The 4800 series Driver, OCing, Cooling and Tweaking Thread

[EastCoasthandle]

I wanted to share DX10.1 results in Assassins Creed. This really demonstrates what the 4850 can really do when DX10.1 is in use.

Source

 

[JRMBelgium]

I wanted to share DX10.1 results in Assassins Creed. This really demonstrates what the 4850 can really do when DX10.1 is in use.

Source

Like you sad "when in use". And so far it's only one game. A good game, but I played AC on 2048x1536 in DirectX9...

 

[Urbklr]

Just to let you all know, my VisionTek HD4850 is ordered up

 

[Delta6326]

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/HD_4850/

 

[Stomper88]

I have two of the 4850s running in crossfire now. Here are my benchmarks for 3dMark06 and Crysis (DX9, 1920x1200, all settings on high). This is for Vista 64bit on a Q6600 @ 3.0.

4850 Single Card, Default Speeds, Pre-Hotfix
Crysis = 28.36
3D06 = 12631 (SM2 = 4790, SM3 = 5702)

4850 Single Card, Default Speeds, POST Hotfix
Crysis = 28.46
3D06 = 12624 (SM2 = 4774, SM3 = 5731)

4850 Dual (Crossfired), Default Speeds, Post Hotfix
Crysis = 40.55 ***42.5% fps increase over single card***
3D06 = 15765 (SM2 = 5923, SM3 = 7974)

 

[ghost101]

Is there a vmod for this card yet?

Heres a hi-res image of the card's back

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4850/images/back_full.jpg

Also, for those interested, I'll put up a comparison between the HD 3850, HD 4850 and crossfire with the 2.

 

[Stomper88]

Two things I have noticed since I have spent some time on the websites instead of gaming.

1.
My system idles at 205 watts (measured from the wall socket). With two HD3870s, it idled at 140 watts. I can confirm that the cards are in powerplay mode. But powerplay mode only lowers them to 500/750 (default is 625/993). The cards run about 80c at idle. So these cards are idling about 30 watts more each than my HD 3870.

2.
I dont know what everyone is talking about when they say the fan is quiet. Sure, when youre surfing the web, I cant hear the fans. But after about 5 minutes in crysis, those things sound like twin jet engines. They are actually loud enough to be heard over my 300 watt THX system. Something must be done! And they dont appear to even reach 50% of the fan speed. It appears under load that the temps are in the 90s.

Here is are some links:

The first BIOS page:
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/859/4850bios1mb3.jpg

The BIOS clocks page:
http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/2416/4850biosclocksqa9.jpg

GPU-z history after running Crysis:
http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/8099/gpuzaftercrysiswq7.jpg

 

[Stomper88]

I used furbench to torture the card and it stabilized at 101C, 75% fan speed (7400 rpm). So that means this is a 10,000 rpm fan.

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/9461/furbenchstressqe1.jpg

 

[EastCoasthandle]

Two things I have noticed since I have spent some time on the websites instead of gaming.

1.
My system idles at 205 watts (measured from the wall socket). With two HD3870s, it idled at 140 watts. I can confirm that the cards are in powerplay mode. But powerplay mode only lowers them to 500/750 (default is 625/993). The cards run about 80c at idle. So these cards are idling about 30 watts more each than my HD 3870.

2.
I dont know what everyone is talking about when they say the fan is quiet. Sure, when youre surfing the web, I cant hear the fans. But after about 5 minutes in crysis, those things sound like twin jet engines. They are actually loud enough to be heard over my 300 watt THX system. Something must be done! And they dont appear to even reach 50% of the fan speed. It appears under load that the temps are in the 90s.

Here is are some links:

The first BIOS page:
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/859/4850bios1mb3.jpg

The BIOS clocks page:
http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/2416/4850biosclocksqa9.jpg

GPU-z history after running Crysis:
http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/8099/gpuzaftercrysiswq7.jpg

I used furbench to torture the card and it stabilized at 101C, 75% fan speed (7400 rpm). So that means this is a 10,000 rpm fan.

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/9461/furbenchstressqe1.jpg

The solutions is something you can do right now and would take you less then 20 minutes. Just reapply the thermal compound with something better like AS5 ceramic. Or, get yourself a Accerlero S1 (or whatever version they have now) and obtain a much better idle/load temps. Now the person who used that put a fan on so it wasn't silent cooling. Either way, the solution to your problem is in your grasp. It is up to you to decide how you want to go about solving it!
A. Re-apply thermal compound with better thermal compound
B. Use aftermarket cooler as most labeled for the 2900/3800 do fit on the 4800 series (hole placement on the 2900/3800 are the same on the 4800 from what I've read in other forums).
C. Do nothing
Which will you choose?

 

[Stomper88]

I noticed something interesting. The memory speed only works in multiples of 25mhz. GPU-Z was reporting the default speeds to be 625/975. But CCC shows 993 on the memory. So I tried overclocking and GPU-Z register changes at 1000mhz, 1025mhz, and 1050mhz.

 

[Stomper88]

A. Re-apply thermal compound with better thermal compound
B. Use aftermarket cooler as most labeled for the 2900/3800 do fit on the 4800 series (hole placement on the 2900/3800 are the same on the 4800 from what I've read in other forums).
C. Do nothing
Which will you choose?

C is my choice for now. I want to see how this thing handles itself without modifying anything. I also want to wait for the graphics market to calm down. Since I got these at best buy, I can return them within 30 days, so no changes until after the 30 day return widnow is up.

 

[Stomper88]

Ok, I think I might combine option A with a new option (D?). After looking at the card, I think its biggest heat issue is that it has a plastic cover holding the heat in. Im thinking about removing the plastic cover and putting a 120mm fan on the heatsink. It might be enough to keep it cool and quiet.

 

[NinkobEi]

I'm interested in seeing some temps from anyone who has put an aftermarket cooler on their 4850. if it lowers temps 40 degrees then it might be worth it..if it just lowers it 5 or 10 then I'm not going to bother unless the fan just REALLY irritates me.

 

[Darknova]

I'm interested in seeing some temps from anyone who has put an aftermarket cooler on their 4850. if it lowers temps 40 degrees then it might be worth it..if it just lowers it 5 or 10 then I'm not going to bother unless the fan just REALLY irritates me.

Just like with the 38xx generation of cards, it's not that the stock cooler is crap (it's actually pretty damn good). It's that ATi seems to think that silence is worth more than keeping the GPU cool.

With the stock fan, my 3870s fan doesn't kick in until 65'C, and never reaches 100%. It reaches 90% at 100'C.

But, with the Accelero (passive), the temps dropped to 40'C idle and 70-75'C load, and with the turbo module 35'C idle and 60-65'C load.

A simple BIOS mod will make your card run cooler, although the noise may annoy you.

 

[NinkobEi]

Just like with the 38xx generation of cards, it's not that the stock cooler is crap (it's actually pretty damn good). It's that ATi seems to think that silence is worth more than keeping the GPU cool.

With the stock fan, my 3870s fan doesn't kick in until 65'C, and never reaches 100%. It reaches 90% at 100'C.

But, with the Accelero (passive), the temps dropped to 40'C idle and 70-75'C load, and with the turbo module 35'C idle and 60-65'C load.

A simple BIOS mod will make your card run cooler, although the noise may annoy you.

yeah I noticed the same thing with my 3870. only problem is the card I have decides to die at like 70 degrees no matter what. It's being RMA'd. My biggest concern with high temperature is the decrease of longevity of the product. On Processors I hear the rule of thumb is, for every 10 degrees higher it is run, take off 2 years of its life span. I hope thats not the case w/ these cards!

 

[Deleted member 24505]

There is a vmod for 4850,jimmyz on XS has done it.

 

[BrooksyX]

I hope that when the 4850 finally comes out that we see a drop in the 3850 price. Wouldn't snaggin up another 3850 for some crossfire action.

 

[JRMBelgium]

Anyone know where to find 4850 OC benchmarks. I want to know how much faster an overclocked 4850 is.

 

[Stomper88]

I reduced to one card to test overclocking. The first card manage to get to 675 core, 1125 memory. The memory appears to jump in 25mhz increments, while the GPU goes at 5mhz jumps (CCC wont let me go less than 5mhz per jump on the core). The means the 4850 doesnt really run at 993 memory, it runs at 975. Or at least thats what GPU-Z says. So, I managed to squeeze 50mhz out of both the core and the memory.

4850 Single Card, Default Speeds, POST Hotfix
Crysis = 28.46
3D06 = 12624 (SM2 = 4774, SM3 = 5731)

4850 Single Card, Overclocked to 675/1025 Post-Hotfix
Crysis = 30.11
3d06 = 13196 (SM2 = 4997, SM3 = 6017)

Roughly 5% more speed.

I cant do a overclock crossfire test until a rivatuner version becomes available, or the radeon bios editor is safe to change the clocks.

 

[NinkobEi]

I reduced to one card to test overclocking. The first card manage to get to 675 core, 1125 memory. The memory appears to jump in 25mhz increments, while the GPU goes at 5mhz jumps (CCC wont let me go less than 5mhz per jump on the core). The means the 4850 doesnt really run at 993 memory, it runs at 975. Or at least thats what GPU-Z says. So, I managed to squeeze 50mhz out of both the core and the memory.

4850 Single Card, Default Speeds, POST Hotfix
Crysis = 28.46
3D06 = 12624 (SM2 = 4774, SM3 = 5731)

4850 Single Card, Overclocked to 675/1025 Post-Hotfix
Crysis = 30.11
3d06 = 13196 (SM2 = 4997, SM3 = 6017)

Roughly 5% more speed.

I cant do a overclock crossfire test until a rivatuner version becomes available, or the radeon bios editor is safe to change the clocks.

do you have any plans to add an after market cooler? and have you used better thermal paste for your fan? I'm betting heat is the major issue for these low overclocks...

 

[Stomper88]

With two 4850s in crossfire, my system idles at 200-205watts. With one card in, its idling at 142 watts. Since the only difference between crossfire and single is one card removed, I think its safe to conclude that thes 4850s are idling at around 60 watts each! If you consider my earthwatts to be 80% efficient, then that would mean these cards are gobbling 48 watts at idle.

So the reason for the 80C at idle is probably not low fan speed, or poor cooling, but more likely 48 watts of electricity having to be disposed of.

FYI, the same system idled at 140 watts when I had two HD3870s in crossfire.

What are these cards doing with so much wattage in 2D mode?

 

[JRMBelgium]

I also don't understand how come in 2008, GPU's still use more and more power when idle. There is no power needed for 2D, my laptop has an onboard GPU wich is able run Vista smoothly and display 720p movies just fine.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

Palit is making 4870's now???

 

[ShadowFold]

Palit is making 4870's now???

If palit gets a nice HD 4850 out with a nice cooler im getting that and not a 9800GTX.

 

[danbfree]

I just got a Visiontek 4850 from Fry's today for $179.. I would like to modify the BIOS and I got RBE but where can I get a BIOS file to load and edit? Thanks in advance for your help!