Dell Dimension 8200, with two graphics cards driving 3 monitors:

Ti500 driving one DVI LCD (@1600x1200) (AGP)
FX5200 driving one DVI LCD and one non-DVI LCD (PCI)

The Ti500 failed - I think due to a fan failure; something in the Dell was
getting noisy - it stopped getting noisy and then the PC stopped loading
Windows. I swapped out the Ti500 and it booted OK on the two monitors on
the FX5200 (PCI).

So... dropped in a 9700Pro - Windows booted and it's AOK in 2D. I assumed
the problem was fixed ...

Until I tried 3D, i.e. Serious Sam 2; I bump the resolution up to 1600x1200
and I then get 'sparkles' on the screen and it's not long until either the
screen starts to "jump" and/or go blank intermittently and eventually the PC
crashes. I've loaded the latest ATI drivers and checked DirectX (9.0c).

Question: Is this most likely a power supply issue? The power supply is
250W. The old PC (Evesham) that I took the 9700Pro out of also had a 250W
PSU and similar drives; but with a 2.6Ghz instead of a 2.0Ghz P4 and one
less HDD. I know all PSU's are not the same, but it seems strange that the
9700Pro worked OK in the old rig and immediately hates the Dell.

Any advice most appreciated. I'd hate to buy a new 400W PSU and find that
nothing has changed.

> and I then get 'sparkles' on the screen and it's not long until either the
> screen starts to "jump" and/or go blank intermittently and eventually the
PC
> crashes. I've loaded the latest ATI drivers and checked DirectX (9.0c).
>

Could be PS. It would be only $15 to replace with 400W although a high
quality supply is preferred. I see the "Sparklies" when overclocking memory.
If you underclock memory and they go away you can assume it is card and RMA.
Be sure you have latest motherboard AGP chipset driver as well.

Go to http://rage3d.com forums for all things ATI.

-Kent

Your current PS should deliver at least 15 amps on 12v, if it´s below, get one
with 20 amps or more on 12v.
A modern system derives Vcore(can be >100w) and VGA supply voltage (around 70w
for the 9700) from 12v,not to forget the drives´ spindle motors.
A quality 350w PS can already do.

Could also be a Nvidia vs ATI driver issue
Look here
http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon...pic=3967&tmpl=
for whiich ATI and Nvidia drivers can 'live' together

See you, Jan

"777" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cm4atg$n4p$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Dell Dimension 8200, with two graphics cards driving 3 monitors:
>
> Ti500 driving one DVI LCD (@1600x1200) (AGP)
> FX5200 driving one DVI LCD and one non-DVI LCD (PCI)
>
> The Ti500 failed - I think due to a fan failure; something in the Dell was
> getting noisy - it stopped getting noisy and then the PC stopped loading
> Windows. I swapped out the Ti500 and it booted OK on the two monitors on
> the FX5200 (PCI).
>
> So... dropped in a 9700Pro - Windows booted and it's AOK in 2D. I assumed
> the problem was fixed ...
>
> Until I tried 3D, i.e. Serious Sam 2; I bump the resolution up to
> 1600x1200 and I then get 'sparkles' on the screen and it's not long until
> either the screen starts to "jump" and/or go blank intermittently and
> eventually the PC crashes. I've loaded the latest ATI drivers and checked
> DirectX (9.0c).
>
> Question: Is this most likely a power supply issue? The power supply is
> 250W. The old PC (Evesham) that I took the 9700Pro out of also had a 250W
> PSU and similar drives; but with a 2.6Ghz instead of a 2.0Ghz P4 and one
> less HDD. I know all PSU's are not the same, but it seems strange that
> the 9700Pro worked OK in the old rig and immediately hates the Dell.
>
> Any advice most appreciated. I'd hate to buy a new 400W PSU and find that
> nothing has changed.
>
>
>