Finally got the Sapphire 9800 Pro Lite

[Manoj K Bhupatrai]

Right all,

I finally received it yesterday and have had a bit of a time trying to get
it to work right.

Keeps rebooting when I try to start most 3d apps (Raven Shield, 3dMark 2003,
bla bla.

I've ready all over the place about different things to do. As the night
progressed, by about 2am, I was managing to run without a break down. I
don't know if it was because the ambient temp in the room was dropping or if
this card is like a shoe...the more you use it, the more comfortable it
gets.

Anyway, I left for work this morning, quite confident that the problems were
resolved but when I returned, it was the same thing. I did do one thing, I
have 1 stick of 512 MB OCZ PC3500 Performance Ram, I moved it from slot 1 to
slot 3, and that seems to have resolved it for now.

My 3dMark Scores are pretty low though.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=1395504

Specs:

Albatron KX400-8X Mainboard.
AMD XP 2200+
OCZ PC3500 Performance Ram (512 MB)
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro Lite
Antec TruPower 550 W Power supply
WinXP Pro w/SP1
Catalyst 3.7.

I've tried uninstalling these drivers in safe mode and using the previous
drivers w/o luck as well. My previous card was a Radeon 8500. Never had an
Nvidia card in this box.

I wonder if that moving the Ram helped.

ALso, I understand my heroic efforts to buy great ram yielded me no real
results but I don't understand the science behind this. Can anyone tell me
if there is anythign I should do to configure this right?

CPU Mark really blows...322 compared to the other blokes I've seen on the
page. 3DMark 2003 is 5092 which is somewhat crap as well.

Help!

Thanks!

Manoj

 

[Strontium]

Actually, your 3DM03 score is not bad. But, your 3DM01SE is what catches my
eye. I can blast 14,500 to 15,000 depending on how I clock my 9700 non pro
(this with P4 2.4C and 1GB of DDR400...Samsung/Micron mixed).

If I leave everything un-oc'd, I get around 13,000 in 3DM01SE.

Your stability problems make me lean towards the card and possibly heat
related issues with regards to the memory on the card.

Did you ever have stability issues with your old card?

Look into some heatsinks (8 of them) for the card. RTV sealant should be
used to secure them to the memory modules. I've been dying to steal some,
from work, but we've not had any lately: just one can that would be noticed
missing. I've determined that my throttle is my memory. It runs too
freaking hot. Dunno if I'll fix it or just wait until I get my 9800 pro...

Cheers n beers.



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Manoj K Bhupatrai stood up at show-n-tell, in
0%Lgb.708942$uu5.116784@sccrnsc04, and said:

 

[Manoj K Bhupatrai]

Thanks for the reply Strontium.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 3DM01SE score. I've never done a
3DM01SE test. I've only done a 3DM03 test(s). Or I'm diong something that
I don't know about. How do I reference this.

Further to my post of yesterday, since moving my memory to the 3rd bank
(slot), I've had no issues stability issues. I'm quite sure I need more
cooling. Diong some of that this weekend.

In answer to your question, I never had any stability issues with my
previous card, the radeon 8500. I'd still like to get this up to par
though. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas. I'm
completely a buffoon when it comes to tweaking.

Thanks!

Manoj

 

[Strontium]

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Manoj K Bhupatrai stood up at show-n-tell, in
gd0hb.707213$YN5.576700@sccrnsc01, and said:

Thanks for the reply Strontium.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 3DM01SE score. I've never done a
3DM01SE test. I've only done a 3DM03 test(s). Or I'm diong
something that I don't know about. How do I reference this.

Ok, sorry about that. I was being a bit lazy. What I was referring to was
3dMark2001 Second Edition. And, as I can see, you never even reported any
results for that bench! I wonder what time that post was. I may have been
overdue for bed, by that time.

Anyway, you might want to go ahead and get that program, if you can find it.
I'm not sure if it's still around for download, but it 'should' be. That
will be a better comparison, right now, as far as tuning up to get the best
out of your setup. Also, remember that when comparing your results that
some people have unstated overclocking and tweaks. Also, with 3dM01SE, some
people use the first edition (shows as just 3dM2001)...I kept wondering how
people with same specs as myself were kicking my ass. Then, saw that they
were using an earlier version of the benchmark!

Further to my post of yesterday, since moving my memory to the 3rd
bank (slot), I've had no issues stability issues. I'm quite sure I
need more cooling. Diong some of that this weekend.

Well, that's good then. Hopefully, you have solved that.

In answer to your question, I never had any stability issues with my
previous card, the radeon 8500. I'd still like to get this up to par
though. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas. I'm
completely a buffoon when it comes to tweaking.

Go ahead and run 3dMark2001SE. I, also, misremembered my non-overclocked
score. It's around the 14,000 mark, 4,200 in 3dMark03. Keep in mind, this
is with a 9700np. When I overclock it to 9700pro speeds I hit around 15,000
on 3dMark2001SE and 5,000 on 3dMark03. I, honestly, would expect your
system to romp all over mine.

 

[Manoj K Bhupatrai]

Thanks again mate! You give me hope! lol

Ok I downloaded 3DM2001SE and when I try to install it, I get a dialog box
that says I need DirectX8.1 and proper drivers installed in order to run.
Then it asks me to install DX8.1 again. WHy would I do that if I've only
just installed DX9 from the MSFT website a few days ago.

So it won't let me run!! arrgh!

M

 

[Strontium]

Are you logged on, as administrator, while trying to install it? I've not
encountered that... I've installed it, several times, as well on an XP (no
service packs) box. Also, in the dialogue, does it give you a 'cancel'
option? How is this 'error' presented...an all, or nothing type deal?


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Manoj K Bhupatrai stood up at show-n-tell, in
yc1hb.525808$cF.189496@rwcrnsc53, and said:

Thanks again mate! You give me hope! lol

Ok I downloaded 3DM2001SE and when I try to install it, I get a
dialog box that says I need DirectX8.1 and proper drivers installed
in order to run. Then it asks me to install DX8.1 again. WHy would I
do that if I've only just installed DX9 from the MSFT website a few
days ago.

So it won't let me run!! arrgh!

M

<snip>

 

[Manoj K Bhupatrai]

Yep, I'm the administrator. I do have sp1. It's a "This is the error. Get
directX 8.1 from <here>, and then come back" type deal.

M

 

[Strontium]

Well, that stinks. Nothing springs to mind, right away. Hopefully, someone
else will have an idea...or you should just abandon that idea, for now. I
would say, give it a week, to determine that things are stable (after
switching slots, for your RAM) and also working on the cooling thing.
Tweaking/perfecting can always come after you get it rock-solid. I know
it's a pain, but it's what we gotta do...You've got to have a good baseline.
That starts with a stable and reliable configuration/hardware.

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Manoj K Bhupatrai stood up at show-n-tell, in
Ek2hb.523631$Oz4.382161@rwcrnsc54, and said:

 

[Manoj K Bhupatrai]

Got that 3DM2001SE to work. Needed to install the patch. The version that
I downloaded wasn't the latest and greatest.

And now the bad news. My score is a sucky 12426.

See this link:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7088608

In any case, thanks so much for you help!

M

 

[Strontium]

Yikes!

I'll have a look. I didn't think the patch would need to be installed,
first, to install the benchmark. I always install the prog first, then the
patch. But, can't believe I forgot to mention the patch to you. Good
homework, on your part. I'll check your results out.


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Manoj K Bhupatrai stood up at show-n-tell, in
t13hb.523835$Oz4.381770@rwcrnsc54, and said:

 

[Strontium]

I've gotta say that I'm stumped. Yes, you have a slower processor....But,
your GPU should make up for that. Perhaps the Hyperthreading is the killing
point...I dunno.

-
Strontium stood up at show-n-tell, in (e-mail address removed),
and said:

 

[Manoj K Bhupatrai]

On the other hand, I'm not really overclocking anything, and while it's
lower than yours, would you say it's kinda middle-of-the-road (which I would
be fine with) considering I use an XP2200+ with 513mb of OCZPC3500 Ram?

Another thing that has helped make the system stable (albeit not faster) is
disabling "Spread Spectrum", whotever the hell that is.

I can actually now run my ram at 400 (whotever the hell that is)..lol

Cheers!

M