Problems with 9800Pro

[ATIPete]

Hey everyone, I have a strange problem with an ATI Radeon 9800Pro. Before going to extreme measures like getting it repaired or buying a new video card, I'm hoping someone can offer a few suggestions. Maybe something I'm missing?

I bought the card about 2 months ago and it seemed to work fine at first. Though I was busy at that time and didn't have time to fully test it, I did play some Elite Force 2 without any problems. Recently, starting a month ago I got into more gaming and this is when the problem became apparent. The problem happens with every game and not always in the same spot.

The best way to describe it is the graphics in the game start breaking up. I see little dots all over, big flat polygons all over the screen and soon junk fills up the whole screen. The game doesn't freeze and if I Alt-ESC to the desktop and then back into the game, all the junk is gone and everything's normal again. Though it happens again and soon. This isn't just happening during the game either. It's happened on the main menu a few times.

My MB temp is 35 degrees and my CPU is between 35 and 40. So my case has plenty of ventilation.

Here are my PC specs:

CPU: P4 2.6 Ghz
MB: Asus P4S533
512MB RAM (PC2700)
SB Audigy 2 sound card
all the latest drivers and Bios for my MB

I used to have an NVidia 4600Ti before this and never had any problems. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[ATIPete]

I forgot to mention that I have a few friends who have similar problems with their 9800Pro. Like one of them always complains the text in games gets messed up to the point he can't read it anymore. The more he plays, the worst it gets. Another one gets these vertical lines on the screen. Same as the other guy, the more he plays the worst it gets. They both have different PC setups.

So is this a 9800Pro general problem or is it isolated?

 

[rbV5]

It could be a heating problem. It could also be your powersupply. I started getting random graphic corruption last week...long story short, traced it down to the +12v rail on my truepower 480 antec. Put in an enermax I had lying around, no more graphic corruption.

 

[ATIPete]

Thanks for the suggestion. This didn't occur to me until now but I did buy a new power supply a month ago. I'll try switching and see if it helps. Thanks.

 

[ATIPete]

Well, that didn't work. Still as puzzled as ever..

 

[Pocatello]

I had the same problem with a 9800NP, so I RMAed it to ATI and got a different Radeon 9800, which worked beautifully.

 

[fredtam]

Vsync ?
Set it to always on.
Turn fast writes off. Your mobo may not implement it properly.