radeon 9700 pro help

[darn2003]

I (obviously) have the radeon 9700 pro card but for some stupid reason my screen keeps getting these crazy green lines all over it. Ive tried putting a bigger fan on it to help it cool and that worked for a few months but now theyre back- what do I do - is this a common thing?

[fishybawb]

Welcome to SysOpt
Do the lines appear on the BIOS info screen when you're booting up, or only in Windows?

[darn2003]

yeah - sometimes. After I put the new fan on they didnt then they gradually started comeing every second or third time I booted up- now they appear all the time- its frustrating cause I cant do anything, can sometimes barely see what displayed- I have also put a room fan directed onto my computer and that kinda helps but theyre still there!!!!

[jamil5454]

i believe the R300 series (9700 pro included) has a heatsink shimmer thing around the GPU itself. if this protector thing is just 1 mm above the GPU core then it will overheat. it sounds like to me its a heat problem. try taking off the heatsink and making sure that the heatsink is contacting the core firmly. also go out and get some arctic silver to provide a good heat transitional paste between the core and heatsink. there have been many cases where the GPU protector thing has restricted the heatsink to rest on it, not on the core. just check to make sure.

[darn2003]

thanx for the info- that sounds like a good theory - ill definitly try it (at the moment id try anything!!!!)

[Gallapond]

Any thermal compound will do. My 9800 had a sick-loose HSF and errors right out of the gate. I had to pull the HSF, stretch the springs (on the push-pins) to hold it tighter, and apply fresh thermal compound. For that I used a Radio Shack brand. Just a smear, making sure it's nice and even. I'd say just thick enough to blot out the color/writing on the core itself. The 9800 does have the CGU core shim, so the 9700 probably will, too.
Matter of fact, the 9700s were NOTORIOUS for heat problems due to inadequate and/or loose heatsinks. I'd recommend an aftermarket Radeon HSF and (following jamil's advice) some artic silver. That way you got instructions and all the supplies right there.
Also, MAKE SURE that you are NOT (NOT) using Catalyst 3.8 or beta 3.9. Lots of people claiming the 3.8 (and beta 3.9) drivers increase the temps by as much as 10c (some claim +15c). To be safe with an expensive video card, 3.7s're as good as the newer ones. The 9700 still stomps the poopski out of ANY 9600 and an FX5600 really can't tangle with it... why bake it?
Don't run your Radeon hot unless you HAVE TO, or have its replacement in your hands. KnowhuttamEEn?

Happy Modding!

Gallapond

[ComPooTer]

i have a radeon 9800 pro no problems with temps, its winter + im running 1 x intake 80MM tornado 2x80MM Sunons 1x 80MM glowing fan and 2x80MM evercools running in my case

[jamil5454]

yeah. this is kinda random but i just gotta say that i got my new sapphire 9600 pro and man does this thing overclock. right out of the box i changed it to 500 / 350 (700 DDR). the memory went up to 375 but it showed artifacts on the 3dmark03 CPU tests. i raised the core to 530 and it was perfectly stable, but i didnt try maxing it out. and mind you - this is with STOCK cooling. no ramsinks, extremely small heatsink, and small fan blowing (i cant even hear it). the 9600 XT is a good contestant too. but with mine o/ced the 3dmark03 score jumped from 3000 to 3700. yay! with better cooling i could easily get 4000. and it was only $150
well hope you get your problem solved.