White dots on my brand new 9800pro. -_-

Magician Lord · Feb 21, 2005, 01:08 AM

Hello everyone and thank you for reading my post. I have a ATI 9800 pro 128mb card and have been having problems with white dots ever sense I put it in. It happens in both OpenGL and Direct X games. "Doom 3 and Final Fantasy XI"
Basicly, in Doom 3 the white dots happen when there are a lot of lighting effects going on, it's quite noticable. In Final Fantasy XI, the white dots appear all along the texture edges where the textures come together. I have 3 friends with Final Fantasy XI, all running diffrent cards, and they have never seen the white dots. And on another friends computer, Doom 3 runs choppy, but he doesn't get the white dots either. Then I started hitting the forums and found that the white dots are a common problem with the 9800 pro, so I tried all the suggestions I could find. Here are my system specs and some things I tried to fix the dots.

HARDWARE:
Athlon XP3000, 333fsb
Epox motherboard with KT400 chipset
512mb DDR333 ram "Samsung"
Radeon 9800 pro 128mb "brand new"
120gb WD Harddrive with 8mb buffer
Memorex DVD/CD burner
AC97 sound card
450watt power supply
100base-t network card "Realtek"
Temprature under full load: CPU=104f CASE=89f

SOFTWARE:
Windows XP professional with service pack 2
All the lastest drivers
Direct X 9.0c

THINGS I HAVE TRIED:
1. I tried the catalyst drivers version 4.7~Current
2. I tried the omega AND the DNA drivers
3. I tried underclocking my card
4. I tried leaving the case open and possitioning two 85cfm fans blowing on the card from the top and the bottom
5. I tried taking 8x AGP down to 4x AGP
6. I tried a diffrent stick of ram
7. I tried turning fast write off
8. I tried disabling fast Z clearing
9. I have tried a clean install of Windows
10. I have tried with Service Pack 2 and without
11. I checked the GPU cooler and it's making good contact
12. I tried disabling all the features on the motherboard that I don't use

Not matter what I do, in every single case, the white dots are still there. Do I have a bad card or what? I am strongly considering a replacement. From what I hear the white dots are caused by overheating or overclocking, neither of which apply to me. Even underclocking makes no diffrence. Everyone talks about getting a after market cooler, but I don't think heat is the problem because... I opened the window to my room, let the room temp drop to 50f, AND had two 85cfm fans blowing directly on the card from the top and bottom! Is there anything I could of missed? I even checked my voltage and it's getting a perfect 12v, and the PS says 30amps on it! I'm waiting for a reply on my RMA request, so I'm most like just going to try a new card. But if anyone has any helpful info or maybe a top secret tweak that I don't know about, please share! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

swimtech · Feb 21, 2005, 01:32 AM

You've done the right stuff - RMA it is...

Welcome to DH! Sorry though for the circumstance of your first post here.

Judas · Feb 21, 2005, 06:04 AM

white dots is usually CORE problems..... usually on cards that already work... overclocking to far will result in these.. but you mentioned underclocking the card so i would have to agree that the card is buggered....

RMA it!

shadowfield · Feb 21, 2005, 06:39 AM

Well, i can assure you that the dots are "normal" for me in FFXI. Infact, i had to rma my 9800aiw when doom3 came out due to artifacts(yellow, red, and white dots everywhere, mostly around shadows) and in FFXI i had white dots where textures meet. Now that i have a new card, no more artifacts like that in doom3, but the white dots around textures in ffxi are still there.

If I recall correctly, you can accualy see dots where textures meet in alot of games, just not ffxi. So the dots along textures is normal, where as your doom3 problem is not normal.

So basicaly, RMA it, but you will still MAY still get these dots in FFXI.

Off topic: What server do you play on? ^^

Judas · Feb 21, 2005, 06:47 AM

If it's were the textures meet.... it's a combination of problems not directly related to the video card.. but to the engine itself. I beleive it's texture clashing or not binding. It can cause what you mentioned as white pixels... or in other games.... clipping errors.... it's were the textures at a specific angles are not actually meeting up right...

Magician Lord · Feb 21, 2005, 06:50 AM

Thanks guys. It seems like ATI just hates me or something... Back in 2001 I got a AIW Radeon 32mb and later had to RMA it due to major artifacts in Tribes 2. Getting a new one fixed the problem. But geez, I'm starting get VERY tired of having a major problem every time I buy a ATI card. Even if the RMA goes smoothly and the new card works perfect, I will think twice before buying another ATI product...

PS: Judas
I don't think thats the case as I have seen
FFXI run on 3 other systems and have yet to see the flashing white dots
like on my card. The graphics cards in all those PCs cost less then $150 to boot. If a superior card can't play the same game without the blatantly obvious flashing white dots, something is wrong here and I don't think it has anything to
do with the game engine.

Judas · Feb 21, 2005, 06:59 AM

were are you buying from... online.. a local place..... perhaps it's the shipping to your location..... or the way they are handled locally...

i've ran into some cards... with similare or much worse results then you.. but then again.. i've handled probably 100 video cards already... and out of them all... between 5 and 10 of them have been bad... be it nvidia/ati/PVR/S3

Magician Lord · Feb 21, 2005, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

were are you buying from... online.. a local place..... perhaps it's the shipping to your location..... or the way they are handled locally...

LOL That's a possibility, after all I DO live in Northeast Tennessee!

Anyway, I got this card at a Circuit City.

PS: shadowfield
Gilgamesh

redsolar · Feb 21, 2005, 05:33 PM

Exchange it at Circuit City (if within 14 days from purchase). Sounds like definite heat issue as already dicussed. How warm is your case temp?

Feb 21, 2005, 01:08 AM	#1
Magician Lord DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 18 Rep Power: 0	White dots on my brand new 9800pro. -_- Hello everyone and thank you for reading my post. I have a ATI 9800 pro 128mb card and have been having problems with white dots ever sense I put it in. It happens in both OpenGL and Direct X games. "Doom 3 and Final Fantasy XI" Basicly, in Doom 3 the white dots happen when there are a lot of lighting effects going on, it's quite noticable. In Final Fantasy XI, the white dots appear all along the texture edges where the textures come together. I have 3 friends with Final Fantasy XI, all running diffrent cards, and they have never seen the white dots. And on another friends computer, Doom 3 runs choppy, but he doesn't get the white dots either. Then I started hitting the forums and found that the white dots are a common problem with the 9800 pro, so I tried all the suggestions I could find. Here are my system specs and some things I tried to fix the dots. HARDWARE: Athlon XP3000, 333fsb Epox motherboard with KT400 chipset 512mb DDR333 ram "Samsung" Radeon 9800 pro 128mb "brand new" 120gb WD Harddrive with 8mb buffer Memorex DVD/CD burner AC97 sound card 450watt power supply 100base-t network card "Realtek" Temprature under full load: CPU=104f CASE=89f SOFTWARE: Windows XP professional with service pack 2 All the lastest drivers Direct X 9.0c THINGS I HAVE TRIED: 1. I tried the catalyst drivers version 4.7~Current 2. I tried the omega AND the DNA drivers 3. I tried underclocking my card 4. I tried leaving the case open and possitioning two 85cfm fans blowing on the card from the top and the bottom 5. I tried taking 8x AGP down to 4x AGP 6. I tried a diffrent stick of ram 7. I tried turning fast write off 8. I tried disabling fast Z clearing 9. I have tried a clean install of Windows 10. I have tried with Service Pack 2 and without 11. I checked the GPU cooler and it's making good contact 12. I tried disabling all the features on the motherboard that I don't use Not matter what I do, in every single case, the white dots are still there. Do I have a bad card or what? I am strongly considering a replacement. From what I hear the white dots are caused by overheating or overclocking, neither of which apply to me. Even underclocking makes no diffrence. Everyone talks about getting a after market cooler, but I don't think heat is the problem because... I opened the window to my room, let the room temp drop to 50f, AND had two 85cfm fans blowing directly on the card from the top and bottom! Is there anything I could of missed? I even checked my voltage and it's getting a perfect 12v, and the PS says 30amps on it! I'm waiting for a reply on my RMA request, so I'm most like just going to try a new card. But if anyone has any helpful info or maybe a top secret tweak that I don't know about, please share! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Feb 21, 2005, 01:32 AM	#2
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 122 System Specs	You've done the right stuff - RMA it is... Welcome to DH! Sorry though for the circumstance of your first post here. __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Feb 21, 2005, 06:50 AM	Thread Starter #6
Magician Lord DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 18 Rep Power: 0	Thanks guys. It seems like ATI just hates me or something... Back in 2001 I got a AIW Radeon 32mb and later had to RMA it due to major artifacts in Tribes 2. Getting a new one fixed the problem. But geez, I'm starting get VERY tired of having a major problem every time I buy a ATI card. Even if the RMA goes smoothly and the new card works perfect, I will think twice before buying another ATI product... PS: Judas I don't think thats the case as I have seen FFXI run on 3 other systems and have yet to see the flashing white dots like on my card. The graphics cards in all those PCs cost less then $150 to boot. If a superior card can't play the same game without the blatantly obvious flashing white dots, something is wrong here and I don't think it has anything to do with the game engine. Last edited by Magician Lord; Feb 21, 2005 at 06:58 AM.

Feb 21, 2005, 05:33 PM	#9
redsolar Off duty Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Las Vegas, USA Posts: 1,242 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Exchange it at Circuit City (if within 14 days from purchase). Sounds like definite heat issue as already dicussed. How warm is your case temp? __________________ Real_Men_Do_Not_Use_Space_Bar Main rig: Intel Core i7 930 @ 4.0 Ghz \| Corsair H50 Push/Pull \| 12GB OCZ DDR3 \| ASUS Radeon HD 5850 \| 3x 1TB Samsung F3 RAID5 on Dell PERC 5i SAS + 1TB Hitachi \| MSI X58 Pro-e \| 850W Antec Truepower Quattro \| RocketFish by Lian Li Full Tower Case \| Gateway XHD3000 30" LCD \| Dell 2408WFP 24" LCD \| Dell 2407WFP 24" LCD \| Logitech Z-5500 Speakers \| Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Laptop: Samsung x360-34P \| Core 2 Duo SU9400 1.4 GHz \| 4GB DDR3 \| 128GB Samsung SSD \| Intel 4500M w/ HDMI \| WiFi \| Bluetooth \| 13.3" WLED 1280x800 \| Windows 7 Professional x64

Feb 21, 2005, 06:39 AM	#4
shadowfield DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 117 Rep Power: 0	Well, i can assure you that the dots are "normal" for me in FFXI. Infact, i had to rma my 9800aiw when doom3 came out due to artifacts(yellow, red, and white dots everywhere, mostly around shadows) and in FFXI i had white dots where textures meet. Now that i have a new card, no more artifacts like that in doom3, but the white dots around textures in ffxi are still there. If I recall correctly, you can accualy see dots where textures meet in alot of games, just not ffxi. So the dots along textures is normal, where as your doom3 problem is not normal. So basicaly, RMA it, but you will still MAY still get these dots in FFXI. Off topic: What server do you play on? ^^