ATI 9500 to soft9700 problem--please help

[aircasper]

after wrangling with trying to do the software mod, i finally got it to work. however, when i installed the patched driver, windows xp said it was not a certified driver. is this a function of the patched rivatuner driver? i downloaded catalyst 3.0a which i thought was supposed to be windows xp certified. i'm guessing it is due to rivatuner patch, but just wanted to make sure.

so far, things seem to be working okay. haven't noticed any real artifacts in 3dmark, but i did notice a few quirky things in the stock 9500 mode. for example, the bootup screen is a little garbled (and still is, but differently with the 9700 mod). i'm thinking maybe i should rma this just in case. bought it at newegg btw. any thoughts?

 

[SickBeast]

you could be getting artifacts because of the extra 4 pipes that you opened up by modding your card. ati only tests the first 4 pipes, and doesn't care if the remaining 4 are faulty.

as for whql or whatever it's called, don't you use the actual ati catalyst driver when you do the mod? as far as i know the 3.0a cats are whql certified.

i have heard that by changing the z-buffer depth to 24-bit it can solve the artifacting. most of the people have been complaining about artifacts mainly in the 3Dmark2001 fillrate tests (multitexturing).

i hope this helps.

ps. check out the rage3d.com forums, that's where i read most of this stuff...i always glance over stuff while trying to fix problems with my 8500.

 

[aircasper]

i actually get the artifacts without the mod. i first did a standard install, without any mods, so i could get a sense of the improvement using the soft9700 mod. it's strange because the artifacts are primarily on the bootup screen (where it has the Dell logo and bootup progress bar), as well as the windows xp loading screen (where it has some minor artifacts). 3dmark seems to run okay. i did notice some clipping type of thing between textures on 3dmark, with or without the soft9700 mod. i think i may have to rma this thing as it's causing some issues (albeit relatively minor) even without the soft9700 mod. hopefully it's just this particular card, and not something else.

 

[aircasper]

well, newegg is shippinig me a replacement card. i just wish they sent out shipping labels as well so i don't have to bother with getting reimbursed for the return shipping. hopefully this replacement card won't have any problems. i can understand getting artifacts/problems with the soft9700 mod, but not having issues even before installing the mod. fingers crossed.

 

[Cuular]

Are you overclocking your system at all? I notice a little bit of garbled stuff on reboots about 1 in every 5 or so, but I am running my FSB at 186. When it is set to normal, there is no garbled stuff.

 

[aircasper]

Originally posted by: Cuular
Are you overclocking your system at all? I notice a little bit of garbled stuff on reboots about 1 in every 5 or so, but I am running my FSB at 186. When it is set to normal, there is no garbled stuff.

i get the slightly garbled boot screen with stock 9500 driver, speeds, etc., with absolutely no overclocking of anything (cpu, fsb, etc.). so i think something is up with the card itself. i get a slight less garbled, but still garbled, with the soft 9700. strange. i've been fooling around with this card tonight and it looks like it generally works fine with the soft 9700 patch in 3dmark and games. overclocking 325/297 increases performance but i got artifacts in splinter cell when turning up 4xAA and 8xAF. not bad though.

i would just keep this card if it weren't for the fact that i'm getting the garbled boot screen even with the stock 9500 settings. maybe i'll wait and see how the replacement card works, before deciding which card to send back. if the replacement card has more problems with the soft9700, i may just keep this first card, despite it's odd effect during bootup.