The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

Thanks Creaky,
I appreciate the kind thought.

Warmest Regards,
Russ

 

It works better without them eh? Might just try that. I'll see what this fan trick does first

 

Dang already threw mine out a week ago lol

 

I swear, I have almost no luck when it comes to Ati video cards, but when I first installed it the picture came up weird, like in little slivers around the icons. I installed the drivers and CCC, and tried again. This time I was able to open the Command Center, and it had the refresh rate set to 75 instead of 60, so I set it to 60 Hertz, and the picture stopped flickering around. I set the resolution to 1680x1050, and everything was looking good until I put in a DVD. They all looked like crap. Regular DVDs, AVIs, MKVs, MP4s, HD Content, you name it, it looked terrible. I tried to install AOE II, went through the whole install process and clicked on setup, and the screen went black. The blue light was still on so it was getting video, but no picture. I restarted the computer and launched the game from the desktop icon. It did the opening bit, that looked just like what I got when I first installed the video card, so I let it run that way, hoping that I could get at the settings. As soon as those scenes got finished, I again got a black screen, with the backlight turned off, but the Blue Sceptre Logo was still on. Video was on, but no picture! I tried Far Cry 2, and it wouldn't work either.

It wasn't the drives, either. I tried both DVDs and playing them direct from the hard drive, and it was the same. Picture all screwed up and flickering all over the place. I'm getting another nVidia! No more Ati's for me!

Russ

 

I think it could be the opposite for me. At least with the HTPC. I've done some searching, and apparently its quite common for nvidia cards to have overscan issues on HDTVs. Where ati has supposedly corrected the problem. If I can find a cheap low profile ati card, that can run at at least 1920 x 1080, I may consider buying it. Of course it needs to have either HDMI or DVI connection

 

Kevin,
I put the 9500GT back in and fired it up. Works like a charm. AOE II plays real nice. I have used my computer hooked up to my neighbors 720p HDTV. All I had to do was connect the audio to the Video card with the connector provided with the 9500GT, and it works fine. Looks real good too! All my movies look real good on it as well! I'm sending it back and getting another nVidia!

Russ

 

Not all HDTV's have the overscan issue. Ones that DO have the problem, it's simply best to have an ATI card, from what I've been reading(Nvidia won't/can't correct the issue). The Magnavox my brother has, apparently does have the issue. If I can find a very cheap Ati card, one day I'll see. But it has to be a card at least in the 3 - 4000 series. The board doesn't mesh well with earlier models.

Really no rush on it though. Windows appears to utilize 90+% of the screen. So it's barely noticeable.

 

Oman7,
I may just get me one of these and be done with it. It has everything I need, and I know it will work in my computer, because I have a friend that has one and already tried it in mine. Besides, it's an Nvidia! I know it will work! Not a single Ati on board or graphics card seems to work with my monitor. The Ati's just don't recognize it as plug and play. I figured for sure the PCIe would! I figured wrong! Even windows won't install it, only the software that came with it or updates, otherwise it sets the maximum resolution much lower than I need, 1440xsomething. The nVidia card loads a windows driver for it on install, identifies my monitor as a Sceptre monitor, sets the resolution correctly, and it works! Same with the drivers that come with them.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130524

This would be a step up from the 9500GT, as well! For $40 after MIR, I'll give it a try! We don't play any real demanding games anyway!

Russ

 

just curious russ but you did uninstall the nvidia drivers, and run driver sweaper/cleaner first? Then instal the ATI card?

 

You don't just change graphics brand at the drop of a hat. You really should wipe the drive clean first and reinstall windows fresh. There are major incompatibilities between the two brands.

 

sam you shouldn't need to reinstall an os for a new gpu. That's extreme. And this isn't russ's first problems with ati either.

 

Not every time, but in case of issues, that's the next step. With the amount of anti-ATI code in nvidia drivers, really you'd be best off wiping the system clean to be sure.

 

Shaff,
It's not necessary. The nVidia drivers are not loaded in the conventional way, into Windows or the Registry. They don't even show in Add-Remove programs. They are an executable that is called by the video card BIOS itself. That's why the fan roars at startup. It takes a little longer to load them, but since there is nothing in the registry, or calls to memory to retrieve anything, they are completely invisible to other video cards and devices. You can still remove the files, but it involves making a backup of all the other drivers, removing all the files and then putting back the drivers you backed up. I don't know if this is unique to the 9500GT, but it's the first nVidia Video card I ever saw that couldn't be removed with Add-Remove programs, because there is nothing there to remove. It simply says nVidia Drivers with no file size or remove button. If you install an Ati card, it's no longer there! The only folder is in Windows, and it's for Nview, which stores custom settings in a folder called Nview. No drivers, or anything. It just makes the call, to over ride the normal settings commands sent by the BIOS. I guess the BIOS checks the file on bootup. Sort of like it's the lock and the card's BIOS, is the key. If you do a search, nothing shows at all.

Ati cards or on board Ati graphics simply don't see the monitor at all. I've never been able to get any Ati card to work with this monitor. The VGA will see it, and simply says "Unknown Monitor", but the resolution of the monitor is not listed as a choice. There is no 1680x1050 on the list at all. The .exe file shows in the running processes, but only consumes just 4,568k. Put an Ati card in it and it doesn't show at all. Do a scan for it, and you get nothing!

I found this out when we had a power failure, right in the middle of installing the drivers. I panicked and called nVidia, and they explained it to me. They just told me to go ahead and re-install it and it would be fine. It was!

Best regards,
Russ

 

I'm with Shaff on this one Sammy.. but if problems do persist a fresh OS install isn't out of the question!!

Russ a good clean install of a GPU and you should be off and running... like the "boys" said you can't have nVidia "CR@P" running around in your system and expect it to run like a "champ"... LOL. You have to give it more of a chance than that... I'm a nVidia hater but I gave them 3 chances with clean installs and they just hate me... so there you have it!! LOL.

Good luck with any direction you choose.

 

GM,
Read my answer to Shaff,and you will see why it can't be a problem.

Russ

 

that's very weird russ. Never heardof that before. You did instal drivers for the 9500GT when you put it in right?

driver sweaper /cleaner (take your pick, one you have to obtain with money, one is freeware) will get rid of any mention of ati or nvidia on the system. From folders, to registry. Just give it a try won't take too long. And if after that ati still wants that divorce from your monitor, then make sure you get 100% of the settlement

 

Shaff & GM,
See, that's the thing! There is not a single entry in the registry for nVidia. I ran Registry Crawler on it and came up blank! Nothing at all in drivers, and only the Nview in the windows folder. You can scan the whole computer, and the only thing that shows up is driver updates I saved in a folder I created, named nVidia Drivers in my software partition. Very different from any other nVidia drivers I've ever seen. It's not called Forceware either, and you have to download specific software for this card, as none of the forceware will work on it. It just tells you that it can't find a compatible nVidia card. Tomorrow I'm going to put the HD 4670 in oxi. I know it's monitor can be recognized by Ati, because I had an Ati card in there, but the card had problems, so I took it out. Something was wrong with the memory in it. Bad memory chip I think, because one of them get's red hot, and the video quits after a couple of minutes. I burned my finger pretty good on it! It felt like I touched a hot iron!

Russ

 

No video memory chip should get scalding hot, at least not on a low-end card, as only top-end GDDR5 cards need sinks on the memory at all.
As for the lack of registry info for nvidia drivers, there will be something, I'm not sure why there isn't for your system. There isn't an executable in the video card BIOS, it's simply a BIOS in the same sort as a motherboard would have. The fan spins at full speed until the BIOS loads due to the fan control being contained within. Fan control software runs through this BIOS, as on many cards, if the fan speed has been forced down, should the temperature exceed a critical level, the BIOS will over-ride the software and force the fan speed back up. This BIOS is also controlled by the PCI express slot the card sits in. Run two cards in crossfire and the second PCIe slot remains deactivated until windows loads and calls the second slot to be used. Only then does the fan speed drop out of default mode (not 100% for Radeon HD4870X2s).

In order for any ATI card to be unable to read your monitor, there must be a design flaw with the monitor, or a fault with the input controller. LCD displays are fairly standardised, and for one to not work with a particular type of graphics card does not hint at an incompatibility from ATI's side, it hints at an incompatibility with the monitor. I have never seen such an issue before, as even without EDID monitors will still work fine, they may just need the resolution to be set manually. For anything else to be going on, there must be a problem with your display.

 

bad dvi cable?

sam im pretty sure GDDR5 uses less voltage than DDR3 and therefore will be less hot aswell. if anything, DDR3/4 will need sinks rather than GDDR5? though i might be wrong

 

The voltage of GDDR5 is lower, but due to the complexity imagine they draw more current, so get hotter. Also bear in mind GDDR3 is a wooly term, some modules are very complex and high-speed, others are very simplistic and therefore don't get hot.