Radeon Wrestling
Yesterday I put the system on tests with DXDiag, and everytime I check the card's 3D capabilities unexpected crap always came out when running the DX cube under DX8 and DX9 renders. The answer was to update the Radeon drivers, so download I will.
But that didn't worked.
Tried tweaking some of the settings and still had the same crap. Then early this morning I cleaned up the whole machine and... the spikes were still there.
As a last resort, I dropped into Playtool.com and found out that I was really having "spike" errors: possible deteriorating video memory. Which means jack shit anytime soon I may have to get a new video card.
For now the only way to do so was to underclock the card by using ATITool, and then testing the card for artifacts before cutting down the core speed from the default 240MHz to 200Mhz, and memory speed from 200Mhz to 195Mhz (but not too low that the framerate becomes choppy!). What does it mean? The underclocking can reduce video card overheating, and those pesky spikes and dots.
If you're playing games, know how to fix and tweak your rig for play, yet you need some answers for video cards (and Vista compatibility -- you know that Vista is a sucker for too much frills and also a memory hog), Playtool.com might be the thing for you.
But that didn't worked.
Tried tweaking some of the settings and still had the same crap. Then early this morning I cleaned up the whole machine and... the spikes were still there.
As a last resort, I dropped into Playtool.com and found out that I was really having "spike" errors: possible deteriorating video memory. Which means jack shit anytime soon I may have to get a new video card.
For now the only way to do so was to underclock the card by using ATITool, and then testing the card for artifacts before cutting down the core speed from the default 240MHz to 200Mhz, and memory speed from 200Mhz to 195Mhz (but not too low that the framerate becomes choppy!). What does it mean? The underclocking can reduce video card overheating, and those pesky spikes and dots.
If you're playing games, know how to fix and tweak your rig for play, yet you need some answers for video cards (and Vista compatibility -- you know that Vista is a sucker for too much frills and also a memory hog), Playtool.com might be the thing for you.