X700 to HD3850 - Video Card Upgrade and WOW!


  1. Posts : 4,573
       #1

    X700 to HD3850 - Video Card Upgrade and WOW!


    I found an ATI HD3850 512 PCIe for $25 US on Craig's List. Replaced my ATIX700 Pro. Wow. My WEI graphics scores jumped from 4.1 to 6.9.

    So, I enabled Aero and will try it for a while. I have always preferred the Classic/Standard themes and I am not crazy about the transparent title bar, but it does look good and my system is snappy as can be.

    Of course, I lost my onboard Intel Matrix Storage controller for a while, and the the two RAID0 volumes it handles. That was scary but proved to be just a nuisance that I resolved in about an hour. I am going to take down the second RAID0 volume anyway to free up a SATA port for my Kreon firmware DVD drive.

    Also, I want to use the HDMI audio out on the HD3850, but I think that I need an adapter. I already have a DVI-HDMI cable, but I think that there is no pinout for audio. I will experiment with the various HDMI ports on my Samsung TV as there seems to be some requirement for port 1 for PC monitor applications.

    And I have a buyer for my old X700 card... for $25. Does that make me a capitalist or just plain mean?

    P.S. If there is a question in all of this, I suppose it is:
    Does anyone have direct knowledge regarding using the HDMI audio without requiring the proprietary DVI-HDMI adapter?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 4,573
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Research on the "I lost my... storage controller" part


    What I meant: BIOS could see the six drives in POST, but the Intel Matrix RAID controller was failing with "No (sic) enough Space to copy PCI Option ROM [05:02:01]" Since the controller could not function, there were no drives listed in BIOS Setup, regardless of POST reults. After countless reboots, re-configs and reseats and an Asus Crash Recovery procedure, the machine came back to life.

    Only to fail again when I booted into a mild overclock.

    I then scanned the web for possible causes/solutions. I found many people angry at mobos and controllers and no generic solution - few solutions were found at all. Check it and see.

    What seemed logical after that: Still had to be caused by the new video card. After all it is PCIe 2.0 sitting in a 1.x slot and. Maybe no connection there, just seems to me...

    So I disabled things I do not generally use - onboard 1394, serial, LAN boot(s), assign IRQ to VGA. Voila! Controller is now online.

    Re-enabled everything except "assign IRQ to VGA" and all seems well for now.
      My Computer


 

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