Email to ATI...

[Noid]

ops .. nm

 

[idNut]

hmm

 

[idNut]

Originally posted by: Noid
Jeez ... dood ... you have a serious lack of self restraint.

Yes, you're right, I'm on the edge and this problem is pushing me over. I apologize if my anger spills onto you.

 

[idNut]

Nope, no difference. I've had those drivers before. It drops to 48fps w/ everything on normal. I dunno, I don't care anymore. Thanks anyways.

 

[nRollo]

Hmmm. You buy a SIS chipset and it's ATIs fault?
IMHO, SIS anything suxorz. Period.
I've run the 9700 fine on VIA and Intel, UT2003 included.

 

[Bovinicus]

I e-mailed ATi technicaly support, and they were surprisingly helpful (The solved my problem). Making a phone call is usually more productive, but the e-mail is nice and simple. Anyway, most companies tech support is a joke (In general). Try NVIDIA if you are displeased.

 

[Wolfsraider]

i too used my 9700 pro in an msi mobo but it was the 850 pro
after installing all the drivers i also added the intel accelerator and intel inf (thanks wingznut pez aka wingnut for this simple fix)

i had a problem,
first i used their forms
then emailed ati and in a 24 hour period got my rma#
but i listed in the email
all the fixes i tried
a complete list of all equipment i am using,
and the testing of the card in another computer
and what that equipment was
what video drivers and agp drivers i used or tried.

they were very helpful

mike

 

[Lizardman]

Originally posted by: idNut
Nope, no difference. I've had those drivers before. It drops to 48fps w/ everything on normal. I dunno, I don't care anymore. Thanks anyways.

40+ frames per second is not bad. What 3dmarks do you get? Also what are your Ureal2003 benmarks like?

 

[sandorski]

An e-mail like that would likely get filtered out automatically, thus preventing it from even seeing a single human eye. If you want to be taken seriously, you have to show some diplomacy and intelligence. Even phone support would likely warn you or just hang up if you spoke like that.

 

[Thor86]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but does your system play anything else but UT2K3? LOL.

 

[LoneWolf15]

Originally posted by: 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.

Yep, and now you've reduced yourself to talking to a company whose product you just insulted (remember all those R&D folks, software people, sales force, support people) who you've pissed off. People who work pretty hard, and probably acknowledge to each other their product isn't perfect until someone puts them on the defensive. You've also managed to make yourself look juvenile in the process with the use of cursing. You could have conveyed an equally upset tone that would have brought sympathy, but looked mature doing it. Instead, you just closed yer crank in the door you could have got a foot in.

Also, it's been said that the SiS 648 based mainboard you're using has a known hardware conflict with your card. Is that ATI's fault, or the board manufacturer's, or SiS? Or could it be that you're using a weak power supply that can't keep things up and running as well as you'd think? There's a lot of possibilities here, but the first option is to handle it in a mature manner. Even when I returned my original Rage Fury (bought it within a month of release) three months after purchase due to driver problems and incompatibilities, I managed to be upset without sounding like a teenage gangbanger.

Final Hint: Use ATI's Fax number located in their support section, and send them a fax. Cheaper than holding on long distance, and it allows you to send information about every bit of hardware/software/symptoms/contact information that you have, so they can get back to you on their dime.

 

[idNut]

Originally posted by: Wolfsraider

i had a problem,
first i used their forms
then emailed ati and in a 24 hour period got my rma#
but i listed in the email
all the fixes i tried
a complete list of all equipment i am using,
and the testing of the card in another computer
and what that equipment was
what video drivers and agp drivers i used or tried.

they were very helpful

mike

A wonderful poem.

 

[idNut]

Originally posted by: Thor86
Maybe this is a dumb question, but does your system play anything else but UT2K3? LOL.

Actually it performs very well on everything BUT UT2k3. All of my friends are nVidia fans so they're telling me to dump it in the can and get a geforce4 4600 or an FX when available. (Also, my one friend said the FX was named in the honor of 3dfx? Is that true?) I'm tempted to dump this card for the simple fact of it not running this game nearly as well as I wished. I'm angry because UT2k3 is the only new engine out that I know of that is higher than the Quake III engine which may be an omen that shows this card won't run any future engines well with this chipset and the R9700. I did overreact on that e-mail because I couldn't stand that problem or the other problems in my life any longer.

So this brings me to my next question: should I buy a new motherboard? Will this chipset hold me back with future id and non-id engines? (id engines always seem to run beautifully) If I do choose to buy a new motherboard, what brand name, model number? What motherboard is perfect for the R9700 and is acceptional in other terms besides gaming? 8x or 4x? Is it expensive and what do you think I could get for this motherboard should I sell it? (I have the box and dome case sticker)

Thanks.

 

[Tab]

This is a Intel Mobo correct? MSI isnt one of my favorite companies personally. I'd look at a Gigabyte,Asus,Epox Motheboard with a intel chipset personally.

 

[idNut]

I'll be going Gigabyte if anything. I just took the card out and went over to my buddy's house and we put it in his computer and it ran better 3d Mark wise. The games looked smoother because of the refresh rate being at 100 and mine usually runs at 60. Also we had vertical sync on and it looked way better and way smoother than mine. I'm trying those new settings now to see what's up.

 

[RPMK104]

I heard that ATI revised the 9700Pro boards so that it will be compatible with the SIS mobos. only Rev3.0 boards fixes the problem with the SIS chipset.

YOu see...ATI fixed something which SIS should have fixed...their support kick ass if you ask me...

 

[idNut]

Originally posted by: RPMK104
I heard that ATI revised the 9700Pro boards so that it will be compatible with the SIS mobos. only Rev3.0 boards fixes the problem with the SIS chipset.

YOu see...ATI fixed something which SIS should have fixed...their support kick ass if you ask me...

That's cool. How do I tell what version board I have?

 

[idNut]

AH, SOMEONE REPLY AND TELL ME THE DIFFERENCE SO I'LL KNOW THAT IT'S THE CARD!

 

[Jayczar]

This is what I read over at rage3d about rev. 3 cards:

It has the red heatsink attached on back with plastic spring clips. It isn't glued
on like my previous 9700 Pro. It also has the extra chip on front.

Number on front of card:

PN 109-94200-30

On back of card:

PN 1029420630 069022

 

[Slappy00]

(from idnut)_\

I'll be going Gigabyte if anything.

Great Company I have their Maya and G7VAXP+ mobo no problems, In fact one time I had a few problems that were just drivers glitches but the Tech answered my query within 24hrs and even offered to give me an RMA if the problem persisted... all without making me jump through any hoops and try assorted crap b4 sending it back... it was: Try so and so and if it doesnt work e-mail us again and we'll give you an RMA

but like i said it wasnt the card just drivers and my paranoid ass (i did drop 345usd after all )... Some ppl complained about their mobos being DOA or flaky due to fualty manufacture but those are the minority from what i gathered.. over all a plesant experience

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Benchmark at Tom's

Checkout the minimum framerate for the 9700 pro at higher resolutions. It's pathetic. Cross your fingers that this is a driver issue. But this could be why you had such poor performance.

 

[idNut]

Wow. This is definitely a driver and hardware issue. What motherboard (Gigabyte preferably) do you guys suggest for this Radeon?

 

[CraigRT]

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

put yourself in his shoes, see if you don't wanna use profanities. i would too. i know that company's support sucks disgustingly bad.

 

[Slappy00]

Checkout the minimum framerate for the 9700 pro at higher resolutions. It's pathetic. Cross your fingers that this is a driver issue. But this could be why you had such poor performance.

You realize taht the benchmark was done in October 2002?

there have been quite a few driver releases since then

if "pathetic" is 90fps in Unreal Turny 2003 at 1600 x 1200 then you have some high standards...

A better more recient benchmark can be found here linky

if you run the game at high setting at 1600x1200 you get depending on the demo around 100fps

i mean what are you seriously expecting at 1600x1200 high settings... if thats what Tom ran his benchmark at.?

What motherboard (Gigabyte preferably) do you guys suggest for this Radeon?

hrrm the 648 is a Intel setup right? If so then I would get either a Granite Bay Mobo ($$$) or a 850E mobo the Graite if you want more features (SATA, 8X AGP Gigabyte Ethernet etc...) and the 850E if you want similar performance at a reasonable price but with less features (RDRAM is similar in performance to Dual Channel DDR) I am not sure if Gigabyte has any Granite Bay boards out there but Im sure they have a 845E

(update)

Granite BAy Gigabyte == GA-8INXP

 

[idNut]

Should I RMA this card?