ATI 9800 Pro problem

[tacomaboy]

My 9800 Pro (built by ATI) has been giving me these sort of artifacts for a while now. I have completely reinstalled my OS for other reasons but I still get the problem. I have tried different drivers. Underclocking seems to alleviate it somewhat but not completely.

Is it a bad card, ot bad cooling? My case temps are fairly high @ 38c, and this is with a 72F room and a Super LanBoy with working fans, and very good cable management, so airflow must be good. Any reocmmendations?

 

[tacomaboy]

BTW all 3D games (Doom 3 as well, which sucks), and even cut scenes (I mean FMV sequences) seem to do this.

If it is a bad card, whats the best way to get it fixed quick? I dont have a decent loaner in the mean time, and do not want to buy a new one till I go PCIe. And the 9800 Pro is a good enuogh card that it may be a while before that happens....

 

[Biggles604]

If you are only getting the artifacts after running games, then I would say it's most likely heat related. If you are overclocking your card, reset the timings, else try underclocking it (I use RadLinker for that). If all else fails, get a better heatsink. I find the Arctic Cooling VGA silencer Rev3 to work brilliantly, and it's cheap and quiet too.

 

[tacomaboy]

Thanks for the info.

After doing some research it really seems I am not nearly the only ATI user with this issue. Lots of 9800 Pro and XT users have had "snow" while playing Doom III and some have had it stay with them after playing Doom III. It seems to be a heat issue, but it happens at stock speeds. From my recollection this started after I played Doom III, and did not happen until I played Doom III. I have not played any new games on my PC since then. But it seems now that all games are now affected.

Wow. So my deduction here is that Doom III broke my ATI 9800 Pro! And it sure sounds like I am not the only one who has had this problem. I remember Carmacks quote about Doom III causing new transistors to operate. Now, I am concerned.

It seems the solution is to UNDERclock an OEM card. Or to put a new heatsink card and ruin my chances at RMA'ing it.

I think I am going to RMA the card, and sell Doom III. I did not like the game all that much anyhow, but this is unfortunate to say the least. Ill have to run a GF3 ti500 for 2 weeks... and RMAs are a PITA.