PCTech Forums

Hi guys, I just picked up a new custom made computer: An Amd Athlon 3400, (128 MB) Radeon 9800 pro, 1024 MB of Ram and a Seagate 120 Gigabyte Hardrive.

Now those are my specs here's where the trouble is; I just got this computer back yesterday from my fathers friend whos a pro at building custom computers and never makes mistakes. When I rebooted the computer for the first time and windows xp loaded for the second time I started to get artifacts all over every icon and also on random messages from windows that pop up (even the user icons when you log onto windows xp). I fixed that problem because supposedly my card can't handle windows xp on the highest hardware acceleration (which is the default setting). But now I'm getting this problem in every game I play; it's not just a few artifact glitches popping up here and there there all over the screen almost like a checkerboard pattern...

The games I've played so far are Mafia and Doom 3 and they both look the same. Should I return my card? Are there any settings I can change?


P.S. My brother has the EXACT same computer up to the case and he is having no problems at all...

Have you tried fiddeling with the resolution in the DISPLAY panel and/or in the games options.

Check the back of the game case to see what the settings need to be.

Jay

Yeah, I'm 95% sure resolution isn't the problem here. Thanks for the response though. I understand that usually a card is overheating when you get artifact glitches like this and it shouldn't be. It's still not fixed though, ack I really don't want to return it but it's starting to look like i have to.

I think your CPU and Graphic card are fine,but your alittle low in memory I think.
Mafia requires minimum 128mb or better so your probly ok on that game but Doom 3 requires a minmum of 384mb.
I would add more memory like another 256mb stick.
Just my thoughts....


Cactus

I agree, If it was overheating the system would come up with the BSOD, or reboot while your playing them!
(didnt think of memory )

1024MB isn't enough???

Sorry Zoltan...I read your post wrong....

That's plenty of memory...

lol... take the card back!!

Cactus

Thanks for your help Cactus...

PS Calvin and Hobbes rocks

Something else you may want to look at is the chipset on the MainBoard.
I have run into trouble installing ATI graphics cards on a board with Nvidia chipset and some Via Chipsets. However Via usually have pretty good updates for these chipsets and is somewhat easier to get it to work. Just a thought, not saying that is your problem, but is certainly something to look at if you change the card and it keeps having a problem.

Thanks for all your help guys, I realized it was the card and I returned. The guy at the store didn't even have to open a game to see that the card was faulty so i got a new one in the end and its working well.