Chris
How sure are you that everything is working? What card exactly do you have, which drivers are you using, did you overclock it, what revision number?
P4C800 is coming soon to my shop and I will get it if it's really working better than P4G8X Deluxe. Cuz I got 9500 rev. -30 and it's working with fw disabled.
Greetings
Kosta

SYSTEM SPECS:

Operating System - Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboard - P4G8X Deluxe Bios rev. 1004
Processor - P4 2.53ghz
Memory - 2 x 256mb Crucial PC 2100
Video Card - ATI Radeon 9500 pro 128mb AGP 8x
Sound Card - Sound Blaster Audigy 2 PCI
Power Supply - Antec 350w
Bios settings - USCW, 8x AGP, AGP Voltage 1.5
Smartgart set to 8x AGP w/ fast write off
(Nothing is overclocked)

I've been keeping up with this forum for quite sometime b/c I have the exact same problem with my card randomly changing my resolution to the lowest possible setting with some device driver error message.

I found that turning fast write to off solved my problem. I have read that fast write is more of a compatibility/stability setting rather than a performance setting. (if anything, people have experienced decreased performance with it on)

Here is a link to a tech document on Asus website about this error:

http://mirror.ati.com/support/infobase/3968.html

I've also written Asus about this three times in the last month and ATI about it twice, but have received no reply from either company.

First of all I'd like to thank everyone for their input, these posts have been extremely helpful in letting me know I'm not alone!

I have an AIW Radeon 9700 Pro (Built By ATI) Revision PN XXX-XXXXX-01

It isn't working with the P4G8X, and I'm concerned that if I purchase the P4C800 I'll have the same glitches. Is it possible to return this card to ATI in exchange for a refurb? Has anyone else had to return their cards due to a revision? Thanks again!

is there a similar problem with other chipsets as well? see link:

http://www.tech-report.com/news_reply.x/4099/1/

Kosta, I have concluded that everything is working as it should based on a history plagued with problems and the fact that I am no longer haveing issues. (see my earlier posts)

I have the 9700 pro revision xxxx-30 (traded up from xxxxx-00) I am using the latest ATI drivers and Catalyst software with no AGP overclocking as of yet. Currently at 8x and Fast Writes are turned on.

My board is a P4C800 deluxe running bios 1006. I started with the release bios 1001 and immediately updated it to 1003. I had to continually deal with lockups and reboots, when I finally stablized the system by turning Fast Writes off and dropping down to 4x AGP. I never found that dropping down to 4x was beneficial, so I retuned to 8x, but kept FW turned off.

Days prior I tried the power supply upgrade based on what everyone was saying in this forum. I went from the 350W to 480W, which obviously gave additional power, but I am not convinced that this played any part in my stability sucess. ATI recommends a 300W and I have a friend with an identical configuration as mine, only still running a 350W and not a single reported issue since day one. He too has the rev xxxx-30 card, and yet he never had to disable FW. (interesting) *On a side note, I believe he was running a beta bios.

In reading the release notes on th 1006 bios upgrade, Asus specifically calls out the ATI 9000 series cards as problematic for which this bios was intended to resolve. I hope this helps.

On the P4C800 board, there is a built-in option to overclock using percentage based increments. I chose the 20% option and I am currently running my 2.4Ghz at 2.9Ghz and there are no issues.

In summary, I was losing my patience and I was getting little sleep at night due to frustration. I found myself thinking about my system all throughout the workday. I was puzzeled and yet challenged at the same time. Based on my technical background, I really wasn't about to let a computer system get the best of me. With perseverence everything worked out in the end and I now own one of the faster systems out on the market.

Well worth it,
Chris

Chris...only challenged and frustrated?
losing patience and daydreaming about an issue is normal I would say, for those who like to stay on the cutting edge. But challenged and frustrated only begins to describe the emotional rollercoaster I have been riding for the past month. C'mon now...at least fess up to being a little pi**ed off.
From everything I've read, and from what I've deduced by talking to various technical support personel, It is certainly ATI's problem. After reading the link (and sub-links) kindly posted by "hst ang" I'm convinced now.
For those who can live with all the different work arounds such as disabling fast writes, or dropping down to 4x, I say to you; "Dont settle for anything less than what you paid for" There has been a lot of hype surrounding the Radeon cards, and I'm sure most of us here purchased them thinking we were getting the best money could buy. So, why settle for turning any features off? I say...RMA your card to ATI if you have to. Or, at least get some assurance that the issues CAN be fixed with a bios upgrade. I say CAN because if it's hardware design fault with your particular card, it will never be "fixable" with a bios flash.
Am I wrong here?

Well, thanks Chris for the reply.
I decided to get P4C800 as soon as it arrives to my shop. There have been updates, and you say it's working.
I can get it for lousy 80 euro, if I return my P4G8X. At least they say it's a bit better in performance and hopefully fully stable with my Radeon.
Just what confuses me is that they say overclocking with P4C800 is worse than with P4G8X. Is that true?
I have now 2.53Ghz which I want to OC as much as possible and Radeon 9500, which I also want to mod to 9700 (mod is perfectly working with my Radeon now on the P4G8X) and overclock it...now I'm running stable at 2.85Ghz, R9700mod and 347/295 clock. And I'd like to keep it this way or even boost more if then possible and run with Fastwrites ON and AGP 8x of course.
Don't like the feeling that I give out much of money just to be pushed to reduce the power, EVEN if it's not bringing anything.
I'm experiencing lockups now and then, like maybe once per day, but I believe that those are linked to extreme overclocking of either Radeon or CPU. Still working on that, but I want to be sure into compatibility of the motherboard and the graphic card.
Kosta

To mike gaydos:

Mike, I believe that you're wrong.
It's buggy E7205 chipset, and there is a Intel report on that, stating two errors in AGP 3.0 bus, saying that it has problems (not meeting standards), one even referring to Fastwrites.
Check it out:
http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/e7205/specupdt/251938.htm

Kosta

Kosta.....you are correct. But...these are 2 seperate incidences....and it just appears as if the e7205 is at fault. How do I know? Well, I had the granite bay based board....had problems. Swapped it out for the p4c800 Canterwood based board...same problems. I've also read that Sis based boards suffer the same thing. So Kosta....3 different chipsets...but all with the same Radeon graphics cards. All problematic. You decide.

Mr Gaydos,

Did you try the 106 bios for your P4C800? Apparently there are fixes in it for Radeon 9xxx series cards.

Whoops, meant 1006 bios.

Mr Songy,
Yes, I have the 1006 bios installed right now. However, I sent back the 9500pro card before the 1006 came out. I got a refund and went to Best Buy and got the new 9800pro. I have not installed it yet. Just got it today...but being hows its Mothers day and all, I have no time to try it out.
My whole point is this. There is eveidence that the E7205 chipset has issues with the AGP bus running at 8x. At least with the first revisions of the ATI cards. It appears the later revisions are not as susceptible to the problems. But, in a totally seperate instance, the early revisions of the ati cards had problems with all different chipsets...including the 875 chipset , which I am running now. It appears as if the later revisions of the ATI cards, plus bios updates are solving these issues for most people.
What I was suggesting is this. If you have a early revision of the ATI card, make sure the problems disappear with a bios upgrade or else get ATI to rma it for you. You paid for quality, you should have it.
As for me, I'll give you all an update tomorrow after I get the 9800Pro installed on the P4C800 mobo.

Mike,
Well said. I have a early version of the Radeon 9500 Pro and only after some tweaking do i now consider it stable.

Ricky, if there is any credit to go around a lot of the credit must go to you. It was you who first posted anything at all about "revisons" for ATI's cards. That got me looking into it deeper. Then, the manual spefically calls out (in the p4c800 user guide) problems with early revisions. Furthermore, the post by hst ang supplies a link to more evidence of ATI finally relizing the first few revisions of the 9500/9700 Pro cards were not quite ready for prime time. The fact that the e7205 chipset is buggy just served to cloud the issue. At least this is my personal belief. I dont have a lab bench chock full of diagnostic equipment...nor do I have multiple motherboards, video cards and power supplies to test various configurations. But, what I do posses is the ability to reason. Just start at the beginning of this post and read it through. We are not alone. There must be hundreds if not thousands of people with this problem.
Mike

I almost forgot to mention something to you folks. While I was at CompUSA today picking up the 9800, I was standing at the courtesy desk talking to some people, and I happened to look under the counter in the "returns" bin. Guess what I saw. Not 1, but 2 Radeon 9700Pro's. I asked about it, and the saleperson told me people were returning them right and left. I s**t you not!!! They told me that for the most part, people were returning them for the reason that, (this is a direct quote) "people are saying that their systems are not up to the power that the Radeon provides. In other words, this card is too powerful"
Now then...I ask you. The average consumer probably wont take it upon himself/herself to figure this issue out. They simply return it for a different card. so then, just how many people out there have had the same problem?
I'm betting quite a few.

ONE person died from a specific brand (or revision if you will) of Tylenol. Knowing that customer base is everything, Tylenol recalled EACH and EVERY bottle of that revision of medicine. Now I ask all of you, what the hell is ATI doing about this revision issue?? If they know to make a new revision that fixes the problem, then obviously they were aware of all the users that would have the annoyance! The fact that we as users have to come together and be our own support is pathetic. Even more so than their ridiculous FAQ. Does anyone agree?

In this link, http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6499 , there is also mentioning about this problem, and also it seems intel had no plan to fix these, though it can be resolved by 'board workaround and bios upgrades'. There is definitely something wrong with the E7205 chipset, however ATI Radeons are not flawless as well.

I've read through various graphics card and motherboard reviews, and some of them even use the combination of E7205 and Radeon 9700 for their test setup. But no mentioning of crashes or lockups. Could they be using mobo's of which the bugs have been fixed by these 'board workarounds and bios upgrades', and also using later revisions of the Radeon card?

Ok....here is a brief summary of my situation.

1st mobo: p4g8x (granite bay)
1st video card: Radeon 9500pro p/n xxxxx-xxx-00

Nothing but problems from day one.

RMA'd mobo for p4c800....keeping video card.
Problems persisted...but not as often. A noted improvement,...but did not resolve issues entirely.

RMA'd video card...for a Radeon9800 pro.
installed now for approximately 24 hours. All bios settings set at defaults, all video drivers set at defaults also.
Everything enabled...8x, fast writes ect. Not one lockup as of yet. I have tried various games, ran various 3d benchmarks. Not a single glitch. I have not tweaked anything. plugged it in and ran it. Just like it should have been from the first combination.

So....you people be the judge and tell me. I only wish I rma'd the video card first and tried it with the granite bay chipset. I am sure it would have answered everyone's questions. and saved me a ton of aggravation. If anyone else tried this combination, please let us know. (p4g8x---9800pro)
I will continue to torture test this system and get back to you all in a week if there are no problems...or...sooner if anything goes buggy.

P4C800 bios 1006
Radeon 9800 Pro
2 Kingston 512PC2700 dual config
Intel 2.66 (not overclocked)
430 watt ps
80 gig Western Digital special edition
DVD
40x Plextor cd writer
WinXP SP1

Here are 2 benchmarks for the above post

14750 3dMarks 2001se]
5425 3dMarks 2003

I heard that ATI are going to release the Catalyst 3.3 today instead of the 15th. Anyone know if there is any truth to that?
If not... I guess its just to wait and see