3850 AGP OC'ing, Vmods, experiences, suggestions, where to buy

[InnocentCriminal]

Welcome Shaolin,

I suggest you fill in your System Specification so we can get a clear understanding of what path is appropriate after amending these heating issues.

 

[ShaolinMilk]

Hi InnocentCriminal,

I just filled in my System Specs and thank you for the warm welcome.

 

[_JP_]

Hi all!

I need some advice. I'm thinking of buying a HD 3850 AGP for my rig, but I'm unsure which maker I should go for.
I've been reading this thread and seems the Sapphire models can be pencil modded.
So I ask: Considering overclocking, at this moment which is the best maker to buy from? Powercolor, HIS (non-IceQ 3) or Sapphire?

Since I want to overclock, I'm thinking of using a Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo (Core) + Enzotech BMR-C1 (Mem).

 

[_JP_]

Bumping for greater Justice!
Or 'till someone helps me...

 

[OneMoar]

ewwww agp

 

[InnocentCriminal]

ewwww agp

Not exactly a constructive post dude.

:shadedshu

I need some advice. I'm thinking of buying a HD 3850 AGP for my rig, but I'm unsure which maker I should go for.

My gaming name is JackPepsi which I abbreviate to JP nuts! From my own personal experience (as you can see from this thread) I had a Sapphire 3850, it was absolutely amazing, I did replace the stock cooler to a Zalman VF1000 though which increase it's OC'ing capabilities as well as reducing the noise.

I don't think it entirely matters which brand you go for, I recommend getting the cheapest you can and then spending some extra money on an awesome cooler for it. Unless you can get a decent price on a HIS model, their IceQ coolers are great!

 

[OneMoar]

just don't get a single slot heat-pipe cooler from sapphire
unless u wanna boil water on your gpu

 

[Yukikaze]

just don't get a single slot heat-pipe cooler from sapphire
unless u wanna boil water on your gpu

I had the single-slot Sapphire HD3850. It never had any issues with temperatures with it. It was a bit noisy, but that's about it.

There's a good Club3D version with a zalman-like cooler on it, which also has the benefit of looking pretty nice in the case, as well.

 

[_JP_]

Thank you all so very much for your replies.

I've been doing math to figure out what would be the best purchase. Importing from Amazon is out of the question, since most of them arrive here costing 110€ and for less I can get them here. The "problem" is that here, I can only get a Powercolor (non-Zerotherm) or a Sapphire.
I also know of the Club3D but haven't found any, so I've crossed that one.
Amazon sells a HIS version, but the non IceQ 3 Turbo (can't seem to find one of those either), the rest are all Sapphires.
So I'm going patriotic...

I'll probably go for the Sapphire, if they're available (stupid site doesn't display the availability :shadedshu). If not, Powercolor it is.

InnocentCriminal, can you tell me if the Zalman VF1000 leaves any space/head-room for the RAM-sinks I mentioned? They're 14x14x14cm. Most coolers don't leave space for such big heatsinks, but for a decent overclock I saw these as necessary. The hard part is looking of a compatible Core cooler.
The AC's accelero S1 & twin turbo (non-Pro) are compatible, but I don't know if they're more efficient than a Zalman cooler.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

The VF1000 even comes with VRM cooling so you'll be just fine. I love my 3850 and still use it.

 

[_JP_]

Ok, I'll go for the VF1000. Thanks!

(they're kinda expensive though...)

 

[OneMoar]

I had the single-slot Sapphire HD3850. It never had any issues with temperatures with it. It was a bit noisy, but that's about it.

There's a good Club3D version with a zalman-like cooler on it, which also has the benefit of looking pretty nice in the case, as well.

I had 2 of them
bot ran 114c @ full load and 98c playing GRID /w fan @ 100% defective coolers

 

[_JP_]

Alas...(poor Yorick!) The Sapphire was taken off the site the precise day I was going to buy it.

I was just on my way to make the reservation and then run to get it with the cash in my hands, when, after 10 terrifying minutes of search, the site proved me the card was no longer available...



Guess I'll have to go for a PowerColor. It's going to be cheaper, about 10€, but I don't know what to expect from this one. Still planning on OC, but it's going to be the 3rd PowerColor I buy, in a row, and the last two haven't proved trusty overclockers. But strangely had very good performance on stock (I wonder if that's on purpose?).

Has anyone got any experience with this specific card? (BTW, it's the Non-Zerotherm cooled one)


[P.S.:]
I've been reading some posts about users that congratulate W1zzard and the whole TPU cast on the spectacular Forum & Site it is. I've got to add my Thanks to the list too, this is the FIRST forum where I'm actively posting about AGP cards and no one has replied:

"EEW!!!1!!!one AGP!!!!1!!" (except for that one of rjc862003)(again, not very constructive!)

or

AGP IZ DEAD!!

or even

Please, let AGP die...

Finally one can talk about aging technology without childish comments or immediately comparing how a PCI-e e-peen rig is so much better about a AGP rig.
Thank you so very much! All of you!

[/P.S.:]

A very special thank you to InnocentCriminal, rjc862003, Yukikaze & lemonsoda who keep this particular thread alive and breading!! And to intel_igent for creating it.

 

[OneMoar]

Alas...(poor Yorick!) The Sapphire was taken off the site the precise day I was going to buy it.

I was just on my way to make the reservation and then run to get it with the cash in my hands, when, after 10 terrifying minutes of search, the site proved me the card was no longer available...



Guess I'll have to go for a PowerColor. It's going to be cheaper, about 10€, but I don't know what to expect from this one. Still planning on OC, but it's going to be the 3rd PowerColor I buy, in a row, and the last two haven't proved trusty overclockers. But strangely had very good performance on stock (I wonder if that's on purpose?).

Has anyone got any experience with this specific card? (BTW, it's the Non-Zerotherm cooled one)


[P.S.:]
I've been reading some posts about users that congratulate W1zzard and the whole TPU cast on the spectacular Forum & Site it is. I've got to add my Thanks to the list too, this is the FIRST forum where I'm actively posting about AGP cards and no one has replied:

"EEW!!!1!!!one AGP!!!!1!!" (except for that one of rjc862003)(again, not very constructive!)

or

AGP IZ DEAD!!

or even

Please, let AGP die...

Finally one can talk about aging technology without childish comments or immediately comparing how a PCI-e e-peen rig is so much better about a AGP rig.
Thank you so very much! All of you!

[/P.S.:]

A very special thank you to InnocentCriminal, rjc862003, Yukikaze & lemonsoda who keep this particular thread alive and breading!! And to intel_igent for creating it.

first of all I guss E-sarcasm escapes you
secondly I am sorry if I offended you
lastly AGP is OLD and buying a 100+ dollor card for a agp setup makes no sense to me
if you where to say buy a new motherboard with a a pcie slot and a say something like a 4770 or even a 4850/5750 you would gain quiet a bit of performance over a AGP card
a 3850 is going to have trouble playing ANYTHING newer then say ... GRID ( iirc GRID used to push my pci-e 3850 to 100% load @ 1280x720 x2aa Med settings ) [keep in mind I had my 3850 wound out to 820Mhz/1800
in short it would be a waste of what I assume for you is hard to come buy spending $
I really recommend rethinking and saving up abit more and do a Proper Upgrade
something like this would out pace your agp 3850 by a good bit
Foxconn M61PMP-K AM3 NVIDIA MCP61P Micro ATX AMD M...
XFX HD-567X-YNFC Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 12...

 

[Marcos669]

first of all I guss E-sarcasm escapes you
secondly I am sorry if I offended you
lastly AGP is OLD and buying a 100+ dollor card for a agp setup makes no sense to me
if you where to say buy a new motherboard with a a pcie slot and a say something like a 4770 or even a 4850/5750 you would gain quiet a bit of performance over a AGP card
a 3850 is going to have trouble playing ANYTHING newer then say ... GRID ( iirc GRID used to push my pci-e 3850 to 100% load @ 1280x720 x2aa Med settings ) [keep in mind I had my 3850 wound out to 820Mhz/1800
in short it would be a waste of what I assume for you is hard to come buy spending $
I really recommend rethinking and saving up abit more and do a Proper Upgrade
something like this would out pace your agp 3850 by a good bit
Foxconn M61PMP-K AM3 NVIDIA MCP61P Micro ATX AMD M...
XFX HD-567X-YNFC Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 12...

I think you don´t know what you are saying, a 3850 AGP hands all modern games withouth any problem with the right procesor like the one our friend has.

The only games this card can´t run at maximum are GTA IV(medium-high), Crysis(medium with AA or high without AA), Far Cry 2(Very High without AA), and Arma II(Medium without AA), the rest of modern games are fully playable at full graphics.

And sorry for my bad english, i´m Spanish

 

[bebbee]

i think 3850 is still a very fast card.

 

[Morgoth]

marcoss
i runed crysis on highest settings no aa and it runned
with the agp card and P4 at 3,60ghz

 

[OneMoar]

crysis is old
AGP is dead and this thread should be locked

 

[_JP_]

Sort of agree...
This is still useful for those who own one (HD 3850), but there seems to be almost no activity.

Not that I've given up on getting a HD 3850, but my will is drifting towards the HD 4670.
It's as good as the HD 3850, with support for new tech and less power consumption.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

Lemonadesoda made a thread that might help you in your decision JP.

 

[Jackdrits]

Hi there everyone.. i'm from Brazil and i'm new here.

I recently bought a Sapphire HD3850 AGP and i'm really enjoying it.. it's a really good card!

But i would like to ask you guys about a little problem i'm having here:
Its OEM cooler is too noisy!

Doing some research i found out that i could use ATI Tools or RivaTuner to controle the fan speed and make it a bit silent, but i didn't find which is a good version to use..
All i saw was people saying that things weren't working..

I'm also looking for a new cooler for it..
Is a Zalman vf900-cu a good option?
I can find it very cheap here in my country, but i'm not sure if its compatible with the card..

Thank you guys in advance for your help and attention!

 

[_JP_]

First of all, Welcome to TPU!

Doing some research i found out that i could use ATI Tools or RivaTuner to controle the fan speed and make it a bit silent, but i didn't find which is a good version to use..
All i saw was people saying that things weren't working..

Try the MSI Afterburner.

I'm also looking for a new cooler for it..
Is a Zalman vf900-cu a good option?
I can find it very cheap here in my country, but i'm not sure if its compatible with the card..

You can find at their site a table with the compatible chips for that cooler. From what I can see the HD 3850 is listed there, so either AGP or PCI-e versions are compatible. Feel free to use that one. Also, if you do purchase that cooler, it comes with a very handy fan controller (FAN MATE 2), so that you don't have to use software to control the fan speed. Considering that the VF900 is a very quiet cooler, even at max speed, I doubt you'll have noise issues.

Have fun with that card!

 

[Jackdrits]

I see!

I've just purchased the vf900..
Now, lets wait for it to get here and see how things will work hehehehe

Thank you so much for your help JP!

Cheers.

 

[nollo]

Only place I can think of that can help

Hello Everyone I have been struggling with my AGP8x 3850 as of lately and too me it seems like a overheating issue but perhaps the more knowledgeable can help me out.

So a few months ago my main hard drive failed, the one I had in place when i Built the machine. but having 2 other hard drives in the machine I had a backup of the boot registry and I just have been booting from my faster sata drive.... Anyway.

Recently playing games like Everquest, and dynasty warriors online, have been outright crashing my computer, blinking red lines, blue lines, boom. Plenty of VPU recovers, and my 3850 is running idle at 55, then within 30 seconds of any 3D application the GPU jumps too 100% Usage and the temp sharply increases to temps of 105-110 C, so my card can boil water. I live in a cold climate and have gone as far as nearly putting the PC out the window with fans and sub 30F degree winds blowing into the machine, and I still get the problems.

My original guess was that I lost some drivers in the failing of my original hard drive, so I re-installed the latest 10.12 catalyst and the hotfix for it from Sapphire. These drivers have not fixed anything =(

I dont know if I forgot to reinstall chipset drivers and if that can make a difference? or do my current drivers suck? I am not sure what to do, i want to get my 3850 back to working shape where I was handling almost anything with complete ease, now I crash within 15min of any 3d app =( The temps when running 3d apps are just way to high, Using MSI afterburner with 90% fan speed and nothing =(

Any Ideas?
Oh and I would be happy to provide any system specs I think there is a easy way to do that right?

 

[OneMoar]

I had a Sapphire 3850 Single Slot that ran upwards of 115c (Defective Heat Pipe in the cooler ) Burned up after roughly 4 months


replace the cooler with a after market one or use it until it dies
also LOLAGP
time to upgrade bud
AGP IS DEAD