Ok... my new monster machine is kick-butt... buuuuuuuuuut.... there's a bit of a problem.

On hubby's laptop, i had a few display issues with vue (usually after i imported something from poser) - things would "vanish" in viewports (nothing like lookin at a legless victoria LOL)... but this.... this is INSANE.

load up vue.  (yes, i updated it, even tried this without the patch)... within 5 SECONDS, my main window/port has gone blank... until i load an object.  Then, if i click on ANYTHING - i lose ALL of them - the windows go completely blank.  i cant see anything, but the mouse is nice enough to change shape when its hovering over an object - so i can click - and THEN it shows up, then flickers terribly as i move it, until i drop it - and then, i can see it for a few moments - until i move the mouse again.

i THINK this is a video card issue.  i cant manage to find ANY settings in vue to make this better in any way.  i also tried changing settings in the video card thing.  again, no go.  between the two, i worked on the problem about 3 hours before giving up for a while (before i ripped the video card out, flew down to virginia, and rammed it up my brothers butt - better to drop it for a bit LOL)  And all of this was with the atmosphere that loads up with vue, and a simple sphere.

ANYONE have suggestions?  or perhaps suggestions for a video card that VUE likes, and this monster will like as well???...  Poser doesnt seem to give a crap what video card i toss at it.... and even the sims 2 is running beautifully - but with a few little hangups now and then.  ( ihad to do SOMETHING LOL)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
3.00 GHz, 4.00 GB Ram
MSI K9N SLI Platinum Motherboard

Win(blows) XP Pro x64, SP2

750 GB HD, a 250 gig hrd, and a 250 gig external hd

Video Card:   ATI X1300Pro dual head (digital only) (it didnt work in bro's linux computer, so he set it aside for me, and am unsure of what onboard memory IT has)

please help?  hubby said if it turns out vue hates this video card (even though vue says there are no issues with the video card - silly program, what does IT know?), we'll get another one.... but it cant be too terribly expensive (or difficult to install).

thanks a lot!!!!

First, do you have the latest ATI drivers installed? Also the X1300 is getting a bit long in the tooth now, it's more than two years old which makes it a Methuselah for 3D graphics.

Second, in my opinion, buy an Nvidia card. I have a machine similar to yours, but with an Nvidia 8800GTX. Intel Core 2 Quad, Intel chipset mother board, XP Pro 64 bit. The graphics preview works mostly, there's always a surprise or two but nothing like what it seems you're having.

(I forget where, but there was a forum where someone had a poll asking which video cards worked best with 3D software. I don't think a single respondent supported ATI. Kinda sad for me, since ATI used to be Canadian and I am Canadian too.)

Disclaimer: My opinions, based on my experience. Your mileage may vary.

(It's really annoying when I use Linux at home, I'm paid to work on Linux at work, but the only 3D graphics card I recommend is the only one that does not have free drivers for Linux.)

chuckles

i didnt get a choice on this card, unfortunately - free is free.  it freed up more money for memory and other yummies.

i prefer nvidia actually... never had a problem with them (except my last one, because it would crash whenever i tried to play neverwinter nights =(  - but that coulda been another of the PITA quirks)

this card didnt work with linux, thus - i got it... bro said "its a tad slow, but should do ok for you" - well... unfortunately, vue IS a picky program.  told him that - but he didnt have the program to test out, so it was one of those i knew i'd have to wait and see.

on a side note.... i had a WEIRD day yesterday.... i had my docs appointment yesterday, and hubby and I had to go pick up one of his co-workers and take them to work (otherwise, hubby woulda had to pull a double).... and before we had even turned onto the main road (yes, i'm a redneck according to jeff foxworthy - i live on a dirt road that is actually a snow road most of the year), the weirdness had begun.

We get to the road, and are about to turn, and as usual, we're checking both directions to make sure we're not gonna get squished, when we see coming over the top of the hill... a dog team.   So, hubby sits back and waits, knowing i dearly love to watch the dog mushers, even though we were both kinda curious why they were on the side of the road instead of the trail.  As we sit and watch (the dogs were pretty danged fast) we were startled to notice that the sled was bouncing back & forth.... that was when we both went "OH CRAP" and hubby scrambled out of the car.... just in time to catch the sled as it was about to pass us.

A beautiful 6-dog team lost their human somewhere, and had been running quite a distance - and nobody had managed to catch them.

Where did we pick up hubby's co-worker?  The Dog Musher's Association Hall.

After doc's appointment (aparently, i'm healing nicely), we went to walmart for an oil change.
Not 5 minutes after leaving the car with them, we get called over the intercom - so, hubby leaves me eyeballing computer pice and he went to go deal with it.  quite a bit of time later, he comes back, looks at me and said we had to go find a manager.  The worker had hit a truck with our car - claiming our brakes weren't working.  Brakes work JUST fine, thanks - just cus she's old and wrinkled doesn't mean she can't stop on a dime.  He had to have been going about 20-25MPH when he hit the truck.  crumpled our bumper pretty bad =(.  the end result of all of this was - we ended up with 4 free tires and of course, the oil change - for free.  What irritated both of us was more that when the guy told my hubby, he kept rubbing the bumper and the license plate where it was bent, and kept asking "is this ok?  is this ok?"  - ummm - DUMB question.

that night, hubby went to work.... got out of work - to a FLAT TIRE.  no, he didnt run over anything (walmart checked it today).  so, he didnt get home until 2am.

smiles  but, when i told my daughter about hubby catching the dog team... she said "wow.... he's a hero!".... and.... i guess she's right.... but, we just couldnt let a runaway team run down a road where they could easily be killed.  No one has found the musher yet as far as i know, either =(.

like i said... weird day....

yawns as she continues to try to get her computer to some semblance of working order

First - before working on drivers on a completely new machine - I would check the display settings inside of Vue. Play with the sliders there and especially switch (on or off) the "enable background draw thread". For some it musr be on, for others off. To me it sounds much more like a problem in that area.

Try lowering the screen resolution of Windows and see if that improves the situation, if it does, then there's not enough memory on the card, you could still use the card but wouldn't see you efforts in full glory.

wabe - i did mess with everything in vue BEFORE touching anything else... it didnt matter where i put the sliders, or what options i turned on/off... i wish it was that simple =(  thanks for the usggestion, though - and if i recall correctly, with the background draw thread turned off (or all the way to none on the bar - dont havbe it loaded right now, so not sure how it looks) it improved by a very small degree (not enough to help)

Chrispoole - i'll try that...

and i had to mess with the card/driver settings anyway, as the sims 2 decided to "permanently" change my settings once (i managed to restore everything) - it hasnt done it since, so i think i'm still shaking shipping bugs outta the case.  like the beginning of any relationship, you learn what buttons NOT to push ;)