Radeon 9800 Pro and other 9xxx series overheating

B

BigSky

I have 2 9600XTs, 1 9700Pro and 1 9800Pro card. I run them on both VIA chip
sets (KT333, 400) as well as NForce 3 chipsets using the latest Catalyst
drivers. It seems to me that the 9700 and 9800 Pro, especially the later,
are having significant problems with the last 3 versions of Catalyst drivers
(6.9-6.11). After gaming with them for 15-20 minutes I get a system reboot.
All three machines I've tried them in have quality power supplies over 400W.
I have ram sinks on the memory chips as well as Arctic Cooling HSFs on the
Pro cards but still it seems they must be overheating. I'm not overclocking
them at all. The copper ramsinks on the 9800Pro get very hot. The cases
have good airflow and I have a fan pushing outside air directly on to each
card. I've heard that these cards had lots of issues with VIA chipsets and
the newer Catalyst drivers (supposedly related to the AGP 3.0
implementation, lack of AGP voltage, etc.). But I now see the same problem
with my 9800Pro card on a known good ECS NForce3-A motherboard. Again, I'm
not overclocking the card, the AGP bus, or using a non-standard AGP voltage.

Based on all the complaints I've seen, it almost seems like ATI is trying to
get people to throw out their 9XXX series of video cards since the new
drivers are pushing them way to hard. Anyone else seen this problem or know
of a work around?

BigSky
 
V

Victor

BigSky said:
I have 2 9600XTs, 1 9700Pro and 1 9800Pro card. I run them on both VIA chip
sets (KT333, 400) as well as NForce 3 chipsets using the latest Catalyst
drivers. It seems to me that the 9700 and 9800 Pro, especially the later,
are having significant problems with the last 3 versions of Catalyst drivers
(6.9-6.11). After gaming with them for 15-20 minutes I get a system reboot.
All three machines I've tried them in have quality power supplies over 400W.
I have ram sinks on the memory chips as well as Arctic Cooling HSFs on the
Pro cards but still it seems they must be overheating. I'm not overclocking
them at all. The copper ramsinks on the 9800Pro get very hot. The cases
have good airflow and I have a fan pushing outside air directly on to each
card. I've heard that these cards had lots of issues with VIA chipsets and
the newer Catalyst drivers (supposedly related to the AGP 3.0
implementation, lack of AGP voltage, etc.). But I now see the same problem
with my 9800Pro card on a known good ECS NForce3-A motherboard. Again, I'm
not overclocking the card, the AGP bus, or using a non-standard AGP voltage.

Based on all the complaints I've seen, it almost seems like ATI is trying to
get people to throw out their 9XXX series of video cards since the new
drivers are pushing them way to hard. Anyone else seen this problem or know
of a work around?

BigSky


I have a 9700pro and 9800pro running on the 5.6 drivers with no
problems.Plays 3d games fine.Standard mid-size case with rear fan.The
9800pro runs 24/7.Did you try using older drivers to troubleshoot?I see
no reason to use the newest with these old cards.
 
B

BigSky

Were can I get the older drivers?


Victor said:
I have a 9700pro and 9800pro running on the 5.6 drivers with no
problems.Plays 3d games fine.Standard mid-size case with rear fan.The
9800pro runs 24/7.Did you try using older drivers to troubleshoot?I see
no reason to use the newest with these old cards.
 
B

BigSky

Well, I tried v5.6 but still had problems with BF Vietnam shutting down
after about 15 minutes of play. Then I remembered that I've seen previous
problems with the BF series when it comes to using EAX. I have a new
Diamond sound card that can do EAX 2 which is how I had set up BFV. So I
set BFV to EAX 1.0 instead and was able to play for 30 minutes without a
lock up or reboot. Problem fixed? Don't know yet.

It seems there is always something that prevents you from getting all the
eye candy and ear candy that these games have to offer.

Now on to BF 2....
 

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