Graphics card problems

SeanW

Hi everyone.

I just got a new computer, my first ever home assembly. My graphics card gave me some trouble and I wonder if this is common or what might have caused it.

Here is my new system spec.
APlus Qubic Case
Seasonic S12 430W PSU
AMD Athlon 64 2.2Ghz 3700+
Sapphire Radeon XPress 200P based motherboard.
Point Of View GeForce 6800GS 256MB PCI Express.
Windows XP SP2 Professional OEM.

The problem is this: After I installed the cards drivers for the first time, the computer became unstable, e.g. every so often for no apparent reason, the computer would freeze for a couple of seconds, then the screen would go blank for a few more seconds. Task Manager would report a massive spike in CPU activity had occured over this time. I have 2 games on the system at the moment, one a new game called FarCry and another very old game called Deus Ex.

Since my first installation of the drivers, FarCry worked perfectly, but Deus Ex had catastrophic problems with anything other than Software Rendering. So I System Restored, removed/reinstalled (direct from nVidia) the drivers and was having the same problems.

I DID manage to fix the problems, by going into the Display applet in Control Panel, Settings tab, Advanced, Troubleshooting tab, and took that slider down 2 notches. Now everything seems to work fine including Deus Ex on full settings but I haven't tested FarCry yet.

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What I need to know is this: Will the decision to "Disable all cursor and advanced drawing accelerations" come back to bite me in the rear end later?

And what could have caused the situation where I had to do this? Could the card be defective?

Thanks in advance for any help.

EDIT AGAIN: Actually, turning the settings down didn't eliminate the problem like I originally thought, it merely lets me play old games and reduces the problem in general, gaving me a slightly more breathing space.

Sometimes the picture gets corrupted too, like with horizontal lines, mini pictures, vertical pink dashes on the Start bar etc.

8T8

After reading a few posts over at Sapphires forums this it seems is a common issue with the early bios-es of those Sapphire motherboards causing all sorts of problems with graphics cards. With the suggested cure being a bios update.

Was this the motherboard you purchased ?

If so I believe this (see PP-A9RS480 under mainboard) is the correct page on Sapphires site with the correct bios update (along with chipset drivers grab those too).

The layout in the manual matches perfectly the picture on komplett but with one difference the Sapphire site mentions integrated video is present but Komplett doesnt so I cant be certain, obviously if in any doubt ask on Sapphires forums to confirm that is the right one.

After the bios update clear the CMOS then do a clean install of Windows.
After XP is installed
Install XP SP2 if your disc did not have SP2 slipstreamed into it
Install ATI chipset drivers
Install NVIDIA display drivers
Install Audio drivers
Install everything else.
Install Direct-X 9.0c April 2006 update

Now try a few games and fingers crossed its okay.

SeanW

Thanks a million 8T8, you might have pulled me out of a mega-huge mess. And yes it was that motherboard.

SeanW

Actually I just found out I have the latest BIOS already, 4th Nov 2005. and most of the drivers all date from the same time.

Nothing left to do now but ask Sapphires tech support (and POVs) to find out just what the heck is going on.

Thanks anyway.

8T8

That sucks frankly I would have expected better from Sapphire, get Komplett to replace the motherboard & graphics card if you can.

Get a nForce 4 chipset something from Epox perhaps I've always found their boards to be reasonably priced and rock solid in stability terms.

SeanW

Sapphire tech support thought it was a VGA failure. I'm not sure, but I RMA'ed the graphics card and sent it off to Komplett yesterday.