*FIXED*
What started as a simple upgrade has turned into a nightmare. I got a GeForce GT430 for my youngest 2 boys for Christmas and the problems began. Here was the setup.
Asus A8S-X
AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800 (2Ghz)
Geforce GT430 (Started with Geforce 8400GS)
2GB PC2700 DDR
Windows XP 32bit (legal, registered)
Upon installing the GT430 one of the CPU cores went up to 100% load even when idle, even though System idle shows 99%. Games performed terribly, so the load was there. I checked all the usual stuff, latest bios, latest drivers etc, all proper. I figured the card was probably incompatible with the oldish(relative term) motherboard. I returned it for a HIS Radeon HD 5670.
No help... Install the 5670 and same problem. I figured to reinstall XP for the heck of it. What I found was interesting. When I installed XP and SP2, the driver seems to work like a champ. When I installed SP3, everything went pear shaped again. So, I figure it must be an OS issue and XP is EOL so I went out and got Windows 7.
Even worse... I installed Windows 7 and with the VGA driver, it looks great. When I download and install the latest ATI driver, the system locks up badly upon reboot. If I wait long enough I can move the mouse pointer but clicking on anything the screen takes forever to update (like 1-2 minutes). CPU load shows zero or near zero.
So what are my options? Installing XP with only SP2? Buying a new MB? I'd essentially have to build a whole new PC. Have any of you experienced any of this? There HAS to be a work around? The A8S-X is an older MB, but not prehistoric.
Anyone?