Seeking Driver and Configuration Setup for ATI HD3870

[Guest nd55b]

I recently upgraded my hardware which features a Xeon 3350 processor (same core as Q9450) and ATI HD3870 graphics adapter. I am running Catalyst 8.4 w/ stock options; OS is Windows XP SP3 w/ DirectX 9.0c. Also running a freshly installed FSX SP2 w/ stock display options and no add-ons. Things work swimmingly for a short time. However, as soon as I start to pan the view, I experience massive geometry corruption and missing textures. Frame rates tumble from a steady 30 to < 1 FPS. Examining task manager reveals cores 2-4 are thrashing wildly when this badness starts.I've done my due diligence on hardware: memtest86 runs clean (multiple passes). Prime95 runs clean (multiple passes). Max CPU temp in Prime95 is ~65C. In FSX, it's about 55C. GPU temperature is > 50...usually in the low 40's. No other graphical anomalies in any other game I presently run.I tried rolling back to SP1, and that didn't help.I'm left thinking this is some driver/configuration issue and wondered if anyone here had experienced anything like this with this card or could point me in a direction.Thanks.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,927]

What are your AA/AF and other related settings and how are you setting them? CCC or something else?I had a 3870X2 until recently and had none of the problems you describe on FSX with SP1/2 installed.Cheers,

[Guest nd55b]

AA and AF are both set to Application Defined and are disabled in FSX (filtering is set to Bilinear). All my FSX graphics settings are currently running at their defaults.PS. Do you recall what driver set you are/were using with your 3870?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,927]

Application Defined means you have to set them in FSX so if you haven't then it will look bad. Setting AA/AF in FSX is not recommended as you only have fixed settings.Use CCC to set AA to 2X or 4X (depending on resolution) and 16X AF. Currently you don't appear to have anything set.Keep filtering in FSX to Bilinear but try Trilinear as you may prefer that.I've tried 8.2, 8.3 and 8.4 and all were about the same. If you've come from an nVidia card you'll be pleased with IQ once you have things setup correctly.Time for bed here.

[Guest nd55b]

>Use CCC to set AA to 2X or 4X (depending on resolution) and>16X AF. Currently you don't appear to have anything set.I'm also running at 1024x768 :) This is very much intentional. I'm just trying to boil everything down to the lowest common denominator and abuse the graphics card as little as possible. I am troubled that with minimal settings, this card is seemingly falling apart on FSX. Is there a memtest equivalent for VRAM?

[Guest nd55b]

Ha! On pure whim, after banging my head uselessly against a wall for several hours, I decided to turn my focus to this old USR 56K PCI Fax Modem I installed from my old box to see if it was functional in this new board. Strangely, it was inoperable. Already frustrated by my video situation, I decided not to waste another breath on hardware (especially a P.O.S. modem) and yanked it out. Then it dawned on me that maybe this non-functional relic from the mid-90's was disrupting the PCI bus. Sure as I'm sitting here, I fired up FSX and I was locked solid at 30FPS. I ratcheted up all my settings, applied your recommended AA/AF, and was still clocking a solid 30FPS (locked). No corruption of any kind.Go figure! Best I can reason is that the defunct modem was rejiggering the BIOS PCI latencies in some manner and throwing off the timings on the entire bus. My old BIOS had an explicit option for setting PCI latency, but that apparently has been deprecated.Anyway, I think I'll probably stick with the 3870 over the modem :)PS. Enabling AF in FSX produces absolutely woeful performance in clouds (worse than my old 1900XT Pro); setting it from the driver yields significantly better results. Makes me wonder if FSX is doing some kind of software AA.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,927]

Well done! I wouldn't have guessed at the modem but t shows that when you have a problem you strip a PC down to essential components only.Cheers,

[Guest UlfB]

Ray,This case makes me wonder about some other simmers that have OC:ed CPUs and GPUs and should really be able to enjoy FSX with extremely good fps. But instead they suffer from distorted graphics and other problems. I wonder what would happen if they removed any OC:ing and other hardware tweaks. Maybe some would discover that they passed the thin line between a stable OC and an unstable one?Ulf B

[Guest nd55b]

I'm not sure I follow. How does removing a modem relate to unstable overclocking (especially since nobody is overclocking here).

[Guest UlfB]

>I'm not sure I follow. How does removing a modem relate to>unstable overclocking (especially since nobody is overclocking>here).Nothing to do with your issue ;-) But reminds me how hard it can to distinguish different hardware problems from each other. A problem with a graphics card could easily be perceived as a faulty graphics card or a driver issue. But the underlying cause could be, as in your case a faulty PCI card. In another case it could be an overtweaked and unstable mobo.Hope this clarifies my post.Ulf B