Is ATI Radeon X300 good enough?
 

Hello,

I just got a new computer at work (Dell GX 280) with a nice 20inch flat. The card that came with the machine is an ATI Radeon X300 (64 ram).

Aquarium 2.01 is running very slow, bubbles leave a stream, etc.

I have tried all the suggestions (changed video settings, updated driver, etc), but no effect.

My question for the techies....

Is this video card powerful enough to run Aquarium?

If yes, then I must have missed some 'tweak' somewhere.

If no, then I may have to live without my fish at work (or replace the card myself).

Thanks for any advice.

Weird. I think a X300 would be well enough for MA2. Tell us a little more. What resolution are you running it at? Which driver version are you using?

I currently have my monitor set for 1280x1024 32 bit. Although I have tried different lower settings with the same result.

I am using the ATI 6.14.10.6990 driver dated 10/26/04.

I also noticed that under Device Manager / Display Adapters there is NOVELL ZENWORKS REMOTE MANAGEMENT DRIVER listed (for our network). I wonder if this is affecting MA2? (I did check on Novell's site and the driver I have (4.0.1.0) seems to be the latest.

When you press the S key in the Aquarium, what do you see at the top?

5.17 fps (1280x1024x32) RGB Emulation, VSyncCLAMP, 0303.2.01.504Wide, Monitor 1 :\\.\DISPLAY1

Well, you've got one heck of a system if you are getting 5 fps in Emulation mode. This means that your 3D hardware is not being used at all, and the CPU is doing everything. Run DxDiag and let it do the Direct3D tests. Also make sure that Direct3D hardware is Enabled.

Garek,

Your ATI Radeon X300 is essentially doing NOTHING except displaying a picture. The 3D acceleration on that card is lying dormant.

Start menu -> Run... -> "dxdiag" and run the tests as Jim said.

Ok, ran DxDiag and tried to test 3D...but it failed with the following messages:

D3D7 Test Result: Failure at step 8 (Creating 3D Device): HRESULT = 0x8007000e (Out of memory)
D3D8 Test Result: Failure at step 5 (GetDeviceCaps): HRESULT = 0x8876086a (3D not available)
D3D9 Test Result: Failure at step 5 (GetDeviceCaps): HRESULT = 0x8876086a (3D not available)


I have sent these on to ATI customer support, hopefully they can tell me what's wrong.

You aren't running Microsoft NetMeeting or any screen sharing software are you?

No. The Novell stuff is running in the background (icon in taskbar) to keep me connected to the network...but other than that, it is dormant.

Ok, ATI was unhelpful, just got a canned response.

So now I will try our campus IMT department (which are rarely helpful).

Is there something specific I can show them to prove that there is something wrong with the video card?

Can anyone suggest a diagnostic utility...or should DxDiag be enough for them?

Thanks again.

I usually just 'lurk' here but I have a couple of suggetions. Under DXDIAG you should be able to determine what release of direct X you have installed... you can find out the latest here http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/

You might also see if the Unified Driver supplied by ATI will work for you... I would think the problem is related to, a defective card, bad or corrupt drivers or a DirectX problem... I know that is a broad statement but these are the things I would try. The ATI Unified drivers for XP (I am making that assumption are here CATALYST Windows XP 4.12 - Driver Download .

Good luck!

Well, I found the culprit.

It was that NOVELL ZENWORKS REMOTE VIDEO DRIVER.

Once I disabled this (since they never remote manage anyway), everything works perfectly....video card started using it's acceleration, etc.

Thanks for everyones suggestions & help.

Thanks for getting back to us with that info, Garek. It's a welcome addition to the knowledge base.

I don't know why all those remote desktop applications like NetMeeting completely screw up Direct3D even when they're only running in the background. Very shoddy programming if you ask me.