The 4800 series Driver, OCing, Cooling and Tweaking Thread

[LoWRiDeR82]

the twin turbo is the best vga cooler around atm, and it is also cheaper than the T-rad and occupies 1 less slot if I am not wrong (you can find a review at legionh*****re.For the sinks,it does touch slightly one of the ram sinks,but that doesn't give any problems with the installation.My card from 105C under load with the original fan at max rpm(loudddd) dropped at 45C max(room temp of 28C),with the accelero fans at 1500rpm(can't hear a thing).I gained about 45mhz of overclock on the core (from 690,to 735) and I keep my rams at the same 2260mhz.Unfortunately the cooler is already in my case so detailed pictures would be hard to make.

Those 4 chips I was asking about would be tricky to cool with sinks, cause they are a bit taller than the voltage regulators,and there is not enough space between the chips and the twin turbo for the sinks I have, though if one gets smaller sinks it shouldn't be a problem.

The only thing one must be careful at before installing the cooler,is cleaning up all the chips thoroughly using a rubber, otherwise the chip sinks won't stay in place with their thermal pads. I found out the hard way, and had to buy some 3M thermal pads to replace the original ones cause I fucked up . Also another neat thing is that the cooler itself comes with arctic silver thermal paste perfectly applied on it,that's a nice touch.They didn't use some crappy white silicon paste.

I am very pleased with the performance,price and looks of the accelero twin turbo and I can easily recommend it to any of you that look for a cheap yet top notch cooling solution for your VGA.

The only thing I don't understand yet is why it spins at a max of 1500rpm instead of 2000rpm when I set it at 100% through ATT or rivatuner.I've attached the fans on the card itself. Based on the cooler's specs it should spin at 2000rpm. It's as if the 4850 doesn't give 12v of output or something...

[Inioch]

Thanks for the info, seems like I'll get that one then.

BTW with your temps, I wouldnt be too conserned with the temps @ 1500 rpm.

One more thing, what about mem temps?
At least the 4870 run hot as hell for the memories.

Maybe a gpu-z screen is easier?

[LoWRiDeR82]

which is the mem temp in gpuz? if it is the GPU Temp(MEMIO) they are at around 51-53C under load

[King Wookie]

Some reading about the T-Rad2:

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=782&p=2
http://www.thelab.gr/showthread.php?t=55623&garpg=7
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,6...viewed/?page=3
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-11.html

[Grimskull]

get the latest version of ATI catalyst control... it has fan speed control built in. version 8.10!

[LoWRiDeR82]

Originally Posted by King Wookie

Some reading about the T-Rad2:

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=782&p=2
http://www.thelab.gr/showthread.php?t=55623&garpg=7
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,6...viewed/?page=3
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-11.html

The Trad is an awesome product no doubt,but as you see from the legionhardware link you posted, at the under load temps(which are those that we care for) it is about a degree hotter than tha twin turbo(at only 7volts, at 12 volts the difference would be even bigger).I am not saying 1 degree is something,but if for less money,you can get the same performance, i'd go for the less money (and 1 extra slot as mentioned) solution
The other links you posted do not compare the Trad2 to the twin turbo,but to the normal accelero S1,which is a totally different league.

[King Wookie]

Originally Posted by LoWRiDeR82

The Trad is an awesome product no doubt,but as you see from the legionhardware link you posted, at the under load temps(which are those that we care for) it is about a degree hotter than tha twin turbo(at only 7volts, at 12 volts the difference would be even bigger).I am not saying 1 degree is something,but if for less money,you can get the same performance, i'd go for the less money (and 1 extra slot as mentioned) solution
The other links you posted do not compare the Trad2 to the twin turbo,but to the normal accelero S1,which is a totally different league.

The review that I first read, and cannot find again, showed that the T-rad with 2 92mm fans was about 10-15% better than with 1 120mm fan, which most reviewers used.

Nothing wrong with the duo-orb, good bang for the buck.

Then again, my card already came with a Zalman 900 on it, so any upgrade must be quieter, match the aesthetics of the rest of my rig, (why Noctua chooses brown for it's fans is beyond me) and hopefully give a slight performance boost. At least the T-rad is a crossfire viable solution, unlike their 03GT.

What I hope to do sometime is go water, but anything worth using I have to import, so it's a costly issue.

[LoWRiDeR82]

Honestly with the evolution of air cooling (thermalright ultra 120 extreme/twin turbo et simile) I wouldn't waste time,money and effort for an all integrated watercooling solution,cause in the end you get the same results.Of course if you plan on making an external waterstation which chills the water better,maybe it's worth it but I am the kind of person that likes order.And I am speaking after having had experience with simple watercooling,tec watercooling and ultimately phase change.Too much fuzz, i love my air cooling Unless you are an enthusiast that tries to break oc records,i'd keep my money and upgrade my comp later on with faster parts.I have a nice daily use overclock on my comp, with silent air cooling and don't have to worry about tubes and crap inside my case anymore!

Here are some pictures I took for you guys of the cooler:

[EastCoasthandle]

If you are having a problem installing your Cat in Vista read this for details on how to fix it.

[EastCoasthandle]

Performance issues may occur on a Windows Vista-based or Windows Server 2008-based computer if Active State Power Management is enabled
THis MS hotfix appears to address those with a 3870X2 or 4870X2 for those using Vista SP1 & Sever 2008.

[LagunaX]

Hi guys,

was playing around with my old visiontek hd 4850's and as you know they had a pretty crappy bios that let the card idle up to 69c. Definitely needed a better bios and had one but ever since the newer CCC 8.12 and up the high voltage custom bios' didn't work. Actually anything above 1.158v won't work.

Additionally with the stock cooler any fan speeds above 40% would get pretty loud which is undesirable for idle and surfing.

MSI created a bios with enhanced powerplay low clocks of 160/500 during non 2d/3d use (idle/surfing) to save a couple of watts and reduce heat as well.

So I created a custom standard hd 4850 bios (not for gainward/palit/etc) that works fine for the regular run of the mill visiontek, msi, ati, etc. cards with the following perks based on the MSI hd 4850 bios:
1) 700/1100 clocks (upper limit of stability with stock cooler and 1.158v limit)
2) 160/500 clocks for idle
3) 1.158v limit for CCC 8.12-9.3 compatibility
4) fan profile to have card idle in the 50's quietly (less than 40%) and ramp up to the 70's under load.

I tested this bios under a couple of loops of 3dmark06 and Vantage with my visiontek card and it seemed to work just fine.

So for run of the mill hd 4850's with stock coolers, I present you a nice custom bios. Please feel free to try and comment. Flash at your own risk.


Bios here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?lnonjowmnjx





Enjoy and let me know how it is if you try it!

[EastCoasthandle]

Every few months you may want to remove the red backplate (if you are using a reference designed 4870) in order to air clean the dust from your vrm and surrounding area. Having done so has decreased temps and game play is more snapper then before. I've also observed higher max frame rates (when overclocking).



As you can see here a rectangular hole allows air in and around vrm area of your video card.




This is the area that I am referring to. You want to use a can of air to blow any dust that may have accumulated over several months of use.

In all it took me a few minutes to do and its well worth it when you see that dust blown off the vrm area.

[LuxZg]

Should have done "before and after" pictures ;D

I've dusted off my HD4870 all the way to another person.. but as HD4890 has pretty much the same cooler, I'll try to keep this on my mind. Tnx!

[EastCoasthandle]

Actually, I do have before and after pics. Below is a pic I took of temps when air cleaning just video card's surface without removing the red back plate

Ambient temps were 21C



Below is a pic of idle temps after I removed the back plate and air cleaned the vrm area and fan itself. I didn't take a pic because there was nothing to see in the vrm area. The film of dust was so thin it wasn't visible until the can of air create a small puff of dust.

Ambient temps were 21C. The fan is slightly higher and I honestly couldn't control that as I had manual fan control unchecked in both examples. Taking a wild guess the amount of dust that was caked on the fan may have slowed it down before. Other then that I really don't know.

[LuxZg]

Hmm.. well, it's a 2-3C lower temps in VRM area. So if a can of air helps, than so be it.
Btw, yeah, I ment at "before" picture of card itself, I was hoping for a messy dust-all-over-the-place picture It's kind of weird that such an (almost) invisible coat of dust can cause that much temperature difference (10%)

[EastCoasthandle]

Originally Posted by LuxZg

Hmm.. well, it's a 2-3C lower temps in VRM area. So if a can of air helps, than so be it.
Btw, yeah, I ment at "before" picture of card itself, I was hoping for a messy dust-all-over-the-place picture It's kind of weird that such an (almost) invisible coat of dust can cause that much temperature difference (10%)

Yeah, I was actually surprised to see that puff of dust when I applied the air to the area. I wasn't expecting anything. The reason why I did this was that those temps were consistently creeping up to 63C+ at 790/1050 in RaceDriver: Gird. That wasn't normal at all and I was trying to troubleshot why.

What the removal of dust actually did was prevent what I call "temp creep". Where temps under full gpu load would creep upwards, never going back down or fluctuating. What happens now is that those temps fluctuate 1C-2C. Which means at times it can go up but it will eventually go back down without the need to exit the game at 790/1100 now.

Hey east coast, what kind of screw driver do you use to take off the screws on these cards ?

2. that thermal glue on the cooler for memory chips, does it stick to the chips ? or just to the cooler base ?

3. do you just put it back on like that or a new thermal glue ?

[EastCoasthandle]

Originally Posted by wolf2009

Hey east coast, what kind of screw driver do you use to take off the screws on these cards ?

2. that thermal glue on the cooler for memory chips, does it stick to the chips ? or just to the cooler base ?

3. do you just put it back on like that or a new thermal glue ?

1. I have small Phillips screw driver
2. No, the thermal pads do no stick to the chips at all.
3. If you remove the HS it's better to wipe the GPU clean and re-apply thermal compound.

Originally Posted by EastCoasthandle

1. I have small Phillips screw driver
2. No, the thermal pads do no stick to the chips at all.
3. If you remove the HS it's better to wipe the GPU clean and re-apply thermal compound.

is it just called Phillips screw driver at walgreens ?

if the card is cold, will the thermal pads stick then ?

about the cleaning, i meant the memory chips

so how hard is taking the reference cooler off ? i have taken some palit sonic coolers off and put them back on, but not the hd4870 reference one

[eidairaman1]

If your going to remove any GPU cooling id recommend having Thermal Compound wether Pads or Grease, but reason they use thick pads is to ensure contact between stock cooler and component, i believe this was by design to reduce the amt of broken cards due to over tightening of the GPU cooler.

thermal compound pads ?

[eidairaman1]

compounds being the general term

[EastCoasthandle]

Originally Posted by wolf2009

is it just called Phillips screw driver at walgreens ?

if the card is cold, will the thermal pads stick then ?

about the cleaning, i meant the memory chips (??)

so how hard is taking the reference cooler off ? i have taken some palit sonic coolers off and put them back on, but not the hd4870 reference one

Yes, that's what it is called and you can find them at Walmart, automotive store, hardware store, etc. The size is either a #0 or #00 (yes, those series of digits are correct).

No, the thermal pads won't stick to the ICs. When removing the backplate take your time and llift it off the video card slowly.

There are 2 or so screws you need to take off in order to remove the back plate. And there are a 2 or so screws for the plastic covering. I don't believe you need to remove the bracket (which holds the HS for the GPU) in order to remove the back plate. Plus the 4 screws for the HS.

It's more time consuming taking off all the screws then anything else. One thing to keep in mind is to recall how tight the screws were when taking them off. Use that as a guide when tightening them. Place on screw in at a time leaving them a little loose. That way you have wiggle room when installing the remaining screws. Once they are all installed then tighten them down with one good turn from the phillips screw drivers.

Take you time when removing and tightening those screws.

[imperialreign]

a recommendation for possibly a "tools" section:

ATI Tray Tools - newest beta here

includes all the functionality of CCC (without the bloat), and works flawlessly with the 4870s


personally, for minor "on-the-fly" OC tweaks, I prefer using ATT over CCC OD.


nice thread, EastCoast, BTW

[EastCoasthandle]

imperialreign,

Good to read you found this thread useful.