Email to ATI...

[idNut]

I'm so sick of ATI and their damn technical support that I had to be vulgur in this letter. Some of this isn't true but I really want to get these people to pay attention to me after I paid for their card. Here it is.

Look, I'm f***** tired of your company referring me to bullsh** FAQ guides that don't help my problem. I paid $400 for this card and
I can't run Unreal Tournament 2003 with all the details and specifics on normal. I've tried to be civil with you people but you aren't
returning it. I've flashed my BIOS three times to get it updated, downloaded the latest ATI drivers, tried third-party drivers, downloaded
SiS AGP drivers and nothing works. I get a framerate of 50 that isn't stable and drops some times in the 40s. I thought this card was
supposed to be the "world's fastest* and most advanced graphics board". That may be but your customer service doesn't know rat sh** from
rice krispies. I'm asking you, YOU, not your f****** FAQ guide what the f*** is wrong with this? There is a known conflict with my motherboard
(MSI 648 Max) and the R9700. I don't have any problems in Windows or anything but just that this card isn't performing nearly as good
as you people advertise it to be. I've never liked ATI, 3dfx used to piss all over you and nVidia will be soon too because your software
people don't seem to know diddly sh**. I'm tired of being nice because I can't return this video card to the company I got it from and
when the FX comes out the value of this will depreciate. I don't care what you say but don't you dare give me a link to an FAQ guide in
this response. I didn't buy the card to run games powered by the Quake III engine at a high frame rate but rather the new engines such as
UT2k3. You all profess this is a great card but you don't help the customers in need. I know you're backed up with problems from other
people but I'm a customer too.

But like I said, I was mad and tired of this company.

 

[SFang]

I guess you are just very unlucky getting a bad card. If you so hate ATI, you may try Nvidia next time. I highly doubted Nvidia's customer support would be better if you complained about one of their bad cards.

Personally, I purchased three WD harddrives from BB, all sorts of problems on each of them. Fortunately, it is within 30 days, I exchanged all 3 quickly, everything is fine now except BB's CSR all know me after that, like it is my own fault.

To RMA anything to manufacturer is always a pain.

 

[idNut]

Visiontek's technical support was superb for my geForce2, unfortunately my card isn't third-party so I have to contact corporate ATI for help. That's why I think nVidia is smart, divide up the work so people get the attention they deserve and it's not going straight to one company, ATI kinda did that but they shouldn't make their own like nVidia.

 

[Budmantom]

I don't think that profanity will help matters any, it just makes you sound uneducated.

 

[Jayczar]

Originally posted by: Budmantom
I don't think that profanity will help matters any, it just makes you sound uneducated.

 

[Ipno]

Exactly, the minute you started using profanity you put them on the defensive and rather than someone saying, "Gee, here's a guy who could use my help" you'll get "Gee, what a f-ing moron."

My suggestion, calmy write your problem specifically in an email, without using profanity, explain in detail the steps you have gone through to try to fix the problem. List your computer's stats as precisely as you can. I realise you may already have tried this. But if that fails, then you escalate to a higher level using the same format, tell them how the front line technical service failed you, and list it again. Just keep going up the ladder until you find someone moderately helpful.

It could be that they simply don't know what your problem is or they can't really fix it. Keep in mind that just because you paid $400 for a video card does not entitle you to cuss out some level 1 tech, these guys probably make $12 an hour and really have no control over how good or crappy their product is, and they have a list of problems they can solve, maybe yours isn't on it.

I really hope you get your card fixed but swearing isn't going to help you.

Just some friendly advice.

 

[ScrewFace]

I agree with Ipno. Don't use profanity, please! It makes you much less credible and they'll just erase the E-mail the minute they see a naughty word. But, do be stern and to the point so ATI knows you are to be taken seriously. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[BuckMaster]

It could be that they simply don't know what your problem is or they can't really fix it. Keep in mind that just because you paid $400 for a video card does not entitle you to cuss out some level 1 tech, these guys probably make $12 an hour and really have no control over how good or crappy their product is, and they have a list of problems they can solve, maybe yours isn't on it.

Ipno I agree with you to a point but:

If there lvl 1 techs doesnt know the answer they should have the decency to atleast reply back to there customer. Atleast saying there checking into it and they can forward this onto another employee or a high lvl tech. This is just bad customer service! Reguardless were you go most big companys have lvl 1 techs and being lvl"1" dosnt mean they should NOT care because they make less money. This is a common things at amost all companys like this. If not they should refund you and not ignore the customer and stick him with the bill!

Ive always had good luck calling the company and taking with a manager. Telling them the steps you took and how much you like there product but having issues at the moment. Ive always been very big on GOOD customer Service! Now finding it is most companys is another thing.


idNut,

Im just curious are you %100 its not another hardware issue? Have you tried the video card in another PC and ran UT's benchmarks? Im starting to wonder if its not the card and another piece of your Hardware.

 

[idNut]

No I haven't tried it in another computer and personally, I don't really care what the company thinks of me. Anyway, I got the same e-mail back I got back from the other two questions I asked, so it's probably automatically sent to an automated service as soon as "Games" is selected as the issue. I'm thinking I'm gonna bash this card up into little pieces, I know it's $400 of my money thrown into the fire but at least it'll give me 5 seconds of joy that UT2k3 couldn't give me. I hate this card.

 

[BFG10K]

I guess you are just very unlucky getting a bad card.

It's not a bad card at all. Slow performance in one game is a system configuration issue, especially since for most other people that same games runs awesome (myself included).

idNut, a far wiser option would be to revive your thread and keep asking for help, especially since it looks like ATi is not at fault here (I suspect the motherboard).

downloaded SiS AGP drivers and nothing works.

And what about the chipset driver? Did you install that as well?

 

[Auric]

Creating a "scene" in a store may get you some reluctant help just to shut you up but not via email or telephone.

If the mainboard has a known conflict with the graphics card then it seems you should simply replace the former since it is relatively cheap.

 

[Slappy00]

Im just curious are you %100 its not another hardware issue? Have you tried the video card in another PC and ran UT's benchmarks? Im starting to wonder if its not the card and another piece of your Hardware.

I completely agree...

The Video Card is only a portion of the system that gives you framerates (abit a large part) but unless you use a a synthetic benchmark that specifically isolates the video card then you cant really blame the video card alone.



Framerates (and i dont attest that i am an expert by any means) can be influnced by not only the raw rendering power of a video card, but also the CPU, available system memory, network cards, anything onboard (NIC, RAID, SCSI, SOUND), sound cards (which is why most official and promotional benchmarks are run with sound off). In reality anthing that can take computer cycles away from a game can effect framerates...

In your case though I would look at the motherboard chipset... I would think that most ppl here in the forums have VIA, Nvidia, or Intel chipsets, with a small number of ppl having SiS and a smalle portion having your particular chipset. Try the video card with all nonessential cards removed, and onboard devices turned off. Try to keep AGP to 4x and check your IRQ assignments to see if the video card is sharing its IRQ.

It might be some time before you can eliminate the viedo card as the culprit, if the problem persists then try placing the card in a new system (preferbly a via 333 system or a Intel System ) and see if the problem persists...

On a personal note with no offence to you but dealing with computers is a exersize in futility that requires a great deal of patience( i remember one time when i had my KT133 system that absolutly refused to boot so i tried and tried for 3 days doing every thing imagineable under the sun powersupplies, different cards, memory etc... and nothing worked, so i put it together again in the orgional form i intended to make it and tryied to work it again and nothing happened, so i kicked it and it worked and has worked ever since) , you seem that you lack the infinate patience that a person who builds their own system needs. To those typ of short-tempered ppl I suggest that you buy a prebuilt system that uses premium parts, then at least you have someone to bitch at

 

[Budmantom]

I have a feeling that bashing that card really won't give you that much enjoyment. **shrug**

The thing with computer components they are rarely "plug and play", without tweaking it's hard to get the best results. Good luck with bashing or tweaking.

Tom

 

[idNut]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
And what about the chipset driver? Did you install that as well?

That's what that is.

 

[BFG10K]

That's what that is.

On some motherboards the AGP driver is separate from the chipset driver and must be installed separately. Verify that you have indeed installed everything that you need.

 

[idNut]

I did. I typed in SiS Chipset driver and found only the AGP stuff I downloaded, no other SiS things to download.

 

[BFG10K]

Relying on just a search is unwise. You need to go to your specific motherboard section and follow all of the download links it gives you. In addition, it pays to check the FAQs and readme files your manufacturer provides for specific issues and known problems.

If you want to build your own system you really have to try a bit harder if you do run into problems as you can't always rely on other people to help you out.

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: idNut

Originally posted by: BFG10K
And what about the chipset driver? Did you install that as well?

That's what that is.

No that's not right, you installed the ATI video drivers,did you also install the SIS chipset AGP driver?

 

[idNut]

No, I ran MSI Live Update 2 and got everything my motherboard needed driver and BIOS wise. I have the latest of everything.

 

[Cuular]

A simple google search for "646 MAX ATI 9700 problems" Will find you a bunch of reports of problems with the sis646 chipset and the ATI 9700 pro. The problem is not ATI's. It is SiS's. Since the card works on Intel, VIA, and Nvidia chipset based motherboards, you need to place the blame where it belongs, and yell at SiS, not at ATI.

By skimping on the most important part of your computer the motherboard, you have shot yourself in the foot, but refuse to see that.

Do some research on the web, replace your motherboard, and enjoy the current fastest graphics card out there. Because in another few weeks, it will be outperformed by the next nvidia offering, which will then be outperformed by the next ATI...

 

[idNut]

It's the 648 Max.

EDIT: Also, I did that search and found nothing w/ and w/o quotes that pertained to this.

 

[idNut]

So now what? Is this motherboard a POS? What do I do with it? What brand and model should I go for now and how much will it cost?

 

[Noid]

Jeez ... dood ... you have a serious lack of self restraint.

(In all of your threads I've read)

Most people are willing to help, and accomodate a mutual agreement for results.

I suggest you give that card to a friend ... go pay another 400 dollars for a Nvidia card.
And watch your problems reappear.

Good luck.

 

[Budman]

Install this driver --- > http://download.msi.com.tw/support/dvr_exe/sisagp47.exe

After that let us know if it's fixed.

 

[Mem]

I read over at Rage3D forums one guy with 9700 Pro and SiS 648 chipset.

That all didn't work, but currently my card works fine, i underclocked it from its stock-speeds 325Mhz/620Mhz down to 297Mhz/620Mhz, no more crashes, one Mhz higher and the crashes will return.

Try the same, i bet it will work

Well not the perfect solution but you can try that,see if it helps at all.