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OC x1900xtx using ATITool Problems

helmgt01

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Hello everyone, been about a month since I completed my first build, now I'm ready to OC.

Here's my rig: Intel 'Bad Axe' Mobo (latest revision), Conroe e6400, 2x1 Mb Corsair XMS2 w/heat spreader, and (of course) Sapphire x1900xtx Video Card.

I Downloaded the latest ATITool and the latest drivers for my x1900xtx.

-Problem: Everytime I select the "Find Max Core" button in ATItool, my screen goes black and I have to reset my Computer.

I read this in the "known issues" from ATITool website: "Why does my screen freak out and/or turn black all of a sudden? You have more than likely set your Core/Mem settings too high. To fix this all you have to do is just restart the computer (in some cases turn off) and it should be running fine again."

But I don't thnink this applies to me, because I haven't changed any of the default settings--all I do is hit "Find Max Core" and my screen freaks out (once it turned white).

I have also made sure that the "Temporal Anti-Aliasing" is turned off in the Catalyst Control Center.

Any Suggestions?
 

gooner45

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Try using beta 14, and check out this thread.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=8954

For this card I believe you have to increase the vgpu voltage to 1.450 v since this is what the card needs to run 3d mode. Do that then you should stop getting those black screens. Read that thread, don't get too crazy with the voltages and watch your temps.
 

helmgt01

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Try using beta 14, and check out this thread.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=8954

For this card I believe you have to increase the vgpu voltage to 1.450 v since this is what the card needs to run 3d mode. Do that then you should stop getting those black screens. Read that thread, don't get too crazy with the voltages and watch your temps.

How do I increase the VGPU voltage?

Edit: OK, Downloaded beta 14, now I see where to increase voltage. However, when I moved voltage to 1.450 I got message that it was set very high, so I chose not to until I have further info. Then I went ahead and clicked "Find Max Core" and watched as the temp rose from 77c to 87c, I got scared and aborted and reset to default...I don't know what is safe...frankly, this is my first time, I need a little hand holding through this one please.

Edit: Also, do each of the five boxes with temp stats etc represent... on the top I assume to be core temp, next is amps pushed through card (maybe), in the middle is a percentage number, and then the bottom two are also temps (no Idea what these could be)-anyone know?

Edit: never mind, I realized that I can find out each simply by leaving mouse poin ter on for a moment...Oh and I guess I was looking at wrong temp for core, but can anyone tell me what the threshold (if any) for each of these should be (in other words, when should I abort if one or more of these numbers reaches what value 'x')?
 
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gooner45

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87C is fine for these cards.they can take over 100C. If you want you can adjust the fan speed to get better cooling too. it defaults to 27% but you can increase that, though it will get very very loud!.( I assume you are using the stock cooler.)

That message about the voltage being high is just a warning. You can't oc until you move it up to that voltage though.

First you should try to see how much more you can oc with the ATI overdrive. That should give you an idea of what to expect from atitool.

Do consider getting a better cooler though.

Be careful and take your time.
 
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the x1900 series shouldnt be overclocked, can but shouldnt, firstly they can run nearly everything at maximum settings with decent FPS, secondly with load the card reaches ~85C dependant on the cooling in your case, finally the stock cooler is the probably the best cooler for the x1900 series (discussed this a while back with someone and couldnt find the thread), its just that it is set to a very low rpm at which it kicks in about 90C, if you want to overclock it use a form of water cooling, to keep temps down you can used ATI Tool to set what temps you want what rpm out of the fan.
 

helmgt01

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87C is fine for these cards.they can take over 100C. If you want you can adjust the fan speed to get better cooling too. it defaults to 27% but you can increase that, though it will get very very loud!.( I assume you are using the stock cooler.)

That message about the voltage being high is just a warning. You can't oc until you move it up to that voltage though.

First you should try to see how much more you can oc with the ATI overdrive. That should give you an idea of what to expect from atitool.

Do consider getting a better cooler though.

Be careful and take your time.

I adjusted the core voltage to 1.450 and set the fan to keep temp at 85c, hit "find max core" and the screen went bananas...artifacts everywhere, the temp shot up to 100c before the fan even kicked in, I shut everything down immediately, let it cool and started my pc, luckily everything is back to normal...

What did I do wrong???

Edit: I've been told on numerous occassions to get rid of CCC. Why is that? If I do, how can I still adjust things like Anti Aliasing 2x 4x or 6x etc.?
 
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gooner45

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I adjusted the core voltage to 1.450 and set the fan to keep temp at 85c, hit "find max core" and the screen went bananas...artifacts everywhere, the temp shot up to 100c before the fan even kicked in, I shut everything down immediately, let it cool and started my pc, luckily everything is back to normal...

What did I do wrong???

Edit: I've been told on numerous occassions to get rid of CCC. Why is that? If I do, how can I still adjust things like Anti Aliasing 2x 4x or 6x etc.?



I actually still have CCC installed. I'm not positive as to the effects of having it installed. But it really isn't needed to be honest. Your card will run fine and oc fine without it. You don't really need it to control AA or anything like that since the games can do that themselves.

Get used to having your screen freak out like that, when you start messing with the voltages its going to happen a few times. Usually that happens when you either don't have a high enough of a voltage or you have too high of a temperature.

Read this FAQ it should answer some of your questions.

http://www.overclock.net/faqs/118132-how-overclock-x1800-x1900-series-card.html
 
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I have the same trouble

Ati tools has trouble overclocking the x1900 series just use overdrive it seems to overclock mine stable near what most people have gotten with Ati tools. The only difference is ati tools lets you turn up your fan , and as for the fan on this card being the best im not sure it is. Its way too loud and the Accelerrox2 I bought keeps my card cooler and is silent so how does that make the stock cooler better? also I had a Zalman vf900 and it was alot better than the stock cooler but slightly louder than the Accelerox2 on my x1800xt. The great thing about the Zalman is it has its own fan controller, but its near double the Price of the Accelerox2 and the performance is really close. To all you stock cooler fans of the x1900xt and x1800 series fan my 22 inch box fan cools better than my Accelerox2 but it sure sounds alot louder than my AC fan, yet my stock cooler for both cards was louder than it and my lawn mower. :banghead: Stop saying the stock cooler is better it simply is not better at all the best stock coolers are made by Geforce for the 7900 series cards and by Arctic cooler for the HIS series of cards. Then I would wager the Zalman vf900 and Accelerox2 are the best after market vga coolers. you cannot say something is the best mearly on cooling if thats the case hook a large box fan (22 inch) to your computer it will out perform the x1000 series stock cooler and still produce less noise!!!
 

helmgt01

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x1900xtx Stock 3d speed in question

I actually still have CCC installed. I'm not positive as to the effects of having it installed. But it really isn't needed to be honest. Your card will run fine and oc fine without it. You don't really need it to control AA or anything like that since the games can do that themselves.

Get used to having your screen freak out like that, when you start messing with the voltages its going to happen a few times. Usually that happens when you either don't have a high enough of a voltage or you have too high of a temperature.

Read this FAQ it should answer some of your questions.

http://www.overclock.net/faqs/118132-how-overclock-x1800-x1900-series-card.html

OK, so I set my 3d stock according to the faq:

1.425 VGPU, 650 Mhz Core, and 775 Mhz Mem.

Problem, twice I hit 'find max core' and twice I was prompted that the 'Mem' is overclocked and that artifacts that show may be due to mem...I ran with mem set as was and twice my computer crashed.

Question-If stock 3d mem for x1900xtx is as stated, why would I need to reduce the Mem?-why would it appear to ATITool as though the Mem is overclocked?-If I do need to reduce it, what should I reduce it to?

I've also set up a dynamic fan speed set, it looks like this:

above
0c - 35%
70c - 45%
80c - 60%
88c - 75%
91c - 83%
94c - 91%
97c - 100%

Should I use this, adjust it, or use the 'keep temp at value x' option?
 
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Temps of my x1900xt clocked over x1900xt speed

For those saying the stock cooler is as good as the Accelerox2 here is a screen shot of the temps of my card after 20 minutes of future markes 2005, With the stock cooler my temps where idle 55 degrees/ 89.9 degrees under load. Here they are with an Accelerox2





There is no comparing the Stock ati cooler to the Accelerox2 take a look at the idle and max temps here! 44c idle/76.1 load
 
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The graph is not up to the minute it took me a while to caputre this image however the idle/load temps listed are accurate
 

mobo57

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I've got my Crossfire and X1900XTX oc'd to 705/750 right now at 1.47 core. Been looping 3D Mark 06 for over an hour now with no problems at all. Both cards are water cooled and in between runs I haven't seen the temps get above 48C yet.
 

gooner45

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OK, so I set my 3d stock according to the faq:

1.425 VGPU, 650 Mhz Core, and 775 Mhz Mem.

Problem, twice I hit 'find max core' and twice I was prompted that the 'Mem' is overclocked and that artifacts that show may be due to mem...I ran with mem set as was and twice my computer crashed.

Question-If stock 3d mem for x1900xtx is as stated, why would I need to reduce the Mem?-why would it appear to ATITool as though the Mem is overclocked?-If I do need to reduce it, what should I reduce it to?

I've also set up a dynamic fan speed set, it looks like this:

above
0c - 35%
70c - 45%
80c - 60%
88c - 75%
91c - 83%
94c - 91%
97c - 100%

Should I use this, adjust it, or use the 'keep temp at value x' option?

Those look fine, it depends on your threshold for noise since this fan can get really loud. I couldn't bear the noise of the fan at all.

Did you adjust the voltage of the memory at all ? It shouldn't give you that message unless you changed something. Remember too you cant expect to OC both ram and gpu at the same time. Try only the gpu first.

To give you an idea of what to expect with better cooling. On water, my card idles at 42C and maxes at around 57. I don't think I've ever seen it reach 60c. I can get upto 740mhz on the gpu and 820mhz on the ram.
 

gooner45

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@TRT

Agreed, but honestly even if the stock cooler did work even a fraction better than the Accelerox2, would it really be worth all the noise? I mean does one really want it to sound like an airport runway 24/7. I'm sure this cooler was a big embarassment for ATI thats why we have a better cooler on the x1950.

There is one good thing about the stock cooler though, which is that it blows out of the case. I've seen some of the nvidia cards that blow into the case. I tested a 7800 that was pushing hot air into my ram just above them. That thing put an extra 10 degrees on my ram modules easily.
 
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helmgt01

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Those look fine, it depends on your threshold for noise since this fan can get really loud. I couldn't bear the noise of the fan at all.

Did you adjust the voltage of the memory at all ? It shouldn't give you that message unless you changed something. Remember too you cant expect to OC both ram and gpu at the same time. Try only the gpu first.

To give you an idea of what to expect with better cooling. On water, my card idles at 42C and maxes at around 57. I don't think I've ever seen it reach 60c. I can get upto 740mhz on the gpu and 820mhz on the ram.

I'll have to look into water cooling, but for now I should be able to tolerate some fan noise due to OC.

I can't change mem voltage (prompt tells me that it is not supported on my card).

What I still don't understand is this: the 'default' for core and mem was 500 and 600 respectively, but this is for 2d applications, so I changed the sliders according to what the faq stated as the "stock speeds for 3d applications"-650 core and 775 mem. Now when I overclock, I'm starting out at stock speeds (double checked these speeds in CCC, and these are 'stock settings' in the overdrive menu). Since I'm at stock speeds, I shouldn't have to adjust anything when I OC. So why am I being prompted that the mem is OC'd? Should I turn the mem back down to 2d application stock?-But this doesn't make sense because the settings are at stock speeds for 3d applications.

I'm a bit stuck here...
 
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helmgt01

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Edit: OH yeah, what water cooler do you use? And what are some of the best which aren't ultra uber expensive?
 
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It all feels like uncharted territory with ATITool and the X19k series. I RMA'd a card that may have been messed up (I think it was), or it may have been my lack of understanding of ATITool and how the 2D/3D modes played together. I feel your frustration.

I now have a Sapphire X1900XTX and just started messing with another utility called "ATI Tray Tool" - not to be confused with ATITool. Tray tool seems to have well distiguished the difference between 2D/3D in the GUI and although not as nice as ATITool, has fan support and at least GPU voltage option (I could not find any mem voltage option).

I ran find max mem last night and it got up to 840... not too shabby! Tonight I will try finding the max core. In CCC, it was getting up to the max of 690 or so at 81c, but CCC would not touch my mem clocks :confused: .

I should note that I completely unistalled catalyst and reinstalled only the drivers and WDM (for the VIVO hardware). Then installed Tray Tools - I still haven't explored all of the bells on it, but it's worth a try.

As for fan speeds, I've got it set so anything over 70c goes to 100%. Loud, but I have a GPU waterblock waiting to be strapped on and want to be safer for the meantime...
 

helmgt01

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water cooler

how's this one:

ZALMAN ZM-GWB2 VGA Water Cooling System

has 5 star average reviews on newegg.
 

gooner45

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Edit: OH yeah, what water cooler do you use? And what are some of the best which aren't ultra uber expensive?


I have this block, I'm quite happy with it. Fits onto the card nicely and I believe there an option to get ram sinks with it as well for a $15 more.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835108078


Keep in mind too, even if you don't get an awesome oc, using water will probably cut your load temps in half and thus double your card life.


how's this one:

ZALMAN ZM-GWB2 VGA Water Cooling System

has 5 star average reviews on newegg.

That one looks fine, Zalman makes some good products. I like either Swiftech or Asetek.


It all feels like uncharted territory with ATITool and the X19k series. I RMA'd a card that may have been messed up (I think it was), or it may have been my lack of understanding of ATITool and how the 2D/3D modes played together. I feel your frustration.
I had that same frustration too with Ati tool when I just got this card.

I actually don't have a "stock" profile in ati tool. All i have is the default profile with the 2d speeds and my oced profile. It does take a lil bit of understanding with ati tools, I would get corrupted screens until i understood how to use it.
 
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