Viper II and A7V mobo, with 800 T-Bird

[acid_burn~187]

Does anybody have any tips for me??? I have a Diamond MM Viper II Z200 on my A7V mobo with a T-Bird 800. When I play any games, it will freeze after 20 minutes or so! I'm pretty sure it's not heat cauz I have enough cooling and nothing is overclocked. I think it's just a driver issue but I'm pretty sure I installed everything in the proper order.

I had this problem last year on my P5A mobo with my TNT2 Ultra. I had to install the AGP drivers in safe mode then the video drivers. I tried that as well but the problem persists.

any sugestions???

~Paul Stanisci

[lost1]

Have you installed the latest drivers for your Viper card? The drivers that come with the card are kinda buggy, but the new ones work great.
You might also want to check for BIOS upgrades and chipset driver updates from your motherboard manufacturer- that might help.
Sometimes tweaking the BIOS settings will help to alleviate system lockups and crashes. There are plenty of websites around that can steer you in the right direction to get your BIOS set up properly, and the owners manual for your motherboard may have some useful suggestions as well.

Good luck! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[Mr.Goodbytes]

Just a personal preference here, but get rid of the Viper II. S3 Savage chips have always given me grief, not to mention that they never could come close to competition.

[acid_burn~187]

Actually my Viper II performs amazingly!! I play Half Life at 1024 X 768 X 32 with an average framerate of 68 (usually sticks at around 72). That is with my EAX on. I'm still working on the freezing. I got a 300W PSU, Windows ME, and a fan for the video card.... But as I found out, my CPU is WAY above normal temperatures... so i'm buying the biggest friggen fan I can find!

Wish me luck!
thanx

~Paul

[lost1]

Mr. Goodbytes- Sorry to hear you've never had any luck with S3 video. Myself, I've always found their products to be reliable and affordable, and I've used them quite a bit over the last few years.
You are correct, however, about S3 being somewhat behind the competition. But if the Viper gives 50 fps in game X, and the GeForce gives 70, your eye won't discern those extra 20 fps, so they're not really helping you. More importantly, since the Viper costs 1/3 of what the GeForce costs, I'll go for the Viper and upgrade in a year or two (when it "slows down") and still be ahead in the cash department! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

Acid Burn- Like you, I'm also impressed with the Viper's performance. I moved up from a Voodoo 3 3000 (as well as a TNT2 Ultra in my other machine) to the Viper II, and haven't looked back.
It's nice not having to worry about video settings on my games- just crank 'em all up to the max, set the res to 1280x1024x32, and GO!

Let us know how you resolve your problem...
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[acid_burn~187]

I got it working!!! For the last 2 months of trying to figure this thing out... my CPU was running too hot! But I had the proper cooling and my brother has the exact same computer (almost) and his wasn't overheating??? Ohwell... it's working now! I have a big *** fan on this sucker.

~Paul

[lost1]

EXCELLENT!

Now, lock & load my friend, Half-Life awaits...!

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[acid_burn~187]

Trust me... I did!! Hehe... I played Team Fortress and Carmageddon 2000 TDR for 8 hours last night. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif (I was lucky cauz IF I DID have homework, I wouldn't have gotten done. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

~Paul