My awful experience with the 4870X2

I have had the same missing .dll issues with ATi drivers myself, as well as CCC not responding.

For reference the fix is the following:
A: Use ATi install manager to remove all ATi software.
B:reboot
C: uninstall your card(s) from device manager
D: Reboot twice (Seriously)
E: download and install Catalyst drivers and ccc
F: Reboot twice

Fixed!
(I have had to do this with each driver pack since I installed 8.5 when I got my 4850's)

EDIT: As a side note,for the performance, it has been worth it, rofl... am I sad...?
 
Dan_D said:
Umm no.

It's not that cut and dry. Occasionally problems present themselves that are WAY outside the norm and the solutions defy logic. Your statements are flamebait at best and are lacking in perspective.
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QFT, I've been ripping apart/building/breaking/overclocking pc's since 1992-plus stupid amounts of hardware that goes through my hands every year that I like to play with because I can.

With that said, I have never been able to get the drivers off the cd to install, and I've tried more than once.....guess this makes me a n00b'eh?

There is plain and simply driver issues, this is fact.
 
During my 8.8 install, Vista64 disabled "an incompatible adapter" resulting in a black screen. I waited for the hard drive light to slow down and then started pressing keys to blindly finish the install. I pressed N, F and pressed the right arrow 4 times then pressed enter...repeated it...eventually the computer restarted properly. Windows came up fine and I haven't had any problems (knock on wood).
 
FloppyDrive said:
During my 8.8 install, Vista64 disabled "an incompatible adapter" resulting in a black screen. I waited for the hard drive light to slow down and then started pressing keys to blindly finish the install. I pressed N, F and pressed the right arrow 4 times then pressed enter...repeated it...eventually the computer restarted properly. Windows came up fine and I haven't had any problems (knock on wood).
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I ran into that with some of the beta drivers.
 
Dan_D said:
Umm no.

It's not that cut and dry. Occasionally problems present themselves that are WAY outside the norm and the solutions defy logic. Your statements are flamebait at best and are lacking in perspective.
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Which is why any experienced PC user should be able to find a solution before making a thread about their problems and saying to stay away from the card. Notice how I gave the 3 most "probable" causes. This thread is flamebait.
 
I find it strange that someone would return a card due to driver problems and indeed blame the drivers when many people including myself don't have those problems. A rational person may start to think maybe it ain't entirely the drivers at fault.
 
necrophile said:
I find it strange that someone would return a card due to driver problems and indeed blame the drivers when many people including myself don't have those problems. A rational person may start to think maybe it ain't entirely the drivers at fault.
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Outside of the occasional defective card or installation user error I'd say that most of the problems boil down to driver compatibility problems. That turned out to be the issue in my case.
 
I'm always sceptical of driver compatability issues as people use them too much as a scapegoat.

If I get a problem I do not just blame drivers when it may be my system and mine alone.
 
For what it's worth. I had way more problems with my GTX 280 install then my 4870x2.

With the GTX 280, I had random reboots, and crashing in some games... Had to re-install VISTA, etc...

The 4870x2 install went smooth. Not a single problem. All my games are working fine. And I just fallowed the instructions in here to make fans profiles.

But before installing a new card, I always read alot on the internet, to avoid any potential problem.
 
Dethred said:
Hi, I'm relatively illiterate when it comes to Computer technology. I have built about a dozen machines and read tech articles all the time, but I am still a relative newbie. I bought my 4870x2 to replace my 8800GTX.

I took the card out of the box, put it into the PCI-E slot, I plugged in the correct power cables (yes I have a PSU with the appropriate cables), closed my case, and turned on the machine.

I decided to play it safe and reinstall Vista x64. I entered Windows and installed my chipset drivers followed by the 8.8beta driver from ATi. Next, I installed a few games, and played them. The performance was amazing. The card blows warm air into my room, but runs fine at auto fan speed.

If I can handle the card, then those with issues need to RMA their card for a replacement or figure out what other hardware is creating a conflict. To come on here and rant like a pissed off teenager, about your own personal problems with the card, is stupid.

If you are having problems with the card, there are 3 probable causes:

1.) You didn't do your homework and don't know what the hell you're doing.
2.) Something else on your system is causing a conflict.
3.) The card itself is faulty.
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Wow.... it's like you won the internet.......

Seriously though threads like this are common on boards for people that are pissed that things didn't work like how they planned.

Anyone including myself doesn't like when things don't go the way we imagined them and the OP just needed to vent a little bit.

Your experience with your 4870x2 seems like to me, was barred with steps you took that were unneeded to get satisfaction out of a graphics card.

Next time you respond to someone's problems on not properly planning their upgrade, there are 3 things to remember:

1.) You don't need to justify your purchase of the 4870x2 on an internet forum.
2.) Commenting else on someone elses upgrade that didn't go as planned by being a prick about it doesn't paint one favorably... again... on an internet forum.
3.) Outlining a COA of which you followed that obviously shows one superiority on an internet forum is very cliche'

:rolleyes:
 
The OP should have definitely asked for help first.

If a flamebait thread gets posted here.. you will get flamed.. end of discussion.

BTW OP.. if you want, I'll gladly take that "POS" card off of your hands... I'll even pay shipping! Just give the card to me, and it will solve ALL of your probelms!
 
cyclone3d said:
The OP should have definitely asked for help first.

If a flamebait thread gets posted here.. you will get flamed.. end of discussion.

BTW OP.. if you want, I'll gladly take that "POS" card off of your hands... I'll even pay shipping! Just give the card to me, and it will solve ALL of your probelms!
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tried that. didn't work
 
I had issues with the official drivers holding my GPU under load when it should be at idle. The beta 8.8 (8.522) has been the best driver for me. I have no issues except for the ripple effect in COD4 that is only in dark areas and is easily removed with 16xaa enabled (box detect). For me the card is nice except for the fan noise when under load that can sometimes whistle.

OP... I know the POS comment was out of frustration and I don't blame you as we have all been there at least once! Just remember there are a lot of us having no real issues with the card. Hope you get it all figured out.
 
i had a similar issue with the op. drivers cant install correctly, blank screen during install. card running pretty hot at 90C idle w/stock fan speed. few issues here and there with some games. i think ill go back to team green.
 
Specialist[X];1033026990 said:
i had a similar issue with the op. drivers cant install correctly, blank screen during install. card running pretty hot at 90C idle w/stock fan speed. few issues here and there with some games. i think ill go back to team green.
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not that I am not happy with my GTX280 but I had all kinds of problems as well, I do plan to upgrade to a 4870X2 but for the time being I got a GTX280 to avoid the headache, and ended up doing the opposite.

The point is when your install new high end equipment you should expect some problems to arise. Its not limited to the Red or Green team.

Like I said in a post above I will trade my GTX280 for a 4870X2 or 4870 CF.
 
Valset said:
not that I am not happy with my GTX280 but I had all kinds of problems as well, I do plan to upgrade to a 4870X2 but for the time being I got a GTX280 to avoid the headache, and ended up doing the opposite.

The point is when your install new high end equipment you should expect some problems to arise. Its not limited to the Red or Green team.

Like I said in a post above I will trade my GTX280 for a 4870X2 or 4870 CF.
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wish i hadnt sold my g92 8800gts. that thing was rock solid and worked like a charm.
 
Sphere said:
QFT, I've been ripping apart/building/breaking/overclocking pc's since 1992-plus stupid amounts of hardware that goes through my hands every year that I like to play with because I can.

With that said, I have never been able to get the drivers off the cd to install, and I've tried more than once.....guess this makes me a n00b'eh?

There is plain and simply driver issues, this is fact.
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Drivers for my 4870x2 installed from the CD on the first try without any issue. According to my title on THIS forum, I'm a noob. Go figure. :p
 
There does seem to be a problem with some of these newer cards that that how well they work depends on the system your running. Dan had no end of grief with his 4870X2, I spent a couple of days just getting mine to display properly do to nvidia flat panel issues. And crysis is unplayable even on all low setting though everything else is smooth so far (I still have some kind of a driver issue going here)

really with the complexity of the new hardware and software we really should not be surprised.
 
Valset said:
There does seem to be a problem with some of these newer cards that that how well they work depends on the system your running. Dan had no end of grief with his 4870X2, I spent a couple of days just getting mine to display properly do to nvidia flat panel issues. And crysis is unplayable even on all low setting though everything else is smooth so far (I still have some kind of a driver issue going here)

really with the complexity of the new hardware and software we really should not be surprised.
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Dan's problem was way blown out of proportion. He had one issue and it was primarly with cod4. Everything else worked fine. He eventually fixed his cod4 problems by disabling his onboard audio and installing a cound card. Prior to this fix, everyone and there sister were blaiming the ATI drivers for Dan's probs. Now is that a GFX card/driver specific or is that a game engine issue with his onboard sound drivers ? Im betting on the latter.
 
I find that at least 8 times out 10, what is innitially thought to be a GFX card/driver problem is infact something else.
 
Spyhawk said:
Dan's problem was way blown out of proportion. He had one issue and it was primarly with cod4. Everything else worked fine. He eventually fixed his cod4 problems by disabling his onboard audio and installing a cound card. Prior to this fix, everyone and there sister were blaiming the ATI drivers for Dan's probs. Now is that a GFX card/driver specific or is that a game engine issue with his onboard sound drivers ? Im betting on the latter.
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Sorry I am not seeing the point here, regardless of nature of the problem it still stemmed from an issue that came with installing a new graphics card. One that didn't occur with Nvidia cards. and one game is pretty important if that is the game you play. Crysis is broken on mine for some reason (don't give a shit really) but if the problem shows up somewhere else I will have to try and address it.
 
necrophile said:
don't be misled by this guy, the problem is him and his comp not ATI, their product or their drivers bar deciding to set such a low idle fan speed in the first place but hardly a big deal, if you do things properly things should go without a hitch, just because the OP didn't mention doing anything wrong, doesn't mean he didn't do it.
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Any time "properly" means more than installing a card and then a single driver provided by the manufacturer, then something has gone horribly horribly wrong. It should not take tweaking to make it work.

The fact that there's serious discussion about riva tuner tweaks/etc needed to make the card usable certainly seems to hint that the product has issues - now, I'll admit that I haven't paid that much attention here, but if the steps go beyond "put in card, install from ATi website", then there's an issue.
 
lopoetve said:
Any time "properly" means more than installing a card and then a single driver provided by the manufacturer, then something has gone horribly horribly wrong. It should not take tweaking to make it work.

The fact that there's serious discussion about riva tuner tweaks/etc needed to make the card usable certainly seems to hint that the product has issues - now, I'll admit that I haven't paid that much attention here, but if the steps go beyond "put in card, install from ATi website", then there's an issue.
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While I agree that the card runs hot, the riva tuner tweaks are not necessary and are purely based on customer preference on temps.
Keep in mind that the card has work perfectly on many people's system. Basically, you could say that the card/driver sucks for your platform, but there's no reason to make a blanket statement regarding the card.
 
lopoetve said:
Any time "properly" means more than installing a card and then a single driver provided by the manufacturer, then something has gone horribly horribly wrong. It should not take tweaking to make it work.

The fact that there's serious discussion about riva tuner tweaks/etc needed to make the card usable certainly seems to hint that the product has issues - now, I'll admit that I haven't paid that much attention here, but if the steps go beyond "put in card, install from ATi website", then there's an issue.
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This is what I am disagreeing with I think. I had this very expectation when I bought the BFG GTX280. didn't happen. but the more I thought about it. the more it seemed that that just wasn't a realistic expectancy. With the complexity and verity of modern systems that just isn't going to happen. It would be far more reasonable to expect established hardware to do that (last gen cards and such) but there is no way all the bugs can be worked out before a launch.
 
Valset said:
This is what I am disagreeing with I think. I had this very expectation when I bought the BFG GTX280. didn't happen. but the more I thought about it. the more it seemed that that just wasn't a realistic expectancy. With the complexity and verity of modern systems that just isn't going to happen. It would be far more reasonable to expect established hardware to do that (last gen cards and such) but there is no way all the bugs can be worked out before a launch.
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I disagree. Video card driver installs are normally painless even with modern video cards. There is no reason not to expect painless installs. Now expecting the driver to be perfect and have no issues is unrealistic. There are always erratum and bugs with anything man made and that will continue into the foreseable future. Regardless I think that ATI should have had their shit together in regard to the 4870 X2's drivers. They simply aren't where they need to be. The hardware is outstanding but they are brought down by the horrible experiences people have with their drivers.
 
Dan_D said:
I disagree. Video card driver installs are normally painless even with modern video cards. There is no reason not to expect painless installs. Now expecting the driver to be perfect and have no issues is unrealistic. There are always erratum and bugs with anything man made and that will continue into the foreseable future. Regardless I think that ATI should have had their shit together in regard to the 4870 X2's drivers. They simply aren't where they need to be. The hardware is outstanding but they are brought down by the horrible experiences people have with their drivers.
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yes but normally means what exactly? You and I both had some pretty good installation problems that ended up as hardware / driver problem. I can bitch at Nvidia for not fixing there flat screen scaling and such (they keep blaming the manufactures, just how many faulty panels do they think there are?) And your right ATI should have probably caught this one (reasonable exception for someone to put a high end card on a high end motherboard) but there is no way that they could test every hardware combination, just isn't possible.

I will admit that I was pretty pissed when my 400+ card would not work right out of the box. I can only imagine what you must have felt like with over a grand of video cards.
 
Valset said:
This is what I am disagreeing with I think. I had this very expectation when I bought the BFG GTX280. didn't happen. but the more I thought about it. the more it seemed that that just wasn't a realistic expectancy. With the complexity and verity of modern systems that just isn't going to happen. It would be far more reasonable to expect established hardware to do that (last gen cards and such) but there is no way all the bugs can be worked out before a launch.
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I disagree. If we're getting to the point that we have to fight something to make it work, we're not expecting as much as we should be.

If you can't launch a non-buggy product, DO NOT LAUNCH. It doesn't fly for airplanes, cars, etc... we complain about software, why not the same with hardware? This is why I now wait 3 months before buying - I got burned on the 8800GT the same way (and eVga just rmaed me an original with the crappy cooler to boot) - we should NOT expect that they're going to make broke hardware and we have to fix it. Demand more.
 
Dan_D said:
I disagree. Video card driver installs are normally painless even with modern video cards. There is no reason not to expect painless installs. Now expecting the driver to be perfect and have no issues is unrealistic. There are always erratum and bugs with anything man made and that will continue into the foreseable future. Regardless I think that ATI should have had their shit together in regard to the 4870 X2's drivers. They simply aren't where they need to be. The hardware is outstanding but they are brought down by the horrible experiences people have with their drivers.
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agreed.

It's one thing for most htings to work and a game or two not to - it's different when you can't even get it to work at ~all~ like the OP was.
 
lopoetve said:
I disagree. If we're getting to the point that we have to fight something to make it work, we're not expecting as much as we should be.

If you can't launch a non-buggy product, DO NOT LAUNCH. It doesn't fly for airplanes, cars, etc... we complain about software, why not the same with hardware? This is why I now wait 3 months before buying - I got burned on the 8800GT the same way (and eVga just rmaed me an original with the crappy cooler to boot) - we should NOT expect that they're going to make broke hardware and we have to fix it. Demand more.
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you guys may have a point there. I just have not seen ANYONE release a new product lately with out some kind of bug. So I am wondering if my standards were set a little to high.

But the fact remains that nether ATI or Nvidia seems to be able to do this. At least not all the time. A lot of people have had no issues installing ether but there seems to be a pretty good % that do.

All the same you and Dan may be right, I should probably should not stop demanding it.
 
Valset said:
yes but normally means what exactly? You and I both had some pretty good installation problems that ended up as hardware / driver problem. I can bitch at Nvidia for not fixing there flat screen scaling and such (they keep blaming the manufactures, just how many faulty panels do they think there are?) And your right ATI should have probably caught this one (reasonable exception for someone to put a high end card on a high end motherboard) but there is no way that they could test every hardware combination, just isn't possible.

I will admit that I was pretty pissed when my 400+ card would not work right out of the box. I can only imagine what you must have felt like with over a grand of video cards.
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Normally means normally. The issues I had with the 4870 X2 and drivers were limited to one PC. I put the card into another PC and had ZERO problems. Also bear in mind that I install NVIDIA and ATI card drivers at least once a week and have been doing so for two or more years. I do these things on my test bench for motherboard reviews regularly and 99.99% of the time driver installs are painless. I upgrade drivers on my own computers all the time and again, everything goes off without a hitch. It is extremely rare that I run into driver problems with NVIDIA or ATI hardware.
 
Valset said:
you guys may have a point there. I just have not seen ANYONE release a new product lately with out some kind of bug. So I am wondering if my standards were set a little to high.

But the fact remains that nether ATI or Nvidia seems to be able to do this. At least not all the time. A lot of people have had no issues installing ether but there seems to be a pretty good % that do.

All the same you and Dan may be right, I should probably should not stop demanding it.
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Never said that either was immune - BOTH are doing stupid with this right now, and we should be demanding more :D

If we have to have a quick-link page for how to fix the install, something ain't right ;)
 
Well all these problems are the norm in the PC hardware/software world. After working/playing around with them since 1995, you kinda expect problems to troubleshoot when setting up a system.

Ive never had a home built system that ran perfectly at first boot. Ive always needed to troubleshoot something or another, be it software or hardware.
 
Spyhawk said:
Well all these problems are the norm in the PC hardware/software world. After working/playing around with them since 1995, you kinda expect problems to troubleshoot when setting up a system.

Ive never had a home built system that ran perfectly at first boot. Ive always needed to troubleshoot something or another, be it software or hardware.
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I've had plenty of systems that worked perfectly on the first try. Fully assembled they boot right up (with all hardware installed and cables connected) and software installation goes flawlessly.
 
Dan_D said:
I've had plenty of systems that worked perfectly on the first try. Fully assembled they boot right up (with all hardware installed and cables connected) and software installation goes flawlessly.
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I have to agree with this one, its usually adding to system that I have had problems. most of the time with new builds its because I forgot something or something didn't work (I think I had one PSU had to return)
 
Might be a bit off topic but thought I'd ask anyways -

Would I benefit from a 4870X2 on an ASUS P5K-E being a pci-e 1.1 slot? Would it perform at or close to it would on a 2.0 ?

Also currently using an 8800GT running things at 1680x1050.
 
refraxion said:
Might be a bit off topic but thought I'd ask anyways -

Would I benefit from a 4870X2 on an ASUS P5K-E being a pci-e 1.1 slot? Would it perform at or close to it would on a 2.0 ?

Also currently using an 8800GT running things at 1680x1050.
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If it's an X16 slot, then it should be fine. Even with the 4870X2 we're not really constrained by PCI-E bandwidth. Maybe next gen it will a bigger issue.
 
Its always a game of chance with high end hardware.. for some people the GTX 280 has worked flawlessly for others it was beyond aweful . Its the same way for the 4870 X2 , I'm still nervous about keeping this card beyond the return period because I would rather not be screwed over a few months down the line (one thing ATI has yet to copy is the excellent third party support from company's like EVGA,BFG and XFI).. but as long as things keep working I'm willing to take that chance.

I went from being a pretty hardcore Nvidia user (going from the ATI 9700 Pro to the Ti 4200 up until 8800 Ultra) to ATI again .. I knew that ATIs driver support was questionable at best. Its still way better than it use to be but I personally don't think its nearly as good as Nvidia's currently... however if they continue to improve and add fan control support then I would be pretty happy for the most part.

Even despite my issues with this card I'm glad I bought it , am I saying every user who had problems with this card will come to this conculsion? Not a chance .. but if you apply some patience and keep trying , you'll likely find the solution to most issue's this card can produce and its worth while to keep trying.
 
I built a new computer recently, and this is the first system I used an ATI video card in. I wouldn't say I'm an advanced user anymore (maybe five years ago, but certainly not today). I knew before I bought the X2 that there were issues both with the running temps and drivers, so I was somewhat prepared - I had the beta drivers and the manual fan speed fix ready. I really like this card, even though I haven't pushed it to its limits yet. If you aren't happy with yours, just sell it and get a new Geforce.
 
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