Ati 9700 pro Problems!!! Please Help ME!!

[mrwolves]

I recently brought a ati 9700 pro , and im having some very bad
problems with it, i have only had this card for a couple of months
now,and
every time i start a game my pc shuts down, i also get graphic
corruption on
most of my games and it also overheats my computer to such a high level

that my pc shuts down. i also read this review by dealtime which
explains
alot of the problems i am having
my pc is also very hot to touch , some much it hurts my fingers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

dealtime review

Poor cooling makes this card worthless

February 6th, 2003

Pros: Fastest video card around
Cons: Runs hot due to sloppy cooling design

The Bottom Line: Despite having thought put into the speed, they clearly
did
not think of cooling it properly. And cooling is very important.



------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

Full Review
Hearing the reputation of the 9700 Pro video card, I bought one. I
loaded up
Quake III, set the rendering options to maximum and the display size to
1024x768x32-bit color depth. Q3A played for 15 minutes before my system
locked up. I rebooted Windows XP, which told me the computer likely
failed
because of a certain driver. The driver was related to the video card.
So I
played Q3A again - locked up in 10 minutes. I took the computer apart
and
touched the back of the 9700. The area behind the CPU was extremely hot
to
the touch.

I exchanged the card, thinking the heatsink was not attached correctly -

improper contact causes overheating. But lo and behold, I had stability
problems with the replacement as well; though not as bad.

And I can't tell you the URL which points out the truth, but do a search
on
the web for "Radeon 9700 cooling shim" or variants. There is a square
shim
surrounding the GPU - it was put there, probably as a last-minute
addition,
to protect the GPU when the heatsink is attached to the card. ATi
designed
the shim to raise higher than the GPU core. The result of this is that
the
heatsink does not make proper contact. This is why the card readily
heats
and crashes the system. Inadequate transfer of heat.

I've also read on some chat forums that people have had distortion
problems
occur as soon as 2 months of using the card. This is because the
overheating
slowly damages the circuitry.

Search for a Tyan Tachyon G9700 instead if you want the power. Its
cooling
design is far superior and also comes with monitoring software to warn
you
if the card overheats. It's very nice. ATi should have done the same!

Or if you want the #2 brand which isn't as powerful but is the better
choice
given the cost/performance ratio, go for a BFG Asylum using the nVidia
4600
GPU - which costs half the price ($200) and has a longer warranty
(lifetime,
compared to ATi's 5 years)!

But avoid the pretty red box that's "Built By ATi". You will have
problems
at some point.

[Nxs]

I am not a hardware guru or anything but, it sounds like the same problem my neighbor is having and to solve his problem, we bought him a new power supply and that seemed to do the trick

[jeff]

Hmmm...I, and many many others are running ATI 9700 Pro's with no problems. If your PC was already running hot, the 9700 would certainly push it over the threshholds, and shut it down.

Why not try:

1: Monitor the temperature of your CPU and case by installing whatever MB probe/monitor software came with your motherboard (usually on the cd). My ASUS MB's came with "PC Probe", and my K7SEM came with Winbond Hardware Doctor.
2. If the case temp is too high, add another case fan ($8)...if you don't have an open mounting for another fan, install a "slot" fan,
3. If the CPU temp is too hot, get some thermal grease, pop-off the CPU Cooling fan, and apply a thin layer between the CPU and cooling unit.

The more we crank up our PC's, the more important having a good cooling system becomes.

Hope this helps...

Jeff

[Jdub22]

I got the TYAN TACHYON G9700 PRO card and I haven't had a single problem with it. If anyone is having trouble with cooling on the ATI one, try to return it and get a Tyan because man, it comes with it's own OC software in the box and the card is literally wrapped in heat sinks. card rocks and when HL2 comes out, I'm going to give up sleeping.

[Syanide]

Why not try a PCI slot fan.....might kool your rig down a little...although i am by far no expert

Some very good posts here. Couple things I would add is did you physically look at all your fans to see if they are working esp on the card? Whats your power supply? What are you running the card at 2x 4x 8x? Latest bios? The shim on the heatsink would surely cause heating problems and the Tyan is a better product.