Identifying ATI card

[ragatweak]

I purchased an OEM ATI product and am trying to figure out if i got what i paid for. I tried the ATI inspector software but the device number that it tells me i have does not match with anything on ATI's website. I guess it boils down to 2 questions:

1. Windows detects it as a Radeon 9700 card and this got me wondering since i was supposed to get a 9700pro. Should i be seeing the display adaptor listed as "Radeon 9700 PRO" or something similar?

2. The ATI inspector and the ASUS probe utility say that my card is running on agp 4x or lower even though my motherboard is 8x. What gives? I'm no expert and was just wondering if i have to manually enable agp 8x or something to that extent.

Thanks in advance, I appreciate any help.

 

[Crashman]

1.) The card is identified by software according to it's FAMILY, where the 9700 and 9700 Pro appear the same to the driver. My Radeon LE (Radeon DDR based econo-card) shows up as a Radeon 7200 as an example. The only way to know for certain is to check the clock speed, you can use Rage3D tweaker, Powerstrip, etc, to check the card clock.

2.)What board do you have? Is AGP8s enabled in BIOS?

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[ragatweak]

I see, ill go get one of the programs you mentioned and look up the specs i should have - thanks for the tip.

I've got the asus p4s8x, and the bios does say agp 8x, which is why i was confused to see agp 4x showing up when running asus probe software and the ATI detection software.

 

[Crashman]

Oh! Don't touch it, it may explode! Well, maybe not explode, but the P4S8X is a problematic board, it can become VERY unstable when using an ATI card in AGP8x mode. It can also become very unstable when using PC3200 memory. I've been telling people to get the Gigabyte GA-8SG667 or 8SG800 instead, because it supports both.

It's possible that the driver or the BIOS revision might have turned off AGP8x mode because of the problem this board has with stability.

At any rate, you're not loosing performance, as AGP8x is unneeded for the 9700 Pro. Technology hasn't progressed that far yet, at this point it's a marketing gimmick.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[GeneticWeapon]

There are a number of web sites that do infact speak of the problems you are having with that mobo....

AMD Athlon "ThunderBird" 1.2Ghz/ECSK7S5A/BBA Radeon8500LE 290-301Mhz/256DDR 2100/Maxtor40Gigger/PhillipsSurround/Vantec digital display/Enermax Lan case with blue cathodes and fans.