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

[lemonadesoda]

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NEWS UPDATE
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Some of you know i got myself a ASROCK Conroe865pe to run a q6600 with my firegl-x3 and 2GB corsair ddr. Well, the firegl-x3 was fussy on the conroe865pe... so i bit the bullet and got a hd3850 powercolor. That was ok, except for fan control not working on powercolor... so I have a leafblower... however when I upgraded the PSU from 420W to 600W I lost stability. It turns out that the 420W was "just enough" power for my system... and very slightly overvolted by 0.05v the 3.3 rail... which kept me stable. Anyway, the new PSU just wasnt stable at all, even though it was an expensive yalman zh600w.

So I swapped out the Conroe865PE for a 775i85G. It only has 2 slots for DDR, so I'm now DOWN to 1GB (sucks). But the system is now 100% rock steady. It seems that the Conroe865PE had a dodgy AGP slot.

I share the info with you for others pushing the AGP slots hard with the HD3850. An "unstable" system could be the mainboard AGP as much as anything else.

 

[intel igent]

thnx for sharing lemonadesoda

well i just tried to run ATiTool (latest 27 BETA) and its a no go for me, it doesnt display proper clocks and doesnt hold selected clocks. seems like it keeps defaulting to showing 2d clocks but then it artifacts and system hangs

i have not enabled catalyst overdrive could that have something to do with it?

 

[Morgoth]

use ati tray tools

 

[intel igent]

use ati tray tools

i havent tried it cuz it never worked for me in the past but i guess i can give it a try........

 

[65tweet]

I'm using the latest beta version of ATI traytools found here: http://www.playground.ru/files/11173/

It has working fan control and allows me to overclock too. The only problem for me with this version is I can't display the 3D image or use the functions that require it. Just gives me something about open GL and install the latest drivers. I think this is an improvement for me though since before I could display the image but any attempt to overclock resulted in a BSOD. I can now OC BEYOND CCC!

I'm using the drivers from 8.4 hot fix & CCC from 8.3 hot fix. This allows me to use ATI tool for artifact scanning. On a note of caution though, for me if I attempt ANYTHING relating to changing GPU/memory speed in any program while ATI tool is open/running I get VPU recovery. Pisses me off when I forget to close it

 

[65tweet]

Just tried the furmark bench for the first time and got the same open GL 2.0 error as in tray tools. Starting to see a pattern here. Perhaps the issues I have been having is with open GL

Any ideas/ options. I have reinstalled the drivers enough to know that isn't going to make things better. If I try to run CCC from the 8.4 hotfix now I get a "can't find MOM.implementation or required files" warning . I Don't get it from any other CCC version.

Did I clean my drivers out too well now or is there a known issue here? This may explain why things seem a little choppy.

 

[intel igent]

whats the process you use to remove/clean your drivers?

 

[65tweet]

Last removal process was:
1 ATI software removal utility (standard removal)
2 Driver Cleaner
3 CCleaner
4 Registry Mechanic
5 Norton WinDoctor

A bit excessive yes but given the problems I have had with drivers I want to be sure nothing is left. I restored the removed files too but that didn't resolve the MOM.etc error. I have heard of others having this problem too but mine is only with the CCC in 8.4 hotfix. I'm thinking I need another hard drive so perhaps I go that route and try a fresh XP installation. The new WD 640Gb looks tempting.
I'm going to try some modded drivers for now though and see what those do for me. Just read about tweakforce in another thread so I'm going to give 'em a try.

 

[intel igent]

the link to the tweakforce drivers is on the first pg, harlock was/is using them

when removing drivers i go through control panel and remove all the drivers then restart PC, after restart i use driver cleaner to remove any remaining bits of the driver then restart again and frsh install.

seems to work for me

 

[InnocentCriminal]

So, any noticed any improvement with the TweakForce drivers?

 

[65tweet]

So, any noticed any improvement with the TweakForce drivers?

No they wouldn't load

May have been a bad download but I don't really have the time to mess with the computer with work and all. Maybe in a day of two I give it a go again.

On a positive note I overclocked my GPU and let it run on ATI tool for a whole day at 810 Mhz. No artifacts found and temps are 77 degrees with stock cooling. I"ll start checking gaming stability when I mess with the drivers again.

 

[Morgoth]

anny one here getting corrupted artifacts in crysis with hd3850 agp? when mem clocked higher then 860mhz

 

[crossbre3d]

Sry if i am posting in the wrong section but i just kinda stumbled in to these forums and im not a know it all when it comes to pc. I just bought a 3850 agp card and i installed it. Seems to be working, but i am wondering if it is normal for the GPU-z to say ATI Radeon 3800 series??

 

[Morgoth]

yes

 

[intel igent]

anny one here getting corrupted artifacts in crysis with hd3850 agp? when mem clocked higher then 860mhz

maybe your mem cant go that high?

 

[crossbre3d]

Also, ive been looking around and driver seem to be a big issue with the 3850 lol..So i am just wondering what is the best driver or atleast which one are worth trying out? Could somone just list a few plz..

 

[eidairaman1]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0549+106792462+1067933728&name=Radeon+HD+3850

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductList3.jsp

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...words=Radeon+3850+AGP&image12.x=0&image12.y=0

http://www.directron.com/ag3850512md3p.html

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_g...eywords=Radeon+3850+AGP&x=0&y=0&tag=tec06d-20

checkout pricewatch.com and just punch up Radeon 3850 AGP in google for additional pricing

 

[intel igent]

Also, ive been looking around and driver seem to be a big issue with the 3850 lol..So i am just wondering what is the best driver or atleast which one are worth trying out? Could somone just list a few plz..

have a look at the first post as ive listed pretty much all the drivers that people have been using here.

i myself am using the 8.4's that came with my card and have not had any problems yet, i play older games though cuz im a cheappo so.....

only thing is ATItool 0.27beta doesnt work for me and i havent tried anything else to OC

 

[crossbre3d]

Ah WoW. Ty for the quick response, cant believe i totally missed that lol.. Um How about this Omega drive, someone told me about it, so it worth trying out?

 

[intel igent]

you would be the first here to try those drivers, if you can plz post your experience with them

just make shure you follow proper procedure for removing/installing drivers to avoid any conflicts

 

[InnocentCriminal]

Some very interesting news for those that are interested in watercooling their 3850's.

I've been in talks with EK Waterblocks to see if their full cover EK-FC3850 waterblock will actually fit without causing any issue to the Raltio chip.

I've just got a reply this morning. They've given me a template of their waterblock and told me to print it out 1:1 to see if it'll fit.

I couldn't keep this to myself, it's just not fair. So, for anyone that is interested, print the schematic to a 1:1 ratio they also said to remove the aluminium heatsink...

Hi!

Please print the picture 1:1 and see if it will fit.

Perhaps without the alu part.

Fingers crossed it works, if so, it means I'll be able to cool my GFX along with my CPU. ^^

Oh yeah, almost forgot, I improved my GPU and RAM clocks and have managed to get 9107 in 3DMark06... I think, I forget, I'm hungover.

 

[intel igent]

keep us posted innocent!

would be nice for anyone wanting to be able to have that option on their AGP model

before i ordered my maze5 i was looking myself at an EK F/C but was unshure of compatibillity and couldnt find an answer so i jumped and grabbed the maze

 

[InnocentCriminal]

I'm going to ask the kind guys at EK if they'd mind sending me the schematics for the back side waterblock so I can see if it hits the Raltio chip at all.

It's annoying really, my Thermaltake Bigwater uses 1/4" barbs and tubing and it's stupidly hard to find suitable barbs or replacements for it so it looks like I'll be putting my WC'ing on hold and continuing with air cooling.

Extremely gutted.

 

[intel igent]

do you need a F/C block?

although it would be nice; you could always use a GPU only

 

[InnocentCriminal]

F/C block?

I'm hoping that this kit will let me change everything to 3/8" ID - bloody Thermaltake, using 1/4" - I can't find any UK enthusiast shops that sell 1/4" ID barbs. >.<

:O

It's either brand new, or I never noticed it before... Hose coupling metal damn being busy at work.

I'll have a proper look tonight. I could use those... ^^