Problem with newly aquired 8800 GT card .. help?!?

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Knuspar

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Nov 29, 2007
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As the topic states, i have some, at least to me, unexplainable problems with my newly aquired Zotac AMP 8800 GT .. Its put into my Main PC, for which specs are in my signature.

What i did was, uninstall the 163.75 driver i used for my 7800 GTX, shut down the computer, and booted back up with the new 8800 GT card in it. I ran drive sweeper from guru3d.com to make sure any leftovers were removed, and then did another reboot, to install the 169.02 drivers ( also tried 169.12 .17 and the new .21 its the same result =/ )

The thing is, everything appears just fine when im on my Vista 32 bit desktop. When i start up a game like COD4 or Crysis, i have, seriously low frame rate, like 4-5 FPS low .. no matter what res and no matter how much AA i have on, of even if i have it OFF !!!!

I tried booting my computer with just 2 GB RAM instead of 4 GB RAM, that does not make a difference either .. I tried setting my BIOS to all defaults, fearing i might have changed a wrong setting as i OCed my q660, but no change. No matter what, it seems i cant get any better frame rate than 5 FPS, which is off course useless.

So, i figured the Zotac was damaged or something, i then RMA it with the small shop i bought it from, he tests it, and nothing is wrong with it. I happened to know the guy from work, so he lends me hes own BFG 8800 GT OC, and i get exactly the same result as with the Zotac. I'm desperately trying to figure out what can be wrong .. But i don't have a clue what else to loook at, so pretty please, u fellow [H] guys ( yeah yeah, i know I'm new here ... ) please give me some advice .. ANY suggestions are welcome, no matter how stupid.

Also, heres a SS to help you help me figure out what could be wrong, if anyone feel like I'm letting out any info that could be important, don't hold back.

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/5300/8800gtwtfrn5.jpg

Regards, a fellow nerd, whos very close to tears =/
 
Don't cry son, we'll fix it.

Gotta be a bios or driver setting somewhere.


Have you flashed the IP35 to the latest bios? Rotated all the PCIx power plugs from your PSU?

Worst comes to worst, do a fresh format / reinstall and see what happens there.
 
Im using the latest from september, yes

http://www.abit.com.tw/page/no/down...pTITLE_ON_SCREEN=IP35+Pro&pSOCKET_TYPE=LGA775

Odd thing is, from what i can see its called BIOS 14 .. however in CPU ID it reads it as BIOS 10, which is the first BIOS =/

I think im gonna try to flash it again ..

EDIT:

Rotated all the PCIx power plugs from your PSU? .. What do you mean ... rotated ? I tried the two i have, no difference =/ And they supply power fine to my 7800 GTX =/

The two cards are almost identical by the out looks .. hehe :) -> http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7730/img3247xf4.jpg
 
If all else fails, reseat your 3D card and do a fresh install of the OS.
 
Knuspar said:
reseat 3D card ?

How reset it? Its not been touched at all, except i removed the wrapping =/

Another guy i asked made me nervous for a second by saying my MOBO dont support PCIE 2.0 .. but, afaik know, nothin does, but PCIE 2.0 is backward compatible .. right? (My MOBO is http://www.abit.com.tw/page/no/moth...pMODEL_NAME=IP35+Pro&fMTYPE=LGA775&DEFTITLE=Y )
Click to expand...

Yes, Althought the 8800GT is a PCIE 2.0 card the specification is completely backwards compatible.

Have you tried a fresh install of Windows? Have you made sure that all of the appropriate chipset drivers (aka the Intel Chipset Driver) are installed for your motherboard?

Also:

Make sure you're plugging into the correct PCIE slot. If you're accidently plugged into the PCIE x4 slot you'll get some pretty sluggish performance. Remember the IP35 has two x16 slots, one of which is only x4 electrically.

Lastly, plug a 4-pin molex into ATX4P1 - the 4-pin molex connector meant to provide additional stability to the PCIE x16 slot.
 
By reseat he means remove it from the slot and put it back in firmly. I had a video card that would never go in quite right the first time.

There are PCI-E 2.0 motherboards, but that doesn't matter. It is totally backwards compatible.
 
any chance you would hook up yoru vid card to another PSU? I know what your stats say.. but at this point try another PSU.

Other than that, try updating the bios on your mobo, it could be a bios problem.
 
Thx for the replies here, greatly appreciated, a bright fridn of mine suggested looking at it from a motherboard perspective, and so he found this URL:

http://forum.uabit.com/showthread.php?t=131643

In short:

Theoretically, they are not supposed to work. I e-mailed INTEL several days ago, when this issue first came up, and asked one simple question:
"Does a PCI E 2.0 Video Card work with an INTEL P35 chipset?"
Today, I received a one word reply from Adolfo:
"No."
He (of course) had attached all of the INTEL P35 spec sheets, etc. etc. They're by the book there anyway.
The 2.0 is (basically) a modded x16 anyway. The boards must be almost exact in likeness (it would appear) and the motherboards are being tricked into running them. (Yeah, I know. They're supposed to be inanimate objects.)
Apparently some of the video card manufacturers plugged them into P35 boards, and they worked, so they were classified as "Backwards Compatable".
I saw one review in which they were using an HD 3850 with an i975x chipset board, and it was working beautifully. (Go figure. i975x remains full of surprises!)
Doing some major Googling on the subject, I found that more P35 boards have been running both nVidia and ATI based 2.0s than not. (Remember, I've had time to do that since I'm still recovering from heart surgery.)
Mysteries of PC science.
The data goes in circles. Most of it contradicts itself!



The thread is quite long, but very informative, for now im holding my breath till i decide weather or not im gonna tyry and RMA the MOBO, or if i should get a proper PCIE 2.0.

Also, gonna try that 4-pin molex into ATX4P1 if i can find it here in the dark =)

Again, thank you all for trying to help =)
 
Blue Falcon said:
Have you tried a fresh install of Windows? Have you made sure that all of the appropriate chipset drivers (aka the Intel Chipset Driver) are installed for your motherboard?
Click to expand...
Yup, tried fresh install and used latest chipset drivers from intel.com
Blue Falcon said:
Make sure you're plugging into the correct PCIE slot. If you're accidently plugged into the PCIE x4 slot you'll get some pretty sluggish performance. Remember the IP35 has two x16 slots, one of which is only x4 electrically.
Click to expand...
Actually, i just tried the second slot after reading on that thread i refered to earliere about other abit i35 pro users having the same problems. No difference for me though.
Blue Falcon said:
Lastly, plug a 4-pin molex into ATX4P1 - the 4-pin molex connector meant to provide additional stability to the PCIE x16 slot.
Click to expand...
Never plugged it in, tried now though, but no change at all
Knuspar said:
Also, gonna try that 4-pin molex into ATX4P1 if i can find it here in the dark =)
Click to expand...
Like i said, no change =/
 
Knuspar said:
Thx for the replies here, greatly appreciated, a bright fridn of mine suggested looking at it from a motherboard perspective, and so he found this URL:

http://forum.uabit.com/showthread.php?t=131643

In short:

Theoretically, they are not supposed to work. I e-mailed INTEL several days ago, when this issue first came up, and asked one simple question:
"Does a PCI E 2.0 Video Card work with an INTEL P35 chipset?"
Today, I received a one word reply from Adolfo:
"No."
He (of course) had attached all of the INTEL P35 spec sheets, etc. etc. They're by the book there anyway.
The 2.0 is (basically) a modded x16 anyway. The boards must be almost exact in likeness (it would appear) and the motherboards are being tricked into running them. (Yeah, I know. They're supposed to be inanimate objects.)
Apparently some of the video card manufacturers plugged them into P35 boards, and they worked, so they were classified as "Backwards Compatable".
I saw one review in which they were using an HD 3850 with an i975x chipset board, and it was working beautifully. (Go figure. i975x remains full of surprises!)
Doing some major Googling on the subject, I found that more P35 boards have been running both nVidia and ATI based 2.0s than not. (Remember, I've had time to do that since I'm still recovering from heart surgery.)
Mysteries of PC science.
The data goes in circles. Most of it contradicts itself!



The thread is quite long, but very informative, for now im holding my breath till i decide weather or not im gonna tyry and RMA the MOBO, or if i should get a proper PCIE 2.0.

Also, gonna try that 4-pin molex into ATX4P1 if i can find it here in the dark =)

Again, thank you all for trying to help =)
Click to expand...


The P35 is the newest of the new chipsets of course it supports pci e 2.0 Hell, Im using the GT on my P35 right NOW. It might well be an issue with your motherboard - time to update the bios and pursue the mobo manufacturer.
 
The P35 is the newest of the new chipsets of course it supports pci e 2.0
Click to expand...
/blows soda out of nose laughing.


if your other video card is working then there is nothing wrong with the motherboard and forget about the PCI 2.0 thing its not available on Intel chipsets until the X38. See my sig. these card (edit: should) work fine in any board with an pci-e video slot. I guess there could be something weird about that Abit board but you would think there would be 100 posts like yours if it was a built in engineering issue.

Stupid question, you do have the pci-3 aux power connector plugged in ?

edit
hmm OK my bad. Going now to look up a post on XS where some people modded the video card bios to tell the motherboard it was a PCI 1.1 card to eliminate this issue.
hmm no real root cause found, no resolution, I suggest you RMA it.
 
BillParrish said:
/blows soda out of nose laughing.


if your other video card is working then there is nothing wrong with the motherboard and forget about the PCI 2.0 thing its not available on Intel chipsets until the X38. See my sig. these card (edit: should) work fine in any board with an pci-e video slot. I guess there could be something weird about that Abit board but you would think there would be 100 posts like yours if it was a built in engineering issue.
Click to expand...

Thats true,however, i tried basically everything else .. so im really out on a limb here =/

BillParrish said:
Stupid question, you do have the pci-3 aux power connector plugged in ?
Click to expand...
Yes, tried that, no difference.

BillParrish said:
edit
hmm OK my bad. Going now to look up a post on XS where some people modded the video card bios to tell the motherboard it was a PCI 1.1 card to eliminate this issue.
hmm no real root cause found, no resolution, I suggest you RMA it.
Click to expand...

RMA what ? .. The MOBO ? Also modding the video card is not something i would jump right into, however, it sounds interesting :D
 
Enough is enough ... Anybody wanna buy a cheap Abit I35 Pro ?

I just ordered a ASUS Maximus Formula Republic of Gamers instead, that should work :)
 
Hmm .. i guess u learn everyday, i never noticed the voltages really until i today instalelda ASSU MAXIMUS Formula instead of my Abit I35 Pro, and STILL could not get my 8800 GT above 5 FPS ....


Then i checked my voltage, and looks at this ! ->



And a minute later .. this ->



I emean .. WTF ! =/ My crappy 225$ PSU fails me .. omg .. i think i need to get a new one?

Update: and now this ....


Anyone know a solid voltage monitor?
 
I think the most accurate way to measure voltage/amps from a PSU is to get a multimeter and measure it.

Some MB BIOS screens will show voltage (though not amps)
 
obviously cpuid is not reading your voltages correctly. if your cpu was getting over 4v vcore it would be incinerated. your second screen shot shows 12v voltage well within spec. use the hw monitoring sw that came with your mainboard. forget about the pcie 2.0 crap. i have an abit ip35 pro, had a 8800gt for 6 weeks and nopw have a 8800gts g92, both pcie 2.0 cards, and they run great on this board. this prob could still be your psu. just because it was expensive doesnt mean it cant break. it would not be low voltage anyway, it would be low current. see if you can borrow a decent 500watt or so psu and try it on your machine. dropping 3 bills on a new mainboard without being sure it was the problem was a mistake. try a different vid card in your mainboard and see how that runs. if it runs the same, prob is either your psu, or some random setting you have screwed up in bios or vista.

i know this will sound stupid, but you do have power connected to the vid card? and if your psu is a modular one, the other end of the cable is plugged into the psu, right?\

edit after reading this thread over, 2 different vid cards both ng in same mainboard, 1 vid card ng in different mainboards, same card ok in another machine, kond of looks like the psu for sure. but try to borrow one before laying out long green on one. you have a friend at a computer shopp, correct?
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
obviously cpuid is not reading your voltages correctly. if your cpu was getting over 4v vcore it would be incinerated. your second screen shot shows 12v voltage well within spec. use the hw monitoring sw that came with your mainboard. forget about the pcie 2.0 crap. i have an abit ip35 pro, had a 8800gt for 6 weeks and nopw have a 8800gts g92, both pcie 2.0 cards, and they run great on this board. this prob could still be your psu. just because it was expensive doesnt mean it cant break. it would not be low voltage anyway, it would be low current. see if you can borrow a decent 500watt or so psu and try it on your machine. dropping 3 bills on a new mainboard without being sure it was the problem was a mistake. try a different vid card in your mainboard and see how that runs. if it runs the same, prob is either your psu, or some random setting you have screwed up in bios or vista.

i know this will sound stupid, but you do have power connected to the vid card? and if your psu is a modular one, the other end of the cable is plugged into the psu, right?
Click to expand...

hehe .. not a modular PSU, and ofc i plugged in the power to the gfx card ;)

ANyways, i already tried two different 8800 GTs on the abit i35 pro mainboard, and both cards run just fine on a colleauges machine. I only tried the 8800 GT zotac on the asus maximus, whihc im gonna keep since i like it more than the abit anyways, adn i still have the same problem.


As for tyhe monitoring program, yeah, i figured it was faulty somehow. PC Probe II shows everything just fine.

As for a multimeter, i think i need to get me one, that would probably show the solution. Im gonna over to a freids place later tonight with my PSU under the arm, hes got a similar machine to mine, with a 8800 GTX card, and a 620 watt modular PSU ( dont recall which one) and try it in hes machine, i hope that does not work, anyways, if not, im gonna borrow hes 620 watt home with me to see if that works, that hould at least rule out the PSU.
 
I have come across several people who have had issues with the North Q Giant reactor 1000 and GF8800s. The issues they describe are very similar to those you have posted, so I'm quite certain the power supply is at fault. The issue, as I understand it, is with the power connectors, and not the actual power supply. Supposedly NorthQ should have new connectors out some time, but I havn't seen them yet.
 
/\zured said:
I have come across several people who have had issues with the North Q Giant reactor 1000 and GF8800s. The issues they describe are very similar to those you have posted, so I'm quite certain the power supply is at fault. The issue, as I understand it, is with the power connectors, and not the actual power supply. Supposedly NorthQ should have new connectors out some time, but I havn't seen them yet.
Click to expand...

That actually sounds interesting, thanks for sharing. North Q being a danish company just as I'm danish, i think i will give them a call Monday to hear what they have to say about it. Ill update this thread with the response from them =)
 
/\zured said:
I have come across several people who have had issues with the North Q Giant reactor 1000 and GF8800s. The issues they describe are very similar to those you have posted, so I'm quite certain the power supply is at fault. The issue, as I understand it, is with the power connectors, and not the actual power supply. Supposedly NorthQ should have new connectors out some time, but I havn't seen them yet.
Click to expand...

I just came home from my friends place, and what we did was. Take hes system ( q6600 with a 8800 GTX and a CM 520Watt Modular PSU ) and replace only the PSU, with my North Q Giant Reactor 1000 Watt PSU. And BANG .. he has lag in all games, and it looked exactly like it does on my system. What particular error there is with the PSU, i dont really care, im not satisfied with it at all. In fact, im downright pissed at North Q. They don't have any FAQ about the issue on their homepage, theres no particular info about it on the products page or anything.

Im now have 2 MOBOs ( Abit I35 Pro and a ASUS Maximus Formula, which i would have never bought if my PSU worked properly ) 2 x 8800 GTs, a Zotac 8800 GT AMP, and a BFG 8800 GT OC, and the faulty unit was the damn 1000 Watt PSU, that by its specs, could run my setup twice with the amount of power it has. So im gonna contact them Monday demanding some reimbursement of some sort.

Im pissed at North Q, as well as im thrilled that i finally found the reason to my problems =/

EDIT: Thx to all who came with input, i appreciate it . really .. i do !
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
edit after reading this thread over, 2 different vid cards both ng in same mainboard, 1 vid card ng in different mainboards, same card ok in another machine, kond of looks like the psu for sure. but try to borrow one before laying out long green on one. you have a friend at a computer shopp, correct?
Click to expand...

You should read post #21 in this thread :)

It was the PSU, tried to use it in a buddy's computer later last night ( local time here in Denmark) and hes gfx became all choppy/crappy/%FPS alike, just as mine is =/ So i need to RMA the PSU i guess =/
 
Epilogue part 1:

Called NorthQ today, spoke with Tim, and they heard about the problem before. He knows their 850 Watt and 1000 Watt PSUs don't work with 8800 GT cards. I could tell him though, that a Inno3D 8800 GTX don't work properly either with their 1000Watt PSU ( i have a Revision 4 of it ). He also told me, they were awaiting feedback from NVidia on the issue, he did not mention ATi/AMD, so i wonder if its a nvidia/northq problem only?

Anyways, they told me to RMA it with the retailer i bought it at. And i spoke with them, they had heard loose rumors about the problem, but did not see a problem in replacing my PSU at all. So I'm gonna do that tomorrow. Ill keep you all posted :)
 
Just as you borrowed a BFG 8800GT from your friend, ask to borrow a PSU if possible and test your system with it. A 12V+ that fluctuates from ~3V to ~15V is ridiculous.
 
Spare-Flair said:
Just as you borrowed a BFG 8800GT from your friend, ask to borrow a PSU if possible and test your system with it. A 12V+ that fluctuates from ~3V to ~15V is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure its, like its been said by others, not the PSU that fluctuates, but the monitoring programs that suck :)
 
Knuspar said:
Epilogue part 1:

Called NorthQ today, spoke with Tim, and they heard about the problem before. He knows their 850 Watt and 1000 Watt PSUs don't work with 8800 GT cards. I could tell him though, that a Inno3D 8800 GTX don't work properly either with their 1000Watt PSU ( i have a Revision 4 of it ). He also told me, they were awaiting feedback from NVidia on the issue, he did not mention ATi/AMD, so i wonder if its a nvidia/northq problem only?

Anyways, they told me to RMA it with the retailer i bought it at. And i spoke with them, they had heard loose rumors about the problem, but did not see a problem in replacing my PSU at all. So I'm gonna do that tomorrow. Ill keep you all posted :)
Click to expand...

Part #2

I went to the retailer and explained the situation ( after filling in a RMA form), they gave me my money back, and i picked up a modular be quiet! 600 WATT PSU. Went home, plugged it in and booted my messed up Vista 32 ( never reinstalled after unplugging the abit i35 pro board, and installing the ASUS Maximus Formula) and i ran a 3dmark and took of for a hour to look at Christmas presents .. I just came back, and i scored 11893 :D

3DMark Score 11893 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4848 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 5278 Marks
CPU Score 3544 Marks

Currently CPU "only" running default 2.4 GHz but hey .. ill pump it back to 3.7 anytime soon on H2= and then reinstall vista :)

I'm finally a happy guy :)
 
Knuspar said:
Part #2

I went to the retailer and explained the situation ( after filling in a RMA form), they gave me my money back, and i picked up a modular be quiet! 600 WATT PSU. Went home, plugged it in and booted my messed up Vista 32 ( never reinstalled after unplugging the abit i35 pro board, and installing the ASUS Maximus Formula) and i ran a 3dmark and took of for a hour to look at Christmas presents .. I just came back, and i scored 11893 :D

3DMark Score 11893 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4848 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 5278 Marks
CPU Score 3544 Marks

Currently CPU "only" running default 2.4 GHz but hey .. ill pump it back to 3.7 anytime soon on H2= and then reinstall vista :)

I'm finally a happy guy :)
Click to expand...

Glad you're finally up and running. Now the hell with benchmarks, go have some fun ....:p
 
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