Problems with 9600Pro videocard(?) and 3D performance?

[InlineFive]

Okay, it's time to attempt to make a long story short.

In the past month my computer has been crashing on games, which caused a infinite loop error in the driver. I got rid of F@H which decreased the frequency of this happening. But it still does have this problem from time to time. First thing's first, system specifications.

Abit NF7-S w/ chipset at 1.5v (I don't know if this is stock, the BIOS picked)
Athlon XP 2500+ @ 3200+ (benched 100% at 3200+ speeds)
1GB DDR333 memory (one OCZ performance stick, one Kingston Value stick) @ 2.5/3/3/11 with 2.6v
Fortron FSP350 PSU @ 350watts
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro @ stock speeds
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 200GB SATA
Lite-on LDW-401S DVD+RW
Floppy Drive
8-in-1 Media Reader

Here is what I have tried:
1. Lowering processor speed back to 2500+.
2. Trying BIOS suggestions on ATI support about infinite loop.
3. Increasing AGP voltage to 1.6v from 1.5v.
4. Swapping memory, running on one stick, two sticks, non-DC and then DC mode.
5. Updating drivers for video card.
6. Updating BIOS on motherboard to revision 27.

So far nothing has work and I'm starting to get discouraged. Do you think I have a new video card in my future?

-Por

 

[Navid]

Divide and conquer!

Use a digital volt meter and measure the rail voltages (12V) while running prime95.
Do the same while scanning for artifacts using ATItool. Make the measurements while running those for about 5 minutes.
If the voltages do not drop too much, you can remove the PSU from your list of worries.

Then, run memtest overnight. If there are no errors the next day, you can remove the memory from your list of worries (as long as you do not change its settings).

Then, run prime95 overnight. If it is still running the next day, you can remove the CPU from your list.

If you get to this point and everything works and you still have crashes, you need to improve cooling for your graphics card.

Edit:
Keep this in mind too!
http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4219.html

Running those tests is a good idea anyway.

If you have failures while running any of those tests, you have to reduce the overclock of the corresponding component or improve its cooling, or increase its voltage in the BIOS (only by a notch) and run the tests again.

 

[InlineFive]

Thanks for the great suggestions Navid! I'll work on those over the next few days.

 

[mrEvil]

Driver Cleaner Pro

I believe that this should effectively wipe all of the ATI driver residue off of your PC. I'd try that first and then reload the latest ATI drivers. I have had driver issues before and I ran driver cleaner to wipe 'em out and start fresh.

Other than that, I hope it is not your video card....had that happen also. That really sux....mine started with some random errors while playing games....then progressed to the deskop...then started locking and then nothing.

Prime is a good overall suggestion to wiggle out any marginal things you may have setup. Prime definitely stresses a system and I do recommend it.

 

[InlineFive]

I use Driver Cleaner every time I change drivers, thanks though!

As for the card, I swapped between two of my systems. The result:

The 9600 crashed and caused various errors.
The GeForce Ti4200 (now in my system) had no problems and actually ran twice as fast as the Radeon!

So, I ordered a new card.