[entrailsgalore]

Originally Posted by Abbatoir My suggestion: 1. Go to ATI and download the 8.6 driver (put in your OS info, card type, and go to the driver download section; at the bottom, there is a link to Previous Versions) 2. Download Driver Cleaner (download it http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745) 3. Uninstall your current Catalyst driver (8.8). 4. Run Driver Cleaner. 5. Delete your ATI folder (which is typically a sub in the PROGRAMS folder). 6. Restart your computer. 7. Install the 8.6 Catalyst driver. 8. Have fun.

I've tried all of that already.
I reverted back to 8.7 ( which I was using before SM 3.0 started tearing).
I tried 8.6 and 8.5. All the same results. I'm probably going to have to RMA my cards.

[Abbatoir]

Originally Posted by entrailsgalore I've tried all of that already. I reverted back to 8.7 ( which I was using before SM 3.0 started tearing). I tried 8.6 and 8.5. All the same results. I'm probably going to have to RMA my cards.

Okay, not to be stickler or insult your intelligence, but I just want to make sure before I make any other suggestions for fixes that you actually went through the whole process I described, instead of just going to the Driver options in Devices and telling it to roll back to a previous driver version.

That isn't the same thing at all, particularly when ATI drivers are well-known for not being able to install/patch through subsequent or previous versions properly.

I'm sure you probably know that, so again, not trying to insult you, I just want to try to help you get the game running the way you would like it to.

So if you actually did go through the whole process I described and it didn't work, my other suggestion (if you are not already utilizing it) is to install Riva Tuner (http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=163).

The HD3870 series of cards has pretty piss-poor heat management on their own; in other words, if you leave them to their own devices, they will hum along at 25% fan utilization right up until the point when the chipset is about to burn out, then suddenly the fans will come on roaring like your computer is getting ready to take off.

I previously owned a Sapphire HD3870x2 1GB; I wasn't aware that the default fan speed for the card was underrated, nor that the card itself couldn't even really tell when the chipset was approaching burnout.

By the time I realized what the problem was and applied a solution (Riva Tuner fan management) it was too late; the damage was done and the card burned out a bare four months after I bought it.

If you are experiencing that at all (quiet operation and suddenly the fans come on full blast), your issues may be heat-related.

Riva Tuner allows you to set many options, but the one that you would be concerned with if you are experiencing overheating is the Fan management option.

I set up two fan profiles; one sets the fan speeds at 50% for normal, non-gaming operation (fairly quiet) and the other sets the fan speeds at 70% for graphics-intensive gaming (like AoC at near-max settings).

When I get ready to game, I just apply the Game Fan profile.

Running two HD4870s in Crossfire at 70% fan speed operation, AoC runs just fine using the Catalyst 8.6 drivers.

There are several good guides to using Riva Tuner fan management and setting up profiles on the web. The main thing I would say is to make sure you run the fan detection on both cards (they will both be listed in a drop-down) before you apply any fan speed changes.

It IS entirely possible that one or both of your cards ARE at fault. I just hate to see someone else have to go through the RMA process like I had to when I sent in my 3870x2.

It took about seven weeks from the time I initiated the RMA until I actually received the replacement card (which, as it turns out, was a HD4870 512mb GDDR5, since they (wisely in my opinion) discontinued the HD3870x2.

In the meantime, I had to use an old HD3650 1GB I had, but I couldn't play AoC (or CoD4, or any of my other more graphics-intensive games) the way I wanted to.

That sucked; so I would really like to see you avoid that experience if possible!

[entrailsgalore]

I understand. But I am a PC tech by trade, so I went through the entire trouble shooting process. I just never had cards fail, let alone TWO cards fail, because of a driver.

I'm already replacing my HD 3870's for an HD 4850 but I was just wondering if this was a known bug with AoC, since it was the only game affected that I played, or if I have to RMA my cards. But it looks like Ill have to RMA my cards because now I can't even run Multi-sample at max settings in WoW without screen hiccups.....Im sure SM 3.0 is messed up.

Also my HD3870's are made by MSI, which seems to be the only HD3870's that has a fixed fan controler, my fans will jump up to 80% speed when Im playing, my GPU's never exceed 57c , even when I'm playing WoW for 8 hours or even crysis. Which is why I'm surprised they failed.

[Abbatoir]

Originally Posted by entrailsgalore I understand. But I am a PC tech by trade, so I went through the entire trouble shooting process. I just never had cards fail, let alone TWO cards fail, because of a driver. I'm already replacing my HD 3870's for an HD 4850 but I was just wondering if this was a known bug with AoC, since it was the only game affected that I played, or if I have to RMA my cards. But it looks like Ill have to RMA my cards because now I can't even run Multi-sample at max settings in WoW without screen hiccups.....Im sure SM 3.0 is messed up. Also my HD3870's are made by MSI, which seems to be the only HD3870's that has a fixed fan controler, my fans will jump up to 80% speed when Im playing, my GPU's never exceed 57c , even when I'm playing WoW for 8 hours or even crysis. Which is why I'm surprised they failed.

PC tech here too... and it is very surprising that you would be having issues with two cards failing simultaneously.

The reason I kept focusing on troubleshooting is because out of the three ATI cards I've played AoC on, I have had zero issues with tearing and I run SM3.0. The only issue I had was the card hardware failure of the one Sapphire HD3870x2.

So naturally my first instinct is to see if you had any legacy/latent 8.8 or other previous Catalyst driver files in your system, because I know for a fact that the 8.8 drivers have issues that the 8.6/8.7 drivers did not have, and from reports on other tech forums, they have been notoriously difficult to remove.

It may be a difference in the way they were manufactured; my three cards are/were Sapphire (four cards, technically, since I am now running dual HD4870s) while the cards you are having issues with are MSI.

Another silly question, but perhaps it will save you some time; did you try just one HD3870 at a time to see if it is just one card, as opposed to both cards? That at least would save you from RMAing both cards.

[entrailsgalore]

Originally Posted by Abbatoir Another silly question, but perhaps it will save you some time; did you try just one HD3870 at a time to see if it is just one card, as opposed to both cards? That at least would save you from RMAing both cards.

Yes I tried them one by one, and switched PCI-E slots. I spent a whole 6 hours at my shops trying to trouble shoot it. No matter what drivers, or how many cards, or what PCI-E slots I put the cards in, I get pixel tearing when SM 3.0 is enabled in AoC. I don't overclock my cards since the MSI 3870's come stock at 800 Mhz. But I will be initiated the RMA, atleast on one card tomorrow at work.

[entrailsgalore]

Ok so I read in the patch notes that Funcom corrected some type of Graphical error caused by a previous patch. I have no idea what that error was, but I do know that the other night I decided to randomly enable Shader Model 3.0 and it worked perfectly fine.

No artifacts, no pixel tearing. perfectly Shaded textures, shadows, Grass, Foilage, etc. Both of my HD 3870's are working now, just like they should. Weird.