ATi Radeon 9800 pro 256 bit 128mb (promblem)

[wildfire1980]

Hi there all im new here so bare with me

I bought this ati radeon 9800 pro gfx card becoz i wanted to play battlefeild 2 and the game dosnt support geforce 4 4800 ti se,i have the catylist 5.6 drivers and had origonaly install the drivers from the disc.

The problem im getiing is this[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/wildfiredoz/dev.jpg[/IMG]
notice how unbarable it is and the same thing happens when i play mohaa seems to be only when looking at trees or grass but only at short distance i dont get this effect in the distance but its annoying if im in the grass lying down and sniping and i have these glitches coming up.

This is the spec of my pc

PSU = 550w
Nvidea nforce 2 chipset based k7n2 designed for AMD athlon XP/ Athlon duron prossesor.
AMD 3200 XP prossesor.
(currently ati radeon 9800 pro 128mb 256 bit gfx card)
Sound blaster audigy live sound card.
1 gig of memory

i know nothing about computers tbh so if some 1 could help me out here i would like that so much also plz advise on wot drivers or actions can help me solve this problem.

thanx very much
Chris

Oh yeah also i tried the new 5.7 drivers from catylist and they were worse and i have removed my tv card and unplugged my cd drive as i dont need them and still no difference.

[Coconut Monkey]

Them's artefacts - a common symptom of overheating cards! You can check if it's a thermal issue by opening the side of your case and blowing a deskfan directly onto your video card.

What's your case cooling like? Do you have fans blowing air in and out?

If ventilation is up to scratch, then you might just have a dud card on your hands.

[wildfire1980]

Hi hmmmm well initialy i suspected it getting too hot coz the metel surround on the gfx card was very warm. Should i have a fan extracting heat and one drawing cold air in will that help?

I never had this problem with my geforc prehaps its sumthing to do with the fact the gfx card is directly linked to the psu.

Dud card is out of the question the guy tested it he said it works fine on his system plz tell me how i can cool my pc down i have 1 case fan.

[Coconut Monkey]

Hi hmmmm well initialy i suspected it getting too hot coz the metel surround on the gfx card was very warm. Should i have a fan extracting heat and one drawing cold air in will that help?

That could help, yes. See this article for information on better case ventilation (near the end).

I never had this problem with my geforc prehaps its sumthing to do with the fact the gfx card is directly linked to the psu.

Since it needs more power it naturally will produce more heat.

Dud card is out of the question the guy tested it he said it works fine on his system

Did he "test" it by just plugging it in and seeing if it booted? Or did thoroughly test it using some 3D applications where the problem actually occurs? ;)

[wildfire1980]

"Apparently" :) he bench marked it and he said it was fine but who knows if he really did but on another note i took of my case fan blew it directl on to the side of my gfx card with cold air and i have another fan that sort of fits in side the case that extracts air thats hot so i was forcing cold air in and drawing it out and guess wot :) the artefacts disapeared but i do get some and i mean only a very little bit now so im thinking prehaps need to be more colder but i get another kind of problem now dunno if this is related but the landscape flickers it did happen b4 but i managed to get it to stop i cant remember how now thanx for your help m8. cheers !!!

[wildfire1980]

I sorted the flickering i matched the resolution in game to my desktop res and its fine now at the moment i have the case fan blasting air stright on to the gfx card :) and the other fan just underneath it taking the hot air away it works but i need a better setup case cooling is somthing i have never really thought of.

[wildfire1980]

Well today i have the same problem even tho i have a fan blowing cold air on to the gfx card and a fan extracting hot air but......it is very warm here in england today. Lol i stuck my gfx card in the fridge for 20 mins just to see wot would happen and i plugged it in and i had no glitches or anything :) so the missus says well youll just have to keep your gfx card in the fridge evry night rofl ummm no lol dont think i will i think i just need some kick ass chilling system in the case with fridge like temperatures :) My in game graphics are set really low in fact on bf2 they are all set to lowest settings possible.Is it possible that i do have a card that is dud in respect that it heats up far too quickly ?
If so is there any thing i can to to minimise this heat other then case fans ?

[Coconut Monkey]

O_O

Don't go sticking your card in the fridge again! Otherwise it might bring along some friends from the H20 department.

If your card cannot maintain stable graphics quality even with some extra fans helping to cool the case, then I'm afraid it's not worth the price you paid. Send it back and get a replacement!

If that's not possible, then you might want to decide on a decent case cooling solution and replace the video card's heatsink/fan with a better after-market product.

[wildfire1980]

Think i have found a solution, after looking thru countless websites at cooling systems and ducts (which work like a dream) or so they seem i spoke to a friend and he said loads of ppl have had this kind of problem as they are renowned for geting too hot so they put an artic fan on the gfx card: http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=36 he said that it does deffinatly take the teperature down a hell of a lot so i will be ordering me one of those and also in addition ill be sorting some kind of case fan setup thanx for all your help here coconutmonkey.

Peace out

chris