Aopen 5900XT = Dark Flicker Bug

7th February 2004, 11:44

Hello to all,

I've recently purchased myself a brand new Aopen Aeolus 5900 XT, and coming from a Creative Ti4200, it's a giant step forward when it comes to performance. However, I've started to notice that something is wrong with the image quality. There seem to be bands of slightly darker colors popping up on the screen. Most of the time it's hardly noticeable, but when very light, bright colors come in to play, it starts to get really annoying and even a little painful to the eyes. Don't misunderstand however, there is NO distortion of the image, it just seems to be overlayed with slightly darker bands. First time I noticed it was in Valkurm Dunes in FFXI. It is a VERY white location, and the bands were very clearly present. Since then I have noticed it in the first test of 3dMark2003 also, especially in scenes with lots of white clouds in sight. Same for FarCry, and about every other game/demo I've played since.

I've tried all drivers I could lay hands on (Aopen and straight from nVidia - 53.03, 53.04, 53.06 - WHQL and beta's), but noting seems to make a difference. Screen refresh rate doesn't seem to have any effect, the problem was just as visible at 60Hz as it was at 85Hz and everywhere in between. I flashed my Bios to the latest version (23), installed the latest mobo drivers, the latest DX-version. But all to no avail. Plugging it into another computer showed it had little to do with my other hardware, and swapping screens showed it wasn't a monitor-problem. I even swapped PSU's for a while, just to realise that wasn't the problem either.

This all happened in a zero overclocked computer with zero overclock on the card.
These are my specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ @ 1833
Abit NF7 1.1
2* 512Mb PC3200 TwinMOS CL2.5
WD800JB
Plextor Plexwriter Premium
Plextor PX-116A
Aopen Aeolus 5900 XT

I like solving pc-problems on my own, but seem to be way out of my league here. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

7th February 2004, 14:54

are the unshielded speakers next to your monitor?

any pci-cards

7th February 2004, 15:11

Did you use a refresh rate fix for XP, otherwise ALL 3d will be @ 60Hz.
Otherwise a problem with those cards (radeon, it's all over the forum you know...) or just a b0rked card wich should be replaced.

7th February 2004, 16:43

Da_Boka: All pci slots are empty and removing the speakers didn't help anything. Starting to think it's time for an RMA.

Freestyler: I've tried many things, but a refresh rate fix wasn't one of them. Although I doubt it's that (it looks different than a too low refresh rate), I'm happy to try anything right now. Is there a link or explanation you could give? I'd be very much obliged if you could ^^

7th February 2004, 17:39

Update: underclocking gpu/ram from 390/700 to 200/400 has solved the problem. Don't wanna keep a neutered card though. Seems like RMA remains the only solution.

7th February 2004, 11:44	#1
NightStalker Posts: n/a	Aopen 5900XT = Dark Flicker Bug Hello to all, I've recently purchased myself a brand new Aopen Aeolus 5900 XT, and coming from a Creative Ti4200, it's a giant step forward when it comes to performance. However, I've started to notice that something is wrong with the image quality. There seem to be bands of slightly darker colors popping up on the screen. Most of the time it's hardly noticeable, but when very light, bright colors come in to play, it starts to get really annoying and even a little painful to the eyes. Don't misunderstand however, there is NO distortion of the image, it just seems to be overlayed with slightly darker bands. First time I noticed it was in Valkurm Dunes in FFXI. It is a VERY white location, and the bands were very clearly present. Since then I have noticed it in the first test of 3dMark2003 also, especially in scenes with lots of white clouds in sight. Same for FarCry, and about every other game/demo I've played since. I've tried all drivers I could lay hands on (Aopen and straight from nVidia - 53.03, 53.04, 53.06 - WHQL and beta's), but noting seems to make a difference. Screen refresh rate doesn't seem to have any effect, the problem was just as visible at 60Hz as it was at 85Hz and everywhere in between. I flashed my Bios to the latest version (23), installed the latest mobo drivers, the latest DX-version. But all to no avail. Plugging it into another computer showed it had little to do with my other hardware, and swapping screens showed it wasn't a monitor-problem. I even swapped PSU's for a while, just to realise that wasn't the problem either. This all happened in a zero overclocked computer with zero overclock on the card. These are my specs: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ @ 1833 Abit NF7 1.1 2* 512Mb PC3200 TwinMOS CL2.5 WD800JB Plextor Plexwriter Premium Plextor PX-116A Aopen Aeolus 5900 XT I like solving pc-problems on my own, but seem to be way out of my league here. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

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7th February 2004, 14:54	#2
Da_BoKa Posts: n/a	are the unshielded speakers next to your monitor? any pci-cards

7th February 2004, 15:11	#3
FreeStyler Posts: n/a	Did you use a refresh rate fix for XP, otherwise ALL 3d will be @ 60Hz. Otherwise a problem with those cards (radeon, it's all over the forum you know...) or just a b0rked card wich should be replaced.

7th February 2004, 16:43	#4
NightStalker Posts: n/a	Da_Boka: All pci slots are empty and removing the speakers didn't help anything. Starting to think it's time for an RMA. Freestyler: I've tried many things, but a refresh rate fix wasn't one of them. Although I doubt it's that (it looks different than a too low refresh rate), I'm happy to try anything right now. Is there a link or explanation you could give? I'd be very much obliged if you could ^^

7th February 2004, 17:39	#5
NightStalker Posts: n/a	Update: underclocking gpu/ram from 390/700 to 200/400 has solved the problem. Don't wanna keep a neutered card though. Seems like RMA remains the only solution.