ATI Radeon x600 Issues

[junk]

Hello, I am bit of a newbie at this PC building game and I having some issues. I was hoping someone here might have some ideas and be kind enough to help.

I have a MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI motherboard. I have an ATI Radeon x600 Pro All in Wonder PCI Express video card.

I have put everything together and installed Windows XP SP2. I also downloaded the latest Catalyst drivers from ATI.

Windows appears to run fine. However, if I try to run a game (such as BF 1942 or Star Wars Battlefront), the PC will either a) reboot itself once the game starts running (it will run all the startup videos, etc) or b) will run with a sort of a purple checkerboard pattern interspersed in the game.

Also, if I try to watch a DVD video, I get a green pattern in the video (think the Matrix scrolling through my video).

I have tried various settings under Display in Control Panel and I am not having much luck. MSI suggested it was a video card issue. ATI suggested I check out their common display problems and gave me a dead link. I can't even access the bulk of their site now.

Any suggestions? If anyone needs more info, just let me know.

Thanks in advance.

[shadowbreaker513]

What brand/wattage is your power supply? Sounds like either a power issue or a bad card.

[junk]

What brand/wattage is your power supply? Sounds like either a power issue or a bad card.

It is a RaidMax 420W power supply. That was one of my thoughts, actually. MSI suggests higher (which it didnt state when I ordered).

Would not having enough power cause behavior like I have seen?

Thanks for the feedback.

[kram 2.0]

Welcome to PC Mech forums :)

Power Supply Units are not about the wattage but rather the real electrical output you get from the box. PSU manufacturers take advantage of many's instinct that wattage is power which is certainly wrong. Wattage, in this perspective, should be defined rather as the amount of electrical output given at a certain temperature at any given time.

Your RaidMax PSU is not very accomodating - although 420W, it could in real-time be anywhere between 300W~350W, in some cases, less. That falls a bit short of the requirements of the ATI AIW cards. On top of that, you may be risking card failiure by using unsteady electrical output. I recommend you switch the PSU. Why I say this is RaidMax has traditionally not been a very recommendable PSU - you might consider brands like Thermaltake, Enlight, or Antec.

Also, another precaution. On top of the Catalyst 5.2 (Feb. Version) drivers, be sure you have installed the All-In-Wonder functions and then see how things go. I highly suspect this to be a combination of the hardware within the PSU and drivers.

kram

[junk]

Thanks for the help.

I ordered a new power supply and we will see how that works out.

[kram 2.0]

Thanks for the help.

I ordered a new power supply and we will see how that works out.
Just curious but what power supply did you order?

kram

[junk]

Just curious but what power supply did you order?

kram

I ordered a Rosewill.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-182-010&depa=0

Seemed to meet the specs of the motherboard and have enough power to run what I need.

Hopefully, it solves my issues. I was bound to make at least one mistake. A power supply is an easy enough fix. It could have bee a lot worse.

Thanks again.

[glc]

That may be no better than the Raidmax. That particular power supply is made by Coolmax, this is an unknown brand. 60 bucks for 550 watts is too cheap for quality. As already stated, when it comes to power supplies, it's quality that counts, not quantity. I have a customer with a Dell 8400 running that EXACT video card on a 350 watt power supply with no issues - and Dell has always used quality power supplies.

[junk]

Well, I am back. I got the advice on the Rosewill too late after I had already ordered.

Anyway, I got the Rosewill and installed it, fired things up and everything seemed to work perfectly. DVD video was real nice and I was able to fire up BF 1942.

However, after a few minutes (15?), I got some of the same purple checkerboard pattern. While it was much better than before (I could still see what was going on), it is still an issue. The DVD also reverted to the green Matrix type pattern.

Any ideas on what I am doing wrong? Is there some video setting for the x600 that I am not setting up right? Does the system eventually draw enough power that the video craps out?

I guess at this point I am suspecting that power supply was part of the problem, but there is something else going on as well.

Thanks in advance again.