Graphics Issues with ATI Radeon X1900 XT?

Bordgious wrote:
Well, took it into the authorised service centre and a couple days later, I now have it back with a new card. All they did (they say) was switch in a new X1900 XT, and the problems seems to have been fixed. However, only time will tell...

Hi,

well than let's cross our fingers that time will tell only good news... 😉

Have Fun

Stefan

I wanted to provide some unsolicited feedback regarding my experiences with the ATI Radeon X1900 XT card. I purchased my Mac Pro in October of 2006 and have been using the machine for both productivity and gaming (World of Warcraft). The machine worked almost flawlessly during that time. However, I did notice from time to time that the fan on the video card was a bit noisy, but it didn't affect my work or play.

Fast forward to late 2008 / early 2009. While playing World of Aircraft, I started to notice video artifacts (strange polygons, flashing screen effects, distorted ground effects, etc.). These were fairly infrequent initially. However, before too much longer, I was getting hard freezes of the video or my LCD display would lose the video signal altogether. Here is what I did to try to rectify the problem and the ultimate solution. Much of what I did came straight from these discussion fora.

1. I shut down the machine, opened it up, and blew compressed air all around the video card, removing dust buildup. (There were noticable dust deposits.)

2. I backed up my hard drive and did a complete reinstall of the system (upgrading from 10.4.x to 10.5.6) in case it was an OS issue.

3. When the problems persisted (they would express themselves within 30 minutes of working/playing on the machine), I set up an appointment at my local Apple Store (Victor, NY) to talk to a Genius and to determine if or how much time remained on my AppleCare policy.

4. At my appointment, the Genius (actually 3 of them before we were finished) hooked up my machine, asked me some questions, and ran a subroutine (through Console) to try to tax my video card. When that could not reproduce the issue, they hooked me up to the Internet and said, 'go play'. I did so and within 5 minutes I had some really nasty video artifacts. Once they saw this, they went in back and then emerged with a brand new ATI Radeon X1900 XT card. Installation took under a minute and my machine was up and running. That was Tuesday, February 3rd.

It turns out that my AppleCare runs until October 2009 (standard 3-year plan) so there was no cost to the repair. I was thrilled to say the least (especially since the replacement card and 'labor' would have been $484.00 (USD).

I can't say that I'm displeased with the video card as it did last nearly 2.5 years. If I can get 2.5 years out of this new card, then I can't complain at all.

+Summary: Buy AppleCare...it will pay for itself should you have an issue such as this.+

While it may be all and good that Apple replaced your card my conclusions have been that the ATI Radeon X1900 XT is a terrible graphics card or Apple has not designed a machine to work with it properly. Less than a year from owning my Mac Pro my first graphics card cooked itself. Why this would happen don't ask me. I do not use my computer on a daily basis or all day long. The replacement X1900 is starting to act up with a weird blue shape that will pop up in the middle of Display 1 of 2 on a fairly consistent random basis. I am definitely not happy with the computer for this reason although I am not sure who is at fault Apple or X1900. I will blame Apple for a poor performing product. A $10,000 computer should not have this problem. And how can their best computer not be compatible with Leopard which came out less than a year from purchasing the computer. So much for "upgrading" software.

The 1900 is ATI's bad design and problem, and even the modified 1950 would have helped a little, too.

Everyone that owned one leaned to take it out every couple months to remove dust and clear the intake and exhaust from the chamber, to boost the internal fans of the Mac Pro as well. Some used a copper graphics cooling kit, too.

The 3870 isn't perfect, nor is the 8800GT (though I think it is fine now for most users, ATI's OpenGL drivers are slightly better).