X1900 issues, black crosshatching for shadows

Sydd

sora3

Hmmm, it seems that the graphics might be damaged by heat. Check the HSF and see if the thermal paste is making contact with the core...

hackerx

check temps of ur card.See if they are staying between 75-90C while gaming(i.e under load)
If its stays within that range,ur card isn't overheating.
If doesn't then get a new HSF.
And check ur PSU too.

renhoek

I have the same thing in 3Dmark2005.. But I never really thought that was a problem.



..and oh.. i hover around 65-72C so no overheating

Tipstaff

If you haven't already, the first thing I would do is try a different set of drivers, especially if you are using the set that came with the card when you bought it.

NGO Optimized 1.6.4 (Catalyst 6.4) drivers from HERE (highly recommend these ones).

Radeon Omega Drivers 3.8.252 (Catalyst 6.5) from HERE.

Or the official ATI Catalyst 6.6 drivers off their website (also available on DH's download site HERE).

CJLMTLCA

I ran 3DM05 after i saw this, and i have the same thing on my X800. Never noticed it before. My temp was ~50C...

CJL

Sydd

Hi again thanks for the many suggestions.

This is my second X1900 card (Connect 3D), i have had the same problem with the first card(HIS Excalibur), The HIS card when i spoke to ATI via E-mail was deemed Faulty due to this shadow problem, i get a replacement from the ever helpful people at www.Overclockers.co.uk yet i see the same problem. im surprised some of you that have the problem did not notice it, i see it alot for example F.E.A.R. on door handles and on walls yet the player shadows are perfect, i dont understand what causes the problem some shadows have it and some dont, maybe it is a surface plane issue.
Oh and when i had the HIS card i tried everything to make it better which includes all the various drivers that are available. im using CCC 6.6 because ATI were sure it would solve the problem.
Most recently i asked them if it was something that i need to do in settings etc, but they must have miss-understood because they told me to revert my settings to defualt and see if that fixes it. (but they were on defualt and always have been)

If anyone finds anything out please let me know i'll appreciate any feed back.

Thanks

Sydd.

Sydd

And as for Temperatures, i have 2 fans directly pointing at the GPU as well as 3 other fans, temps are very cool, shame about the noise though

Tipstaff

I don't think it's a tempreature issue. If it were the issue wouldn't be localized like that. It would infact be all over the screen. Also, since this is a 2nd completely different card, and the fact that others are "noticing" it too on different hardware would certainly suggest it's driver related.

Something that dawned on me to try before you go reinstalling drivers would be to first try turning off Catalyst A.I. within the Catalyst Control Panel just to see if this helps. Also, if you have changed that setting to Advanced I highly recommend you set it to Standard.

Other than that all I can suggest right now is to do a clean uninstall which includes using Driver Cleaner (just remember not to use the ATI IGP listing) of your video drivers, and try a different set, even an older one if need be such as the Catalyst 5.13 set ( even try the ones without the Catalyst Control Center).

MiDri

I have this too in BF2... just noticed it... *sigh*

[edit]

Trying to figure out what is causing this, because when I run an ATI tech demo (Ruby's stuff) The shadows look fine. However, in BF2 and in 3dMark I notice the crosshatching effect instead of a clean even fadeout.

[update]

Does not do this on all shadows in the scene, for example shadows from troops in 3dMark05 during the space battle have shadows that do not fade and do not have the crosshatch, however terrain shadows almost all have it.

Also I do not trust 3dMark05's fps indicator anymore, I have few programs monitoring my fps and 3dMark05 showed 63 whilst everything else said 55.

[update]

Seems to be somthing to do with with the R5XX cores, though it did slightly apear in the R4XX cores too. Here is a link with some side by sides of the X1800, X850, and Geforce 7800. The weirdest thing I have found in my search for topics related to this is that no one is talking about it... Many people do not seem to notice.

[update]

The problem is not as pronounced in 3dMark06, the shadows isntead of crosshatched become more noisy. The noise look actully looks really good to me and might be how it suposed to look, I am not sure.



[update]

Here is an example of shadows working nicly and not working in the same scene, I am not 100% sure that the one that looks nice is real time, however.

kn00tcn

it's the FIRST thing i noticed in 3dmark05 for my x800 (& the psu stutters)

but the rest looks weird...

midri you mentioned BF2, isnt that an nvidia'ized game? heh

as mentioned, cat AI should be off.. & also have everything up on quality

MiDri

My test are with everything off, everything on, one thing on one thing off, etc.

Nothing fixed it.

kn00tcn

no clue then... have the rage3d people seen the issue?

MiDri

From what I have been reading this could have to do with features that are only supported by nVidia cards called DST and PCF.

ATI cards do not support DST and PCF, which is what many new games use to get their softshadow effect. It is a proprietary nVidia hardware feature that allows for softshadows to be renderd with little performance hit. [Source]

[Update]

Some info about this effect in bf2 on rage3d. [Source]

Sydd

Does this mean that however much we try new and different drivers it can not be fixed untill ATI dip into there pockets?

*no wonder they have been giving me the run around all this time

What do we do now? It looks like if you want decent shadows ATI isnt for you, that cant be good for buisness.

MiDri

So it seems my friend, so it seems... I have read few places that a smooth shadow can be done in pixel shaders, perhaps some one could write a post processing effect to get better quality shadows?

Sydd

***Bump***

joffa81

i would say looking at the first few pics in the first post that the gfx card card core is faulty and the card needs to be replaced.

i had this problem with a 9800 pro about 4 years ago and sent the card back and the shop sed that when testing the card failed on shadow renderinng which means the core of the gpu is bad

ezin

heya just so you feel a little better, alot of ppl i know with this card experince this issue. i have a HIS excal and i thought it was broke until i started surfing the forums. in my case i notice it in hitman bloodmoney as it's quite noticable with all the shadows. also no seems to be talking about it anywhere which i find strange also, as i guess mentioned previously most ppl just don't notice. i'm pretty sure it is driver related as it does not occur in all games, i play tested a few :/ almost went crazy especially in relation to how much these puppies cost. again i think this come down to nvidia owning the scene while ati produces powerhouses with no support game wise :/ anyways hope this help a little... oh last thing don't concentrate on it i know it's not a fix but it really does go away after you own the card for about a month as you stop picking faults best of luck.

Sydd

in responce to joffa81, i have already replaced this card as i explained eirlier iand i think that rules out that possibility, unless im just that unlucky to get two duff cards.

Thanks for posting ezin, ive given up stressing about it now, since i know i cant do much about it except maybe migrate to NV (which im probably not going to do 'coz im fed up with the hastle of RMA). I'll just wait for ATI to get the act together, i know this card will be great as soon as all the problems are ironed out.

peace

Sydd

joffa81

it could be an ati driver issue as i remember an issue like this with the 9800xt and 5.2 catalyst drivers where in farcry and 3dmark 03 people were getting a black jagged like texture where the shadows started.



have u tried an earlier driver if not do so and check to see if the problem is still there

SANNAFABICH

Just wanted to know if you ever found a fix for this