Driver/3dmark/performance consistency problems. Leadtek and/or 6800Vanilla bad?

[DBoy00]

I recently upgraded my new system due to a semi-faulty Radeon 9600 Pro 256 (i had glitches and errors), to a leadtek 6800 A400 TDH. I normally test my video card on PCmark2004 and 3dmark2005 during installation. With the Radeon 9600 Pro, i had it run through both of those fine, but in real world games (Medieval Total War and Unreal Tournament) I had some crashes.

Now that I've got my 6800 I've got a few problems and questions that i'd hope some of you experts can help with =)

My system specs is:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Motherboard: DFI Lanparty nforce3 250GB
RAM: OCZ 3200 Performance Series rev.3 512mb
HDD: WD Caviar 200GB
SoundCard: Creative Audigy ZS
Speakers: Creative 5.1 Inspire 5400
VGA: Leadtek A400 TDH, Geforce 6800

Basically I ran the 3dmark05 test with no render problems and graphical errors under my swapped 9600 Pro card.
However now when i use either the latest drivers from Leadtek.com.tw or nvidia's 61.77 forceware I get render errors during the "firefly forest" and "canyon flight". In the firefly forest test lots of the forest becomes big blotches of dark blue and black, while in the canoyon flight only one part is screwed up, when the captain turns to see the dragon/creature about to attack half his face is black/missing (looks really freaky). 3dmark05 gives me about 2600 max at most with default settings (which I think is quite poor since Jeff7181 was able to get 3800 without a 64 CPU). My PCmark graphics score with this card and either of these cards is about 6000 which is nice and general usage is pretty good in Total War.

However when i run the unofficial 66.70 drivers from 3dguru have less artifact graphical errors, but generally causes lower scores/performance in everything but 3dmark2005

I really don't know which driver to use or how to test if my VGA is defective in any way. I'd think that any graphical/render errors would be a major nono even if 3dmark2005 is a synthetic test. I just re-downloaded unreal tournament demo and going to try some tests on it.

 

[DBoy00]

Bump, anyone have any experience with this? I need to know if I shoudl RMA my video card or not =/

 

[THUGSROOK]

clean out your old drivers.

your old ATI drivers are screwing things up, i think ATI does it on purpose

 

[stnicralisk]

I dont think this is the case (Old driver issues - I never used ATi.) I have very similiar issues to these (if you had searched 3dmark05 you would find my thread "artifacts in 3dmark05" There are quite a few 6800's complaining of artifacts in firefly forest. However not ALL 6800's. I have BFG so I am going to wait a while since I can RMA at any time without issue.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Originally posted by: DBoy00
...in the canoyon flight only one part is screwed up, when the captain turns to see the dragon/creature about to attack ...

OMG! I haven't played the game yet! Next time warn us of spoilers!


As for your glitches, it probably is driver related. Use a driver cleaner. Also, make sure the graphics card isn't sharing it's power with any case fans.

 

[stnicralisk]

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser

Originally posted by: DBoy00
...in the canoyon flight only one part is screwed up, when the captain turns to see the dragon/creature about to attack ...

OMG! I haven't played the game yet! Next time warn us of spoilers!


As for your glitches, it probably is driver related. Use a driver cleaner. Also, make sure the graphics card isn't sharing it's power with any case fans.

its uhh... a benchmark... not a game I doubt it is drivers as I already stated I have NEVER used ATi and have the same issues.

 

[nemesismk2]

As people have already said "use driver cleaner"!

 

[daveybrat]

You gave us all your system specs except for the power supply. What size and brand is it??

 

[DBoy00]

My PSU is an Antec truepower 380W.

Hmm anyone know how it will be if I go to my computer store and say my video card is giving me artifacts in certain benchmarks that other people don't get with the same video card, Can i RMA this card?
Will they be ok with it, or make me haul my system there and show them... I even have a screenshot saved of Warcraft3 crashing on me during a game on bnet.

Warcraft 3 doesn't ask for as much from my computer as 3dmark05 does. I used to run it on a PIII 733mhz, with a geforce ti4200 with max settings at 1280x1024x32, and now a 6800 crashes on me =/.

I'm going to try driver cleaner now. Btw anyone have suggestions on which driver to get? If i simply run driver cleaner and clean everything, then should i install the leadtek latest that came with the vga and are available on www.leadtek.com.tw, OR should I get the nvidia site's latest. (i tried the unofficial from guru3d already, and am not comfortable with running them but no change)

 

[heyyoudvd]

I have the exact same problem as you do.

Very similar system (same GPU and power supply, almost the same CPU) and I get those same blotches in the firefly test. I I also get similar problems at the start of the CPU tests.

I'm hoping that it's just the 61.77's and that an official new Forceware release will correct this problem but I really don't know.

 

[Marsumane]

Originally posted by: heyyoudvd
I have the exact same problem as you do.

Very similar system (same GPU and power supply, almost the same CPU) and I get those same blotches in the firefly test. I I also get similar problems at the start of the CPU tests.

I'm hoping that it's just the 61.77's and that an official new Forceware release will correct this problem but I really don't know.

So run drivercleaner and try the newer drivers? I think its worth your time

 

[fzaba]

Had the same graphical problems here w/XFX 6800gt on 61.77 drivers. I upgraded to 66.72 drivers and it has never returned. So yes, it IS the drivers- just clean and upgrade.

 

[DBoy00]

Even if this is driver related, am i suppose to get a score of 1600-1800 with 61.77 and a score of 2454 with the newer 66.7/66.8 drivers?

With the newer beta drivers, most of the glitches are gone but some artifacts still show up, yes i used driver cleaner etc...

Sometimes I get crashed outta Warcraft III, and the 66.7/8 drivers have lowered my PCmark04 graphics card scores by over 1200. (from 5.9k-4.7k).

What am I approximately suppose to get approximately with my specified system in post 1, in 3dmark03/3dmark05. I am currently getting, in 3dmark03 under 8000, 3dmark05 61.77 = 1700ish, 66.7 = 2454. Anyone can give me some insight, i'm thinking of asking for a replacement (either get another leadtek 6800nu, or switch a brand if the resellers allow me to) as my 9600 Pro at stock speeds gave me 1600ish at stock speeds. So i'd expect to atleast double the score with a $400 video card.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Originally posted by: DBoy00
...i'm thinking of asking for a replacement (either get another leadtek 6800nu, or switch a brand if the resellers allow me to) as my 9600 Pro at stock speeds gave me 1600ish at stock speeds. So i'd expect to atleast double the score with a $400 video card.

So you'll ask for a replacement because you are too lazy to reinstall Windows? We all know that if you have done the driver cleaner and your scores are remaining low then something else is amiss, which would most likely be corrected with a fresh install of Windows. Yes, I know it is a PITA to reinstall Windows, but it isn't the supplier's or manufacturer's fault that your Windows install is fscked.


PS, for anyone asking for help with their graphics cards performance and using any of the 3DMark versions, PLEASE post a link to your published score on the ORB! There is a lot of info provided in those scores that is usually NOT posted in these threads. Thank you.

 

[Acanthus]

Reinstall windows.

 

[newmenu]

I agree with above, reinstalling windows is a wise thing to do, anytime you intall a new vid card or mobo.

 

[DBoy00]

I did reinstall windows twice. So then today i brought it to my reseller, he ran a few tests and said he didn't get the artifacts i got but the card was quite slow for a 6800 so he RMAed it for me. Now testing new card.

 

[JBT]

Don't use the 61.77's they are probably a bit of your problem. in 3dmark05 atleast. They are quite old and I don't think have any optimizations in it so they run it slow.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Well, if you have reinstalled and still had the problems, then you had plenty of reason to RMA it and I apologize if I came across too harshly above.

Since you mentioned that your reseller tested the card and also felt it was slow, it made me think of something I had seen in the Rivatuner forums: some manufacturers are selling 6800 LE cards (8 pipes, 4 vp) as standard 6800 cards (12 pipes, 5 vp). I then visited the Rivatuner forums again to see if I could dig up some more info. Leadtek is selling some of these cards! You may very well have had one of these.