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XbLaDe · Tue Oct 29, 2002 5:51 pm

ATI RADEON 9000 PRO 128MB DDR AGP Graphics Card.....$149
is this a good graphics card or is there something better in the price range?

I put a new system together and get beeps from the bios speaker. I had a Asus P4S8X and had this problem...I sent it back and got a Asus P4PE and still have the same problem....so I am guessing it is the graphics card.

I now have:
Asus P4PE
2.53 Mhz
Visiontek Xtasey AGP G4 420MX 64 meg ram (don't know if it is ddr or not)
512 Meg of Corsair XMS3200
100 Gig Western Digital with 8meg cache
Lite-On DVD
Lite-On 40x12x40 Burner
Emerson 3 1/2 Floppy Drive
Thermaltake Xaser II case with 5 fans
Raidmax 400 power supply

I don't know if the G4-420MX is bad or incompatable with these boards or what.
The Asus Monitor shows the 3.3 voltage at 3.028 without doing anything and after going online and scrolling thru text or graphics I get beeps more often and sometimes the asus monitor pops open and the 3.3 voltage is down to 2.9??
If I just turn the pc on and don't touch anything....just let it set there and run I get 1 single beep about evrey 2 or 3 minutes.

I don't know if I should suspect the power supply or graphics card....but just a few mins ago....I installed Madden 2003 to see if the graphic card would work......and my pc went crazy beeping continiously one short beep after another until I exited the game, so that is why I suspect the graphics card. Has anyone else had issues with this mobo and graphics card?

Does the raiden card sould like a good deal and will it work with this system? I think it said it had 550mhz clock and 128meg DDR memory.
Any opinions would be appreciated!

johnleiwoo · Tue Oct 29, 2002 7:49 pm

For around that much money u could get urself a ti4200 and spank the heck outta the radeon 9000pro.

Wed Oct 30, 2002 12:36 am

What are you currently running as a heatsink? Usually repeated beeps like that is a heat warning. You might want to check and see what your core temp is at and if your heatsink is mounted properly.

XbLaDe · Wed Oct 30, 2002 1:36 am

I bought the Mobo/cpu/ram combo.....everything already installed.
Using the standard Intel heatsink/fan that come with the motherboard.
The cpu temp stays around 45c and the mobo temp is around 24c
The Asus monitor and the Bios both show these temps.

Wed Oct 30, 2002 1:54 am

Well, the temps look okay it may be the power supply that is going bad. The voltage drops you are getting seem real severe for a 400W power supply. Look at the side of the PSU and see what kind of ampereage that it puts out. You should have at least 14 amps on the 3.3 line. If you do not, the psu is a cheapo and you should replace it with a better one that has a better output. Amperage is like horsepower on a car, it is how well the psu pushes out the current. If the amperage is low, the psu will struggle when your system needs power on the different lines.

XbLaDe · Wed Oct 30, 2002 2:24 am

I have no idea what this means but this is what is on the side of the box!

+3.3v --- 28A
+5v --- 30A
+12v --- 25A
-5v --- 0.3A
-12v --- 0.8A
+5Vsb --- 2.0A

does this look ok?

Of course that is what it is supposed to be....doesn't mean that is what it is! I have no idea how to check to see it that is actually what I am getting.
Is there software that will tell me what I am actually getting? I don't have any testing equipment to check it.

Wed Oct 30, 2002 2:38 am

The specs look okay, but i would tell you to boot up your computer and check what your voltages are running at. If you are still getting huge drops on all your lines, I would turn off your computer and check to make sure that the board is not shorting out on anything inside your case. Make sure that you don not have any board supports touching the board that are not below screwholes. If you do not have anything shorting out the board, I would say that your psu may be going bad. You are not overclocking anything are you? If everything checks out, you may need to upgrade your psu to a stronger wattage. Vantec makes a good 460 and 520W psu. I run enermax 550W in both of my boxes because I run a lot of stuff in there with high speed fans and lots of drives. I had problems where my system would not even start up with a 400W psu. I had to go for the biggest psu I could get at the time to get my box to work.

XbLaDe · Wed Oct 30, 2002 2:51 am

I am pretty sure the mobo isn't grounding anywhere....but I will double check in the morning.
I am not overclocking anything.
As for the voltages after reboot.
+12v --- 11.712
+5v --- 5.08
+3.3v --- 3.04

I assume you don't think the Graphics Card is a problem?

I have the same voltages with only the hd and graphics card connected....I disconnected everything else.

Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:07 am

Do you have a spare card to check with? You may want to check if you do. Your voltages seen a little off especially the 12v line. I would keep an eye on the voltages for a while and check and see if they move up and down at all. Maybe try playing some games and see if they bounce at all. If the voltages are not stable, I would say it is the psu. If they do stay stable, then I would say that the vid card is the problem since that is the only thing left by the process of elimination. The MX420 is not a really great card anyway you would be much better off performance wise with either the 4200 geforce 4 or 9500 radeon. Post back and let me know how it goes.

XbLaDe · Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:13 am

I have an old TNT 16 meg card .......... should that work with this new mobo?

yea I hope to find out if the psu is bad......I can exchange it for another one before Nov 2 ....... my 30 days will be up then...LOL

If you think the TNT card will work.......I will get that checked out tonight.
Thanks for all the help!

Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:19 am

Yea that card should work. No problem helping you out, that is what I am her for.

XbLaDe · Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:46 am

Just letting ya know the TNT card wouldn't fit into the slot on the new mobo.
Think I will just replace the psu.........will probably take a week or so to get the new one..........I will let ya know something then!

Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:52 am

well, good luck with the new psu, I hope that will solve your problem. Computer problems are fun, arent they

You got to watch out for the computer gremlins :lol:

rusty · Wed Oct 30, 2002 2:37 pm

the tnt card is either pci or agp, and on a new mobo you should have both. A gf4 is most certainly agp as well, so I can't see how it wouldn't fit?

also try underclocking your cpu to see if that helps the beeps. if it does then u know u need a new cpu, free if its under warranty. just put the clock speed from 133mhz or whatever it is down 10mhz or so.

I say this because I have 2.53ghz and my temp is 35 on boot, up to about 42 running. I have a big fan though.

XbLaDe · Thu Oct 31, 2002 12:24 am

rusty

The TNT card only has one slot cut into the card......and the g4 has two slots ........ the socket requires 2 slots.
They are both AGP cards, guess they just changed the design for some reason....LOL

When I get the new PSU, if I still have the beeps I will give your suggestion of underclocking the cpu a try........Thanks!

Thu Oct 31, 2002 12:59 am

The TNT must be the old 3.3 V 2XAGP version, the new AGP version is the 1.5V 4X AGP version with the 2 slots cut out. I had an old TNT card that was the 4X version, so they must have made two AGP versions of the card. It will not fit in the board so that the card will not get fried.

XbLaDe · Thu Oct 31, 2002 4:47 pm

Yea.....It came with a Dell P3 500mhz, I purchased back in 1999
guess that is kinda old......LOL

Fri Nov 01, 2002 12:26 am

That is not that bad, I have several old boxes around here with P 1 chips and an old 486, so dont feel bad. I do a lot of vintage gaming on these computers, so they still get used.

XbLaDe · Fri Nov 01, 2002 11:20 am

Well I just ordered my new PSU this morning......should be here Monday or Tuesday........hope this is a good one!

Thermaltake Silent PurePower, 420W, ( Active PFC ), ATX power supply. UL, CSA, TUV, CE Approved. Intel Pentium 4 Compliant. Switches: ATX Logic on-off additional power rocker switch (115/230 Volt selector switch). Fan: 2 ball-bearing Fans, Temp. Auto Control. 1300 rpm at 25°C ~, 2400 rpm at 80°C. P. G. Signal: 100-500ms. Over Voltage Protection recycle AC to reset: +5V trip point < +6.8V. +3.3V trip point < +4.5V. +12V trip point <+15.6V. Unit Size: 15cm(L)x14cm(W)x8.6cm

I got this because I have a Thermaltake Case and it comes with a temp/fan contol......the Raidmax I sent back didn't have a connector for this.......hopefully Thermaltake should have! And the Active PFC is supposed to deliver 95 to 99% of the rated power!

Sat Nov 02, 2002 12:15 am

I did some research for you on that raidmax psu. It is made by the same company that makes deer psu's. Deer psu's are the worst POS power supplies that you can buy. The one that you are getting is way better quality than the old one. Hopefully that will fix your problem, and you can get your computer running.

XbLaDe · Sat Nov 02, 2002 9:13 pm

A little late to ask I guess, but this is the graphics card I ordered......should be here shortly after the new psu arrives.
What to ya think of this card for $185
I want to be able to play 3D games some....but mainly interested in converting video formats......like avi to mpeg etc
Not familiar with Albatron brand....anyone know anything about them?
Sounds like a great card, but things aren't always what the mfgr. says...LOL!

Wanna Get Ti4600 performance with Ti4200 price???ALBATRON GeForce 4 TI4200P TURBO (NVIDIA GeForce4 TI4200 GPU), 128MB DDR, DVI+VGA TV-Out. w/DVI adaptor
Specifications:
Used an 8-layer PCB (same one as the Ti4600)
Chipset:NVIDIA GeForce4 TI4200 GPU
Memory:128MB DDR Memory
3.3ns BGA DDR RAM (VRAM clock cycles to exceed 550Mhz)
Accuview Antialiasing
Lightspeed Memory ArchitectureT II
Dual Programmable Vertex Shaders
Advanced programmable Pixel Shaders
8 Texels per clock cycle
High-quality HDTV/DVD Playback
High Definition Video Processor (HDVP)
DVI adaptor is included
Comes bundled with Software Titles

MOJO777 · Sat Nov 02, 2002 9:42 pm

That video card looks good, albatron is a great company. YoU can o/c it to about 315\630. The ASUS geforce 4 ti4200 is also pretty good.

JAV · Sun Nov 03, 2002 6:06 pm

XbLaDe,

The Albatron P Turbo is a top of the line Ti4200! Albatron is an established company that has just (last 6 months) started making cards & mobo's. Excellent quality control is their forte. That card will smoke 4400's & give 4600's a good run!

Get the PSU in & enjoy the card.

JAV
GBA!

Mon Nov 04, 2002 1:45 am

That card is real great, you will get some real good performance out of it. Like mojo777 said, you can overclock it real good and get excellent performance out of it. With that new psu you should have no problems at all.

XbLaDe · Wed Nov 06, 2002 3:28 pm

Just letting ya know, I got my new PSU and Video Card today!
Installed and my problems seem to be solved at this point...no beeping and the voltage is good (the +12v is 11.87, I assume that isn't bad).
All other voltages are pretty much on the money!

I will fool around with it for awhile to see if any problems develop, but I am really happy now!

I will start another thread later if I have any problems, or need a little help with overclocking (may give it a try)!

One more thing....that is one big video card...LOL
When I first installed it, it wouldn't work. I had to loosen the bracket and jiggle it a little. I didn't tighten the bracket back real tight...and it works great now!

Thanks to all, Starfalcon in particular, for the great help!

Wed Nov 06, 2002 7:39 pm

I am glad you got your computer working. No problem with helping you out. Happy gaming

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New system problems! Need help with graphics card.

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