Sapphire Radeon 9800pro dead

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stewyd

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Hi everyone. I've got a Sapphire Radeon 9800pro 128mb and have had it since Jan/Feb this year which is playing up and has been for a while. Basically the problem is that it causes my pc to lock up, usually just as everything is being loaded into windows after booting, or the VPU Recover dialog comes up and tells me that the system has reverted to a sofware renderer. This problem started happening all the time so I thought it was a faulty gfx card (and still do). Unfortunately the 9800pro was a replacement for another faulty card (a Sapphire 9700pro) which I bought in March 2003 and the warranty for the card runs from the original purchase date (March 2003) so I can't get a free replacement under that warranty.

I am now using an old GeForce 2 GTS, but every now and then I try the 9800pro to see if it has somehow fixed itself (maybe I have a different software setup now that it likes) and the card works fine for the first day(ish) that I put it in then goes back to locking up my system or reverting to a software renderer. I have tried Catalyst from 3.9-4.7 (and the new 4.8 + 4.9 betas) but none of them do the trick. I can't afford to buy a new card for about 2 months and I have a half-completed Far Cry screaming out at me to be played :mad:

My specs are as follows:

Win XP Pro (fully updated)
ASUS A7V8X mobo (latest BIOS)
Athlon 2700+ (Thoroughbred)
Audigy 2 Platinum
1 gig DDR 400 (unbranded)
120gb + 180gb IBM HDDs
3m/bit Blueyonder Cable
All latest drivers installed

I am 95% sure that the card faulty but would appreciate comments and thoughts on wnat I could have missed

Cheers

Stewy D
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deadsquare
 
First of all, welcome to the site Stewy!

It does sound like a rather interesting predicament you are in at the moment. There are a couple of things that spring to mind, as it sounds like you may have a damaged card.

Have you tried the card in another machine, and does it do the same thing?

Is the card overheating? (try running the PC with your case off for a few hours).

Try setting your AGP speed to 1X and the other AGP options to the lowest settings in the BIOS (if you let me know your BIOS type I can try and find the exact settings). This might help counteract some problems you are having.

I hope these suggestions are of some use, but you sound like you know what you are doing, so you might have already tried some of these :)
 
Well, unfortunatly your not the only casulty of a saphire gfx card owner. Sapphire dont provide good enough cooling for there cards, you have alook on any forums about gfx cards and i can garantee you will see plenty saphire sufferers. Though chris (in this forum) has had one for a while and hasnt had 1 problem!

The only fix i can offer is to fit a VGA Cooler from Artic. There cheap and easy to install, all cards should come with them as standard really. I have one, and there quiete, efficient and reduce the temprature inside your case because it sucks air in from the case and blows it out the back. The only problem is that it can take away 1 or 2 of your PCI slots. (it took 2 of mine)

I hope this solves your problem, if not you can get a radeon 9800pro delivered for £125 from here: http://www.lowestonweb.com/Products/DisplayInfoMain.asp?e=2F99A0AD-B9A8-470B-B643-2A672531F699

But i hope it doesnt end up in you shelling out another load of cash for there mistake.
 
Cheers guys.

Ian - I will try your suggestions when I can be bothered to put the damn thing back in!

Reef - I don't think it is a cooling issue because I have tried it with the side of the case off with a big desk fan blowing in and it does the same thing. Cheers for the link though, that's very cheap. Hopefully in a couple of months, they'll be even cheaper.

I don't think I'll ever be buying a Sapphire product again and I recommend no-one else does either

Stewy d

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deadsquare
 
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