Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with radeon

Computer restarting

stoneegg21 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:29:55 -0800

Computer restarts when I use computer games. Just rebuilt it with a Radeon HD 4890 to add insult to injury. Ok, I just bought and installed a Radeon HD 4890 video card. All is well, except whenever I try to play any graphic heavy computer games (Sims 3) the computer just shuts off and restarts after a while.

I noticed that my device manager says that I've got a display adapter from the 4800 series, not 4890. I looked online for some solutions and found this one, which suggested I update my video drivers. I tried it, but it's not working. I restarted in safe mode and ran the video driver update program from ATI but it wouldn't recognize any of the new drivers. I simply deleted the display adapter and restarted the computer, and it replaced with the bad 4800 again.

My SO thinks it might be because I've got the 32bit XP, so he wants to upgrade it to either that or Windows 7. Is he right? What do I need to do?

ATI Mobility Radeon 4530 driver for XP?

MattScully — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:33:18 -0800

Down (up) grading a new HP DV7T-2000 to XP. The video card is an ATI Mobility Radeon 4530. I have had no luck in finding an XP driver. Does anyone have any experience with this card and have any ideas about a possible driver or workaround?

Help me use a Cintiq as a second monitor!

Nedroid — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:53:05 -0800

I have just gotten a Wacom Cintiq tablet and I cannot get it to play nice with my existing monitor. I have a Dell Studio Slim desktop (running Vista) with an ATI Radeon HD 3450 card which has both DVI and VGA outputs. Currently, the Cintiq is hooked into the DVI port and my Dell monitor into the VGA. However, only the display hooked into the DVI output is recognized. I have tried enabling dual monitors in Windows Display Properties and in the ATI control center; in both cases, though, it acts as if there is nothing attached to the VGA port. How can I get my computer to see both displays?

Can Omega Drivers push an old video card to widescreen resolutions?

sevenyearlurk — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:24:57 -0800

Will "Omega Drivers" allow my ATI Radeon Mobility M6 card to drive a widescreen display? I use an external monitor plugged into a notebook (Compaq Evo N410C) as my home computer. Lately I've been watching a lot of videos on it, and I'm starting to crave a widescreen LCD to replace my antiquated and space-hogging 17" CRT. But I don't think the video card I've got will drive a widescreen display natively. I have read that the "Omega Drivers" can extend the capabilities of ATI cards. Does anyone have experience using these drivers to push an older video card to widescreen resolutions?

Its not my biggest fan, so why it screaming at me?

gergtreble — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:50:34 -0800

My graphics card is too noisy! Can i just disconnect the fan? Will that make it catch fire? I recently acquired a ATI Radeon 9600 pro AGP graphics card. And its noisy. The fan makes a hell of a racket.

So as I don't really use this particular computer for gaming. I was wondering If it would be ok if I disconnected the fan?

Or would I be better underclocking it so it doesn't run so hot.

Any ideas? If i was sure it wouldn't go pop I'd unplug it right now.

ATI-to-nVidia comparison.

krisjohn — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 17:44:49 -0800

Can anyone tell me which is "better": A Radeon 9600 Pro or a Geforce 6200? I get the feeling they're pretty close...

Bonus points to anyone that can point me to a comparison chart with both ATI and nVidia chipsets at least as far back as the Geforce 3 era.

Old Radeon 32mb graphics card from G4 --> New G5. PCI issues?

icetaco — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 09:58:25 -0800

Old Radeon 32mb graphics card from G4 --> New G5. PCI issues? I'd love to get S-Video out of my G5, and have this old Radeon card sitting in my unused G4. Is it safe/advisable/possible to put her in the G5? Apple told me the PCI architecture is incompatible with older PCI cards, but I'm seeing "backwards-compatible" online. What gives, I say?

(I'm already using two monitors all the time, so Apple's DVI-S-Video adaptor would be a pain. I'm looking for more than two video outputs.)

Thank you wonderful mefites.

I'll be your mirror... or not.

insomnia_lj — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 00:35:00 -0800

I've got a Windows Media Center edition PC hooked up to my television using an S-video cable so that I can play DIVX files, and I'm getting my wallpaper showing up on the television... and nothing else. The main monitor still shows all my apps, however. What gives?! It seems to be treating the television as a second monitor, rather than mirroring exactly what's on my PC desktop, and I don't have any obvious way of either changing this, or of running and controlling my video playing software on this second display. Any advice?! I'm using a ATI Radeon X800 to do this, btw.

I need something better than a Trident 8900

b1tr0t — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 19:54:37 -0800

What is the ultimate 2D graphics card? The situation:
I am running a large spreadsheet like application where the cells are updated with fairly high frequency. Each cell might be updated several times a second, and there are 500-1000 cells. The people who write the application were probably good developers but not game developers - they almost certainly didn't make use of any DirectX code that could have made drawing more efficient. Instead, I have to assume that the application relies entirely on the Windows GDI.

I am currently driving two 1920x1200 flat panels with a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X600. When I move the application over to a desktop platform, I'm willing to drop down to a single 1920x1200 display, or dual 1280x1024 displays. It would be nice to be able to drive two 1920s at maximal speed though.

Obviously I need Windows XP support (64bit would be nice, but if I have to run a 64bit CPU in 32bit mode, that shouldn't be the end of the world), PCI-Express, at least one DVI port (two would be nice) and lots of memory.

Will the graphics chip matter much?

I would feel very silly spending $1500 on a 3D graphics card, but that isn't entirely out of the question.

Need dual monitors to run on XP

sailormouth — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 13:13:38 -0800

Troubles running dual monitors on xp. Been to ATI site, tried searching Google, searched Ask archives. Video card = ATI Radeon 7000/VE
Monitor 1 = 19" HP 9500
Monitor 2 = 17" HP pavillion mx70
Both monitors are connected through VGA Y-adapter.
I am only getting cloning. I want to extend Monitor 1 desktop on to Monitor 2.
Resolution is set the same on both monitors.

Display Settings:
Monitor 1 shows as primary and extend Windows desktop. Both are greyed out. Identify shows 1 on both monitors.
Monitor 2 I can click as attached. Identify does not show anywhere.

I installed the ATI multimedia package with Hydravision from the cd that came with card. This added many tabs when selecting Monitor 1, Advanced. There is not a Display tabs (which is all the ATI site talks about).
I installed a newer version of Hydravision from the ATI site. Still no change.

Display Adapter driver is ATI.
When I updated the XP driver for the monitor it is reflected for both monitors. So I can either have Default Monitor driver, HP 9500 driver, or HP mx70 driver for both.

I am not sure what else to look at/for.
Suggestions/questions welcomed and appreciated.

GeForce 6600 or a Radeon X700?

nthdegx — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 05:54:36 -0800

I have my eye on a new computer. I have the choice between including a 256Mb GeForce 6600 or a 256Mb Radeon X700. For an avid gamer, I have no idea if the latter is worth the extra £50. Is it?

What video card should I get if I'm not playing video games?

selfnoise — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 17:14:45 -0800

YetAnotherQuestionAboutVideoCardsFilter: I am going to buy a new computer for browsing/photo editing/mp3 playing/excel editing/cd burning. I am _NOT_ going to be playing games on the machine. Does it matter what video card I get? I'm tempted to get an ATI Radeon 9200SE since it doesn't have a fan and I want a quiet PC.

I need help choosing a graphics card.

ascullion — Tue, 23 Mar 2004 15:18:29 -0800

All day, I've been looking into the murky world of graphics cards, and I don't feel any wiser. Need help [mi]. Partially, it's because there's no real single answer, I guess.. but I'd like to know - which card should I buy? Radeon or GeForce? I just want a graphics card to take over from my integrated chip, with a TV out, that might give me a shot at playing Doom 3 the way its supposed to be played when it comes out. Any good links appreciated, I've checked all the usual suspects. Thanks in advance.