I just received a Radeon 3870 yesterday and I've been having nothing but problems with this card. Windows XP is finally stable now, it is not restarting instantly like it was when I first put the card in, and I can use either of the two drivers (the one off the CD or the Cat 7-11). I have tried a few games and they run quite a bit faster than my 1900GT, however they are having the same graphics problems (with either driver) that my Geforce 6800 used to have at times. I am suffering from Spikey Polygon Syndrome (very similar to SPS in PCSX2) and artifacts in PC games and benchmarks. I am going to try the card in another computer to verify that it is the card, but I expecting it to have the same problem in that system. So I would like to know, where I should be RMAing this thing to- the retailer (Newegg- which is obviously now out of stock) or the manufacturer?

Return it to Newegg, they will give you a refund without as long a wait, I also recomend getting the Nvidia equivalent of your card.

I got away from Nvidia last time for the same issues that I am having now (the issues with that card were more sporadic). Also, there is no Nvidia equivalent for the same price at this time- the equivalent is more expensive. I didn't have any problems at all with my 1900GT.

Anyway, I tried it in the other system and it worked fine in Aquamark 3 w/out artifacts (although it has a slower processor and only 1 gig of ram). The 1900GT still works fine without producing artifacts. I am currently thinking that it is something else in my system, perhaps it isn't getting enough power?

Edit: The other system has a built in 6-pin power connector with 3 black and 3 yellow wires, the faster system has a higher Watt PS but does not have a normal 6-pin. I have been trying to use the 6-pin adapter (plugs into a 4 pin connector) that came with the X1900GT which has two black wires and a yellow wire going into the 6-pin connector. I am currently thinking that this could be the issue (Unplugging other devices hasn't had an effect).

This post was last modified: 11-22-2007 02:09 PM by Andrets.

From what you tell me I would have to agree that the connector might be the cause of this, try using a separate PSU for your card th test your hypothesis.

How hot is the inside of your computer? In my experience, most artifacting is a result of VRAM getting too hot.

Well, after spending way too long trying to fix it, including trying a different power connector, I decided to play around in the bios some more. I found that disabling the "PCI-E downstream pipeline" got rid of all of the artifacts! I'm not sure why my 1900GT had no problems where as the new card really hates having this set to enabled/auto.