OK, here is the "fun" I had installing my new HIS ATI 1950 512mb AGP graphics card (£150)...(A friend of mine and I always joke about computer hardware and software probs; and how as we get more technologically advanced...it is supposed to make our lives easier...but how come we spend more and more time messing around with it all without actually doing what we want to do??)
OK...
First of all had the ubiqituos "You missed your delivery" from the parcel company; of course I did I was at work; and what a surprise you ignored my big note stuck to the door telling you to get a signature from the neighbour.
Jumped in the car and drove the 15 miles to the depot and picked up my card; dont even get me started on the queue and level of service in there...suffice to say there was a "ring bell for service" sticker on the wall with no bell underneath....now onto the fun....
1.Got card home, bought burger and chips somehow knowing it was gonna be a long night. Booted pc, uninstalled nvidia 6600 and all related Software; shut PC down.
2. Fitted ATI 1950 into the AGP slot, and attached the two connectors to the card...thoughts of "will my 400w PSU even power this beast up?".
3. Turned power on, and after a little delay got a display and the PC booted into windows...I let out a sigh of relief..first step done.
4. Windows advised me it found the vga adaptor, and I popped the driver cd in the drive. It then offered me the option to go online and find the latest drivers. Funny how us 'IT gods' become humbled and tentative when its our own hardware eh?? I knew where the drivers were, but was happy to let the cd take me there hahaha..
5. Downloaded said driver package (Catalyst 7.2). Ran the install, drivers installed OK, but the CCC (Catalyst control centre) through up a 'cli implementation error could not find file object' and would not install.
6. Scoured the net, and found I needed to update my .NET to version 2.0
7. Updated .NET to version 2.0....now this update was 23mb in size; so why the hell does it take about 9 minutes to install?? I find microsoft updates infuriating! After this completed I then needed to run updates to the update; I then noticed in 'optional updates' that there was a .NET 3.0....I stuck my middle finger up at the screen and decided not to engage TEMPER 1.5 and left it at that.
8. Amazingly my PC didnt need to be rebooted Microsoft informed me the updates were complete; so I fired up the CCC to tinker with the card; to only be met with another vague registry error.
9. Rebooted PC and still could not get into the CCC.
10. Uninstalled CCC, Rebooted.
11. Reinstalled CCC, and got into the utility.
12. Temperatures all OK, clocks all correct; oh wow lets fire up a game!!...show me the power baby!!
13. Tomb raider legend with Next Generation Content.....oh yes...my lowly G force 6600 couldnt even access this option; so I clicked the box and fired it up..
The level loaded and I was presented with a lovely textured world and lara was ready to go. I swung the mouse round and as the world came into view........a slideshow!! My disappointment was palpable. I had read somewhere that even high end rigs couldnt play this smoothly so didnt lose heart; and decided to play the C&C demo...
On loading C&C it didnt even get to the menu page, the monitor went black and the status light went orange...."oh no" I thought to myself.
I then reset the PC and it sprang back into life; I tried tomb raider again and it froze within 2 minutes of starting the game.
At this point I knew it was my PSU causing the lockups as on thew dekstop it is fine...under load however it wets itself and dies.
So there you have it, my first nights gaming with my new graphics card....doesnt it all just do your head in???? 8O 8O 8O
M
******** 19/03/2007***********
Eventually got a new card delivered from Overclockers UK on Friday morning, it took them 5 days to test it and return it, and that was with about 5 annoyed phone call sfrom yours truly. I laughed when I was on the phone to the "tech guy" as he tried to make out it was in a big queue and they were flat out; when in the background I heard his colleague say "pass your sun newspaper over dude"...classic stuff.
Anyway had to wait till Saturday to fit it as I had to go and see a friend, so came home and started work. (My said friend pointed out that we actually get more enjoyment from overcoming hardware and software problems than from using these bits of kit for there intended purpose...and hes right you know)...OK here goes...
1. Uninstalled old g force 6600. Rebooted. Shut down.
2. Fitted HIS 1950 512mb card. Turned PC on, nothing completely dead.
3. Took all power cables out except to card, turned on, nothing. dead.
4. Removed card and left mainboard power, turned on and power came to the board (dead card number 2??? no...surely not)
5. Re attached molex connector to card and attached power cables. Turned on and PC powered up.
6. Turned PC off and re attached all other devices, turned PC on, dead.
7. Attached my old 400W PSU to board and it powered up. Attached to card, powered up, attached to all devices and nothing.
8. Re attached new PSU (550W) to board and card, and it powered up, attached to all other devices and it powered up.
9. Booted PC to windows and installed drivers from the CD (it wont work any other way, I learned that from last time).
10. That all went ok (took about 15 minutes including .NET 2.0) Reboot.
11. Updated drivers to Catalyst 7.2 OK
12. Ran Oblivion, and although the card still makes its whiny squeaking noise this one does hold up to a couple of hours gaming. Performance is as follows on my P4 3GHZ 1GB DDR 333MHZ:
Oblivion outside at start of game, 1024x768 all settings maxed except HDR OFF, grass view distance set to 1/3 INT shadows 1/2 EXT shadows 1/2, tree canopy shadows off cant remember any more...
NO AA
FPS Min 12 Ave 29 Max 61
Inside Castle
FPS Min 23 Ave 39 Max 150
Not too bad really, a vast improvement over my previous card where everything was on medium with lower scores.
My 3d mark score was 3650.....is that low?? I think I could get it higher
So ther we have it....just bought some 2GB DDR 400MHZ memory to go with the card which should help with some environment stutter...
comments welcome
M
OK...
First of all had the ubiqituos "You missed your delivery" from the parcel company; of course I did I was at work; and what a surprise you ignored my big note stuck to the door telling you to get a signature from the neighbour.
Jumped in the car and drove the 15 miles to the depot and picked up my card; dont even get me started on the queue and level of service in there...suffice to say there was a "ring bell for service" sticker on the wall with no bell underneath....now onto the fun....
1.Got card home, bought burger and chips somehow knowing it was gonna be a long night. Booted pc, uninstalled nvidia 6600 and all related Software; shut PC down.
2. Fitted ATI 1950 into the AGP slot, and attached the two connectors to the card...thoughts of "will my 400w PSU even power this beast up?".
3. Turned power on, and after a little delay got a display and the PC booted into windows...I let out a sigh of relief..first step done.
4. Windows advised me it found the vga adaptor, and I popped the driver cd in the drive. It then offered me the option to go online and find the latest drivers. Funny how us 'IT gods' become humbled and tentative when its our own hardware eh?? I knew where the drivers were, but was happy to let the cd take me there hahaha..
5. Downloaded said driver package (Catalyst 7.2). Ran the install, drivers installed OK, but the CCC (Catalyst control centre) through up a 'cli implementation error could not find file object' and would not install.
6. Scoured the net, and found I needed to update my .NET to version 2.0
7. Updated .NET to version 2.0....now this update was 23mb in size; so why the hell does it take about 9 minutes to install?? I find microsoft updates infuriating! After this completed I then needed to run updates to the update; I then noticed in 'optional updates' that there was a .NET 3.0....I stuck my middle finger up at the screen and decided not to engage TEMPER 1.5 and left it at that.
8. Amazingly my PC didnt need to be rebooted Microsoft informed me the updates were complete; so I fired up the CCC to tinker with the card; to only be met with another vague registry error.
9. Rebooted PC and still could not get into the CCC.
10. Uninstalled CCC, Rebooted.
11. Reinstalled CCC, and got into the utility.
12. Temperatures all OK, clocks all correct; oh wow lets fire up a game!!...show me the power baby!!
13. Tomb raider legend with Next Generation Content.....oh yes...my lowly G force 6600 couldnt even access this option; so I clicked the box and fired it up..
The level loaded and I was presented with a lovely textured world and lara was ready to go. I swung the mouse round and as the world came into view........a slideshow!! My disappointment was palpable. I had read somewhere that even high end rigs couldnt play this smoothly so didnt lose heart; and decided to play the C&C demo...
On loading C&C it didnt even get to the menu page, the monitor went black and the status light went orange...."oh no" I thought to myself.
I then reset the PC and it sprang back into life; I tried tomb raider again and it froze within 2 minutes of starting the game.
At this point I knew it was my PSU causing the lockups as on thew dekstop it is fine...under load however it wets itself and dies.
So there you have it, my first nights gaming with my new graphics card....doesnt it all just do your head in???? 8O 8O 8O
M
******** 19/03/2007***********
Eventually got a new card delivered from Overclockers UK on Friday morning, it took them 5 days to test it and return it, and that was with about 5 annoyed phone call sfrom yours truly. I laughed when I was on the phone to the "tech guy" as he tried to make out it was in a big queue and they were flat out; when in the background I heard his colleague say "pass your sun newspaper over dude"...classic stuff.
Anyway had to wait till Saturday to fit it as I had to go and see a friend, so came home and started work. (My said friend pointed out that we actually get more enjoyment from overcoming hardware and software problems than from using these bits of kit for there intended purpose...and hes right you know)...OK here goes...
1. Uninstalled old g force 6600. Rebooted. Shut down.
2. Fitted HIS 1950 512mb card. Turned PC on, nothing completely dead.
3. Took all power cables out except to card, turned on, nothing. dead.
4. Removed card and left mainboard power, turned on and power came to the board (dead card number 2??? no...surely not)
5. Re attached molex connector to card and attached power cables. Turned on and PC powered up.
6. Turned PC off and re attached all other devices, turned PC on, dead.
7. Attached my old 400W PSU to board and it powered up. Attached to card, powered up, attached to all devices and nothing.
8. Re attached new PSU (550W) to board and card, and it powered up, attached to all other devices and it powered up.
9. Booted PC to windows and installed drivers from the CD (it wont work any other way, I learned that from last time).
10. That all went ok (took about 15 minutes including .NET 2.0) Reboot.
11. Updated drivers to Catalyst 7.2 OK
12. Ran Oblivion, and although the card still makes its whiny squeaking noise this one does hold up to a couple of hours gaming. Performance is as follows on my P4 3GHZ 1GB DDR 333MHZ:
Oblivion outside at start of game, 1024x768 all settings maxed except HDR OFF, grass view distance set to 1/3 INT shadows 1/2 EXT shadows 1/2, tree canopy shadows off cant remember any more...
NO AA
FPS Min 12 Ave 29 Max 61
Inside Castle
FPS Min 23 Ave 39 Max 150
Not too bad really, a vast improvement over my previous card where everything was on medium with lower scores.
My 3d mark score was 3650.....is that low?? I think I could get it higher
So ther we have it....just bought some 2GB DDR 400MHZ memory to go with the card which should help with some environment stutter...
comments welcome
M
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