WTF guys! My new gfx card isnt working properly.

[J-Roc]

This thing is starting to piss me off a little. When i buy a top of the line card, i expect better than this.

ok, here's how it goes. I got my new Diamond 3870 X2 from ebay and installed it. I'm using it now so it's working, or is it? On sevral attempts to play video games the game loads a black screen and i cant get out of it. I have to hard boot the system to regain useabillity. I've updated the drivers, done all the comon stuff. IDK whats happening.

Also, ATI Tools will start in the system tray but will freeze when i try and open its window. There is surprisingly little support for this card. What can i do?

[edit] My computer seems really slow since i've installed this aswell.

[crenn]

Did you use official drivers? (ie downloaded from the ATi website)

[Crazy Buddhist]

J-Roc

Looking at the May 2008 CustomPC mag they reviewed another 3870X2 card (from MSI). They encountered a lot of problems and blamed shoddy Beta drivers. ATI release updated drivers monthly so they will be clearly working better fairly soon.

More importantly, we'd wait for driver updates to appear before considering buying any Radeon HD 3870 X2 card, as there are clearly significant problems in that department

Is your card working? I'm reminded of Startrek, "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it" .... yes your card is working (probably) .... and it will (probably) be working a lot better in another month or two when the driver releases have caught up with the bug discovery.

CrazyB

[FuzzyPlushroom]

I agree with the Buddhist here - new ATi cards always have crap drivers for the first few months. I've been through that with my old x1600 (bought in May '06) but by July or August they'd released drivers that didn't suck, and it was great.

Give it a month or two and it should be all set.

[jdbnsn]

I've been an avid ATI owner for years, and as happy as I am with thier hardware I must admit that they are almost always difficult to get started off the line. I always have to tweak and try different things to get it hashed out, but once they are running smooth I'm always impressed with the results.

I'm going to move this to the video card section...

[crenn]

If you still have the card, try the new 8.6 drivers.

[J-Roc]

I'll do that crenn. Allthough im going to wait untill my new computer is built and see if the upgraded specs help eliminate any bottlenecks there might have been.

I've upgraded to a Bone Trail X38 mobo(with pci-e 2.0), Q9300 proc, 2Gb 1333 XMS3, and a 750 watt coolermaster with the damn 8pin PCI-e connector so i'll actually be able to use the overdrive functions on the card.

I hope all goes well and the upgrades bost performance signifigantly. I'm just waiting on the psu to arrive and i should have the new comp running a few days after that.

[Crazy Buddhist]

I'm not sure that the 8-pin is only needed for o/d functions - may have been causing some of yr problems here.

Crazy

[crenn]

I believe CB is right..... did the manual say that connector was only needed for OC function?

[Crazy Buddhist]

"The X2 has two auxiliary power plugs onboard, one of the older six-pin variety and another of the newer eight-pin sort. The card will work fine with a six-pin plug in that eight-pin port, but you'll need to use an eight-pin connector in order to unlock the Overdrive overclocking utility in AMD's control panel."

- from Tech report

In other words .. If you have had one six pin connector in the six pin and left the eight pin bare you will not have been powering the card enough for basic operation. If you had two x six pin connectors - one in each socket you'll have enough juice for everything but Overdrive.

Crazy