Hmmmmmm....
Zappa, that makes me wonder... maybe this could also have something to do with the monitor being used.. no one has mentioned what monitor they use, so far no one thought to connect the problem to the monitor....

I'm using a Daewoo 17" pf.. i have an old monitor as well, ill try that out later on and get back to you guys to let you know if it worked, course if it is the problem that doesn't help us much not like i can afford a new monitor after all..

Also where can the agp voltage be increased? i don't remember seeing an entry for that in my bios
I did notice an entry in my bios that looked interesting though i don't know its function.. it was window graphic size (or something vary similar) its currently set to 64 megs, i don't know what exactly that refers to, but if its video memory my vid card should have 128, and my system had 512.. anyone know anything about that setting?

Changes in AGP voltage is not available on all motherboards, typically the more recent and more configurable motherboards only allow you to change this.

I think you're referring to AGP aperature size, this has to do with your Video RAM in PCI Compatibility mode. Some people claim changing this to 256M can solve their problem but more often than not this will cause instability rather than stability. I would recommend leaving it at 64M.

Crazy

i find setting the AGP aperature to 128 the most stable although there is barely a difference.

when you go down ONE tick on the hardware acceleration option, what does it take away? It says "Disable cursor and bitmap accelerations. Use this setting to correct problems with the mouse pointer, or to correct problems with corrupt images." What is bitmap accelerations? Whatever it is, it seemed to help with my artifacts (i get LESS now whoo whoo =[ ) but i want to know what it actually did by turning the acceleration down a notch.

Ive tried lowering hardware acceleration, but there are still artefacts. Also, I tried underclocking - dropping about 100mhz for core clock and mem clock- no difference, so it cant be overheating.

I think that there may be a driver problem, as some drivers solve some issues ( eg on 3dmk2003, the plane one works fine on 3.5 and 3.6 catalysts, while i think on 3.8 - it is garbled and shapes are skewed)

Should I try catalysts below 3.5?- are they compatable still?

Well I just said the hell with it & bought another MB A7N8X DELUXE.
Everything works fastwrite 8X everything.
MB A7N8X deluxe
1G pc2700
9600 pro
amd athlon XP 2700+ barton

I don't think that the type of monitor is the problem. When I formatted I wasn't using the tv anymore, I was using my monitor that had worked good before.Maybe after using the tv-out something changed in my 9600 pro, something that already existed in the other cards with these problems.
It's frustrating that it looks like the same problems with problaly the same cause but with a difference that mine used to work good.The answer to our problem could lay in the change that my card has gone trough.

i dont think its a driver problem, i think me and you just got faulty cards. Actually my situation was, the stock fan that came with my card wasnt working, and i ran the card without the fan spinning for a while without knowing so i prolly damaged the card a little.

I don't really think its just a faulty card, because a couple posts up someone gave up and replaced their motherboard and that fixed the problem.. so i still think its some sort of compatibility problem that could probably be fixed in an update..

so to recap the main compatibility problem seems to be between any motherboard with an sis chipset (at least the older ones) and the radeon 9600 pro..
personally i plan on eventually getting a new motherboard to fix the problem (at least i hope)
my current motherboard doesn't support agp8x or fast write and it has a s**tty on board sound card so i need to upgrade my mobo anyway..

i wouldnt use onboard sound if u have the money to buy a sound card.

Yep, i agree, i only use the the onboard sound because i cant afford a good soundcard right now, but after i get everything else working ill defenetly buy a real soundcard

My system freezes on all games. sapphire 9600 pro
My computer supplier has offered to change my card to a power colour version, has anyone had problems with this make??
have scanned the this thread and only see sapphire and ati mentioned.

Only thing that's worked so far is setting agp speed to 4x (don't like the idea of compromise though)

My mothboard uses a KT400 chipset and it supports 8xagp. Still I have the same problem and the same sullution (turning down hardware accelaration). Though it seems that a new motherboard could fix our problem I must remined you guys that my system used to be problem free. So who knows maybe the problem will return after time (hopefully not) when using a new board.Or maybe I damaged my board, but thats not likely. And still:
The problems we have are related to the 9600 pro, having to buy a new motherboard shouldn't have to be the solution.

Yes im having the same problems as anyone else, i found this article on the website from my "powered by ati" card: http://www.gecube.com.tw/faq.php?modID=7
My motherboard has the kt400 chipset, im not going to wait for new drivers... i allready ordered an other motherboard , the Asus A7N8X Deluxe Rev 2.0
I hope it will solve my problem

ya i have a kt400 chipset also but i cant afford another MOBO so... i haveta wait for some kind of miracle driver i guess.

I have a KT600 Mobo and the problem is still the same

Jasper, please let us know if it does .. because i was thinking of doing the same thing, but won't if it's not going to make a difference.

yeah i will micheal

btw the Asus A7N8X Deluxe mobo has an nforce chipset, not an via chipset.
So i hope it will solve my problems

are you guys getting artifact problems too? or just freeze/crashing?