModXStream 780W PSU w/ 4 20A rails. The new OCZ PSU died within 24 hours of install. Glad I had not switched from my Nvidia drivers and installed the new ATI card, yet. RMA the PSU to OCZ and 3 weeks later, I am ready to start over.

After 72 hours of burn-in, the new PSU is still operational, so on to installing the new ATI card. Downloaded the latest recommended ATI Catalyst Control Center drivers from their web site. Deleted the Nvidia drivers through the control panel and shut down the computer. Remove the old card and relocate a few wires to allow the new X1950 to fit inside the case.

Install the new card and start the computer back up. Once Windows loads I install the ATI CCC and restart. The restart froze up and I had to shut down and restart cold. Once Windows loaded, my resolution was already set at 1680 x 1050, which is recommended for my 22" monitor. Cool, Nvidia did not do this and I even had to go into the control panel and create a custom resolution.

Thumbs up to ATI for recognizing my monitor and automatically setting the correct resolution and refresh rate. Thumbs down for the error message claiming I did not have permission to change settings through the CCC, even though I am the only user and log in as administrator. Thumbs down, also, because every time I restart with the Catalyst Contol Center installed, my computer freezes up during the restart.

I did some photo editing with Corel Paint Shop Pro and played a round of Age of Empires without any problems. OK, time to try out Links. I started up an offline round at Quail Ridge Falls in ammy mode, just to try out the game and see if I have any problems. By hole #3 the screen blanks out on me and then comes back. There is a message from the control center stating that the card experienced a serious malfunction and I should notify ATI of the problem. OK, continue with the game and the problem occurs again with same message. Exit Links, grumble grumble grumble. Try another game, Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2006 Season, The computer freezes up, completely.

Back to the ATI website, I check my drivers against what is recommended individually from the whole Catalyst Control Panel. My driver is listed as version 8.4, yet, for just an individual driver, ATI recommends version 7.8, hmm. Download the 7.8 version of the driver and then remove the Catalyst Control Panel through Add and Remove Programs. Restart and it still freezes up, so I have to shut down and start cold, yet.

(edit: Even though I downloaded and installed only the 7.8 version driver, it still shows up as 8.4 version in my system info.)

During the restart, I go into my BIOS to check settings and realize I never increased my AGP Aperture size to accommodate the larger video ram on the new card, so I get that corrected. Log back into Windows and back to my desktop. Install the drivers without the control center and restart the computer, yet again. NO freeze up this time, yeah!!!!!!

Just to be on the safe side, I decided to enter my card info in the text file for Links.

Started up Links and I am finally able to finish the game I started and tried to finish several times.

YES! I am back in the game!!!!!!!!

On top of everything else, my cable modem died on me after about 3 years, right after I began the install. So, I also had to go out to the cable company office and exchange it for a new one.

The experience has been way more drama than I would have liked. This was not the way I wanted to spend my Saturday afternoon.

No support needed. Everything is working fine again, except Cabela's Big Game Hunter and that may work now if I leave it at the default settings. I just needed to vent.

Also, maybe by reading this, someone else can learn something from my experience and avoid having some of the same problems.

[Larry_Warrilow]

l, links now is as a mere housefly to your newly installed nuclear megaton video card hammer. hope your house doesn't catch fire, because (lol) as the old poem goes..."the card played stormy weather, and lightning shot out of its a**." best of luck with the new hardware. it's nice to hear a success story once in a while concerning new equipment. lw

[terrell]

holy crap, lou. i'll bet every light bulb in erie dimmed when you fired that puppy up. (8

[lstucz]

Well, the hunting game still is not working. Some more searching on the net finds others are having similar problems with some of their 3D games and this card. With this PSU I'll find it hard to believe, but it seems the problem may still be power related. They should have used one PCI-e power connector instead of 2 molex connectors. My PCI-e power cord is on it's own 12V rail. I am looking around for an adapter, or may have to make my own. I hate to have to butcher a cable I may want for it's original purpose later, though.

Links has played fine on several other lesser cards, but I will say it renders a little faster with this card. I played another round before bed last night to further test it. This time at Augusta National 2006. Being one of the largest course files it usually takes a long time to render from shot to shot with my old rig. It rendered almost as fast as the original M$ courses, now. You may not need the power in Links to drive the graphics, but you can still improve rendering time.

Some of these newer course files are so large, that playing a tourney can be like waiting on a regular course, for a 5-some to finish a hole so you can take your turn.

What I really wanted the card for was photo editing and CAD design software. They put a much higher demand on the video card than Links.

No T, It does not draw that much power. The PSU I am using is very efficient and only generates what it needs at any given time. But, because the case is full of blue LED fans, it does make a great night light when I leave it running all night long.

[lstucz]

Update!

I finally got this whole thing working smooth as silk. The fine folks in the Sapphire support forum helped me work everything out without having to replace or change any more hardware. Turns out the issue was the latest drivers recommended by ATI. Changed the drivers to an older 7.4 set and all issues disappeared.

Now Cabela's, Flight Simulator 2004 and Links are all working great.

[terrell]

congrats, lou, on getting that beast (and i say that literally) humming. if'n you'd like to read up on experiences others have had with your card, here's my favorite place:

http://forums.guru3d.com/index.php?s=f7a11830573e32889abb19408643877b

[lstucz]

Thanks T. I have spent quite a bit of time in there, lately, reading up on all the trouble this card seems to cause people, lol. I am glad it turned out to be a simple driver issue.

You have to love how these companies always try to cram their latest drivers into your system.