Email to ATI...

[JackBurton]

Damn, I haven't been to rage3d in a awhile but...I just took a look at the Catalyst 3.0 thread and all I have to say is, ATI IS AWESOME!!! Man, they have gotten SERIOUS with their drivers! I'm very happy with my 8500LE, but that 9700Pro looks SUPER sweet when the Geforce FX comes out.

 

[Excelsior]

Ya damn right Jack! Don't spend 400+ on a GF FX, get a nice 9700 Pro for 250

 

[idNut]

I just looked on my motherboard and found a chip that said "SiS 963", are there drivers for this? I expect this to be the chipset but I looked around on SiS and on their drivers site to find any download but there wasn't anything for the 963. I was calling the chipset the 648 since that's the number of my motherboard but maybe that isn't it. Does this change anything?

 

[Inspirer]

963 is the south bridge.
driver for it are included in the INF update of the motherboard chipset.

 

[idNut]

Okay, I'm confused. I have an MSI 648 Max-L (MS-6585) Max motherboard. When I looked inside the computer between the PCI slots to see what sort of motherboard/BIOS version I had, it said MS-6585 ver. 1.0. Using that information I went to MSI's website to see if they had a link to get the chipset drivers for the SiS 963 chipset. I went here and clicked on SiS648. It appears that the SiS 648 and the 963 are the same thing. (SiS648/963 - SiS Pentium 4 Chipset) I'm kind of confused, could someone clear this up?

Also when I had the case off I took a look at my Radeon and recorded all the numbers and stickers I saw.

How can I tell whether the card is new or not?

 

[idNut]

I also got this off the site:

Chipset
SiS® 648 (839 pin BGA)
- Supports Intel Pentium 4 processors with data transfer rate
up to 533 MHz
- Supports 64-bit high performance DDR 333+ / DDR 333 /
DDR 266 memory controller
- Supports AGP 8X/4X interface at 0.8v or 4x at 1.5v with fast
write transaction
- Supports bi-directional 16-bit data bus with 1GHz bandwidth
MuTIOL

SiS® 963 (371 pin BGA)
- Supports Dual-IDE ATA 66/100/133
- Integrated audio controller with AC'97 interface
- Low pin count interface for SIO
- Advanced power management and PC2001 compliance

I dunno. I definitely don't know jack about motherboards.

 

[Inspirer]

from my experience with MSI motherboards, they are unpolished products (I'm a software/hardware support guy).

the 963 is the chip that handles PCI access (southbridge). namely, all the hard-drive and peripherial access (I think including AGP).

the northbridge handles Memory Access.

648 is the band name they gave the SET of CHIPS that makes the north and south bridges to the CPU.

make sure you have correct drivers for the 648 chipset.
if that doesn't work, try using windows native support without installing drivers for the motherboard.
other than that you can only play with BIOS settings.

 

[idNut]

Whoops, hold on, gotta get the new Catalyst drivers.

 

[Booster]

Rule of thumb: if you got a motherboard with a third-party chipset, for God's sake don't buy non-NVidia video cards if you don't want to deal with any major problems, like ATI, Matrox or Trident. NVidia cards work perfectly on all the third-party chipsets, from VIA to ALI, but you can't say that about any other video card. If you got an Intel CPU and an Intel chipset motherboard, you can most definately use any video card out there. Heck, even Matrox G550 I used to install on an i815 board had major problems installing. But it could be fixed with proprietary drivers.

 

[spanky]

i never had problems with sis and ati. i think sometimes u guys are grossly generalizing.

 

[Deeko]

Son, you need counseling.

 

[ultimatebob]

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.

I used to get nasty letters like this when I worked for an online gaming service. The support team often printed them out and posted them their offices, mostly so people could read and laugh at them as they walked by.

Needless to say, none of those letters were ever responded to. In fact, we were explicitly told by management to ignore any tech support request that included profanity.

 

[Slappy00]

sure i dont see why not, just make it clear that you want a new card not a refurb, if the problem persists get a new mobo.... or get em both new

 

[videobruce]

I'll send you my address with postage. Send it to me!

 

[idNut]

ATI is sending me another one and if that doesn't work it's definitely my motherboard. Do you think it will work?

 

[nRollo]

" ATI is sending me another one and if that doesn't work it's definitely my motherboard. Do you think it will work? "
Nope. I think you're wasting ATIs money, and that you should have spent a little more of your own on an Intel motherboard.

 

[idNut]

Originally posted by: Rollo
Nope. I think you're wasting ATIs money, and that you should have spent a little more of your own on an Intel motherboard.

What're you talking about, "an Intel motherboard"? I got this computer from CyberPower and this MSI was the best on their list so I jumped at it. I really wanted 8X AGP as well as a LAN and USB 2.0. I didn't know there was going to be a conflict with the board and the R9700.

 

[sandorski]

He means "not SiS chipset". Relax.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: idNut

Originally posted by: Rollo
Nope. I think you're wasting ATIs money, and that you should have spent a little more of your own on an Intel motherboard.

What're you talking about, "an Intel motherboard"? I got this computer from CyberPower and this MSI was the best on their list so I jumped at it. I really wanted 8X AGP as well as a LAN and USB 2.0. I didn't know there was going to be a conflict with the board and the R9700.

Yeah, he means getting an Intel *CHIPSET* motherboard, ie 845D/E/PE etc...

Play it safe next time and get an ASUS motherboard with an Intel Chipset (like the P4PE or P4B533). Those are essentially "fool proof" (not calling you a fool, just pointing out their lack of problems compared to other chipsets). Yes other motherboards are cheaper, similarly featured, etc, but ASUS in my opinion consistently makes the most stable boards out there.

 

[nRollo]

" He means "not SiS chipset". Relax. "
That's what I mean. AGP8X is totally irrelevant, having your hardware work from the start is relevant. You can bet when hardware companies are insuring compatibility of their products they work a whole lot harder on Intel than SIS.



Mostly because SIS anything sux.

 

[xSauronx]

all reading what you guys have written aside...im having probs with ati customer service too

bought a 8500 from a guy in fs/t

worked for a day, then was unstable (ill grant it that it performed very well while it worked)

anyway, tried falshing multiple bios'es and none worked

rma'd it

got it back, same problem, still doesnt work....AT ALL
the guy i bought it from has been a huge help, but they arent replying to him at all, i swear, if they dont do something VERY helpful next time i hear from them, i may not buy anything from them again for a while, really pitifull

 

[nRollo]

" all reading what you guys have written aside...im having probs with ati customer service too
bought a 8500 from a guy in fs/t
worked for a day, then was unstable (ill grant it that it performed very well while it worked)
anyway, tried falshing multiple bios'es and none worked
rma'd it
got it back, same problem, still doesnt work....AT ALL
the guy i bought it from has been a huge help, but they arent replying to him at all, i swear, if they dont do something VERY helpful next time i hear from them, i may not buy anything from them again for a while, really pitifull"

You didn't buy anything from ATI this time- you bought a used one from a guy who probably OCd till it was about dead, then sold it to you. The "guy being a huge help" might not be doing anything at all, except counting his money and laughing.

I don't think you can really judge ATI customer service, or products, by this experience. Buy something of theirs in a store, contact customer service yourself, and I bet your experience will be a lot different.....

P.S. I notice your "beloved" box is way OCd as well, perhaps it would be more stable run at stock speeds?