my problems with the 9700 pro: help!

[tipatat]

so i got my ati 9700 pro and installed it, and more ram into my athlon 1900+ but the bios was reset, so i had to change the settings back to 33/133 and then my computer freaked out (hd and power lights on and the cd-rom and dvd-rom lights flashing) and started smoking. i shut down took out the new ram and waited till everything cooled down, then turned it back on. it seems to work fine but when i play games (GR and GTA3 in particular) i get this weird green line static/noise artifacts (similar-ish to when i was a little too overzealous when overclocking my geforce ti200). i don't get this problem when running the 3d mark benchmarks but my numbers seem kinda low compared to the reviews i read... i get 10,000 at 1024x768 and then 9,000 at 1600x1200 with no AA or antioscopic.

i have a 300w power supply, is it not enough? what could be causing the artifacts?

thanks in advance!
tipatat

 

[scottrico]

Let me first say,
wellcome aboard!

I had a cheapo(channel well) 400w power supply that came with my case and it was not good enough to run my 9700 pro card. sometimes it would work fine and other times it the system would not boot up.
I switch the ps with a 360 wisper ps from the wifes rig and it ran stable.
I have ordered a realy nice 430w ps from newegg (with the blue light fan, cool) and will get it today.
It sound like your having the same issues.

hope that helps.
peace