Have you had many problems with your ati card?

[toadlife 3]

Been noticing lots of post in the troubleshooting forum about ATI cards lately. I had a really bad experience with an ATI card 3 years ago, a vowed never to buy another one.

Awhile back, I almost got suckered into buying one of the latest Radeons by my friend who was reading the reviews, but decided to steer clear, as ATI hasn't yet proven to me that they can make card that works reliably.

I was wondering if these problems with the ATI cards are common for everyone, or just flukes, what your experiences are with your ATI card, why you bought it, and if you would buy another.

[RMATICH 0]

I'm considering an ATI card. Are there any problems with the 9800 Pro? Its so expensive I'll have to wait for a price cut. Hopefully there will be a sale in the Fall.

[hellfish6 7]

My biggest problem is the 'memory map' error.

[theavonlady 2]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Try my new OFP mission - 'Assasinate ATI's CEO'<span id='postcolor'>

It CTDs everytime I run it.

J/K. I don't own an ATI card. However, after reading all that I've read here on the forums ever since OFP came out, I would avoid buying one, plain and simple.

It's just not worth the ulcer.

[//relic// 0]

The hardware is good in most respects, but frankly ATi's driver dev team blow chunks.

I've had nothing but problems with my 9700pro - hideous z-buffering errors/microstutter/flashing textures/fps lag/bad fps in OFP...so I'm going back to nvidia next time.

[Greg 0]

The 9700 at work, with latest drivers is very unstable. Pity because I was considering a 9500pro for myself as alternative to FX5600pro. Currently Geforce3 here so no vote, stable as.

[delaware 0]

I'm running a Sapphire 9700 Pro without any serious issues, but I have occasionally seen the flashing textures relic mentioned.

I think at least some of the issues ATI users are experiencing can be chalked up to recent games being designed with nVidia cards and drivers in mind, so with a little patience, hopefully we'll see better support for ATI cards.  I say that because ATI's cards are inconsistent regarding their performance in different games; some run very well and others just plain suck, whereas just about everything runs good on an nVidia card.  It seems more like a driver issue than hardware, and ATI is definitely making good progress on their drivers.

I'd buy another one for a number of reasons.  Right now, ATI has nVidia trumped on hardware technology while nVidia is still ahead in the driver department.  ATI's image quality is head and shoulders above nVidia's but that's more a difference in philosophies than hardware technologies (i.e. nVidia prefers performance).

Overall, I'm happy with my 9700 Pro.  Having said that, though, if you want to completely avoid any problems, I'd stick with nVidia.  ATI's technology is going to take a little while to work into the game industry and their drivers are still less than perfect.  nVidia is usually a solid bet.  I should know - after constantly struggling with 2 VIA motherboards, I haven't had ANY problems with this nVidia board.

Regards,

Chris

[Bordoy 0]

I have an 128Mb ATI Radeon 9000, and its works like a dream. No problems and i mean no problems.

[Koolkid101 0]

I might be getting a dell Dimension 4550, which they have a good deal on, cause my old dell has a low profile so I can't use any card except PCI. So if I get a New 128mb DDR ATI Radeonâ„¢ 9700 TX Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI [add $110 or $4/month1] that comes with you can get with the dell would it work? Also if found that if you get a dell 8300 you can get an 9800 for 110 dollars or 4 dollars a month. But is the

New 128mb DDR ATI Radeonâ„¢ 9700 TX Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI [add $110 or $4/month1] gonna be a bad choice?

[Mister Frag 0]

Flashing textures and clipping problems should not be a result of developers writing software for NVIDIA cards. The games don't talk to the drivers directly, they talk to DirectX in the case of OFP (or more specifically, Direct3D), or OpenGL in the case of many other games.

The video card driver is responsible for rendering the polygons created by vertices defined by the application (game). Textures are applied to thos polygons, and the result should be the same regardless of the video card and driver being used, except for any hardware-specific shaders that might be applied. However. the shaders should still not result in clipping problems or flashing textures (which really are the result of clipping errors).

[Bulbous 0]

I constantly hear a common refrain: ATI has crappy drivers. Yet, I've never had a problem with any ATI product at any time going back to their earliest cards. I've also never met anyone who actually has had driver problems. I think this whole concept of lousy ATI drivers is an urban legend started by users who didn't know their Z-buffer from their VCR.

[ale2999 0]

u might have never but many people dont agree with you and I c this problems with most games that I play. Eg Raven Shield Optimized for ATI, I get better fps (geforce ti 4200 128ram) than a 9800 when there is smoke and other stuff. Seriously what is the point of having hardware that smashes competition in benchmark, but might (and most time will) give u just bad/average performance in games? or at least headaches....

I have used Nvidia from tnt2 to geforce4 and I never had a problem....

[jaewookim4 0]

I have a 9700tx that came in a Dell system. Works very well with Flashpoint except for the flashing textures problem with roads and shadows. Catalyst 3.1 and up this problem is fixed in OFP however, but you need to use 3.0 if you are running Shadowbane. So if you play Shadowbane or something else that requires you to use < 3.1 Catalysts, then you will have problems with an R300 class ATi product. However, Using 3.1's I have had no problems running Flashpoint. Have not experienced the stuttering that everyone complains about, so I must have been lucky or they have been unlucky. Any and all stuttering that is bad enough for me to notice all corresponds to HD activity for me, so it is not the video card's fault.

[thule999 0]

my Dell laptop came with ati radeon mobility. Sometimes there are some blinking white pixels in the horizon (in game).

I had to drop the detail level to low etc. to make sure that the game runs smoothly.

I may buy a new system in near future, Any suggestions what would be the ultimate card for OPF and other games?

(max price 400 - 600 usd)

[toadeater 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (thule999 @ 09 May 2003,07:05)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">my Dell laptop came with ati radeon mobility. Sometimes there are some blinking white pixels in the horizon (in game).<span id='postcolor'>

That's what happens if I overclock my old GF2's memory too much. I wonder if there is some parallel with this, or if it's just bad drivers and nothing to do with the hardware?

Still trying to decide between a Sapphire Radeon 9700 and a Geforce FX 5600 Ultra. The Radeon is alot faster, but I also need a dependable card.

[Bulbous 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (toadeater @ 09 May 2003,22:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I wonder if there is some parallel with this, or if it's just bad drivers and nothing to do with the hardware?<span id='postcolor'>

There goes another one!

[toadeater 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Bulbous @ 10 May 2003,13:27)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (toadeater @ 09 May 2003,22:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I wonder if there is some parallel with this, or if it's just bad drivers and nothing to do with the hardware?<span id='postcolor'>

There goes another one!<span id='postcolor'>

Ok, well are you suggesting that you never had any problems whatsoever with your ATI card in OFP or other games, like Splinter Cell? I've seen tons of complaints in forums and on Newegg.com.

[sw22 0]

I've had two ATI cards - a Radeon 8500 and a Radeon 9700 Pro. I've had stuttering/jerkiness and flashing texture problems with both of them in OFP. It only happens in OFP - never in any other game. Medal of Honor and Battlefield 1942 run perfectly with both Radeons - all images being very smooth.

So there's something in OFP that causes graphics problems with Radeons - the question is what?  I've tried countless combinations of OFP and card settings and I still can't find the culprit.

Any ideas anyone?

[Dwarden 1125]

I cant get why people whine so much about problems ATI vs OFPR ...

one of main reasons is because OFP engine was made mainly for nV cards ...

it works on my R9700pro good, but no so good as we all wish...

(e.g. running 1600x1200x32,6xAAx16xAFtrilinear, 2048x2048, hi detail terrain, 5km visibility, best LODs) is bit hard for that card

but 4x AA and High is ok, lowering to 1400x1050 makes it superior

at 9800pro is it same but u can keep playing 1600x1200

real problem comes from memory its very easy (with everything maxed out) to use 120+MB of video memory ...

so OFPR was 1st title forcing me thinking about 256MB videocard (sure not nv30-34 ...

and because there is probably never going update higher than 1.91 this is end point

in week there will be new Catalyst 3.4 which contains huge load of fixes (from 3.3 and new ones) i already know minimally one fixed issue with OFPR vs 3.2 which is in new drivers.

People whine about ATI drivers ... but nobody seems to remember nV driver errors and mistakes ... it's nV we forgive them ... oo mighty nV ...

sorry but i got good experience with ATI's support and dev teams.

sorry i like my R9700p, i like parhelia, i like G400, i like 9800p, i like some gef3ti200 and gef4ti4xxx ... but i dislike FX crap (5200-5800) it's my own experience ...

so, where is mission "Seek & snipe nV's CEO..." they really need new blood in lead ...

[sw22 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Dwarden @ 11 May 2003,23:58)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I cant get why people whine so much about problems ATI vs OFPR ...<span id='postcolor'>

I wasn't whining - just asking if anyone knew a fix for the Radeon stuttering in OFP.

[phoebus 0]

Well, it's frightening to read all those post about ATI cards, the only trouble i met was stuttering framerate while i was driving any kind of vehicles. i solved it by deactivating the DXT texture option in the compatibility setup of direct3D catalyst panel.

Once done, i run any OFP or RES with max options in 1600*1200 (on a 21" diamondpro), it runs smoothly and nicely.

[//relic// 0]

Thanks Bulbous, but I know what I'm talking about. I'm yet to see a single game of mine that doesn't have at least a few anomalies (minor or otherwise) thanks to the Catalysts.

Phoebus - do you ever get really terrible FPS when you zoom in on sprites? I basically can't use rifles with scopes or tanks when the target is against a sprite background (e.g a forest) because my FPS go from ~60+ to about 5

[theavonlady 2]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (phoebus @ 12 May 2003,10:52)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">i solved it by deactivating the DXT texture option in the compatibility setup of direct3D catalyst panel.<span id='postcolor'>

I would like to document this solution.

Is the setting called "DX Texture" or "DXT Texture"? What is the use of this setting? How did you come across disabling it as a solution? Trial and error?

TIA.

[kegetys 2]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Dwarden @ 12 May 2003,00:58)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">one of main reasons is because OFP engine was made mainly for nV cards ...<span id='postcolor'>

I would guess OFP engine was originally made for 3Dfx cards, which was the big name back when ofp development began... nVidia has had it problems with drivers but these days they work great. I have never had a radeon card, but I do have an Ati Rage 3D Pro in one of my computers and the drivers are _still_ causing problems even in desktop use.

To me it seems ATI only tests its drivers on mainstream games, and OFP isn't one of those (anymore at least). ATI owners should just actively harrass ati tech support about any problems thay have.

[//relic// 0]

Avonlady - the setting determines whether or not Direct X compressed texture formats will be used.

Kegetys - with reference to their recent quick-n-dirty fix gone bad, they can't even ensure problem free gaming in Halflife/CS, so what possibly hope is there for us?