Slachtbeest
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2008
- Messages
- 248
*Note: This is a follow-up to issues I was having regarding the 5870 running on XP, and meant to inform those who might be looking to move to the 5870 who are still running XP.
After much testing and some massive "mishaps", I can say without a doubt that, while AMD (or any manufacturer) are right to look forward to new technology instead of trying to cater to an eight year old OS, that they dropped the ball in regards to letting people know that the 5870 is basically "not compatible" with XP and any of their GPU drivers, period.
It will run (until/unless it stops all-together) but it will severely under-perform, and can lead to more serious problems (see below).
There is a long thread somewhere back that had many people attempting to troubleshoot the situation of the 5870 running basically no faster than my GTX 280, with massive "hitching" a lot of time... but in the end, the situation worsened even further.
In the process of testing on a completely clean install, with both the disc drivers and the updated beta drivers, eventually, while in-game my entire system crashed. However, not only did it crash, but the crash it caused managed to alter two settings in my BIOS, one being the boot drive in my system, so my system would not initially boot. The second being the "wait for F1" option if there's a system error in my BIOS. That's some crash...
It was definitely due to the 5870 and it's drivers, and not anything else regarding my system. I've been building systems for the last decade, so I'm no novice regarding PC building, and have never seen anything like that happen in my life. What ever caused the crash (which was not logged) actually altered BIOS settings, which I've never seen happen, period. I've seen all sorts of crashes over 10+ years, and never one caused something such as that. It was not quite obviously not just a "fluke".
It was not "user error" either, and there have been other reports I have found by individuals stating them having issues regarding XP and the 5870 as well, some out-right stating that the 5870 will not run on XP. I tried every configuration possible, every setting checked, then checked again.
- I reverted to my GTX 280, same HDD... everything smooth as butter, and everything maxed, as usual. Not a single hitch, and definitely no crashes.
I've never seen a GPU have problems like this with an OS, but it is quite extremely apparent that the software needed to run the 5870 does not get along with XP, and customers should have been warned about this.
There were several even of my own posts (and others) in my other thread stating that we just could not imagine that AMD/ATi would not have known this or just "skipped over it", but I can tell you right now, they had to have, because I'm not the only one who has had problems, and that is what really pisses me off.
I already had plans on moving to Win 7 (64) this month, but it is not a case of, "Well, you should have a 'better' OS", so don't bust my chops with that... this is a major screw-up on their end, not letting the consumer know they might need a newer/"better" OS. They should have at least given a "warning", because I just cant see how they could not have known about this.
So, this is thread is meant to be a warning to XP users: if you're running XP, do not purchase/attempt to run a 5870! If you do, at least go into it knowing that this is happening to many people still running the "dinosaur" everyone deems XP to be, and you could have serious problems. Everything from the GPU not performing as it should, to massive hitching/freezing and obviously worse, serious crashing. It did run for me at first, but with massive hitching, and ran no faster than my GTX 280. Once it caused the crash, the outcome was ridiculous.
I can say the card runs cool, and quiet even with the fan @ 60%, and runs smooth... in-between all the hitching... though slightly slower than my GTX 280.
In regards to the crash having altered BIOS settings, I cannot even comment on how the hell that happened... never seen a crash in my life cause that. Wife witnessed the whole thing, and again, I'm far from a novice where PCs are concerned (hardware and software). Perhaps also a problem something to do with the mobo's chipset on my board (Intel; ASUS Rampage Formula) in combination with the GPU and it's drivers, that might have messed with the board itself as well, causing the two BIOS changes upon crashing.
Either way... the 5870+XP=a big "no".
I returned the 5870, though might try again in the future after I'm set-up with Win 7, so obviously, this is not a thread "shitting on AMD/ATi", except for their god damn lack of common sense, quality control and/or proper business practices to basically put out this GPU and, what... hope they "got lucky" with XP users (if they knew there was a problem)?
This thread is to warn XP users of the potential for serious problems due to the "incompatibility" with the 5870 and it's drivers in general. It will not run the way it is capable, if it runs at all.
So, for all who suggested (not matter how unlikely) that perhaps the OS was the problem, you were right, and that's something that should have been caught and announced by AMD/ATi.
Warning to buyers still running XP.
I'm sure that, if I find I need/want any more performance (though my GTX 280 is already enough of a beast) and decide to try the 5870 again, that it'll work fine on Win 7 32/64... unless, again, there's also compatibility issues with certain mobos/chipsets as well.
Since I'm moving to Win 7, if the OS is the full problem (which it seems to be for those running XP), it's not so much a "loss" regarding eventually being able to run it, but (though I did eat a restocking and shipping fee, so technically I did lose... about ****ing $65), since I can buy the GPU again. The issue is that this is something that should have been announced, because I'm not the only this is happening to. So, more than likely, I will not invest my money into a company that could be that stupid, as it cost me almost $100 in the end.
But, either way... there it is... don't say I didn't warn you.
*Note: the 5870 was tested on two different drives. Under-performed on both, and hitching on both. Fresh install drive is the one on which it crashed.
After much testing and some massive "mishaps", I can say without a doubt that, while AMD (or any manufacturer) are right to look forward to new technology instead of trying to cater to an eight year old OS, that they dropped the ball in regards to letting people know that the 5870 is basically "not compatible" with XP and any of their GPU drivers, period.
It will run (until/unless it stops all-together) but it will severely under-perform, and can lead to more serious problems (see below).
There is a long thread somewhere back that had many people attempting to troubleshoot the situation of the 5870 running basically no faster than my GTX 280, with massive "hitching" a lot of time... but in the end, the situation worsened even further.
In the process of testing on a completely clean install, with both the disc drivers and the updated beta drivers, eventually, while in-game my entire system crashed. However, not only did it crash, but the crash it caused managed to alter two settings in my BIOS, one being the boot drive in my system, so my system would not initially boot. The second being the "wait for F1" option if there's a system error in my BIOS. That's some crash...
It was definitely due to the 5870 and it's drivers, and not anything else regarding my system. I've been building systems for the last decade, so I'm no novice regarding PC building, and have never seen anything like that happen in my life. What ever caused the crash (which was not logged) actually altered BIOS settings, which I've never seen happen, period. I've seen all sorts of crashes over 10+ years, and never one caused something such as that. It was not quite obviously not just a "fluke".
It was not "user error" either, and there have been other reports I have found by individuals stating them having issues regarding XP and the 5870 as well, some out-right stating that the 5870 will not run on XP. I tried every configuration possible, every setting checked, then checked again.
- I reverted to my GTX 280, same HDD... everything smooth as butter, and everything maxed, as usual. Not a single hitch, and definitely no crashes.
I've never seen a GPU have problems like this with an OS, but it is quite extremely apparent that the software needed to run the 5870 does not get along with XP, and customers should have been warned about this.
There were several even of my own posts (and others) in my other thread stating that we just could not imagine that AMD/ATi would not have known this or just "skipped over it", but I can tell you right now, they had to have, because I'm not the only one who has had problems, and that is what really pisses me off.
I already had plans on moving to Win 7 (64) this month, but it is not a case of, "Well, you should have a 'better' OS", so don't bust my chops with that... this is a major screw-up on their end, not letting the consumer know they might need a newer/"better" OS. They should have at least given a "warning", because I just cant see how they could not have known about this.
So, this is thread is meant to be a warning to XP users: if you're running XP, do not purchase/attempt to run a 5870! If you do, at least go into it knowing that this is happening to many people still running the "dinosaur" everyone deems XP to be, and you could have serious problems. Everything from the GPU not performing as it should, to massive hitching/freezing and obviously worse, serious crashing. It did run for me at first, but with massive hitching, and ran no faster than my GTX 280. Once it caused the crash, the outcome was ridiculous.
I can say the card runs cool, and quiet even with the fan @ 60%, and runs smooth... in-between all the hitching... though slightly slower than my GTX 280.
In regards to the crash having altered BIOS settings, I cannot even comment on how the hell that happened... never seen a crash in my life cause that. Wife witnessed the whole thing, and again, I'm far from a novice where PCs are concerned (hardware and software). Perhaps also a problem something to do with the mobo's chipset on my board (Intel; ASUS Rampage Formula) in combination with the GPU and it's drivers, that might have messed with the board itself as well, causing the two BIOS changes upon crashing.
Either way... the 5870+XP=a big "no".
I returned the 5870, though might try again in the future after I'm set-up with Win 7, so obviously, this is not a thread "shitting on AMD/ATi", except for their god damn lack of common sense, quality control and/or proper business practices to basically put out this GPU and, what... hope they "got lucky" with XP users (if they knew there was a problem)?
This thread is to warn XP users of the potential for serious problems due to the "incompatibility" with the 5870 and it's drivers in general. It will not run the way it is capable, if it runs at all.
So, for all who suggested (not matter how unlikely) that perhaps the OS was the problem, you were right, and that's something that should have been caught and announced by AMD/ATi.
Warning to buyers still running XP.
I'm sure that, if I find I need/want any more performance (though my GTX 280 is already enough of a beast) and decide to try the 5870 again, that it'll work fine on Win 7 32/64... unless, again, there's also compatibility issues with certain mobos/chipsets as well.
Since I'm moving to Win 7, if the OS is the full problem (which it seems to be for those running XP), it's not so much a "loss" regarding eventually being able to run it, but (though I did eat a restocking and shipping fee, so technically I did lose... about ****ing $65), since I can buy the GPU again. The issue is that this is something that should have been announced, because I'm not the only this is happening to. So, more than likely, I will not invest my money into a company that could be that stupid, as it cost me almost $100 in the end.
But, either way... there it is... don't say I didn't warn you.
*Note: the 5870 was tested on two different drives. Under-performed on both, and hitching on both. Fresh install drive is the one on which it crashed.