Radeon 9700 Pro initial impressions / problems

[Nvidiot]

Just got the 9700 pro Today upgraded from Asus GF3 64MB. Here are the problems I've had in the first few hours:

1. 2D display seems slow to refresh at times -- leaves partial splash menus on desktop. They do go away after a few seconds.
2. Refresh rate drops to 60 Hz in games. (dxdiag trick of overriding default ref. does NOT WORK) Took a couple minutes to find a new refresh locking util
3. After about 20 minutes of messing with refresh rates and rebooting to get them to stay I tried out Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2k2 from EA and after 1 hit of the golf ball I could see some additional problems with the fairway closeups. In effect, it looks like you are playing on a checker board. Graphics are really blocky when the camera zooms in on the ball. Looks like crap. I have screen shots, but I don't have a place to host them. Send me a url and i can ul them.
4. TW2002 still stutters at times and is choppy. I was hoping for silky smooth. I'm running at 1024x768 x32-bit. Should be ok, no? I am willing to blame the game, but you'd think it would be a little better going from GF3 to ATI's latest beast.
5. No driver support listed on ATI's website. They do not even list the product on their support sections. Only on their main site. Yep, they can ship'em but do they care about supporting them. We shall see. I've written in with my initial observations.

Anyone in love with this card? Kinda disappointing so far, but hey it's new. These things will get worked out. I have not played Q3 yet, but I bet it cranks out some FPS. I'm going to run benchmarks to check where I am vs. others with a similar config and I will post the results here.

Machine specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2000+
512 MB Corsair XMS CAS2 Memory
Soyo Dragon KT266A based mb
Windoze XP

 

[Wolfsraider]

how did you install it and what did you do to rid the nvidia drivers?

just curious

thanks
mike

 

[Nvidiot]

I just used the Add/Remove feature of Nvida drivers.

I'm using the drivers that came with the card -- 6143. I have dl'ed the 6159 drivers, but not installed yet. I saw someone who had a blocky sky in q3 and some other problems and the ATI folks over at www.rage3d.com told him to rma it as it might be defective. The thing is my card only gets blocky in 1 very specific view in 1 game. q3 looks pretty good, so that is not the case for me.

BTW, is there more to removing the nvidia drivers that simply add/remove from XP?

 

[Taz4158]

BTW, is there more to removing the nvidia drivers that simply add/remove from XP?

Yes dear GOD.

 

[silentScope]

I believe at Guru3d.com there is a proggie called Nvidia Detonator Destroyer... and if you try that out it could help get rid of the nvidia stuff it left behind... but the best thing for u to do is install thte nvidia stuff again, than use the destroyer to properly rid of everything!

hope this helps!

 

[Wolfsraider]

also when installing the ati

after removing the nvidia drivers

install as a standard agp driver first if possible under xp then

reboot and install the ati drivers and see if this helps

good luck
mike

 

[ciparis]

I was very careful at removing all Nvidia traces I thought (even manually purging the registry), but after many different Dets my system just sucked until I formated and reinstalled XP.

I'm hitting 16k now on my 9700, and the IQ is very, very nice. I'm pleased with my purchase so far. Nice to see them back again.
MadOnion 3DMark 2001 results, 16184

 

[WyteWatt]

Its always good to do a full reformat and reinstall of your OS just to make sure you get rid of all the older video card drivers. Then again if you do not have that type those ways should be fine.

 

[Nvidiot]

Ok will try the removal suggestions. I did not realize the Dets where that tough to get rid of.

Also, I benched my system at 1024x768x32b and w/ default aa and aniso settings and get 12600 on 3D Mark 2001 SE w/ fsb at 137 MHz.

What are the specs on your system? Mine are listed above.

 

[WyteWatt]

ciparis very nice score. Do you know what you get at 1600x1200? I bet like 11000 if not even higher!!!!!! Drool. Also do you know what you get at 1600x1200 with maximum 6x FSAA and 16x AF on ? I am guessing around 6000 to 8000 maybe more!!!

 

[Nvidiot]

Silentscope,

The det destroyers look like they are only for 98/ME, not XP. I'm kinda hesitant to try them. Have you personally used them on XP?

 

[Moishe]

One thing I really hate about windows is the reinstall factor.
I see it as mostly a problem with swidnows, and partially a problem with the driver manufature.

You should ideally never have to "reinstall" an OS just for drivers, but Windows is an MS product, and MS thinks it knows best. It keeps so much JUNK around and attached that you really do have to go to extremes just to be free of old stuff.

The driver manufacturer can help a little by creating quality uninstallers, but since they all mostly use the basic uninstall concept, it's never good enough..

 

[Nvidiot]

Here is a link to a picture of what I am talking about:

Screen Shot of problem

 

[Nvidiot]

Here is ATI's helpful response:

Dear ,

Thank you for contacting ATI Customer Service Canada.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your email has been assigned:

Please include the above identifier in all future correspondence
relating to this ticket. Note: The TicketGUID identifier must appear
in the message body, not in the subject line.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding 2D display seems slow to refresh at times

You may want to adjust to a higher refresh rate and install updated drivers for the monitor that you are using.

<Note: I am running the highest possible refresh rate my monitor allows 120 Hz at 1024x768>

Regarding After about 20 minutes of messing with refresh rates and rebooting to get them to stay I tried out Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2k2 from EA and after 1 hit of the golf ball I could see some additional problems with the fairway closeups

You may wat to try updated drivers from the internet site to see if that fixes the problem. Additionally look on the EA webite for any patches or fixes to try.

<Note: There is no mention of Radeon 9700 Pro drivers on ATI's website as of yesterday>

Regarding TW2002 still stutters at times and is choppy.

Make sure that you have the latest motherboard AGP drivers installed for the motherboard. IRQ sharing does come into play when things start getting choppy. Here are some links that may help resolve this issue. Also, try closing any programs that are running in the background before running the game.

<Note: HMM, the GF3 I was using didn't have problems with IRQ sharing>

Windows 98/ME -> http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/howtowin98meirq.html
Windows 2000/ XP -> http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/howtowin2kxpirq.html


Regards,


Customer Service Canada
ATI Technologies, Inc.
http://www.ati.com

 

[The_Lurker]

Looks like you should format to make 100% sure nVidia drives are all gone. They are notorious for creating bad performance and generally problems everywhere w/ ATI drivers.