Sapphire x1950pro ALL U NEED TO KNOW!

[slugzkea]

I have spent many weeks studying and addressing issues reguarding the AGP VERSION of the Sapphire x1950pro 512mb.
So here it is:

Cooling:
The stock heat sink and fan does not cool anything. There is maybe 15% copper out of the whole thing thus, barely any heat transfer. The memory is not cooled at all, due to ram heat pads with a plastic sheet over them. At stock, and fan going at 100%, this cards heats up to 73 C. This would most likely kill your card within 2 years.
Solution: RMA this product because removing the default heat sink and fan voids warranty. OR you can purchase The AC Accelero X2 is very cheap, and out performs pretty much all VGA coolers. It also cools the memory, and is very silent. At load, i have not found my card to breach 48C. There are a few down faults though. For one, the fan does not blow out of the case (like the silencer 4's did), and the fan sticks out quite a bit. If you have a side fan connected to your side panel, it will not fit due to this cooler.

Power: This card requires massive power. At least a 520w PSU with 30a on the +12v. And yes, this card requires both power connectors, no matter what the flimsy sapphire manual says.

Rebooting No Post Problem:
People have been stating that it is an overheating issue. Well, yes, particially. You can hear the fan spin at 100% during reboot, which means the card heats up at initial post. However, when i purchased the AC Accelero X2, this did not solve the problem. I have discovered that the default voltage for this card is 1.3v. The default voltage for the AGP Slot on all motherboards is 1.5v
This card is underpowered.

Solution: Power. Increase voltage on the +12v line if your PSU has that option. Mine is at 12.88v

Bios Flashing: No point. There is no voltage table on these cards.

Drivers: Use catalyst 7.2 without control centre. Then download the latest beta version of ATI tools. currently, the 7.2 officials are faster than the omega 7.1's

Overclocking: Good luck! Core, i got to about 611 stable with mem at 750mhz.

750mhz? yes. That is the default frequency of the RAM. How do i know?

the exact print on the RAM chips are:
Qimonde 0638
HYB18H512321AF-13
HVV52109

Infineon (owns Qimonde) refuses to release a data sheet on this particular model. But i have found out through searching on other forums, that the default ms is 1.3 and the default frequency is 750mhz as stated with the 7800GT models. Everybody has stated that a 27mhz incriment increase is required to overclock the memory. And this is true, but if you set it to 750 dead on, it will work.

Final solution: Quite honestly, for the name that has been given this card (x1950 family), i am disapointed at the performance of this card.

Accept that it is a mid-range card, or RMA.


Oh and last but no least, DISABLE FAST WRITE!!!! i gain 10-25fps (depending on the game) doing so!

 

[Zubasa]

I cannot agree with you on the cooler part.
My core does not get pass 70C and the memory is indeed cooled.
By saying nothing is cooled, do you know what temperature the card gets to without the cooler?

And about overclocking the card, every card is different.
You get your card to 611/750Mhz
But I got mine to 621/800Mhz stable. So I guess you are just not so lucky with your card.

 

[slugzkea]

I cannot agree with you on the cooler part.
My core does not get pass 70C and the memory is indeed cooled.
By saying nothing is cooled, do you know what temperature the card gets to without the cooler?

is yours AGP?

 

[Zubasa]

is yours AGP?

Mine is a PCI-E with the exact same cooler.
So thats why I only question you on the Cooler.
Not sure about the PCI-E to AGP chip affects OC at all.

 

[slugzkea]

Mine is a PCI-E with the exact same cooler.
So thats why I only question you on the Cooler.

This thread is dedicated to the AGP version.

My mistake for not putting that in the title.

everybody on the sapphrie forums are getting the 70 c's with the AGP version.

 

[Zubasa]

This thread is dedicated to the AGP version.

My mistake for not putting that in the title.

everybody on the sapphrie forums are getting the 70 c's with the AGP version.

I think that have to do with the raitlo chip, it output considerable amount of heat as I recall.
About the temperature, the airflow makes a big difference. (Yes I get to 73C if I turn down the case fan.)

 

[slugzkea]

I think that have to do with the raitlo chip, it output considerable amount of heat as I recall.
About the temperature, the airflow makes a big difference. (Yes I get to 73C if I turn down the case fan.)

I guess so, however my case is very cool hell my hands are freezing right now as i'm typing and i must say from my experience, it was a power issue

 

[slugzkea]

What model are your ram chips?

I cannot agree with you on the cooler part.
My core does not get pass 70C and the memory is indeed cooled.
By saying nothing is cooled, do you know what temperature the card gets to without the cooler?

And about overclocking the card, every card is different.
You get your card to 611/750Mhz
But I got mine to 621/800Mhz stable. So I guess you are just not so lucky with your card.

What model are your GFX ram chips? do you know?

I found out mine, which is why i know as a fact the default frequency is 750mhz, and is also why it will not increase past that due to no voltage table.

Once again, THIS IS FOR THE AGP!! AGP!! AGP VERSION!!!!!

 

[Kammster]

Power: This card requires massive power. At least a 520w PSU with 30a on the +12v. And yes, this card requires both power connectors, no matter what the flimsy sapphire manual says.

Rebooting No Post Problem:
People have been stating that it is an overheating issue. Well, yes, particially. You can hear the fan spin at 100% during reboot, which means the card heats up at initial post. However, when i purchased the AC Accelero X2, this did not solve the problem. I have discovered that the default voltage for this card is 1.3v. The default voltage for the AGP Slot on all motherboards is 1.5v
This card is underpowered.

Solution: Power. Increase voltage on the +12v line if your PSU has that option. Mine is at 12.88v

there is a thread in the sapphire forums about the restart "problem" and it was concluded to be a defect in the power circutry , a capacitor or something the card wouldn't "warm boot", u would have to shut off the computer and wait.
most people RMA their card and got the 256mb ultimate version, or a later revision(i think).

are u sure u won't damage the drives with that 12.88 v
sapphire seems to have problems with the voltage on their pcie chips on agp!

 

[slugzkea]

so far, so good!

there is a thread in the sapphire forums about the restart "problem" and it was concluded to be a defect in the power circutry , a capacitor or something the card wouldn't "warm boot", u would have to shut off the computer and wait.
most people RMA their card and got the 256mb ultimate version, or a later revision(i think).

are u sure u won't damage the drives with that 12.88 v
sapphire seems to have problems with the voltage on their pcie chips on agp!

So far, so good.

Temps are very low, and i have overvolt indication/protection on my PSU (OCZ powerstream 520w).

I have not had the no post problem ever since.

I do not believe there is an ultimate version for AGP, which is why I am encouraging everybody to RMA the AGP version.

 

[dashsmashed]

i have the agp sapphire running at 631/749 - can't get it stable any higher...

this is stable but if I have the secondary display (a standard tv) running in the background it exhibits the same problems as i do if i o/c any higher on the gpu.. runs for a few mins then the display drivers either crash or my monitor and tv loose their signal...

I have added an X2 and vr cooler btw...

becasue it runs for a while i'm wondering if its still a heat issue but in an area not sensored? very tempted to stick my 12" desk fan under the desk on full power to see if it makes any difference...

 

[slugzkea]

i have the agp sapphire running at 631/749 - can't get it stable any higher...

this is stable but if I have the secondary display (a standard tv) running in the background it exhibits the same problems as i do if i o/c any higher on the gpu.. runs for a few mins then the display drivers either crash or my monitor and tv loose their signal...

I have added an X2 and vr cooler btw...

becasue it runs for a while i'm wondering if its still a heat issue but in an area not sensored? very tempted to stick my 12" desk fan under the desk on full power to see if it makes any difference...

I don't think your core is stable man. I thought my core was stable at those speeds as well, then i tested all games and 3dmark06 and everything ran stable however, COD2 did not.

COD2 is what determined what core speed was stable at 749mhz and it was 610-611mhz.

 

[Steevo]

My X1800 runs up to 100% fan during post. It isn't from heat, it is a simple protection for the card. If the PC reboots from a graphic card fault of overheating, for any reason, it allos the card to quickly cool itself before the thermal diode comes online to start the temperature monitoring.


So if you have a card that is clogged with dust and pet hair, and the system reboots or is rebooted, instead of the fan NOT spinning and the card staying too hot, it at least moves SOME air to cool the card. So in a worst case scenario, the card is saved, before the temperature is read.

 

[dashsmashed]

I don't think your core is stable man. I thought my core was stable at those speeds as well, then i tested all games and 3dmark06 and everything ran stable however, COD2 did not.

COD2 is what determined what core speed was stable at 749mhz and it was 610-611mhz.

COD2 is running fine on my machine at this speed... everything max @ 1440x900 25-30fps - I tried a few different levels just to be sure... oblivion fine maxed same res fps jumps around from 24-60 FEAR runs well but somewhere between max/med.. same for COH..

actually I couldnt get the memory to budge from stock until I read your post.. cheers dude !

 

[Ketxxx]

AGP voltage is not directly linked to the VGPU voltage of the card. However, increaseing AGP voltage can result in a cleaner signal.

 

[slugzkea]

COD2 is running fine on my machine at this speed... everything max @ 1440x900 25-30fps - I tried a few different levels just to be sure... oblivion fine maxed same res fps jumps around from 24-60 FEAR runs well but somewhere between max/med.. same for COH..

actually I couldnt get the memory to budge from stock until I read your post.. cheers dude !

Congrats! hehe

 

[newtekie1]

73C isn't going to kill a card in 2 years, it is very unlikely, and if the card does die, it won't be from the heat.

Even if there was a chance that the card would die after 2 years from the heat, I think that would just be a sign that it is time to upgrade. I would hope no one is using AGP seriously 2 years from now.

 

[tkpenalty]

Um, slugzkea, the X1950PRO AGPs with crap coolers only existed in the first batch of them. Which is what your probably have. Remember to heatsink the VRMs if you plan on changing to another Cooler, check my database thread for details.

 

[Zubasa]

Um, slugzkea, the X1950PRO AGPs with crap coolers only existed in the first batch of them. Which is what your probably have. Remember to heatsink the VRMs if you plan on changing to another Cooler, check my database thread for details.

The first batch also has a crappy bios that put fan speed at 45% at 70C.

 

[slugzkea]

Question

Um, slugzkea, the X1950PRO AGPs with crap coolers only existed in the first batch of them. Which is what your probably have. Remember to heatsink the VRMs if you plan on changing to another Cooler, check my database thread for details.

So what did the new batch of the x1950pro AGP come with? any pics of the new heat sink and fan?

From my past purchases, none of their cards came with good coolers...

 

[dashsmashed]

AGP voltage is not directly linked to the VGPU voltage of the card. However, increaseing AGP voltage can result in a cleaner signal.

is this safe to do? is it something other folks have benefited from?

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Good tip from tk. Change the cooler. The Zalman and X2 are the winners. Check out the reviews and benchmarks. Zalman is better if you have good case cooling already. X2 is better if case cooling is poor.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

If you have AGP X1950Pro, GS or XT, please visit http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=25369, vote and comment. AGP ONLY!

 

[Ling-ling]

Zalman is better if you have good case cooling already. X2 is better if case cooling is poor.

Crap, I seriously doubt it. They both circulate the air inside. The Zalman vf900 is better for cooling the GPU, while the X2 cools the ram a little better than the vf900.

 

[slugzkea]

I wouldn't say so

Crap, I seriously doubt it. They both circulate the air inside. The Zalman vf900 is better for cooling the GPU, while the X2 cools the ram a little better than the vf900.

Depending on how the core is pasted, and what thermal paste you use can really effect the overall results of each cooler.

The real breakdown is this:

the X2 has 3 heatpipes, which cools memory and GPU however the whole device is very big, bulky and is not 100% copper.

the zalman has two heatpipes but the entire cooler is 100% copper, thus maximum heat transfer and disperation.