Help with HIS 1950Pro AGP

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Bubba1

n00b
Joined
Jun 22, 2004
Messages
9
Need some help here. Like some others, I've been having difficulty with a few 1950pros, and am eager to get this resolved.

In anticipation of getting the card, I upgraded my power supply from an old antec 400 to a new Corsair HX620W. This power supply is listed as crossfire approved, and it had great reviews. It shows as having 3 18a 12v rails, however, the specs list some funky amp sharing across the rails (I wonder how legit that really is).

The Sapphire card came and seemed to work ok for a few hours, but then I started getting artifacts all over the place when playing Oblivion. I tried switching drivers (7.1, 6.12), running the fan at 100%, and using different combinations of cables to the power supply but that didn't work. I've had cards experience similar failures with similar results over time and I know from reading the other thread that some folks are having trouble. So, I returned the card for a refund and ordered the HIS 512mb ICEQ3 card, figuring the cooling would be better and I would have less chance of failure.

The HIS card came and I installed it with cat 7.1. This time, I taxed it right from the start with 3dMark06 and high AA/AF settings. I received the exact same artifacts as I did with the Sapphire card. So, I tried the same changes- drivers, fan speed increase. No luck. Figuring I may have a problem with my mobo, I moved the power supply and card to a different PC (nforce2 with an AXP 3200), but I still had the same problem over there.

This was getting weird to me, and frustrating, so I figured I would read up on the AGP specs. It seems some mobos and cards don't play well together, etc., and that's when I got the idea to play around with the AGP voltage and speed. I tried the card in both machines switch down to 4x AGP from 8x. Same bad result on both machines. I then started moving the voltage up, figuring WTH nothing to lose. On both machines, raising the voltage helped the problem significantly- I could make it longer through the 3dmark06 with each increase. 1.5-1.55-1.6-1.65. Keeping the volts at 1.65 yielded the best results. No artifacts at all unless I ran highest AA/AF.

So, here is my big question. With this info in mind:

1. do you think I just got real bad luck and had a bum card twice in a row?
2. do you think my power supply is faulty (if so, how else could I check?)
3. do you think my power supply is not up to the task of running a 1950Pro AGP card?
4. AGP 8x (3.0) spec states voltage at 0.8, but at 8x settings, both machines only had options for 1.5-1.65. What's up with that?

system - WinXP Pro
Abit 1C7-G mobo (bios 28)
Intel P4 3.0 Northwood
2x1GB of OCZ PC4000
Audigy 2
WDC 74.5GB Raptor
WDC WD4000KD
NEC 3550a
Samsung SM-352b
 
I would have suggested heat, or some sort of undervolting, but its highly unlikely that both PCs have that issue. what happens if you keep cranking the voltage?
 
I can only move it up to 1.65 on both machines. It just keeps getting more stable, the higher I go.
 
for reference, my case temp is a solid 30c. cpu idle is 42c. I didn't get a chance to grab gpu temps.
 
another update - I picked up a Silverstone ST56ZF (single +12v rail w 38a) and am getting the exact same results. I don't know what the heck to think now except that I just got two bumb cards.

Is this even worth another shot at a replacement at this point? I'm pissed.
 
The story gets weirder for me, and I'm now leaning towards thinking I've been getting bad cards or having heat problems. For reference, my case temp is solid around 30c, and the HIS card idled around 44c - peaked around 57c before throwing artifacts. This looks to be little higher than what some others are getting.

Anyway, with my HIS card sitting here waiting to get sent back, I went to freakin best buy and picked up the damn 256 visiontek card. Brought it home, set it up, and have received great results with both power supplies. So, while I am very pleased to know I can get one of these to work and that my power supplies and other system components are ok, I am pisssed that I spent a high amount for a 256 card that has not fan control or temp reading.

Best of luck to the rest of you looking to get a card that works for you. This has been a total crap shoot for me.
 
Bubba1 said:
I can only move it up to 1.65 on both machines. It just keeps getting more stable, the higher I go.
Click to expand...
Will it damage the card if the voltage is set above 1.5 volts at the agp slot (i believe it draws power from the 3.3 or 5v line)? I wonder if the card uses less 12v with the agp voltage being turned up or are the bios settings not really doing anything because agp 3.0 is .8 volts?
 
Bubba1 said:
Anyway, with my HIS card sitting here waiting to get sent back, I went to freakin best buy and picked up the damn 256 visiontek card. Brought it home, set it up, and have received great results with both power supplies.
Click to expand...

It seems most of the problems people have with these new video cards going AGP are with the 512 mb ones. Kind of odd.
 
demonx said:
It seems most of the problems people have with these new video cards going AGP are with the 512 mb ones. Kind of odd.
Click to expand...

Personally, I think that is more due popularity. I have been on 6 forums and people have had all the same issues with every species of X1950 Pro out there. I think more people are just buying the 512MB cards, such as the Sapphire. So more units sold equals more reported problems.
 
bah..i got mien from overcklockers UK and even if ir send them a webnote AND talked to a guy ont he phone who assured me they 'll put an adpater in the box in fact they DIDNT. so i'm sitting here with a card that i cant use...

and i checked around 10 stores around here and couldnt find any, my only hope is to find one in two PC modding shops in te center of the city tomorow..

jerks
 
I'm having problems with my 256mb HIS Radeon X1950Pro IceQ3 Turbo card... I just got it today. Before I put it in, I unplugged and took out my PSU to organize some wires and other stuff. I put in the card and turned on the system. Taking out my PSU turned out to be a bad idea because when I was trying to boot up, it gave me a disk boot error. Great. So I was trying to reformat with my new v-card and it works fine up until the XP installation screen. My system just kept freezing. I took it out and put in my old video card and now XP is installing fine. I have an ANTEC NEOPOWER NEOHE 550W PSU (3 +12v, each at 18a). I know the X1950Pro recommends +12v with 30a... But I know with all 3 +12v, my PSU is able to do 54a.

I don't know a lot about PSU volts/amps, so I'm wondering how do I use all 3 +12v rails? Or does it do it auto? Bleah. When XP is done reformatting, I'll try installing the new v-card again. Any help would be nice!


*edit*
Well, after reformatting XP, I installed the X1950Pro again... So far everything seems fine. I swear my computer has a mind of its own.
 
I think the problem with these cards is the shitty cooling that these companies supply the cards iam getting one of these cards and iam gonna get the artic coooler for it
like the power color cards don't hear much people saying hte powercolor x1950pro agps are having much problems.
 
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