*GTX 260/280 Unofficial TPU! Thread*

[Kursah]

Originally Posted by Tatty_One

TBH, dont take ATI tool as a benchmark for stability with the more recent NVidia cards, I found with my GTS that ATI tool started artifacting above 780mhz but through EVGA Precision tool (Recommended to everybody!) I overclocked to 840mhz and ran 5 loops of 2006 without a single problem so try the Precision tool

I use the precision tool for clocks, all I use the ATI Tool for is it's artifact scanner. If I don't trust ATI Tool's results, I'll run a few instances of FurMark, or one of the 3DMarks and see what happens too. Precision is the only utility I've used to clock my GTX 260 thus far! Aside from NiBitor 4.3, which does support and properly ID/Read GTX 200 BIOSes. Nvflash 2.67 seems to properly backup and flash GTX 200's also.

[newconroer]

Ya, that's the problem when dealing with more recent Nvidia cards. ATi tool can be ..well not as good as we'd like.

Sometimes it bugs out so bad that if you weren't paying attention, you could damage your card beyond repair.

It's a shame Precision doesn't have it's own artifacting tool, as then it would be the ULTIMATE.

Isn't there anything else that we can artifact test on besides running 3dmark loops and ATi tool?



Also, any BIOS or volt mods for the 280s? I'll be back on liquid again, and fear that I might have reached the limits of the card even under air.

[Kursah]

FurMark, just run the looping stability test...it stresses harder than ATI Tool, and I've found can show artifacts earlier than most other programs.

I've heard only a very few rumors of possible GTX 280 modded bioses for vGpu, but it's pretty bleak at the moment, I'm sure in a few weeks to a month's time when more have these cards and play/tweak em' we'll get more info.

[Cold Storm]

I use Fur for my stress test on my clocks. I've seen that if you run it as the stability test, or three tests in a row, you can see that it's working wonders and then test it with 3dmark... If it doesn't work with 3dmark, bump it up or down 10 with the GPU and your all set!
But, that's how I have been doing it... Some are different...

[trt740]

Originally Posted by Cold Storm

I use Fur for my stress test on my clocks. I've seen that if you run it as the stability test, or three tests in a row, you can see that it's working wonders and then test it with 3dmark... If it doesn't work with 3dmark, bump it up or down 10 with the GPU and your all set!
But, that's how I have been doing it... Some are different...

true dat!!!

[Tatty_One]

Sod it, I am gonna get the 24 inch monitor AND the MSI GTX280 OC ............

The wife will def me

[EnergyFX]

Originally Posted by Tatty_One

Sod it, I am gonna get the 24 inch monitor AND the MSI GTX280 OC ............

The wife will def me

Nice knowing ya.

[Cold Storm]

Tatty, do you have a will? If so, can I be put in it when your wife gets ya??? All I want is the card and monitor!
Good Luck!!

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by Cold Storm

Tatty, do you have a will? If so, can I be put in it when your wife gets ya??? All I want is the card and monitor!
Good Luck!!

Lol and I thought you might want one of the (if not the) fastest E8200's on air in the world

[Cold Storm]

Lol.. Well, another great oc'er said if I could get the funds together I can get a nice little Qx... But, I don't doubt that it's a world clocker!

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by Cold Storm

Lol.. Well, another great oc'er said if I could get the funds together I can get a nice little Qx... But, I don't doubt that it's a world clocker!

Well, TBH....I have trawled around the net trying to find another that does 4.5gig on air....cant but really that does not mean to say there is none there.

[Cold Storm]

Originally Posted by Tatty_One

Well, TBH....I have trawled around the net trying to find another that does 4.5gig on air....cant but really that does not mean to say there is none there.

That is true right there. I haven't seen one that can hit that high! But, Quads are good for me. If you still want to leave it in the will for me... I'll take it and hang it on a plaque that said
Best OC'er over 40!

[Kursah]

Well I have not done any further OC, but my temps have risen up to 67C max, that's gaming and GPU folding at the same time..games play good folding drops to about 4.4k in FAHMon. Also that max temp is at the FTW clocks...at higher than those clocks at 100% fan I never hit above 65C.

I may try to OC once again and see what I can get for stable clocks at 1.18v, but I believe the higher voltage is there. More to come.

[Tatty_One]

Well after a lot of pondering, I have decided to get a 28inch monitor so taking into account the wife's displeasure, I think I will just go for the Gainward GTX260 which should be more than enough for my needs....just about to hit the "order" button

The 280 would be nice but seeing as I am officially a retired overclocker and I dont bench anymore I think I will survive with the 260......TBH I was very tempted to go for the 4870 (still am really), I am not a fanboi, I was just a little concerned about heat and restricted overclocking "out of the box".

[tigger]

Here ya go tatty,4.8ghz E8200 on air(freezer 7 pro). -http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...47&postcount=1


You may have to come out of retirement old boy

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by tigger69

Here ya go tatty,4.8ghz E8200 on air(freezer 7 pro). -http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...47&postcount=1


You may have to come out of retirement old boy

Wow! now thats something to beat, I never tried beyond 4.5gig and I did that on 1.5V, with the new 790i BIOS some are reaching 610mhz FSB speeds so despite the fact that I am retired.....I might just have to give this a go, at 4.5gig on SuperPI she never went above about 45C.......I reckon tho he did that within windows on ClockGen which IMO is cheating a bit as it may well not even boot to windows at that speed, be interesting to see if he could run any benches!

Nice find

[Cold Storm]

Just know tatty, that when she beats ya to where you go blind, I want the 28 inch! lmao.. Glad to see you are getting one man.

[Kursah]

Cool, well another TPU member with a GTX260 would be kinda nice...we had that other new member that posted twice, but I can't recall another active member with a 260. Mine runs like a champ...I still have the vmodded bios though...my temps are still pretty damn warm, 3-5C higher than normal, I might have some free time tonight, my sisters' wedding is tomorrow so I'll be busy, but I still plan on seeing what the highest stable clocks are for 1.18v. Like I said earlier, 800/1600 was just out of reach, I'm sure if I was running water that'd be a different story, oh well.

Keep us posted tatty!

[trt740]

Originally Posted by Tatty_One

Wow! now thats something to beat, I never tried beyond 4.5gig and I did that on 1.5V, with the new 790i BIOS some are reaching 610mhz FSB speeds so despite the fact that I am retired.....I might just have to give this a go, at 4.5gig on SuperPI she never went above about 45C.......I reckon tho he did that within windows on ClockGen which IMO is cheating a bit as it may well not even boot to windows at that speed, be interesting to see if he could run any benches!

Nice find

Tatty does your TRUE with dual fans hum a bit (rear fan that is pulling)

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by Kursah

Cool, well another TPU member with a GTX260 would be kinda nice...we had that other new member that posted twice, but I can't recall another active member with a 260. Mine runs like a champ...I still have the vmodded bios though...my temps are still pretty damn warm, 3-5C higher than normal, I might have some free time tonight, my sisters' wedding is tomorrow so I'll be busy, but I still plan on seeing what the highest stable clocks are for 1.18v. Like I said earlier, 800/1600 was just out of reach, I'm sure if I was running water that'd be a different story, oh well.

Keep us posted tatty!

Explain this modded BIOS for me, I am really stuck now between the 260 and the 4870.......I can get the 260 for cheaper here and I am thinking the extra memory on the 260 would be useful for a 28 inch monitor.

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by trt740

Tatty does your TRUE with dual fans hum a bit (rear fan that is pulling)

No very quiet.

[Cold Storm]

Tatty, I think you should grab the 260. I have a 280, but they are one hell of a card... Didn't think this card could do even better with frame rate in games then the Gx2... but it does!

[AtlRich]

Very new to OCing in general, been working on getting my system stable. Looks like I found a good home to learn how to do my GTX280

[trt740]

Originally Posted by Tatty_One

No very quiet.

Okay I think it's the second scythe fan motor I removed the second fan and believe it or not these heatpipes are so good I see almost no difference, from dual fans to a single fan.

[Kursah]

Tatty,

The cooling works quite well, I do 80-100%...my card runs on 1.12v for the extra (3d gaming) clocks at vanilla stock clocks, a superclocked, ftw most all of the OC'd 260's I've read about recently also run at 1.12v, there's an option for 1.18v in NiBitor for the 260 BIOS, the 280's already run that speed. I've read a few reports, including one submitted in this thread of 260's hitting or going beyond 800 on the GPU. 1250-1300 on the DDR3 seems to be the norm, the shaders are around 1450-1550. From vanilla clocks all look pretty good, I am running with 1.18v, but haven't spent more than a few quick tries that didn't work out so well, but I will spend more time later on (hopefully sunday...sister's wedding is priority atm). I modified an EVGA FTW edition bios with 666/1403 1107 with 1.18v just so I could OC beyond that point, also modified the minimum fan speed to 80%...because for the noise it makes which isn't that much imo, it does a better job of cooling that the 40% at stock.

I'm sure the extra memory will come in handy on the GTX series...I almost went 4870, but I've read of too many failures, artifacts, bugged drivers and overheating issues than I have on the GTX's. That alone was enough to sway me. It does seem the HD48xx's are better in DX9 stuff by a tad, but the GTX's are more optimised for DX10...I hope that was a good gamble on NV's part, but with more and more DX10 supporting games being released I think it's a good idea...the DX9 performance for me has been phenomenal, DX10 has been great...I can run Crysis on stock clocks, 1440x900 extra high, with JRob's Crysis realism mod (has 2x msaa iirc) and it seems to float between 35-45, it dips in the 20's here and there, and gets up in the 60's too, but the norm seems around the mid 30's to mid 40's...I'm not a huge Crysis fan, but playing the game with all the goodies is entertaining.

I think either route Tatty will be a good one, my card has been great, I game a lot and enjoy what it brings to the table, it gives me more reason to upgrade to a larger monitor for the higher res gaming, more drivers coming with better support, PhysX could be promising if implemented and executed decently, the card folds like a champ, runs cooler than most 48xx series, the fan is quieter by quite a bit from what I've heard...I idle at 45C, at 1.12v load at around 58-60C, 1.18v goes up to about 65-67C. Of course YMMV on all of this, if you get one cool, hope you can help donate to this thread, if not, that's cool also, get what your gut and wallet say is the best deal.