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

[InnocentCriminal]

I don't really know why intel igent suggested using a soundcard. I've recently installed on and it's made my system far more stable at a high OC on my CPU. Maybe intel's thinking is that if you install a PCI soundcard, it'd releave some of the load the CPU gets and hopefully gives you a more stable rig.

Download Hardware Monitor from CPUID's site and keep a eye on your voltages and temps.

 

[Widjaja]

LoWRiDeR82
Checked your thread at GuRU3D.

I'd say your problem is not the heat.

Reason for your crashing is lack of power.
I'm guessing the artifacts are red dots?

Do this too often and your card may permanently keep on doing it.

You say your'e getting an adaptor.
Is it one of those 4-pin to 8pin jobs?
If it is, make sure you don't have too many other peripherals connected to the power cables running the card or it may still artifact.

e.g. If run my X1950pro which needs two 4-pin molex with a HDD running of one cable and a fan running off the other, I will get artifacts in GPU intesive games like COD4, GRID, Colin McRae DiRT, Bioshock and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

The most I can have running off the power cables running the GPU is one HDD or one fan.

 

[LoWRiDeR82]

Ok i'll get one,they are cheap anyway,which one do you guys suggest as sound card?

Widjaja the artifacts I get are not red dots,while everything is working graphics are perfect,at some point the system totally crashes,screen goes black,comes back up and all the screen is broken with white stripes of squares amidst the CoD4 graphics..something like that more or less.At the moment I have my card attached to a 2x4pinmolex to 6pin pcie adaptor,the 2x4pin rails are completely free of other hardware,only dedicated to the gpu.Some say though the 6 pin is not enough, and I'm waiting for one of those "hard to find" 6pin to 8pin adaptors to try it out.

The voltages of my psu are decent, under load the +12 is at around 12.10, +5 around 5.07 and the +3.3 at around 3.29-3.3 or so

 

[InnocentCriminal]

Corruption like this Low?

My friend had this when he got his X1650.

 

[LoWRiDeR82]

Yes!!Very very similar,and system totally freezes

 

[InnocentCriminal]

Not meaning to worry you, but my friends card turned out to be faulty.

 

[LoWRiDeR82]

I'm starting to believe that the card is faulty as well, I've already contacted the shop,they said they'd mail me the adaptor to try it, and so I will.If it doesn't work i'll mail them back the card.thanks for the info dude.

P.S. as for the soundcard,i'm thinking of getting one anyway,since it might make my system run more stable,and maybe help me clock higher.Which one do you recommend,i'm a noob in sound cards

 

[InnocentCriminal]

i'm a noob in sound cards

As am I. I was lucky to manage to find the Audigy at work. I'll look into posting as my friend has a Audigy 4 which I might be able to blag off him which means I could then send you the Audigy 2 ZS.

If not, I suggest you just pick up a cheap Audigy of eBay.

 

[LoWRiDeR82]

Hehe ok thanks dude

 

[Widjaja]

Sound cards generally have a better sound.
I do notice the difference between say AC97' and the Audigy 2 ZS.
There seems to be a flatness to the AC97' the majority of people use.
The Audigy is also supposed to give a few more frames, something like 5. . . . .yay due to taking the sound workload off the CPU.

I should be placing the ZS in my backup rig once I get the Sapphire HD4850 and Xfi Extreme Gamer or Auzentech Xplosion.
Although my brother said he didn't notice any difference between the ZS and the Xtreme Gamer is his rig despite the Xfi having onboard RAM.
Also the Auzentech Xplosion uses the Xfi core so technically I will be buying an Xfi sound card either way.

I think the Auzentech probably the higher quality brand out of the two.

One thing about the Audigy 2's though is the age of the sound driver.
2006?

 

[LoWRiDeR82]

Oh that's pretty cool to hear Widjaja, I might opt for an Xtreme Gamer then as well, since it certaintly will have a better lifespan for future upgrades as well.Didn't think the difference would be that good (5fps)..that's really nice.

 

[Widjaja]

Wish I had the link to the benchmark showing the 5fps increase.

Also games nowadays have more support for the Xfi cards.
Codemasters GRID for example does not support Audgy 2 cards so you get no sound hardware acceleration in game but still the game run very well on my X1950pro system.
I'l probably end up with a Auzentech Xplosion, even though they are a bit more expensive.

 

[LoWRiDeR82]

Hehe, I will first solve the GPU problem, after I fix that, i'll pass to the new soundcard.I'm just glad that this rig still is going strong and has some potential left in it

 

[intel igent]

i suggested the soundcard so that you could offload some stress from from the rest of the system, i would reccomend getting an audigy2ZS they are decent card's and can be found used for a good price (i've enjoyed mine for ~5yrs now)

i HIGHLY doubt it's a PSU problem as i have a powerstream520 in my rig which is WAY more demanding than your's and i'm running my card off of the 6pin without any problem's, not to mention that you can adjust the rail's via the pot's on the rear of the PSU

have you tried to remount the heatsink with some good TIM?

 

[Widjaja]

Only thing I don't like about the Audigy is the fact Creative have stopped updating the drivers for it since 06'

If it wer'e the red dot artifacts I would have suspected not enough power as my X1950pro does this in GPU intensive games if it doesn't get enough power by adding to many peripherals on to the power cables delivering power to the card.

But from the sounds of things there is something faulty with the card.
Happens unfortunatley regardless of manufacturer.

 

[intel igent]

the audigy is GUARANTEED to be compatible with his system.

look at my rig spec's Widjaja; do you still think it's a power problem?

i think it's a heat issue or a driver issue

 

[LoWRiDeR82]

i suggested the soundcard so that you could offload some stress from from the rest of the system, i would reccomend getting an audigy2ZS they are decent card's and can be found used for a good price (i've enjoyed mine for ~5yrs now)

i HIGHLY doubt it's a PSU problem as i have a powerstream520 in my rig which is WAY more demanding than your's and i'm running my card off of the 6pin without any problem's, not to mention that you can adjust the rail's via the pot's on the rear of the PSU

have you tried to remount the heatsink with some good TIM?

If you mean the gpu heatsink, no i haven't touched it and will not.If it's a problem of the GPU i'll RMA it.The temps are very low though when the fan spins at 100%..max 60C under full load.Some claim that the HIS, is more power demanding than the rest because of it's factory overclock and heatsink.Maybe it's just crap, I don't know, I just hope I find a solution soon.

 

[LoWRiDeR82]

the audigy is GUARANTEED to be compatible with his system.

look at my rig spec's Widjaja; do you still think it's a power problem?

i think it's a heat issue or a driver issue

Cooling in my case is very good and optimized.As for the drivers, i've changed every possible GPU driver, all have given me the same problem, if the 8 pin adaptor doesn't solve my problem, I will format the comp and reinstall all the rest of the drivers from scratch.If that doesn't work either RMA...i guess

 

[intel igent]

how long would it take for you to remove your card, remove the HSF, clean and apply new TIM and re-install?

prolly alot less time than an RMA

did you not get the power adapter in the box with your card? FYI all the power adapter does is add two ground's

good luck to you just the same

 

[LoWRiDeR82]

I don't want to remove the heatsink cause I wouldn't want any problems with RMAing the card that's the only reason.I got the power adaptor,but its only 6pin(and I tried using it with 2 free rails but it didn't fix the problem).I really doubt it's the heatsink though,cooling seems fine judging from the temps.

I've read somewhere online that if the card recognizes only 6 pins it doesn't allow overclocking/overdrive and it sucks less power or something like that

http://www.3dgameman.com/content/view/12184/103/

I know it's just 2 grounds and it is true that it should work FINE with a 6 pin at default speeds at least...
I've tried everything and that's the only thing left and the shop that sold me the card are 100% sure it's the adaptor.I hope they are right

 

[intel igent]

well my card will clock to CCC max of 720/950 no problem using the 6pin PCIe connector straight from my PSU (which is a lower model than your's and powering WAY more accessories)

you asked for help i'm giving you suggestion's

the reason i suggested to remove the HSF and do that was because my x850xt pe used to do the same thing until i removed the HSF and cleaned/applied new TIM and reseated the HSF. i guess the HSF was not making full/proper contact with all the component's

maybe you should just RMA the card then and be done with it?

 

[LoWRiDeR82]

Yeah thanks for the suggestions mate, I will probably do so.If my card wasn't under warranty I would've removed the heatsink,but I don't want to risk.Your max of CCC is 720, my default card speeds are 720/910.

 

[intel igent]

to ME there is no risk in doing what i suggested, but to each their own.

 

[Widjaja]

look at my rig spec's Widjaja; do you still think it's a power problem?

My post above yours.

If it wer'e the red dot artifacts I would have suspected not enough power as my X1950pro does this in GPU intensive games if it doesn't get enough power by adding to many peripherals on to the power cables delivering power to the card.

But from the sounds of things there is something faulty with the card.
Happens unfortunatley regardless of manufacturer.

So no I don't think it is.
Different artifacts can suggest different causes.

 

[intel igent]

woop's i missed it bro

i also remember back in the day some card's had artifacting problem's because the HSF's were fastened to tightly, just a thought