Graphics card problem

[[FnG] Lazz]

Hi all

So I brought myself an XFX Ati 5770 card for my pc, to help run this years games better. My old card was an XFX 8800 GTS.

Trouble is, I have had some issues since installing it. For starters, Ive used 3 benchmarks and each one is giving me a similar fps ratings as when I used my previous card. I say fps ratings and not score because two of the benchmarks crashed before completion. About half way through 3d mark vantage, the screen went dark and ctrl alt delete didnt work so I had to manually restart the computer. 3d mark 11 crashed after the first few videos saying there was an error because windows changed the resolution during the benchmark.

Im wondering if its my cpu thats the bottleneck (E6750 2.67 Ghz). Got plenty of RAM (4gb). But aside from performance issues, the fact that I have these problems does worry me. Another thing to note is that after installing the card and the drivers, firefox would proceed to load up the last page I visited before closing firefox down (normally it would load up google search by default). Just to note, before I installed the new card, I uninstalled all the nvidia drivers and even loaded up driver cleaner in safe mode to get rid of 20 - 30 nvidia related registry entries.

[[FDG]Sundae]

That's not a bottleneck issue. Your system is outright crashing, and the description of the errors you're having makes me absolutely think you're having an issue with your video card.

Check these in order...

#1 - Sufficient power supply? (Wattage / Amperage requirements met for your 5770?)
#2 - Temperature readings on your video card while running a game / program that taxes your video card?
#3 - Most recent drivers for your ATI 5770 installed?

How's the clearance on your 5770? Does it have sufficient airflow? I'm leaning toward hardware malfunction either via insufficient power to the card, or via overheating video card.

[[FnG] Lazz]

Hi

Thanks for the fast reply.

1. As far as power supply goes, I have an Antec Truepower 550 watt PSU. I seem to recall reading in one (or more) reviews that the card consumes relatively low amounts of power for a modern card. I also seem to recall reading that it consumes a similar amount of power to my old card.

2. Ive just used a program called 'test mark' and used the stability test which seems to hammer my gfx card. After 10 minutes, the temperature reaches 64c and doesn't seem to get any higher.

3. I used the latest drivers, yes

[[FnG] Da Kril]

Hmm, what Sundae says rings true (unless it's in the Fundesliga thread. mwahaha).

The next thing I'd try is putting your new, dodgy card into a different — yet known working properly — machine.
Swap it out, and if the same (or similar) errors occur on the other machine, then your card has issues — send back, RMA.

If it functions flawlessly, then likely you need to fix something in your own rig.

Of course, that's just my opinion — I could be wrong,
--kril out--


P.S. Lazz! Haven't seen you in forever. How are you? Still doing kewl videos of the zoo?

[[FnG] LcNessie]

That's pretty much what I would do as well, or try to stress your system using the old card, see what happens.

550 Watts for a 5770 should be okay.

Temperature is a killer. 64 Celsius is a tad on the high side for my taste, but problematic? I don't think so.

Latest drivers usually improves bugs and rendering glitches, but crashes not so much anymore.

[[FDG]Sundae]

64*C isn't high enough to be causing errors for a 5770. That's high, but not terrible especially given that's under benchmark conditions.

Put your 5770 into a different computer and repeat the tests in the different computer. there's still a problem, you've got an issue with the 5770. If there isn't a problem in the other computer, go back to your real computer and put your old video card back in.

While using the old video card, repeat the benchmarks and see if it happens again. If it does, your next target is your RAM.

~S

[[FnG] Lazz]

I think the problem was actually the benchmarking stuff. Getting the same fps in those tests as I did with the previous card, but then getting superior fps when it came to games.

So I did the 3d mark 11 test again and it completed without crashing. I then ran a test called furmark to see how hot my card would get. After 5 minutes it was at a steady 72'c.

I then decided to try out Battlefield 2, and got my first sucess. I played a map with 31 other players on the highest graphical settings for the resolution I used, and the fps was 30 - 40. I would never have got that with my old card. So I decided to take the risk and buy Crysis 2. The graphical settings are high, very high and extreme. I was using fraps when I played and my gfx was set to very high, and to my surprise, the game is running at 30 - 55 fps. If arguably the best looking game ever made is running decently on my pc, I am quite happy with that

@Da Kril - duuuuuuude, Im good thanks, how are you? Not doing videos anymore I lost enthusiasm for it and decided that 90% of the people that leave comments on youtube are idiots anyway (cause they are typically negative comments that aren't constructive). I will be back with you guys and girls soon enough. Whenever Guild Wars 2 is released!

[[FDG]Sundae]

I still call bologna and think you have something screwy if your system is locking up, but if you're happy with it, go hog wild.