Powercolor 5770 Issues

[dermal_plating]

Hi all. I recently purchased a 5770 to put in a 2 year old computer that I was given by a friend. After installing the card I noticed that when I turned the computer on the fan on the graphics card would repeatedly speed up and slow down for about 20 seconds, preventing the system from booting up for the entire 20 seconds. This in itself is annoying as it adds 20 seconds to my boot time, but it also makes me wonder if there are other problems with the card. I tried putting the graphics card in my old motherboard and found that it booted up fine with no sign of the fan speed up problem or 20 second boot delay. So I take it from this that my motherboard is at fault or there is some sort of conflict between the graphics card and the motherboard.

I've also noticed that anti aliasing isn't working in any of the games I've tried. So far I've tried Starcraft 2, Civilization 5, Battlefield 2 and found that adjusting the anti aliasing in the ATI catalyst control centre made no difference. I was also unable to turn on AA in the game's video settings with the exception of BF2, but I don't think AA actually came on as I saw plenty of jagged edges. I've tried installing Catalyst 10.6 which is the latest XP driver from the Powercolor website, and also 10.10 from the ATI website, neither have made a difference.

Here are my specs:
Athlon x2 5200 2.7ghz
Gigabyte GA M61PME-S2P
Powercolor HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 DVI HDMI
2GB RAM
200GB WD HDD
Antec TP 750 PSU
Windows XP Professional

Anyone have a solution to these problems?

Thanks

 

[Twoboxer]

I assume when you put the 5770 into your old mobo that you used a different "C" drive. If not, please let me know.

I'd go back to the old mobo and complete the test you did earlier - ie, can you get AA to work there? If yes, the problem is not the 5770.

In any case, I'd remove all the graphics drivers and any utilities that could conceivably modify BIOS or OC the cpu/gpu (do you have any?), or fool with the gpu fan profile. Then boot into windows and re-install the latest drivers.

 

[dermal_plating]

Her Twoboxer. When I tested the card in the old mobo I didn't have a HDD or DVD drive plugged in, no operating system was booted. I just took my PSU and graphics card from the new computer and connected them to the old motherboard. I've only determined that the startup fan problems don't occur with the old motherboard.

I did a fresh install before I put the 5770 in, so I'm not sure if there would be any drivers conflicting with it. But I will try uninstalling the video card drivers and installing them again.

Trying AA on the old motherboard is a good idea. Though I'm wondering if I should just update the mobo bios before I go to the trouble of taking the system apart again. I'd sort of assumed that it was a software problem or lack of XP driver support. Can anyone confirm that AA on a XP system with a 5770 works for them with Starcraft 2, Civilization 5 or BF2?

 

[notty22]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/starcraft-ii-radeon-geforce,2728-7.html

As we've mentioned, AMD’s Catalyst 10.7 beta driver and Catalyst 10.8 allows for AA in StarCraft II, which means that we can test the feature on both manufacturers' GPUs.

 

[Twoboxer]

I'm not so sure your test of the gpu fan on the old mobo determined anything. Well, maybe. I guess if the 20 second delay occurs while strictly in BIOS . . . maybe.

Updating the mobo BIOS isn't likely to fix anything here either, unless you can find something PCIe related in the changelog for the new BIOSs since your current one. Its not a good idea to flash BIOS while you've got PC problems - unless you are absolutely certain of the need.

OTOH, it is a good idea to stay on your current system unless you really have a bootable "old" system. XP should not be a problem, since all vid cards must boot with a standard set of vga drivers that all OSs have.

So lets get rid of anything that could tinker with your graphics card - drivers, utilities, speedfan . . . anything. Then boot up into windows. You'll be in low res (no drivers) but if that solves your problem, we'll know where the issue is.

 

[dermal_plating]

I ended up updating the bios as the changelog mentioned something about updating VGA compatability. This has stopped the fan speed problem and it now boots up normally. I'm still trying to fix the AA problem. So far I've uninstalled all video drivers and reinstalled them, but no luck. I've also tried just installing the video driver without Catalyst, this hasn't helped either. I'm not really sure where to go from here.

 

[dermal_plating]

Ok, well it turns out AA was working all along in BF2. And Civ 5 only supports AA in the DirectX 11 version. I run XP so I have to make do with the Dx9 version without AA. This still does not explain Starcraft 2 though, unless there is a similar lack of AA support for DirectX 9 in SC2.

 

[dermal_plating]

Ok, this same card is now in a Z68 with i5 2500k and I'm still having AA issues. Both Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Battlefield 3 don't seem to have any AA despite what I set in game or in the CCC. Of course AMD and Powercolor have no technical support contact on their site so I'm pretty lost.