X800 Pro Sapphire defective?

[UltimateEnd2000]

Hi, i am a new x800 pro user (got it back in december). Make sure you read my system specs down below. Anyways I have been playing mainly Hl2 and CS:Source. When i run the video stress test I usually get 70 fps , but it should be around 150+ fps from what i hear. The test part doesn't bother me as much as when I am in game. I only get around 30-45 fps and sometimes 20 fps. This when all the settings are to max. I even tried lowering ALL my settings to the LOWEST and I still get the same fps, maybe a little higher. I have noticed that this problem usually happens when I look at about 10 yards of distance and with other entities around. Right now i am thinking it might either be the video card, the CPU or the drivers . Thanks for any help. I AM DESPERATE, I MIGHT EVEN RETURN IT!

System Specs

2.4 ghz Intel Pentium 4 Processor
1.25 gigs of DDR ram
X800 pro (of course)
80 gigs of harddrive space

 

[ej_424]

Not right!

That seems very low considering my 9800 Pro ran better then that on high settings with 4X "AA". It seem that it could possibly be a driver conflict. First off i would recommend getting Driver Cleaner 3 http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745. Uninstall all your ATI drivers and utilites from add/remove programs. Then reboot into safemode and run driver cleaner. First run cab cleaner and clean both the SP2.cab and drive.cab. If you previously had a Nvidia card make sure you select all those that apply. Also run all the ati ones listed. After all is cleaned with driver cleaner reboot back into normal xp mode and re-install the latest Catalyst drivers which i think are 5.2. If that doesn't seem to help I'd look at your PSU. How many watts and what brand?

 

[UltimateEnd2000]

Bad!

Ok i have completely cleaned everything. I get back and install the 5.2 drivers. I play HL2 for a little while and notice that it is doing the same thing again, 30-50 fps and lower but when I look at the ground or sky I will get 100+ fps. If i look at 1 or more guys on the screen at once it will significatly slow down again. After that i was doing the 3dmark03 and while i was in one of the cpu tests my comp has a total freeze. I restart it and i get a critical error report from windows. It says it is my X800 pro display drivers! WTF?! I know when I cleaned out my ATI drivers that i was not sure if I should delete the display drivers or not but I didn't anyways. I am mad and confused. Are there any other options? PLEASE HELP!

 

[ej_424]

Thats the whole point.... You need to delete the display drivers so you can do a fresh install of the new ones! Try it again all over and make sure you get rid of the display drivers. Also what Brand Power Supply are you using and what is it Rated at?

 

[UltimateEnd2000]

Alright the PSU is the model ATX 1956D for compaq and its watt output rate is 200W. OK now is this right for this video card or not? BTW before i deleted and cleaned my drivers I got a green screen with stripes of color on it. It had a sentence somewhere on it saying "All physical memory dump" this has happened everysince I got the card. Ok thanks for the help, I am going to try driver cleaner procedure again but I am going to delete the display drivers this time.

 

[ej_424]

A Few Things

Hey that power supply is way under rated.... and if that came with your system I guess your system is pretty out dated too. You need at least a 330W power supply and a good name like enermax or antec. I would reccomend a 450W anyway if your going to buy a new one. Also everything in your system is probably bottlenecking your gfx card. In order to get top performance you'll need to rebuild that system with at least a AMD 3200+ or a 3.2 P4. Those a fast cpus that have came down alot in price since the 64-bit releases. You could have a new cpu and motherboard with 512 of good ram for roughly 350 to $400 if you know where to look. Good Luck!

 

[ADV4NCED]

His system seems to be alright, but the PSU is definetly a problem, probably the problem. Get a 450-500W PSU!!! Make sure its a good brand too.

 

[UltimateEnd2000]

Thanks ALOT!

Yeah, I just wanted to say I am gonna get a new 450 watt power supply. I might even be able to get a new mother board with 64 bit AMD capabilities and a new athlon 64 3700+ processor Thanks for the help and i help my comp works like new again.

 

[UltimateEnd2000]

Wtf?!?!?

Ok i just got a brand new 450 watt PSU. I plgged it in and it is all set up. I turn on my computer, start up hl2 dm and it RUNS THE SAME!!!! So next I clean all my vid drivers and my past vid drivers again and it STILL runs the same!!!!!! ARGH WTF?!? I am very pissed right now, WHAT DO I DO? HELP! HELP! HELP!

 

[Urlyin]

Ok i just got a brand new 450 watt PSU. I plgged it in and it is all set up. I turn on my computer, start up hl2 dm and it RUNS THE SAME!!!! So next I clean all my vid drivers and my past vid drivers again and it STILL runs the same!!!!!! ARGH WTF?!? I am very pissed right now, WHAT DO I DO? HELP! HELP! HELP!

Try it in another system if possible. If the card has the same issue you should RMA it ...

 

[ej_424]

X800 Pro defective?

Hey-
I would either try it in another system, or i woudl do a complete reformatt and re-install windows. Sorry to here you're having bad luck. I know how frustrating that can be. Good Luck...

 

[BLCJB]

I'd bet you anything that Sapphire card is underclocked. Seems Sapphire just -loves- to deceive its customers in it's advertising. I have a Sapphire 9250 that was SUPPOSED to have 200MHz DDR but instead has 166MHz. Pissed me off, you betcha. This isn't anything new, either -- tons of people have been complaining about Sapphire underclocking their cards.