ok, this is a rant, if you dont want to read anymore, exit thread!
after building my new i7 rig a couple of weeks ago, i encountered a number of problems.
the biggest issue was random boot failure, and i could not narrow it down to any particular part. i checked and rechecked everything i could. so we are moving on... but remember this part of the rant.
a saphire HD4770 was part of this build, but was to be a temp card. after playing around with multiple OC utilities trying to find the best one to use for this ati card, i encountered way too many problems for my liking. random freezes and such, problem narrowed down to CCC vs these programs. CCC has been nothing short of a pain in the bum. but i thought maybe it would be short lived.....
....so after running some tests, i wanted to see what i could do with CF HD4770's, so i bought another. the new one was a xfx, it came with a great packing job and a fancy looking cooler, but...that cool looking cooler was junk, after running some stress on this xfx card, it ran too hot. so i thought, hmm maybe its just because my sapphire card didnt exhaust through the back of the case like the xfx did. so i bought a thrid HD 4770, another xfx. tried those in CF,......both of them ran nearly 50C idle....now i know my case cooling is no slouch...but with that said, i had the saphire below 30C idle...something just wasnt right.
so i got the idea to start all over. a new fresh install of vista, re-install all my drivers and hope that CCC works the way it should. well when attempting to install my driver for my wireless card after vista was loaded up again,.....found out that now the pci slot that it rested in decided not to register anymore. so i had to use the other pci slot,....this slot is covered up when 2 4770's are in....so it was either internet or CF...easy choice for me.
so now that i have 3 4770's....im only running one.
im done trouble shooting all this crap started by ati, so with that said....my boot failure problems are gone, problem pinpointed......it was the saphire 4770 causing the random boot failures because it would not pass a checkpoint from time to time.
so....3 4770's,.....all 3 i dont want.....i dont want anything more to do with the CCC or ati's drivers.
now i think ill get a refund and buy nvidia.
new brands that made my sh_t list:
sapphire (not sure what was wrong with the card, but randomness doesnt cut it)
xfx (should have stuck with the reference cooler!!!)
all of ati's products (exepct for fusion, that works fine)
if you made it this far, im impressed. no really, because i really didnt want to write it.
with all of that said, i dont blame the product i was trying to test, i blame ati!
never has a nvidia product given my a problem, i expected the same from ati.
and now i understand why the prices are the way they are. nvidia's software support is just superior.
voodoo 3 (no problems)+1
gforce 256 (no problems)+1
fx 5200 (no problems)+1
fx 5500 (died after a year, fan failure)neutral
x1300 (no problems)+1
8800gts(no problems)+1
gtx 280(no problems)+1
gtx 285(no problems)+1
4770(defective)(sapphire)-1
4770(ran to hot, bsod due to load temps)(xfx)-1
4770(ran to hot, bsod due to load temps)(xfx)(yes again)-1
voodoo + nvidia score 6 out of 7 were no problem, 1 out of 7 problem
ati score 1 out of 4 were no problem, 3 out of 4 problem.
rant is over, you can go home now.
after building my new i7 rig a couple of weeks ago, i encountered a number of problems.
the biggest issue was random boot failure, and i could not narrow it down to any particular part. i checked and rechecked everything i could. so we are moving on... but remember this part of the rant.
a saphire HD4770 was part of this build, but was to be a temp card. after playing around with multiple OC utilities trying to find the best one to use for this ati card, i encountered way too many problems for my liking. random freezes and such, problem narrowed down to CCC vs these programs. CCC has been nothing short of a pain in the bum. but i thought maybe it would be short lived.....
....so after running some tests, i wanted to see what i could do with CF HD4770's, so i bought another. the new one was a xfx, it came with a great packing job and a fancy looking cooler, but...that cool looking cooler was junk, after running some stress on this xfx card, it ran too hot. so i thought, hmm maybe its just because my sapphire card didnt exhaust through the back of the case like the xfx did. so i bought a thrid HD 4770, another xfx. tried those in CF,......both of them ran nearly 50C idle....now i know my case cooling is no slouch...but with that said, i had the saphire below 30C idle...something just wasnt right.
so i got the idea to start all over. a new fresh install of vista, re-install all my drivers and hope that CCC works the way it should. well when attempting to install my driver for my wireless card after vista was loaded up again,.....found out that now the pci slot that it rested in decided not to register anymore. so i had to use the other pci slot,....this slot is covered up when 2 4770's are in....so it was either internet or CF...easy choice for me.
so now that i have 3 4770's....im only running one.
im done trouble shooting all this crap started by ati, so with that said....my boot failure problems are gone, problem pinpointed......it was the saphire 4770 causing the random boot failures because it would not pass a checkpoint from time to time.
so....3 4770's,.....all 3 i dont want.....i dont want anything more to do with the CCC or ati's drivers.
now i think ill get a refund and buy nvidia.
new brands that made my sh_t list:
sapphire (not sure what was wrong with the card, but randomness doesnt cut it)
xfx (should have stuck with the reference cooler!!!)
all of ati's products (exepct for fusion, that works fine)
if you made it this far, im impressed. no really, because i really didnt want to write it.
with all of that said, i dont blame the product i was trying to test, i blame ati!
never has a nvidia product given my a problem, i expected the same from ati.
and now i understand why the prices are the way they are. nvidia's software support is just superior.
voodoo 3 (no problems)+1
gforce 256 (no problems)+1
fx 5200 (no problems)+1
fx 5500 (died after a year, fan failure)neutral
x1300 (no problems)+1
8800gts(no problems)+1
gtx 280(no problems)+1
gtx 285(no problems)+1
4770(defective)(sapphire)-1
4770(ran to hot, bsod due to load temps)(xfx)-1
4770(ran to hot, bsod due to load temps)(xfx)(yes again)-1
voodoo + nvidia score 6 out of 7 were no problem, 1 out of 7 problem
ati score 1 out of 4 were no problem, 3 out of 4 problem.
rant is over, you can go home now.
