9800pro enough to play Neverwinter Nights @ 1280x1024?

[Ruroni]

Sometimes when playing NWN I get CTD or the machine simply reboots. I've run sysoft sandra's burn test to see if my computer crashes, but it doesn't.

It doesn't crash at any other given time. It will sit there and run for days. But once I play NWN it either crashes to the desktop, or it reboots all together, as if I had hit the reset button. The CPU temp idle is 46.5 and the case is 25.0 after crashing the CPU isn't much warmer. I don't think it's ever exceded 50c I'm not even sure the CPU reaches it.

I can't think of anything else that could be caushing the crash except for the graphics card... This theory was fueled by the fact that turning off AA and AF on the (Omega 2.6.05a) drivers themselves, lowering the res to 1024x768 reduced the frequency of the crashes, but it still crashes. So I began to wonder if maybe this game is a little too much for my system, or more specfically if my Vid Card is the culprit. I'm not OverClocking the vidCard itself though(other than the BIOS flash)...

 

[imported_DaveA]

so you flashed your 9800 non pro to 9800 pro and kept the 9800 non pro clocks? doesnt make sense. i bet you have your card overclocked to 9800 pro speeds. 100mhz on the memory and 55mhz on the core. try downclocking to 9800 non pro speeds (290 mem, 325 core)

 

[Genx87]

ATI cards have had issues with this game in the past. Not sure if reboots were a sumptom but there were issues.

 

[yokomo]

man my bro plays that on a Voodoo4 with a PII 800 cpu a 9800 should be ok as long as there are no specific issues?

 

[Gurck]

Not sure what the problem is, but an insufficient system isn't it. I'm not familiar with the omega drivers, are those the latest? Do you use Driver Cleaner whenever upgrading drivers? What power supply do you have and what other 3d games do you play - and any problems with them?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I could play 1280x1024 on my 9800pro. I hope you get this working, it was a pretty cool game

 

[Ruroni]

Originally posted by: DaveA
so you flashed your 9800 non pro to 9800 pro and kept the 9800 non pro clocks? doesnt make sense. i bet you have your card overclocked to 9800 pro speeds. 100mhz on the memory and 55mhz on the core. try downclocking to 9800 non pro speeds (290 mem, 325 core)

Heh Heh Sorry, I meant I didn't OC the card beyond the BIOS setting, which is default pro speed. I used it like that since I got the card... Which I don't remember exactly when it was (around the time the 9800np BIOS flash trick was discovered. It was the reason I got one; my own little way of justifying the expense.)

In any event I've never had any problems playing games with it. Although I mostly played Quake 3 Arena (I can't get more than 200fps STABLE/Consitent), I had also played some other games such as Doom3, BloodRayne, Morrowind (BEST GAME EVER!), and some others that escape my mind at the moment. I had never had any problems before... I JUST started playing NWN.

The Omega Drivers I have are based on Cats 5.2, I believe. I think the current Omega drivers are based on 5.4, but I didn't update because I figured that any driver modifications since 4.11 did nothing for the 9800 family.

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
it was a pretty cool game

By was, I pressume you mean you don't play it anymore? You wouldn't happen to have the platinum edition, would you (with the SoU and HotU expansion packs)?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

No, I just have the original.

I plan to play it again in the summer or during the year with my gf. She bought it too, but she only played it a little because she wanted to play it with me and not know the story all the way through.

 

[Bateluer]

Omegadrive just released the Omega Drivers based on the Catalyst 5.4s, Omega version 2.6.25. You should give those a shot, in addition to downclocking your video card. I don't think the game itself is too much for your 9800. I ran it on a 9600 Pro for a long time, just couldn't do any AA. Shoot, I actually ran NWN on my first laptop, an AXP 1700 with the original Radeon Mobility 32MB. 640x480, minimal details, no textures . . . *shudder*

Visually, the game still looks pretty good. It only really shows its age in the character models, specifically the facial models.

 

[biostud]

works fine for me on a 9800pro.

 

[ScrewFace]

I used to play NWN at 1600x1200 on my old BBA AiW Radeon 9700 Pro so I think you'll be just fine with it.

 

[Fallen Kell]

It worked fine with my 9800 AiW Pro....

 

[Aonghasan]

Just a question...

Have you patched the game?

A friend of mine on fresh install of the game kept crashing after a few minutes of gameplay till he patched the game. Now he had 9600xt, but might help if you havent patched the game yet.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ruroni]

Yeah I've patched it to 1.65. I really don't think downclocking is the problem. If the vidCard's clock were the problem shouldn't I start seeing Artifacts and anamolies, which indicate streesed vidCard? OR shouldn't I have problem with other games? I think the problem is some kind of compatibility issue. I'll give the latest Omega Drivers a shot... Although I have the ones based on 5.2, and I imagine any new drivers coming out do nothing for the 9800 family cards.

On a side note, I see all kinds posters saying they played and used to play NWN... I'm on the look out for a platinum edition with the SoU & HotU expansions... If anyone has one (doesn't have to be the DVD, but I'd like that even more) that they would like to unload Name your REASONABLE price (in stores it's 35bucks, on ebay it can be had for 20 but shipping & handling is EIGHT dollars! I JUST started playing the PLAIN version, that should let you know what kind of budget I'm in) I know I should probably post something like that @ the FS/FT forums, but I started out looking for info on whether or not a 9800 can play this game; or why it keeps crashing.

Thanks for all the replies, folks. I'll be sure to update once I get a full game session without a crash.