Problems with GeForceFX 5900 Ultra 256MB?

[Almighty1]

Greetings everyone:

On my system on a ABIT BE6IIv2.0 Pentium III 1Ghz 133FSB Motherboard using the Intel 440BX chipset and my display being a SGI (Silicon Graphics Inc) 17.3" 1600x1024 16:10 60hz LCD display via DVI. I had no issues with a PNY Verto GeForce3 Ti500 64MB. However, with the BFG Technologies Asylum GeForceFX 5900 Ultra 256MB, what appears to happens is that everything from the BIOS Power on self testing, bios setup, and DOS would have the text flickering and blury with streaks between the characters as well as on the Award BIOS main screen where the Energy Star logo is, part of the yellow on the right side is on the left side of the screen. The screen is running at 1600x1024 at 63.36Hz. The problem seems to occur with everything before the Windows XP logo since everything after that is fine. I'm not sure what the AGP version on the Intel 440BX chipset is but the GeForce3 Ti500 requires a AGP 2.0 port and I did have some issues initially which was fixed with a newer version of Nvidia firmware for the video card. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dx]

Damn.... why are you putting an $500 USD 8x AGP vid card on a 2x AGP mobo??? Time to upgrade.

Seriously though, a friend of mine had similar troubles with his new GeForce 5800 and an old Abit mobo. We nailed it down to the Mobo's AGP power regulators not handling the current draw of the card. These cards are very power hungry you know, far more than your old GeForce 3 card. That's why they need a little more juice from the extra power connector.

In the end, he upgraded to a current mobo and all was well. He was missing out on most of the eye candy the card had to offer anyway.

Have you tried to put the card on another (newer) mobo, to rule out a bad card?!

Mind you, it could just be a simple compatibility problem. Most Mobo manufacturers issue BIOS upgrades to fix this. But I would not hold your breath for Abit to issue one on a 3 year old Mobo.

BTW, your new card is 2X AGP 2.0 (backward compatibly) compliant. But like I said, you are probably in for a world full of hurt to get this puppy running smoothly on that old BE6II v2.0.

 

[Almighty1]

Damn.... why are you putting an $500 USD 8x AGP vid card on a 2x AGP mobo??? Time to upgrade.

Seriously though, a friend of mine had similar troubles with his new GeForce 5800 and an old Abit mobo. We nailed it down to the Mobo's AGP power regulators not handling the current draw of the card. These cards are very power hungry you know, far more than your old GeForce 3 card. That's why they need a little more juice from the extra power connector.

In the end, he upgraded to a current mobo and all was well. He was missing out on most of the eye candy the card had to offer anyway.

Have you tried to put the card on another (newer) mobo, to rule out a bad card?!

Mind you, it could just be a simple compatibility problem. Most Mobo manufacturers issue BIOS upgrades to fix this. But I would not hold your breath for Abit to issue one on a 3 year old Mobo.

BTW, your new card is 2X AGP 2.0 (backward compatibly) compliant. But like I said, you are probably in for a world full of hurt to get this puppy running smoothly on that old BE6II v2.0.

Because I have the new P4-3.2Ghz CPU and the 4x 512MB Hynix PC3200 DDR400 memory that my friend took out of his Dell Dimension XPS machine unused as he went to get some Corsair memory and a downgrade on his CPU to the 2.8Ghz model so I got a pretty good deal as I paid only $US150 for everything. Now all I need is mobo. I'm just wondering why the card works fine in Windows but not DOS or anything besides Windows that's all. Isn't the ABIT AGP1.0 though? I guess the reason I thought it would work is because the GF3Ti500 required AGP2.0 minimum as well but the other issue might be the ABIT uses the 440BX chipset and the AGP is running at 100Mhz instead of 66Mhz because the 440BX has no 1/2 AGP divider, only 2/3rd.

 

[stevie_boz]

I would agree with dxkim that your mobo is the culprit, i have had similiar probs myself..especially with older abit boards, a gf4 ti4600 blew the agp voltage regulator on my last board..the board still works for the main part except it won't play games or run video files lol.....
I would try it out in a newer mobo to rule out a dodgy card....also bear in mind it could be just a compatibility prob..have you contacted abit tech support?