Are you having troubles with your Sapphire X1950PRO 512MB AGP?

How's your Sapphire X1950PRO 512MB AGP?

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judging by you experience guys? it;s an enermax EG465AX-VE(G)
according to specs it has 33A in 12V line..

detailed specs here: http://www.enermax.com.tw/english/product_Display1.asp?PrID=28

and review here: http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=8233

i have it for 3,5 years now ( best PSU i could find back then..) and I;m very happy with it, voltage is rock solid in all lines no matter the load. On the other hand it IS 3,5 year old and i;m a bit worried it might not be as robust as it once was...
 
Power-wise, its right on the edge of the recommended specs. My old PSU was a 480W 28A Tagan. When I installed the X1950 I checked the voltages on idle and all was ok and stable. Then I checked with it under load for 15 mins and the voltages were very unstable and PSU itself became quite hot too touch. So I ordered a new Enermax Noisetaker II and all is now ok. I didn't use the X1950 again until the Enermax was installed and now everthing ok. Votages stable, PSU cool, X1950 great.

And they all lived happily ever after.....the end :D :p
 
I've just replaced my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB with a Sapphire X1950Pro 512MB from Zipzoomfly. Received the card yesterday, swapped last night.
Fortuantely, everything has worked fine and I have none of the usual issues noted here.

I use a bobo 400watt powersupply from BestBuys Dynex brand (cost me like $10 when I was an employee :) ). It's only got 21A on ONE 12v rail and it powers my system fine. I have the card using 2 connectors on one line from the PSU. Everything else (Mobo, drives) is on other lines. I notice the average voltage is about .1v lower than with the 9800 pro but other than that everything worked perfectly for the 8 hours I was gaming last night.

My install procedure:
Boot system, remove all drivers, download newest Omega drivers, shut down, remove 9800, install x1950, boot system, install Omegas, reboot, game, game, game, benchamrk, game.

Some people say things can't make you happy but damn this card is soooooo much better than a 9800pro.
 
You can now count me as one of the walking wounded. Guess I was pushing my luck since I've already owned a Visiontek and a Sapphire that worked right out of the box.

Here's one thread I never saw before today regarding the HIS card. Found a few others as well on other forums, so I guess no manufacturer has the perfect card.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?threadid=208908

This was pretty much my problem. Damn card with it's fancy cooler, was overheating, although I am satsified I have fixed it. Story below. If you want to skip the venting, jump to the end.

Installation of the HIS ICEQ3 Turbo was a breeze although the GPU was idling higher than I thought it would – 42c. For reference, my Sapphire was idling at 47c. Anyway, I tried my first run of 3DMark05 and my System black screened / card overheated and shutdown in the middle of 3DMark05 / Firefly Forest Test which I understand is the most graphically intensive part of 3DMark05/06 and will work the GPU the hardest. Tried it again, same results. Completely uninstalled Catalyst Driver 6.12 since I just swapped cards without doing so the first time. Re-installed, got through the first run of 3DMark05 and started the happy dance. Ran it a second time and card overheated again and went to black screen in during the 3DMark05/Firefly Forest again. Offically pissed at this point and proceeded to try every trick my brain has absorbed from this Forum and 4 others. I wish I could have said it WAS my power supply, It would have saved me a lot of work.

Below is everything I tried........I think. It's been a long 2 days. Almost everything produced the same results which was a black screen during the second run of 3DMark/05/06 - Firefly Forest Test 2. Temps underload appeared to be around 59c-69c. For reference my case temp is 35c / CPU 40c. Also double checked card to make sure the heatsink and cooler were on properly.

Fast Writes Off

AGP 4X (this also reduced 3DMark score by 50 pts)

AGP AP Size: 256MB (grasping at straws)

Intsalled Catalyst 6.11 / Catalyst 7.1 / and reverted back to 6.12 after no change.

Intsalled ATI Tray Tools and increased Fan Speed to reasonable levels such as 40c with fan 60%

Underclocked HIS to 580 core / 700 mem / using ATI Tray Tools and reset HIS Cooler Fan to defaults – still black screened after test 2.

Changed case air-flow by disconnecting Thermaltake Fan which was blowing air-in on side of case. Thought side fan may be disrupting air flow of the HIS cooler. Changed air-flow by disconnecting Thermaltake Fan which was blowing air-out of the top of my case. No change in case temps or GPU temps after disconnecting both. Existing intake fan on the front of case and 2 rear fans blowing air-out doing an adequate job I guess. Well, at least I cut down on some case noise.

Increased Fan Speeds using ATI Tray Tool to 40c with 90% fan, overheating / black screen problem gone!

Finally upped Fan-Speed to 100% at all times using ATI Tray Tools. Why not, can't hear the HIS Cooling Fan over my existing case/cpu fans anyway. HIS Card now idles at 36c and underload it maxxes at 54c. Looped 3DMark06 six times without crashing. Used ATI Tray Tools 3DRenderer/artifact tester and maintained 54c for over 2 hours without any issues. Haven't tried overclocking the card yet beyond the default speeds of 620 core / 742 mem. I may give it a try once I catch my breath. Oh yeah, I also managed to play a few games as well. Prey and Quake 4 worked without issue, and also played a round of Marvel Alliance with the kid.

So what's the moral of the story? Quit while your a head. Just be careful what you wish for. Feel free to have some fun at my expense. I need a laugh.

Hey, just checked the mail and I just got the guys $285 Money Order for my Sapphire. At least I didnt get stiffed too.
 
honestjohn said:
Installation of the HIS ICEQ3 Turbo was a breeze although the GPU was idling higher than I thought it would – 42c. For reference, my Sapphire was idling at 47c. Anyway, I tried my first run of 3DMark05 and my System black screened / card overheated and shutdown in the middle of 3DMark05 / Firefly Forest Test which I understand is the most graphically intensive part of 3DMark05/06 and will work the GPU the hardest. Tried it again, same results. Completely uninstalled Catalyst Driver 6.12 since I just swapped cards without doing so the first time. Re-installed, got through the first run of 3DMark05 and started the happy dance. Ran it a second time and card overheated again and went to black screen in during the 3DMark05/Firefly Forest again. Offically pissed at this point and proceeded to try every trick my brain has absorbed from this Forum and 4 others. I wish I could have said it WAS my power supply, It would have saved me a lot of work.

Increased Fan Speeds using ATI Tray Tool to 40c with 90% fan, overheating / black screen problem gone!

Finally upped Fan-Speed to 100% at all times using ATI Tray Tools. Why not, can't hear the HIS Cooling Fan over my existing case/cpu fans anyway. HIS Card now idles at 36c and underload it maxxes at 54c. Looped 3DMark06 six times without crashing. Used ATI Tray Tools 3DRenderer/artifact tester and maintained 54c for over 2 hours without any issues. Haven't tried overclocking the card yet beyond the default speeds of 620 core / 742 mem.
Click to expand...
I reckon you got a problem with the card, heatink or cooler. I've got my HIS set at 45% at 35c, 50% at 40c, 64% at 45c and 77% @ 50c. Under load GPU temp will briefly rise above 50c but then drops and will mostly stay between 47-50c. Idles between 38-42c.

How do you get the RAM to overclock or underclock? If I try via ATT the speed goes beserk and my rig freezes. Mind you haven't installed latest ATT.....:rolleyes:

Edit: Just remembered. Before I installed the HIS I'd read somewhere on a forum that the HIS X1950 PCIe tends to fail at temps above 60c. That was why I set the fans the way I did from the moment of installation.
 
RMA'd sapphire card from Allstarshop is stable after one week with Antec neoHE 550 (my fingers are stiil crossed). Seems to me that an awful lot of the first cards shipped from the mfgs had problems perhaps rectified with later/rma shipments (too bad they didnt catch the problems at the outset). I don't intend on overclocking until cooling is upgraded (Zalman probably with vrm sinks). In any case I won't be doing anything till I see how the card fairs in the summer heat ("burn in"). Temps are stable at 45/47 idle 50/55 load (using ATITool). I set the fan at 50%.

I must say it is fun going through games with settings maxed at 1280x1024 (lcd native res)

I've owned a lot of video cards over the last five years, this is the first time a vid card upgrade has been a struggle. It would be nice if the mfg/resellers would pay the cost for shipping cards back on RMA considering the high incidence of defects.

Just my two cents
 
cozumel said:
I reckon you got a problem with the card, heatink or cooler. I've got my HIS set at 45% at 35c, 50% at 40c, 64% at 45c and 77% @ 50c. Under load GPU temp will briefly rise above 50c but then drops and will mostly stay between 47-50c. Idles between 38-42c.

How do you get the RAM to overclock or underclock? If I try via ATT the speed goes beserk and my rig freezes. Mind you haven't installed latest ATT.....:rolleyes:

Edit: Just remembered. Before I installed the HIS I'd read somewhere on a forum that the HIS X1950 PCIe tends to fail at temps above 60c. That was why I set the fans the way I did from the moment of installation.
Click to expand...

As far as the card goes, I think it's the air-flow in my case heating things up. My hard drive sits almost right across from the graphics card and the cases front intake fan blows air across the hard drive and probably into the graphics card area. Just guessing. Anyway, it's working just fine right now with the fan turned up.

Yeah you're right about the HIS and the 60c thing, that's when mine gives up. I believe I read that on UK Overclockers Forum. Funny I read the same thing about the Sapphire's Forum too, but there breaking point was 70c.

As far as the overclocking/underclocking goes I'm using the lates ATT and the trick is changing the overclocking method to "driver level". After that, it works for most people.

Edit:
I reckon you're right, although I think it's a bad GPU/Core. After some more serious testing of EVERYTHING, I could only get the card completely stable by underclocking GPU to 600-607 mhz. If I use the default core speed of 620 Mhz., I will black-screen even with case cover off. I'm not alone as I got the "good" GPU clock range from someone with the HIS Card over on Overclockers UK Forum with the same problem. Just RMA'd the card.
 
Well, after a little over 2 weeks after purchasing 2 of the boards from ZZF, one of them (the one subject to WOW torture practically 24/7) all of the sudden displayed garbage on the screen and the locked.
Upon reboot, the garbage was still present on the initial boot logo and the machine would boot to the Windoze login prompt (displaying garbage the whole time) but would never reach the desktop. Machine wouldn't lock but both displays would go blank (no signal).
I'm thinking that even though the other hasn't had a problem that I need to subject it to a significant "burn in" before the exchange period expires.
I noticed that the covering on the chip (Rialto bridge?) on the underside appears to have...not sure how to put this...appears to have a "ring" of slight discoloration radiating from the exposed center portion. Temps have been cold here in FL so nothing out of the ordinary (on the high side) there.
 
koumdros said:
judging by you experience guys? it;s an enermax EG465AX-VE(G)
according to specs it has 33A in 12V line..

detailed specs here: http://www.enermax.com.tw/english/product_Display1.asp?PrID=28

and review here: http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=8233

i have it for 3,5 years now ( best PSU i could find back then..) and I;m very happy with it, voltage is rock solid in all lines no matter the load. On the other hand it IS 3,5 year old and i;m a bit worried it might not be as robust as it once was...
Click to expand...

I also want to know the answer for this.

I have the same PSU and I am looking at buying x1950 AGP version.
 
A member of another forum I visit has the exact same PSU running with the Sapphire X1950 and has no problems. Just make sure your the power lead you use for the GFX is not shared with anything else and everything should be ok.
 
I am currently running on a 3 year-old sony vaio pcv-rs511p model with p4 2.8ghz 865g type 800mhz core, 2gb pc2700, 256mb radeon 9800 pro card and I'm looking to soup up my video card, since the fan on my old card died and my system crashes whenever i load anything video intensive. I've been looking at the 512mb radeon x1950 pro to squeeze in my agp, but after reading up on some forums it's likely my PSU won't handle it, not for long at least. I am a newbie with deciphering this, but the sticker on it reads Delta, Total DC output of 266w; +5v --- 18a max; -12v --- .2a max; +3.3v --- 13a max; +12v --- 18a max; +5v, + 3.3v total 122w max; First off how do I tell how many rails I have and at what ampage? I've had trouble finding any recommended psu specs for the radeon line and I would appreciate any suggestions for the best ati card I could go for that my psu would hold up for another year or two. I am not even going to look at replacing the psu as I'm hearing its virtually impossible for a sony system. I've been really tempted at just buying the x1950pro to try out as some posts reported psu's as low as 300w holding it up pretty stabily for at least a few months, but I would rather go for something that would hold me up for a long term without any problems, as I'm looking into running vanguard and bf2 smoothly.
Any help and suggestions appreciated! :cool:
 
I've got to say after a few days of observation and gaming that my powersupply is borderline.

21A on 1 rail is BARELY enough for my system. I used Motherboard Monitor to get the Low/Avg/High of all my votages and the 12V drops to 11.25 pretty often under load. This sucker is workin overtime to keep the x1950 going but it hasn't crashed or overheated yet. I imagine it will hasten the death of my PSU which is now several years old.
 
Well, after 2 weeks I finally recieved my RMA back from Allstar Shop. After reading all the problems related to heat, I decided to buy the Zalman VF900. I installed the new heatsink before I even booted up, and everything went smoothly. The card idles at 40C and maxes out under full load at about 57-59C (compared to 80C with the old stock). Id recommend slapping on this heatsink to anyone purchasing the card. I've ran the artifact scanner for 2 hours straight with no errors (recieved hundres of errors immediately with old card) and gamed all weekend long (mostly World of Warcraft) I'm very happy with the replacement and new heatsink.
 
Looks like someone finally realized there is a problem, more specifically a heat issue, with the some of the X1950 Pro's. They are in fact selling a new version of the Accelero2 with a special Heatspreader for the VRMs. However, there is some debate going on right now whether this is for AGP / PCI-E or both.

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=90&data=3&disc=

Arctic Cooling is also selling the Special VRM Heatspreader by itself on EBay for $1.00 + $5.00 shipping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270082179956

In my opinion they should send one for free to every user who has bought one of their cards already.
 
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my HIS turbo 512MB arrive yesterday... today i found a PCI--Molex adapter and it works fine.

I tried to overcklock it and system locks around 634 or so... i'll run at system temps for a few days and then I'll try to push it slowly. Imay be pushing my luck with my 465w enermax though...even at "stock" speeds i got doubled frame rates in all games...

oh and the card runs at around 45C under low isn that good ( my case has pretty good ventilation..)
 
I'm having the mother of all problems. Have a look I think I'll make a new thread. Called still NO POST:mad:
 
honestjohn said:
Looks like someone finally realized there is a problem, more specifically a heat issue, with the some of the X1950 Pro's. They are in fact selling a new version of the Accelero2 with a special Heatspreader for the VRMs. However, there is some debate going on right now whether this is for AGP / PCI-E or both.

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=90&data=3&disc=

Arctic Cooling is also selling the Special VRM Heatspreader by itself on EBay for $1.00 + $5.00 shipping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270082179956

In my opinion they should send one for free to every user who has bought one of their cards already.
Click to expand...

Well I ordered the Accelero X2 yesterday (was on sale with free shipping), now the question is I should really get the heatspreader and is there any other vendors I can get it from?
 
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YoNeX said:
Well I ordered the Accelero X2 yesterday (was on sale with free shipping), now the question is I should really get the heatspreader and is there any other vendors I can get it from?
Click to expand...

I brought this up on another board and we got into a debate on whether or not this would fit our AGP Cards. I thought it would, so I emailed Arctic Cooling and they just replied last night and said the Heatspreader is only designed for the PCI-E X1950 Pro and they didn't even think about creating one for the AGP X1950 Pro due to the design differences between the various manufacturers.
 
honestjohn said:
I brought this up on another board and we got into a debate on whether or not this would fit our AGP Cards. I thought it would, so I emailed Arctic Cooling and they just replied last night and said the Heatspreader is only designed for the PCI-E 1950 Pro and they could not insure compatibility with any of AGP Cards due to the inconsistent design of PCBs between vendors.
Click to expand...

Well, I have the Saphire 512MB version, not sure if the Accelero X2 heatspreader will work on it or not.
 
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