Powercolor 4870 1GB review

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Gary Bechtold
I guess I'm going to be getting an NVidia GTX 280 card now. Not sure what to do.

Welcome to AnandTech!

Get a GTX 260 instead and overclock it. MUCH better value than GTX 280.

 

[Gary Bechtold]

As a stop gap I have a 9500GT holding place while I figure out what I'm going to do and the computer is perfectly stable. Way to go ATI with your crappy drivers ruining awesome hardware!

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Gary Bechtold
As a stop gap I have a 9500GT holding place while I figure out what I'm going to do and the computer is perfectly stable. Way to go ATI with your crappy drivers ruining awesome hardware!

we think the issue is with you - not AMD drivers; most of us have ZERO problem with what you ddescribed. i BET we could have helped you figure it out.
- But welcome to AT

 

[Gary Bechtold]

No problem with Nvidia video cards with Vista 64 and my hardware. Tried a quick fresh install of Vista 64 with the video cards and had the same problems. I doubt you or anyone could have helped more than what I had gotten elsewhere. I had read what other people had done with their 4870 cards from other manufacturers on other forums and it helped but did not eliminate the problem. I don't have infinite time to deal with it either. I either had defective hardware or buggy drivers. Either way I'm not giving ATI a second chance right now.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Gary Bechtold
No problem with Nvidia video cards with Vista 64 and my hardware. Tried a quick fresh install of Vista 64 with the video cards and had the same problems. I doubt you or anyone could have helped more than what I had gotten elsewhere. I had read what other people had done with their 4870 cards from other manufacturers on other forums and it helped but did not eliminate the problem. I don't have infinite time to deal with it either. I either had defective hardware or buggy drivers. Either way I'm not giving ATI a second chance right now.

:laugh:

The problem couldn't possibly be you, could it?

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Gary Bechtold
No problem with Nvidia video cards with Vista 64 and my hardware. Tried a quick fresh install of Vista 64 with the video cards and had the same problems. I doubt you or anyone could have helped more than what I had gotten elsewhere. I had read what other people had done with their 4870 cards from other manufacturers on other forums and it helped but did not eliminate the problem. I don't have infinite time to deal with it either. I either had defective hardware or buggy drivers. Either way I'm not giving ATI a second chance right now.

Hi Gary, and weclome to the AT Forums.

Did you happen to run DriverCleaner or Revo Uninstaller (both freeware and very good at what they do) to uninstall any NVIdia drivers/registry entries before installing the ATI drivers? This is a very important and often overlooked step. If you don't clean out the previous drivers, you're almost guaranteed to have problems.

Case in point: I moved from a 8800GT to a HD4870X2 on the same system. Same OS install, same HD, etc. I ran Revo Uninstaller, removed all NVidia registry entires and shut down. Removed 8800GT, put in 4870, rebooted. Upon reboot, cancelled the Windows Found New Hardware wizard and ran the ATI install. Rebooted. Been fine and dandy ever since.

 

[Gary Bechtold]

Yep. I used both and all the previous Nvidia guts were removed, did unintall for nvidia, etc. Even still the fresh Vista install I tried on another HD didn't cure it either (nothing nvidia ever installed) and it still didn't play nice. I have the Intel X48 board, don't know if that helps/hurts it. I was really disappointed it didn't work, but after reading some peoples frustrations I gave up.

I've had an AIW 9800 Pro AGP in the past and it worked great. I was disappointed this didn't.