Radeon 9700pro + DX 9.0 = Trouble

[chizow]

Well after a week of troubleshooting, I've determined the lingering issues I've been having with my 9700pro aren't b/c of the card, its b/c of DX 9. Figured the Cat 3.0's and DX 9.0 would run well together, but it just hasn't been the case. For those of you that haven't gone to 9.0 and 3.0, I'd wait until your other components and programs issue driver updates that support DX 9, or an update to DX 9 comes out before you install them. I've seen the ATI demos now, so there's no other reason for me to be running DX 9.

The Cat 3.0's seem buggy as well. I was having worse problems until I installed the Omega 2.65's, which are essentially the Cat 2.5's hacked to work with DX 9. Basic issues I was having were with programs that use Video Overlay. Both DVD and TV tuners went @pesh1t with DX 9.0 and Cat 3.0. I've since "fixed" both to a point where they're functional, but every once in a while I have to uninstall either the programs or their drivers, and then reinstall them just to get them to work. Very annoying. With PowerVCRII, I sometimes get complete lock-ups, which I've never had in the past (could always kill a non-responsive proggy in task manager). With PowerDVD, the program simply refused to play a DVD, giving me an error. Also, there were random changes to my Audigy 2's settings, like turning variouis playback properties down so that there would be no sound playback. First time I caught this and pulled the sliders back up, but since then I've had direct sound issues, only solved by a reinstall of my Audigy 2 drivers.

Could be a shortcoming of the hardware/software for these components, but given they were completely stable for 2 months with my GF 4 Ti4200 Turbo prior to a clean install when my 9700pro went in, it had to be DX 9.0, Cat 3.0, or the card itself. Was worried for a while that it was those AGP 8x issues I heard about, but thankfully its not the card. Moral of story: Only install DX 9 if you really want to see the ATI demos (which are sweet btw). Time to reinstall XP.

Chiz

 

[Slappy00]

Only install DX 9 if you really want to see the ATI demos (which are sweet btw). Time to reinstall XP

Have DX9 & cat 3.0, everythig is peachy....

I had a few hangups but I think it was me being parinoid more than anyhting (i.e. the display properties not popping up "fast enough")

If you have a VIA system i recommend installing the 4.45 (Hyperion) drivers

Remember that DX9 is not just for video but also for Direct Sound, if SB hasnt delevered drivers that work well with the new version of Direct Sound then that can also be a hangup. (I for one have a Audigy and have no problems with direct sound in gaming and MP3 listening and movie (mpeg(3,4),WMA,mov,etc) playback)

Also the 3.0s arnt just for pretty demos, for 9700 line cards they offer fixes to a few games as well as allievating some studdering problems (Star Trek Armada II for me)

Also using "Hacked" drivers isnt advised, I guarentee you that ATI engeeers know alot more about their hardware than some third party

 

[Thor86]

Hmm, DirectX9.0 and Win98SE and Win2k with Catalyst 3.0 drivers work perfectly without any hiccups.

 

[BuckMaster]

I just installed a 9700Pro, installed DX9 then Cat3.0 Drivers on WinXP and played UT,Warraft3,NWN,NFSH2 and Battlefield 1942 all just fine. Again its only been two days.

I will say this Ive always been a Nivida owner till now and I still love Nivida card espeically there drivers. I will say after reading in alot of Forums I was nervious about going with this card and the Cat 3 drivers. The more I read the more I seen were more people seem to have better luck with the Cat 2.5 drivers. I seen were alot of people are having to reformat and reinstalling windows to get the card and drivers to work correctly that is totally rediculous! Ive seen so many mixed comments on saying DX9, Cat drivers ect..

Good Luck on your new install.

 

[warrenpeace]

I have had none of these video issues with win2Kpro on my 9700pro. Not during video editing or DVDplayback (using powerDVD).

 

[SFang]

ATI Radeon 9700 Pro + DX9 + Cat3.0 with WinXP Pro, everything is fine with me too. UT2003, NOLF2, NFS, AOM, IWD2, every game I tested runs perfectly.

The only thing I can't run is 3DMarks2001SE, which requires DX8.1 only.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: SFang
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro + DX9 + Cat3.0 with WinXP Pro, everything is fine with me too. UT2003, NOLF2, NFS, AOM, IWD2, every game I tested runs perfectly.

The only thing I can't run is 3DMarks2001SE, which requires DX8.1 only.

You just need to get the 3Dmark patch to run it with Dx9 get the 330 build and your good to go.

 

[filmore crashcart]

I originally had problems with it. I had installed dx9 while i still had my ti4400 on board and I had no problems then. When I put in the first 9700 "pro" I had got (and returned for a real one) I had done what I thought was a complete unistall of all the Nvidia drivers and installed the cat 3.0's. It was indeed flakey and I was having problems with everything I ran including all my games. Thinking it the fault of the 3.0's, I did a reformat and went back to dx8.1 and the 2.5 cats. That turned out even worse than the original combination so I started thinking it was my onboard Relteck audio. I did another format and install putting back in my Turtle Beach sound card and going back to dx9 and the 3.0's. This time, no problems. I'm running everything with no glitches and even have my fsb and 9700 pro (real one from NewEgg refurbs) slightly overclocked.

 

[chizow]

Yah I didn't have any problems with games (by the way, is anyone else getting the Chef from South Park's voice everytime you launch a game or the demos? "Game Detected!") Must be a new feature with DX 9, b/c I don't remember anything like that other than back when I used Gamespy for Fallout Tactics.

Its only a problem when I run my TV tuner or my DVD player (Video overlay). I can get them both to work, but it takes tweaking and is this retarded ritual of installing drivers/removing them/uninstalling programs etc. The directsound issues I had before aren't there anymore, so its not my Audigy 2.

Course I did a clean install of XP, didn't even load up any of the old catalysts. Installed SP1, Nforce2 UDA 2.0, DX 9, Cat 3's and then the rest of my proggies. I was running both programs fine for 2 months with my GF4 on my KT266A rig, fine for a week on my Nforce2 and GF4 (didn't even need a clean install of XP), but once I put in my Radeon 9700pro and DX9....trouble....

Just gotta wait for updated DX, hardware/software patches, or new video drivers.

Chiz

 

[BuckMaster]

Well after a week of troubleshooting, I've determined the lingering issues I've been having with my 9700pro aren't b/c of the card, its b/c of DX 9. Figured the Cat 3.0's and DX 9.0 would run well together, but it just hasn't been the case. For those of you that haven't gone to 9.0 and 3.0, I'd wait until your other components and programs issue driver updates that support DX 9, or an update to DX 9 comes out before you install them. I've seen the ATI demos now, so there's no other reason for me to be running DX 9.

Ive installed DX9 and Cat 3 drivers and never heard of any voices saying "Game Detected" while lanching any of my games? Unless your saying its happening while lanching GameSpy. There might be a option in Gamespy to disable if so.

Its only a problem when I run my TV tuner or my DVD player (Video overlay). I can get them both to work, but it takes tweaking and is this retarded ritual of installing drivers/removing them/uninstalling programs etc. The directsound issues I had before aren't there anymore, so its not my Audigy 2.

Have you tried to leave your TV tuner out and not install ANY DVD/Video software until after you do a fresh install and install ONLY the video card and drivers? This way if might help narrow down the problm hardware or software wise.

Course I did a clean install of XP, didn't even load up any of the old catalysts. Installed SP1, Nforce2 UDA 2.0, DX 9, Cat 3's and then the rest of my proggies. I was running both programs fine for 2 months with my GF4 on my KT266A rig, fine for a week on my Nforce2 and GF4 (didn't even need a clean install of XP), but once I put in my Radeon 9700pro and DX9....trouble....

Might want to check your MB BIOS settings or even flash your BIOS to the newest version on your board if its not the lastest. I did on my board before installing it.

Let us know if you find the problem and good luck!

 

[SFang]

Originally posted by: WaTaGuMp

Originally posted by: SFang
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro + DX9 + Cat3.0 with WinXP Pro, everything is fine with me too. UT2003, NOLF2, NFS, AOM, IWD2, every game I tested runs perfectly.

The only thing I can't run is 3DMarks2001SE, which requires DX8.1 only.

You just need to get the 3Dmark patch to run it with Dx9 get the 330 build and your good to go.

Thank you for the advice. Just downloaded the 330 build, runs perfect, scored 15773@default Mhz.

I noted that when I set the AGP Aperture Size to 128MB in the BIOS, the Radeon 9700 failed twice with 3DMarks2001SE (can't complete). However, after I change the AGP Aperture Size to default 64MB, everything is perfect. BTW, I am running @192Mhz FSB. Update: 256MB is fine too, but drop my score to 15550, don't know why.

How did you set your AGP Aperture Size, chizow?

 

[chizow]

I keep my AGP aperture at 64MB as well, from testing and reading up on AGP aperture, anything higher is unnecessary (and in most cases detrimental).

Oddly enough, I can run 3dmark2k1 with no issues at all Might be b/c I already have the DX 9.0 compliant version, but not sure.

Again, games and pretty much everything else run just fine. Its something to do with the GART and DX 9 drivers that control video overlay. I'm sure its not a problem that can't be fixed with an update of either my AGP drivers, Radeon drivers, TV Card or DVD player drivers, but I've pretty much narrowed the problem down at this point in time to DX 9.0.

Chiz