I have a ati 8500, and the videocard crashes when i trie to run 3dmark 2001, it crashes when it starts the 2º test (car-high detail). Also in several games like: NFS hot persuit 2, TOCA DRIVER, but runs the Enter the matrix OK. I Have the latest drivers from ATI directx 9.0a windows XP (SP1)
AMD 1800XP
ECS K7S5a
512 DDR (266)
80GB 7200rpm


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Could be residual drivers ... did you uninstall the old drivers and ctrl panel before putting the new ones on ... and did you do a fresh install when upgrading to the Rad (or even fully remove all traces of any old gfx cards)? Drivers since CAT3.4 have anti-o/c in them which is designed to crash your system if you o/c (esp if you set new clocks on bootup), however you say you haven't (ever?) o/c'ed so that shouldn't be a factor, esp with DX8 cards.
Generic drivers direct from ATI (or tweaked Omegas) are the best as they're most up to date and low level manu deviation from the reference design is now incredibly rare, still you can try the manu's drivers (eg Creative, Sapphire etc) just to see if they help.
Do install DX9.0b as that can fix a few little bugs. Other than that it would be checking BIOS settings and that the PSU can cope.
PSU = Power Supply Unit. It supplies and regulates the power supplied to all your PC's innards. The unknown brands are poor and often optimisticly rated ... the less said about the crap that comes with most cases the better. Rad8500 isn't a power monster and it seems you're only running 1 HD so I doubt it would be the problem, are you stable when stressing the PC in other stuff?
Not at all in my experience (and the experiences of others). The power supply may give flaky voltages when under stress, even well below its rated Wattage, plus many modern PSUs have shut-off features to (certainly in theory) shut off way before fire or explosion can occur. I (like many others) have seen a poor or faulty PSU destroy internal parts, that's largely why IMHO anyone above the entry level should look to a decent brand of PSU. You can easily get instability from a poor or faulty PSU, of course it's not always (in fact rarely) the cause but you can certainly have problems with no tell tale signs that the PSU's the culprit. Many internal components will regulate and store the power they need but they can only really be as good as the feed they're given.
) so ur probablly right, but this is how i understanded it: