ATI Radeon Video Card Review
Isn’t it annoying when something goes wrong with your beloved computer? Be it software or hardware. One should always take care in buying robust stuff that doesn’t wear out quickly. But how can you tell? And how possible is it for a piece of hardware to crash in few years time, after which, the computer is going to be replaced anyways! In my experience with ATI Radeon X600 PRO 256 MB in less than 3 years, 3 out of 3 have crashed! I should be fair and note, they were all using the same PC brand, HP Pavilion, but I don’t see how the box can relate to this type of failures.
First, my PC started rebooting and was not able to run for more than 10 minutes. I did all types of update, followed all Windows advise until they suggested Disable 3D Graphics to fix the problem. Thanks! So I tried to contact ATI Radeon. First register, then specify the problem in very detail. I went through a hell lot of questions, it was like interrogating. The type of questions that tells you go bother someone else. I am talking about questions like:
- What were you doing when problem happens? (Playing game)
- Game from which manufacturer? (Umm… actually it’s more than one game, but I selected one for example)
- What is the name of the game? (Ahhh… I can see where this is going)
- Did up try to update? (YES I Swear)
And the list went on and on. At the end, I explained I did all kind of updates, read all articles and knowledge base, etc etc. and the problem is happening with more than one game so it’s not game specific. Submit. Soon after, I got this polite reply:
“Greetings!
Based on our experience, games issues are usually due to improper system configurations, driver issues, faulty hardware or a known issue with the game and the hardware or drivers that you are using.
First ensure your system meets the minimum requirements of the game and that you have any patches from the game vendor installed.
If your computer meets all of the system requirements, please check our Knowledge Base and the release notes of the driver you are using to see if there are any known issues or solutions for the game you are playing. If you are unable to find information on the specific problem you are having in our Knowledge Base, please check with the software vendor for any known issues or problems. If the problem persists, review the full details for trouble shooting game related issues at the link provided below:
http://www.ati.com/online
/customercare/solutions /gamesrevised.html If these suggestions don’t help to resolve your issues, please respond to the ticket and one of our qualified support representatives will assist you. To respond to this ticket you must visit http://support.ati.com and login to My Support.
Thank you for choosing ATI!”
Obviously, they did not take care to read any of all the information they asked for, or else, they chose to pretend not to have read. All the hardware specs were there, it’s not bad at all, and if you are not gonna compare it to game specs, why did you ask for the game name then? Also, I did mention I updated to latest driver and gave them the driver version so there is no way to be wrong about it. I already went through your knowledge base as well, I couldn’t find any information that helps and that’s why I am contacting you. But they have to jump and blame the game manufacturer first, who were so kind and offered a compensation (hear that?) instead of reaching out for help. When the level of support reaches that level, I can hope no more and find my own way out. As one guy said “When there is something that is bad, don’t take the time to see how bad it is”. I took out the video card and later found out the fan is completely jammed and does not move a bit. Blame it on someone else! So I got my self an nVidia wonderful 512 MB Video card with HDMI output and it’s working just fine.
Few months later, my in-law had problem with a similar HP PC and he couldn’t resolve it. Taking it to the store they said you have to replace the video card! (That’s # 2). Then just last week, my family started facing restart problems with a similar PC. Now I’m smart and for once do not have to blame Windows for it. Do you want a new video card I said? Again they went through all types of troubleshooting, and for few hours the game went on. I told them you’re gonna need a new card, and the next day, they did. Problem came back and it’s obviously the same problem.
So that’s 3 failures out of 3. I have another friend with a similar PC but I don’t know if it still works or not. I will just use my logic and assume not. Or else, if he is reading this blog, give us your thought about it. With that rate of failure, and the terrible level of support they have, any PC that comes with ATI, and ofcourse Vista, now is not an option. Is it gonna be hard to pick my next computer then? Hopefully not as MacBook Pro comes with NVIDIA I’m happy to say.
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Comments
In 2005 I bought 31 ATI Radeon x600 128mb video cards (they sent Gigabyte GV-R38128 instead, with the ATI Radeon x600 chipset) with the new PCs (IBM M51) for one of my labs. Of those 31, I have replaced them 29 times. Some of them are original and still working, others are on the 4th replacement. IBM (now Lenovo) doesn’t seem terribly interested in trying to resolve the issue, they just keep sending me more x600 cards. I think they ran out of them at one point because they started replacing them with the x700 series – which I never had a problem with again. But all the x600 ones are still failing at an incredible 94%!! I personally hate ATI chipset cards, it’s nVidia all the way. But the only upgrade option we have beyond onboard video is ATI. Poo on that!
oylander: WOW… that’s some bad failure rate, and even if it’s only with x600 cards, I am keeping away from the rest.
Thanks for sharing those numbers. It won’t change my mind, but perhaps other people’s mind who still bet on ATI
My guess would be heating issues, but it’s too hard to tell from your post.