Until today when I got gpu-z again I didn't pay any real attention to the gpu as Everest didn't monitor it because it was too new (it does now) and there was no need to worry anyway as it was more than powerful enough to run basically anything.
So I installed gpu-z again today because I was curious as to how much load I had going on the gpu while using the iRacing simulator because I wasn't able to use literally every single graphics option possible. Okay so really I could use all options as long as I was the only car on track and it would stay at 60fps while driving no problems. When doing a replay on the other hand it would stay at 60fps for basically every circuit driven but some would have dips as low as 37fps during sections even if I was the only car on track.
No biggie I turned the "more shadows" option off and set grandstands to one notch below the highest setting to see if I could run just fine. Of course no problems while running a field of cars any size (20 car fields weren't a problem at any track) running 60fps all day. For some reason I would see a microstutter every once in again which most times was no problem, but during some moments say in a corner at over 200km/h where you can NOT afford to have a mistake....well that was the end of the race in some situations. Happened twice in a race to me and one cost me 3 spots (2nd to 5th...big drop) the other cost me a win after having a massive lead.
Anyway I thought nothing of it as there was a new build out so I really didn't notice it before then. It's been a while now and it's been basically fine every session so I didn't think of it anymore. Installed Fallout 3 as well and it ran at 60fps maybe a drop to 57fps during over an hour of play indoors portion. Got to an outside area and the fps dropped to roughly 25-35fps overall so I started turning options down to get 60fps again. The game set itself to "Ultra High Spec" which of course is the highest setting you can run which is cool until I got outside and it didn't work out so well. Not bad though for both considering I could run with nearly every possible option on (save 1 or 2 extreme options) and get 60fps.
I got gpu-z today and found something that absolutely shocked me while testing the iRacing simulator today........
I flashed the bios on my card maybe a week or so after I got it and left it that way as it ran flawless with everything and had power to spare it seems.
Apparently I made a small flaw when flashing that bios though and using CCC afterward. My low power clocks were 350Mhz Cor and 600Mhz Memory which is the lowest you can safely go (at least in my testing at that time) on 1.00v. Sweet setting no real power used and the temps stayed great with the quiet fan settings I used.
Only problem...I input one of the clocks the wrong way. My card since that day HAS NEVER RUN at anything higher than 350/600Mhz speed on that 1.00v!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GPU-Z showed the clock speed never once changed, the load was always low and the temp raised just a minor 3-5C under load! I suspected a problem with the program at first until I started to dig deeper and checked in CCC to set the clocks to the default clocks of 625/993Mhz. I set them in CCC and as soon as you hit set it said no problem....then went right back to the 350/600Mhz setting!
I've been running all these games that a level THAT HIGH with only using half of the power of the card AND not enough voltage for that kinda load!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How powerful is the freaking beast of a card dear God!
To confirm that it was true I flashed back to the original bios so there were no questions and reset all settings in CCC then set all 3D settings to what I ran them before for both iRacing and Fallout (the highest settings available for both which is 4xAA and 16xAF though in CCC you can go higher and it'll work) and did the same test that I made last night for both.
Well the iRacing simulator ran 60fps with every possible option I could turn on 0 problems or fluctuations. I'm going to try and see what happens if I turn the AA back up to 12x (edge detect) again to see what happens, I doubt there will be a problem. Fallout went from that 25-35fps up to 45-60fps in the same area even at night time on Ultra High Spec as well.
How's THAT for power!
I had the idea that it was a gpu issue I was having because I wanted to see what it took to run every single option in iRacing so I set the processor to 3Ghz to see what the difference in frame rate. It never changed so I was like what the hell? I went as far as to turn the ram to insane, the processor up to insane as well and turned all AA and AF off!!! The fps still did the exact same thing which led me to realize it was a gpu issue so I started digging. Then when I got gpu-z today it all stated to make sense....the stutter is from being under load with just enough power to make things work but at certain times the power isn't enough so...stutter but no hiccup or even a single drop in fps (it never ever dropped below 60fps even during a stutter). It couldn't do the max everything because the speed was so low in the gpu that it just couldn't handle max everything. I noticed because when I did the clocks at normal with the flashed bios and ran iRacing the screen would have more stutters but still a perfect 60fps as usual and graphical issues would happen like you'd see when it was overheating (though it wasn't) so you could see it was a voltage thing never changing.
I love my Phenom and ATi 4850, they are both monsters. Now I'm running them both stock on the gpu and close enough to stock on the Phenom at 2.6Ghz on 1.152v (low power settings of course but I never need to turn it up since I've got excess power).
I'm still in shock that everything ran so high with the settings far lower than I even knew. Hell I was even able to run those settings while running fraps and recording races still running a locked 50fps no problems with 20 cars all at once. All on no power
Kei
P.S
Damn this went on way longer than I thought it would...but hey I'm happy wouldn't you be
