X1800 series experiences / overclock results etc.

[Steevo]

1.5 core on air.
The memory is held back from it's own specs by the BIOS, it is 2v memory, most cards seem to use 1.8-1.9 I use 2.05 and hit the point where more speed and volts will do any better.

 

[chron]

in 3dmark scores and benches of that sort, how much does the rest of the system matter? If i have a crappy intel processor with a crappy motherboard and value ram, will my score not reflect the card's potential?

 

[Steevo]

Not if the CPU cannot pass information on to the card.

The bench difference between a 3Ghz intel and a 3Ghz AMD in the current offerings will be 2FPS round about for Intel, 4-5FPS for AMD in graphic benchmarks. While this 2-3FPS may not seem like much the truth be told it really equates to a 200-300% increase in performance. While that increase will not be fully seen in gaming the difference is there.

So in short, yes, a CPU more than anything holds the system back from reaching it's full potential.

 

[chron]

And the 3dmark scores? I see people with the same video card as me but with an AMD processor getting 3000+ higher score than me in 3dmark05. Is it possible that a format of the HD and fresh install of windows will give me a better score?

 

[yogurt_21]

actually yes, being that the newer drivers seem to score better and fresh install always help give back performance, the score should go up if you reformat and then run cat 6.5's.

and as for the whole rest of the system thin, cpu has aheavy impact on performance. beyond the architectural difference of the cpu you'll also have to note that amd's memory controller is much mroe effcicnet than intels thus adding to the difference in gaming.

as for 3dmark 05 my cpu bottlenecks at anything lower than 2.8GHZ in 3d05 and it gets worse the higher I clock my card.

 

[chron]

well thanks for clearing that up. Me and this guy on another forums are debating why my scores are so low. My reasoning: 1: need to format hd, 2: the rest of the system isn't a great gaming rig... His reasoning: Something is wrong with the card and suddenly an X1800gto that has all 16 pipes unlocked and clocked at 700/700 has something wrong with it!


So heres a question I've been wondering... Should I upgrade to AM2 or Conroe this summer?

 

[yogurt_21]

out of the two and being youre an intel guy conroe looks more promising, as far as should you? dunno if you have the funds and the will power to get through the buggy stage all new hardware has sure. conroe seems to be the next leader as far as benches have thusfar shown.

 

[chron]

Yea, the bugs at the initial release of hardware is what keeps me away for at least 3 months. What I'm thinking will be the buggiest though are the motherboards that support conroe. So, I dunno... I do have the funds so when it comes out I'll go ahead and try it, and if its buggy to the point where I can't even use the system, then I'll have to keep using the dell... I think the bugs should be minimal though since I've seen so many websites that have tested the am2 and conroe setups side by side...

 

[Rick Hunter]

well im should be getting a 1800xt 256mb if selling my card goes well, how have the overclocking been on these?

I've got a HIS X1800XT 256MB. Stock bios, 1.425 V gpu / 1.996 V mem with modded stock cooler (kept stock heatsink & removed stock fan & added an 80 cfm Delta fan with ducting on a rheobus).
711 MHz gpu / 860 MHz mem stable for hours in Oblivion. Temps are around 53 to 55 deg under load with 23-25 deg ambient.

Haven't pushed more volts into it yet. It seems the key for good mem OCing seems to be more gpu volts. At 1.375V, I wasn't able to break 830 MHz on the mem (regardless of mem volts).

 

[BigD6997]

I've got a HIS X1800XT 256MB. Stock bios, 1.425 V gpu / 1.996 V mem with modded stock cooler (kept stock heatsink & removed stock fan & added an 80 cfm Delta fan with ducting on a rheobus).
711 MHz gpu / 860 MHz mem stable for hours in Oblivion. Temps are around 53 to 55 deg under load with 23-25 deg ambient.

Haven't pushed more volts into it yet. It seems the key for good mem OCing seems to be more gpu volts. At 1.375V, I wasn't able to break 830 MHz on the mem (regardless of mem volts).

thanks, and selling my old card when realy well so i got a x1800xt 512mb, but my mobo doesnt let me play games with it cuz evga mobos hate the higher end x1k ati cards, so i got a dfi lp ut expert and ima start overclocking today since thats when it comes in, hopefully it works

 

[warup89]

damn man nothing sucks mor than to change Motherboards because then you gotta take ur whole pc aparts then reinstall windows, and other little things but hope you get ur other mobo soon, so you could stop mising out on the x1800 .

anyways

i got my x1800xl 512mb long time ago, and just latetly i been able to flash it to full X1800XTPE (700/800), it works wonderfull and its giving me temps of 44C idle 51-63C load.

 

[Rick Hunter]

I've got a HIS X1800XT 256MB. Stock bios, 1.425 V gpu / 1.996 V mem with modded stock cooler (kept stock heatsink & removed stock fan & added an 80 cfm Delta fan with ducting on a rheobus).
711 MHz gpu / 860 MHz mem stable for hours in Oblivion. Temps are around 53 to 55 deg under load with 23-25 deg ambient.

Haven't pushed more volts into it yet. It seems the key for good mem OCing seems to be more gpu volts. At 1.375V, I wasn't able to break 830 MHz on the mem (regardless of mem volts).

Tried 1.45 V gpu last night. Managed 719 MHz gpu / 868 mem stable (873+ artifacts in Oblivion). Didn't manage to crash/vpu recover the gpu yet, it might have a few more MHz in there but I doubt I'll get more than 10. Decent overall OC imo.

 

[BigD6997]

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=2070814

finaly works with my new dfi lp ut expert!!!

 

[trt740]

X1800xt trouble

My first Sapphire x1800xt died after overclocking it using Atitools. It was stable at 700/800 for a week, with a Zalman vf900 cooler and a very low gpu temps . So I sent it back and bought a new one. My new card hates Atitools as soon as I test it I get artifacting and it locks up to a black screen? The new card also has a Zalman vf900 cooler on it and appears to run fine using ATI Overdrive which clocks it at 689/797. Ive played Elder Scrolls on max settings and Guild Wars on maxed setting for hours and seem to have zero problems with this card, but why do you think it cannot use Atitools. I know Atitools is demanding but Elder Scrolls is also very video intense. Infact it might be the most video intense game ever made so I know it a great test bed. What kills me is it seems like the the program and card don't play nice at all. If I set the card at 625/750 in atitools it runs great but at say 650/760 it won't even test in less than a second it shows all kinds of yellow lines on the fuzzy cube and locks up, even with increased voltage. Im not even sure that the artfacting its showing is legit because I would surley see something after hours of play in Elder Scrolls Of Oblivion at 689/797 wouldn't I? what do you think.

 

[cybercap]

hi guys

if a disable ATI SMART and ATI HOTKEY services (ati overdrive screen logically fails to initialize in CCC), do the 3D freqs still kick in in 3D games ?

and are my AA and AF settings still ok without those services?

[ati x1800xt flashed to PE here, vf900 @5v, not overclocked -too hot]

 

[chron]

I disabled those services because an oc guide said it would "thwoart my efforts"
I'm not sure what they do exactly...

I have an HIS X1800gto. I can't seem to go above 700mhz on the memory. Is it a possibility that the memory actually is limited to 700mhz? I've seen people with other gto's get up to 780!

 

[tranx]

I've got latest Omega Drivers based on Catalyst 6.5 and I use AtiTool 0.25 beta 14 to overclock my card in 3D mode without problems. I didn't check/uncheck Overdrive (Properties of the Desktop/Settings/Advanced/Overdrive) - currently is enabled, but it shouldn't make any difference. Omega's instalator will put Ati Tray Tools into your Start Bar (if you agree), so you will have easy (and fast, not like in CCC) access to all the settings (Vsync, AA, AF, everything). You can use profiles as well. Automatic 3D mode detection in AtiTools works fine for me everytime. My VGPU is 1.35V, Vmem default - with these values X1800XT 256MB from Connect3D goes on 680MHz GPU and 801MHz (effective 1602MHz) memory in 3D mode (AtiTool is switching). I made additional default profile in AtiTool due to a need of restoring VGPU (1.275V) after switching back to 2D mode (then the clock are 600MHz GPU and 700MHz memory). At the moment (summer) my idle temp in 2D mode is 56c, stressed goes up to 88c. Cooler is obviously (noise!!) changed to Accelero X2 from Arctic Cooling.

 

[chron]

Put a VF1-Plus on it. Blows accelero away. My room is 82 degrees rite now. Its real hot in the summer. My card is idling at 45 and load at 65

 

[tranx]

Put a VF1-Plus on it. Blows accelero away. My room is 82 degrees rite now. Its real hot in the summer. My card is idling at 45 and load at 65

82c?? Get out of the oven - it's warming up! But seriously - 680/800 is enough for me until I get some DX10 card. When I've red that X2 will make 4 times less noise on 100% than Ati's stock cooler on 25%, I knew is the one .

 

[neokeelo]

My first Sapphire x1800xt died after overclocking it using Atitools. It was stable at 700/800 for a week, with a Zalman vf900 cooler and a very low gpu temps . So I sent it back and bought a new one. My new card hates Atitools as soon as I test it I get artifacting and it locks up to a black screen? The new card also has a Zalman vf900 cooler on it and appears to run fine using ATI Overdrive which clocks it at 689/797. Ive played Elder Scrolls on max settings and Guild Wars on maxed setting for hours and seem to have zero problems with this card, but why do you think it cannot use Atitools. I know Atitools is demanding but Elder Scrolls is also very video intense. Infact it might be the most video intense game ever made so I know it a great test bed. What kills me is it seems like the the program and card don't play nice at all. If I set the card at 625/750 in atitools it runs great but at say 650/760 it won't even test in less than a second it shows all kinds of yellow lines on the fuzzy cube and locks up, even with increased voltage. Im not even sure that the artfacting its showing is legit because I would surley see something after hours of play in Elder Scrolls Of Oblivion at 689/797 wouldn't I? what do you think.

I am have this SAME problem, I can't overclock much with ATI toold But I can get 690/800 fine with Overdrive.

Should I use the OMEGA drivers instead then try? Also trt740 ... What is your voltage set at on the core?

Using Overdrive, @680/794 I get 4452 in 3dkmark06
and 17944 in 3DMark2003 Does that sound right?

 

[cybercap]

I've got latest Omega Drivers based on Catalyst 6.5 and I use AtiTool 0.25 beta 14 to overclock my card in 3D mode without problems. I didn't check/uncheck Overdrive (Properties of the Desktop/Settings/Advanced/Overdrive) - currently is enabled, but it shouldn't make any difference. Omega's instalator will put Ati Tray Tools into your Start Bar (if you agree), so you will have easy (and fast, not like in CCC) access to all the settings (Vsync, AA, AF, everything). You can use profiles as well. Automatic 3D mode detection in AtiTools works fine for me everytime. My VGPU is 1.35V, Vmem default - with these values X1800XT 256MB from Connect3D goes on 680MHz GPU and 801MHz (effective 1602MHz) memory in 3D mode (AtiTool is switching). I made additional default profile in AtiTool due to a need of restoring VGPU (1.275V) after switching back to 2D mode (then the clock are 600MHz GPU and 700MHz memory). At the moment (summer) my idle temp in 2D mode is 56c, stressed goes up to 88c. Cooler is obviously (noise!!) changed to Accelero X2 from Arctic Cooling.

i'll give the omega 6.5 a try then

did you disable the ati services ?

 

[chron]

82c?? Get out of the oven - it's warming up! But seriously - 680/800 is enough for me until I get some DX10 card. When I've red that X2 will make 4 times less noise on 100% than Ati's stock cooler on 25%, I knew is the one .

Yea dude, its hot, I just got a new AC unit for the window even though the rest of my house has ac.

Can't you go above 680? What kind of voltage are you working with?

 

[tvdang7]

My first Sapphire x1800xt died after overclocking it using Atitools. It was stable at 700/800 for a week, with a Zalman vf900 cooler and a very low gpu temps . So I sent it back and bought a new one. My new card hates Atitools as soon as I test it I get artifacting and it locks up to a black screen? The new card also has a Zalman vf900 cooler on it and appears to run fine using ATI Overdrive which clocks it at 689/797. Ive played Elder Scrolls on max settings and Guild Wars on maxed setting for hours and seem to have zero problems with this card, but why do you think it cannot use Atitools. I know Atitools is demanding but Elder Scrolls is also very video intense. Infact it might be the most video intense game ever made so I know it a great test bed. What kills me is it seems like the the program and card don't play nice at all. If I set the card at 625/750 in atitools it runs great but at say 650/760 it won't even test in less than a second it shows all kinds of yellow lines on the fuzzy cube and locks up, even with increased voltage. Im not even sure that the artfacting its showing is legit because I would surley see something after hours of play in Elder Scrolls Of Oblivion at 689/797 wouldn't I? what do you think.

wow. was that cuz of the overclock you think? or just an unlucky card? i want to get an XT and overclock it but not if it dies a few weeks (or months) later. i have top notch water cooling btw

 

[trt740]

No its a great card buy it

I got some great advice and have now clocked my card with ati tools at 685/810 stable with voltage at `1.425 . All i had to do was type msconfig in my run like and diable aticcc and up my voltage to 1.4 and it started to run fine. Not sure why the first one died.

 

[chron]

I got some great advice and have now clocked my card with ati tools at 685/810 stable with voltage at `1.425 . All i had to do was type msconfig in my run like and diable aticcc and up my voltage to 1.4 and it started to run fine. Not sure why the first one died.

First of all, if your going to overclock an ATI video card I would advice AGAINST using ATI's control panel software or their catalyst software... Its garbage and doesn't let you take full advantage of your card's potential performance.

I use ATI Tray Tools. Its an extremely small program that lets you tweak out everything possible about the card, including multi threading support.

While using Vsync (almost all the time) I like to force triple buffers on a d3d game... It makes a big difference.