ATi Radeon 4350 Overclock

[Qwabaja]

Hi there TPU, I'm new to this forum, and overclocking.
I read the introduction and guide, and realize I have very little information on my card and computer to make this work well. Mainly, because this is a completely stock computer, and HP isn't too great about outlining things about their systems.

Here's what I know:

HP Pavillion Elite e9107c
------------
Intel Core 2 Quad q8200 @ 2.3 GHz
8Gb DDR3 RAM. If I remember correctly, the clock speed is 1333 MHz.
Motherboard is a IPIEL-LA3 (Eureka3) made by Pegatron.
Processor is cooled by what appears to be an 80 mm fan.
Video card is an ATi Radeon 4350. The HP website does not list a specific manufacturer.
The card has a very small fan. Appears to be about 3 cm in diameter, maybe 4 cm.
Case has ventilation on the upper back left side for the card, ventilation on both sides of the hard drive bays, and a specific vent grate in front of the processor fan.
Another ~80mm fan cools the power supply in the back.
(On a side note, I have never noticed a considerable amount of heat come out of the case, and the computer is near silent.)
Running Windows 7 64 Bit.

I have seen a thread about this card before, and from my experience, know that it is not at all a very good card for gaming. I realized this the other day when I bought Bad Company 2.

I also know I won't be able to get too much from overclocking this card, I just wish for a little less lag during excessive automatic fire and when going through intense smoke until I have the cash to buy a nice new card. Lowest settings are fine for me if it's smooth.

I looked at the bios recently and could find nothing related to performance w/ my card editable, let alone even there. I saw details on my processor, like the clock speed, but it was greyed out and uneditable.

What can I do? Google turns up nothing, at least with what i am searching. Can someone point me in the right direction/give me a few tips? Any help at all would be very much appreciated.

EDIT: Here's a link to the HP website page for my computer, just for reference.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...59&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3998947

 

[Dr. K6]

Not to be insulting, but you looked at the video card BIOS or the system BIOS? The system BIOS wouldn't have any overclocking options for the video card. IIRC, the only way I could overclock my AMD HD4350 was by editing the BIOS with RBE and flashing newer clocks, as no software overclocking programs recognized the card at the time (this might have changed). Try using Overdrive in the latest Catalyst drivers from AMD and see if you can change the clocks. Also try opening the card in MSI Afterburner (http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm) and see if you can adjust clocks with that program. If not, you'll have to extract the BIOS with GPU-Z (http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/), edit the clocks with RBE (http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/Utilities/RBE/), and flash with ATIFlash (http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1731/ATIFlash_3.79.html); let me know if you want more detailed directions for any of these steps. It's an overly complicated process, but that's what happens when you don't have much software support for the card. FWIW, I got my passively cooled HD4350 up to 700MHz core and 520MHz RAM from stock 600MHz core and 400MHz RAM.

 

[lexan]

Making permanent changes to the HD4350 bios.

I would like to make permanent changes to my HD4350 bios instead of having to overclock afresh every time i fresh install windows. Would you kindly assist me with the instructions on how to go on about that, i have RBE, GPUZ and Winflash at the ready. I have only changed the core & memory clock rates not the voltage, i dont wanna mess with that. Thank you all in advance.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Download MSI Afterburner -- start with your GPU clock first and increase it 10mhz each time then test for 30mins in Kombustor at max stress. if it passes 30mins without crashing, then its stable. after you have found your max GPU clock, do the same thing with the memory clocks.

after youve done that you can go into RBE and load the current bios from your 4350 into RBE and edit the clocks, Flash it and you dont need to change it ever again. HOWEVER if might be wise to also up the fan profile. If your card is indeed a passive one, then i suggest upgrading the cooling a little, try strap a 80mm or 120mm to the card

if you want something better then just a 120mm fan then get one of these

Overclocking can be a time consuming process. if you want to get the most out of the 4350 then it will take a good few hours of non stop testing.

After youve found your maximum overclock put it through some benchmarks like 3dmark05/06. I dont think your card qualifys for Vantage or 3dmark11.

for got to add, the way to tell if your cards unstable is if Kombustor or your pc freezes/crashes and if you see weird things that look like spikes on the screen while benchmarking or gaming step down your clocks by 10mhz and test again. if its stable then step it down another 5mhz just to keep it within the safe zone

 

[Funtoss]

isnt that a low end card? if it is i would suggest slightly overclocking it as you wont get much out of it

 

[lexan]

Thanks alot freedom, i used Catalyst overdrive to set the new clock speeds (from 600Mhz GPU clock and 400Mhz Memory clock to 650Mhz GPU and 550 Memory), ive tested the new clocks with a myriad of games from MOH2010, BF:Bad Company 2, NFS:Hot Pursuit 2010, Tropico 3...etc Ive stress tested tested with 3d Mark Vantage & its stable at those speeds. Temp wise it runs at mid 50s to low 60s when idle & mid 80s to low 90s when under full load, its passively cooled. In RBE i get the option to save the new bios as a *.rom file so its not much trouble for u, could you please guide me on how ill make a bootable flash disk so that i can permanently flash that cards bios coz i cant do that in RBE or the windows GUI, by the way im running Windows 7 home premium and my intention is to have a silent HTPC, thats why apart from the CPU fan & PSU fan, i havent added any more fans. Again, thanks in advance.

 

[lexan]

Yes its an old low end card, trouble is i live in a third world country (Kenya) & mid to high end graphics cards rarely make it here coz they dont sell all that well coz of the prices so i have to make do with what i get. The card does appreciable frame rates at 1024x768 with no AA or AF in most games.

 

[HalfAHertz]

Thanks alot freedom, i used Catalyst overdrive to set the new clock speeds (from 600Mhz GPU clock and 400Mhz Memory clock to 650Mhz GPU and 550 Memory), ive tested the new clocks with a myriad of games from MOH2010, BF:Bad Company 2, NFS:Hot Pursuit 2010, Tropico 3...etc Ive stress tested tested with 3d Mark Vantage & its stable at those speeds. Temp wise it runs at mid 50s to low 60s when idle & mid 80s to low 90s when under full load, its passively cooled. In RBE i get the option to save the new bios as a *.rom file so its not much trouble for u, could you please guide me on how ill make a bootable flash disk so that i can permanently flash that cards bios coz i cant do that in RBE or the windows GUI, by the way im running Windows 7 home premium and my intention is to have a silent HTPC, thats why apart from the CPU fan & PSU fan, i havent added any more fans. Again, thanks in advance.

You can probably push the core a lot higher. Low end cards tend to OC quite well because of the low TDP and simplicity of the core. Also Core bums is what will give you the most noticeable improvement.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Thanks alot freedom, i used Catalyst overdrive to set the new clock speeds (from 600Mhz GPU clock and 400Mhz Memory clock to 650Mhz GPU and 550 Memory), ive tested the new clocks with a myriad of games from MOH2010, BF:Bad Company 2, NFS:Hot Pursuit 2010, Tropico 3...etc Ive stress tested tested with 3d Mark Vantage & its stable at those speeds. Temp wise it runs at mid 50s to low 60s when idle & mid 80s to low 90s when under full load, its passively cooled. In RBE i get the option to save the new bios as a *.rom file so its not much trouble for u, could you please guide me on how ill make a bootable flash disk so that i can permanently flash that cards bios coz i cant do that in RBE or the windows GUI, by the way im running Windows 7 home premium and my intention is to have a silent HTPC, thats why apart from the CPU fan & PSU fan, i havent added any more fans. Again, thanks in advance.

Is your card a passive one or one with a fan on it? most of them are passive. you could probably clock it higher with Afterburner.

 

[cheesy999]

You can probably push the core a lot higher. Low end cards tend to OC quite well because of the low TDP and simplicity of the core. Also Core bums is what will give you the most noticeable improvement.

yeah, its even better with integrated gfx, when i didn't have my gts 250 in i got 30-40% on my 7025 and i only stopped cause i got bored

 

[lexan]

Thanks people ill try to push it harder tonight with CMRirt 2 & GTA IV but i dont wanna take it too far coz its passively cooled & since my aim is a silent HTPC, i dont wanna add noisy cooling fans. My main problem is how to make those new clock speeds permanent in bios, please help me with step by step instructions on how to permanently set those new core & ram speeds in bios coz as it is, ill have to set those speeds again the moment i format this harddrive which happens very often. I promise you guys, i'm a quick learner

Thanks for your help and suggestions, i appreciate.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

The Accelero L2 I linked to is pretty low profile cooler -- and fitting one is easy and doesnt require the skill of a master craftsman to install.

Secondly, not all fans are noisey. we are no way suggesting you attach a leaf blower to your case. something like a Noctua NF-12 is very quiet. Have a look at some Akasa Apache fans. they are virtually silent and move a good amount of air. they are possibly a little more expensive then regular 120mm fans but trust me, its worth the money. Highly recommended if you can fit one in your case.

Keep an eye on your temps. and go easy with Kombustor. as that will make your card heat up ALOT as it stresses the card. if it goes anywhere above 80'c then you NEED to get some active cooling for it. because if you dont it will melt. Passive cards arent really made with overclocking in mind.

----

If MSI afterburner reconises your card. and you can use it to overclock. theres a little tickbox at the bottom of the program which says "apply overclocking at system start up" thats the easy way around if. but if you want the bios way i will type up a small guide

 

[lexan]

Hi FreedomEclipse, i found a great walkthrough complete with photos for permanently flashing the bios with ATI Flash here...[http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57750]. Ive applied it and fresh installed the OS just to confirm that it works. Thanks for your help, next on my list is HDMI, hope i find someone as helpful as you to answer my questions. Have a nice day.

 

[OneMoar]

why not replace the card =/

 

[lexan]

why not replace the card =/

Like i said above, its a Third world country, and even when you find a good deal from an online store, the freight, insurance and customs costs almost triple the price of the item unless you are buying in bulk.

 

[OneMoar]

Like i said above, its a Third world country, and even when you find a good deal from an online store, the freight, insurance and customs costs almost triple the price of the item unless you are buying in bulk.

and if you burn the card up by pushing it so hard ?

 

[lexan]

and if you burn the card up by pushing it so hard ?

The current clockspeeds im doing are within the cards safe limits, there are forum posts and You tube videos of people who have pushed this card way beyond its safe limits with no trouble at all, so im not worried about burning it.