My Powercolor Radeon 9700 installation and notes thread

[Chaotic42]

I'll post my problems, thoughts, concerns about my new card here, since there are so many people wondering about the card.

I'll be using it with:

Windows XP
Windows 98SE
Windows 2000 Professional
Debian Linux testing (kernel 2.4.20)

My system is in my sig.

Step 1: Installation-6:15pm 2/27/2003

I'm a bit worred about the card (pic here) because it needs a molex power connector. It's better than frying my motherboard by trying to get too much power through the AGP slot though. The HSF unit looks a little small to me, but I guess they know what they're doing.

It fits into the slot better than my Geforce4 Ti-4400 did. There's a good bit of room (pic here) left over. It POSTed fine, and I'm in WindowsXP with it now.

I'm going to reinstall Windows XP, because I want to make sure that everything is fresh and clean for the card. I'll update later.

Step 2: Setup-7:42pm 2/27/2003

Well, I downloaded the drivers from the ATI site, and the card won't do 1600x1200@85Hz. Infact, it won't do anything at any resolution besides 60Hz. That's not a good thing. I'll see what I can do.

9:00pm 2/27/2003

All right, I got it to let me do more than 60Hz. You have to set the display properties with in the display properties->advanced tab. Strange, but whatever.

Step 3: Play!-9:45pm 2/27/2003

Sweet Jesus! BF1942 plays as smooth as silk. Here's a pic

Very nice with UT too.

Step 4: Debian-8:03am 2/28/2003

ATI provides the package in RPM format (sigh), but alien took care of it. Now it's running GNOME just fine. Easy.

 

[Megatomic]

I don't think I'd take the EVGA card. Take the store credit and get an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro instead. (I can't believe I said that....)

 

[Afro000Dude]

I would take the credit and use it towards an R350 card when they come out.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: SeekingTao
I don't think I'd take the EVGA card. Take the store credit and get an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro instead. (I can't believe I said that....)

Why not? Is it a bad card?

They don't have any 9500 Pro's in stock right now.

Oh, time's pretty important too. I'm using a borrowed S3 Trio 64 and I need a card that has Linux support.

They also have a VGA CHAINTECH GEFORCE4 TI4600 128MB VGA & TV-OUT, DVI OUT. RETAIL BOX for $230.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: SeekingTao
I don't think I'd take the EVGA card. Take the store credit and get an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro instead. (I can't believe I said that....)

Why not? Is it a bad card?

They don't have any 9500 Pro's in stock right now.

Oh, time's pretty important too. I'm using a borrowed S3 Trio 64 and I need a card that has Linux support.

Toss in a few personal bucks and get a 9700 non-pro. They're giving you credit on a historical Ti4400 price, that's pretty damn sweet. Take it and upgrade to something better; a Ti4600 is more or less a lateral move, and not really justifiable giving the price of competing parts.

Chiz

 

[AtomicDude512]

Originally posted by: SeekingTao
I don't think I'd take the EVGA card. Take the store credit and get an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro instead. (I can't believe I said that....)

I agree, take the moolah, wait for the new chip releases. And then score a DX9 piece of hardware!

 

[BigFatCow]

take the cash and add a few bucks to either get a 9700 non pro or a 9700 pro...

 

[Chaotic42]

Ok guys, after talking it over with my hard-core gamer friend, I've decided to throw and extra $30 down and get a 9700 non-pro. I told Newegg that if they couldn't do that, for whatever reason, I'd take the 4600. I don't want to be greedy, I really shouldn't have gotten this much store credit. Really great company they have there.

My friend said that without AGP 8x, the pipeline isn't big enough to give me a huge advantage. Any comments on that?

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Why not? Is it a bad card?

Not a bad card, it performs to spec but if you are an overclocker then this card is not the one for you. Most reviews I read about them only show so-so ability to overclock and with the games coming out, GF4 cards need all the overclocking we can get from them. (My 4200 is now running at almost 4600 speeds.)

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: SeekingTao

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Why not? Is it a bad card?

Not a bad card, it performs to spec but if you are an overclocker then this card is not the one for you. Most reviews I read about them only show so-so ability to overclock and with the games coming out, GF4 cards need all the overclocking we can get from them. (My 4200 is now running at almost 4600 speeds.)

I have an overclocking curse. Anything that I touch is un-overclockable.

 

[chizow]

8X AGP is a non-issue, as there isn't a GPU yet that takes full advantage of 4X AGP atm.

Chiz

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: SeekingTao

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Why not? Is it a bad card?

Not a bad card, it performs to spec but if you are an overclocker then this card is not the one for you. Most reviews I read about them only show so-so ability to overclock and with the games coming out, GF4 cards need all the overclocking we can get from them. (My 4200 is now running at almost 4600 speeds.)

I have an overclocking curse. Anything that I touch is un-overclockable.

I used to have the same problem. Enter EPoX.

Bill

 

[LED]

Edit: Thanks! Got a Radeon 9700.

Good Move

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: aRCeNiTe

I used to have the same problem. Enter EPoX.

Bill

My Epox has been nice to me as well.

 

[EdipisReks]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
My friend said that without AGP 8x, the pipeline isn't big enough to give me a huge advantage. Any comments on that?

slap your friend on the head.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: EdipisReks

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
My friend said that without AGP 8x, the pipeline isn't big enough to give me a huge advantage. Any comments on that?

slap your friend on the head.

Heh, no he's pretty well versed in this stuff. I haven't been keeping up lately, I'm sure that he just heard it somewhere. I'll mention it next time I talk to him.

 

[LED]

Heh, no he's pretty well versed in this stuff. I haven't been keeping up lately, I'm sure that he just heard it somewhere. I'll mention it next time I talk to him.

Tell him you're not running DX9 and then you'll prolly get another shame shame

 

[Chaotic42]

Wow, after reading the AT article about the 9700, I'm starting to get excited. It sounds like a really nice card.

 

[AmdInside]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Wow, after reading the AT article about the 9700, I'm starting to get excited. It sounds like a really nice card.

I've been getting alot of stability issues since I installed 3.1 Catalyst.

 

[McCarthy]

I'm going back to version 3.0 personally. Hit 3.2 when they come out. 3.1 gives me these weird flashes every time I go into the config panel, MOH playability dropped, other stuff isn't any faster.....and 3.0 were working just great. Why'd I switch? Doh.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: AmdInside

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Wow, after reading the AT article about the 9700, I'm starting to get excited. It sounds like a really nice card.

I've been getting alot of stability issues since I installed 3.1 Catalyst.

I'll make sure to stay on version 3.0 then

 

[Chaotic42]

Here's the card I got. I ordered it today, because they have to refund the money to my card, then I order the product.

It's cool though. I hope I get it by Friday. I would have ordered the 9700 Pro, but they are out of stock, so I grabbed an additional 512MB of memory.

Good thing I'm not married, or my wife would kill me!

 

[Markfw]

I had sort of the same problem in another thread, and asked about the powercolor since that is all that is in stock. I got the non-pro version, ordered it today. I didn't need the extra speed for the pro (or the heat) and didn't really want to spend as much as I did, but they didn't have any 9500 pro's (same boat as you). I hope we made a good choice on the PowerColor brand.

 

[lorlabnew]

Chaotic42,

curious how you integrated your Radeon9700 to Linux ? I had problem with ATI linux driver; there were fonts issues under KDE3 in gui, and other font problems in Konqueror, plus few more things with agpgart (had to load it manually before launching x), so I finally gave up. Using SuSE 8.0 & 8.1, and hoping next release will have better support for Radeon9700/9500 series ....

Btw, I closely followed the detailed driver installation instructions (verified correct XFree version, libraries, etc.) , and didn't have any errors; even the (useless) ATI linux control panel installed fine.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
I had sort of the same problem in another thread, and asked about the powercolor since that is all that is in stock. I got the non-pro version, ordered it today. I didn't need the extra speed for the pro (or the heat) and didn't really want to spend as much as I did, but they didn't have any 9500 pro's (same boat as you). I hope we made a good choice on the PowerColor brand.

For real. I would have like to have gotten a more well known card, but if it doesn't work, I'll just RMA it.

lorlabnew: I haven't gotten it to work in Linux, because I just ordered it today