ATI Radeon 9700 PRO screwed up

[Brad1785]

Hello,
I recently purchased a 9700 PRO in august of 2003. It's been working fine since then, but these past three months, it's been screwing up. It runs games in the lowest possible FPS imagineable (Splinter cell at 1280 1024 25 FPS) and Unreal 2003 at 35 in some areas with bots. I have no idea why it's doing this, but it's making me mad because this card is still very good, and it shouldn't run so low FPS. I have the latest Catalyst driver 4.3 i think and I have posted my Dxdiag below, any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 3/14/2004, 10:54:55
Machine name: YOUR-RVLNHR6V8D
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 1 (2600.xpsp1.020828-1920)
Language: English (Regional Setting: German)
System Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 06
System Model: D7218V-ABA 555E
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2200+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.8GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 247MB used, 2218MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0b (4.09.0000.0902)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.0001.0902 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: RADEON 9700 PRO
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: RADEON 9700 AGP (0x4E44)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E44&SUBSYS_00021002&REV_00
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Default Monitor
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6430 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 2/24/2004 21:47:26, 398336 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: ati2mtag.sys
Mini VDD Date: 2/24/2004 21:47:04, 679424 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-0D04-11CF-AC6A-0820A1C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x4E44
SubSys ID: 0x00021002
Revision ID: 0x0000
Revision ID: 0x0000
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D
Deinterlace Caps: {07654321-3046-4FF0-AECC-D58CB5F035FC}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{07654321-3046-4FF0-AECC-D58CB5F035FC}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{07654321-3046-4FF0-AECC-D58CB5F035FC}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{07654321-3046-4FF0-AECC-D58CB5F035FC}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

[extreme_gamer]

you might want to try turning off antialiasing and anistropic filtering... i find even if you have these turned up to 2x out of 8x, it can lower your performance by up to 50%!

but you know 25FPS is like heaven to me, i'd be perfectly fine with 10FPS with my setup. =)

[Brad1785]

Hmm
I really want to run Pandora Tomorrow on my setup, but they recommend a 9800 PRO! I might just buy it on the Xbox to save myself the hassle of this card.
What is your setup, extreme_gamer? Have you heard about what is needed to run the new splinter cell?
Thanks

[extreme_gamer]

amd 2500+, OCed to ~1929Mhz, 11 X multiplier and 175Mhz fsb frequency
corsair 256MB 400Mhz Pc 3200 UCed to 350Mhz...... because of the CPU OC
geforce fx 5200 128mb AGP vid card, OCed to 293MhzGPU/451MhzMem, orginal 250/400
1GB page file
DX 9.0b
Windows 2000

i would overclock more, but i dont like my system any warmer than 51C

[RamonGTP]

Originally posted by Brad1785
Hmm
I really want to run Pandora Tomorrow on my setup, but they recommend a 9800 PRO! I might just buy it on the Xbox to save myself the hassle of this card.
What is your setup, extreme_gamer? Have you heard about what is needed to run the new splinter cell?
Thanks

The 9800Pro isnt THAT much faster than the 9700Pro. You'll be fine.

[Chuckiechan]

Brad, I think you can go into bios and see if fastwrites are enabled. If they are, disable them.

Also, you may want to uninstall (see if they have a uninstall utility, if they do it's the best way to go) and use your original driver as a comparison. Then step up from there.

As a rule, you don't need to keep updating video drivers unless you are having issues. Your newest driver could be your problem.

You have a load of cabability in the card, probably more than any game requires except to run on max detail.

G'luck...

[tony_j15]

As a rule, you don't need to keep updating video drivers unless you are having issues. Your newest driver could be your problem.

I would highly disagree! Newer drivers fix compatibility issues and make games run faster, proven fact. That said, you may want to roll back to an earlier driver to see if that fixes your problem.

[Brad1785]

Thanks everyone who replied!
I will try that fastwrite thingy and reply back on how/if it worked.
Thanks!

[RamonGTP]

Originally posted by tony_j15


I would highly disagree! Newer drivers fix compatibility issues and make games run faster, proven fact. That said, you may want to roll back to an earlier driver to see if that fixes your problem.

If that isn't a contridiction of ones self... I don't know what is.

[Brad1785]

Hi,
I tried to disable the fastwrite thing, but it wasn't in my BIOS. I'm going to roll back to another driver. Any other suggestions?
Thanks@!