HD 2900 Series Overclocking and Feedback thread

[noneed4me2]

hi guys. im having some issues with my 2900's in crossfire using the amg gpu clock tool. when using amd gpu clock tool my number one card by default is showing 743 on the engine clock and 829 on the memory clock and i havnt even over clocked anything whatsoever and its a fresh windows install. i do believe its really running at those clock speeds too because my number one card is always about 15-20 hotter than number 2. on the number two card in showing 506 for the engine clock and 513 on the memory clock and if i change it at all it either freezes and i have to reboot or it just reverts back to the 500 gpu and 500 memory when i load anything 3d.

i know it isnt the card because i switched them around so now its doing the same thing on a different card and i know it isnt a power issue because i switched all the power inputs from the card that does over clock and the one that wont and theres still no difference, im also using a duro 900 watt power supply so i should have plenty of juice.

i wonder if this isnt some limitation with crossfire and 2900xtx in the amd gpu clock tool. has anyone heard of anyone successfully over clocking both 2900's in a crossfire setup uning the amd tool? are there any other programs out there that can over clocks the 2900 yet? im running on a 975 bad axe board so i doubt it can be a board issue. im stumped on this one. i really wish i could find some of the proper 8 pin power connectors so i can just use the built in over clocker. has anyone by chance seen or heard of place selling the new 8 pin pci-e power adapters?

Fill out your system specs so we can get a better idea of what your working with.

 

[fern420]

sorry about that. im running a

E6700
muskin redline DDR2-1000
intel D975XBX motherboard board
two sapphire HD2900XT
900 watt duro power supply

im just stumped here on why the second card wont over clock and more so why the #1 card is showing 743 and 828 for clocks. i dont think its a pci-e slot issue either, if i run just one card in the second pci slot it over clocks just fine but once theres two cards in crossfire the #2 card wont over clock with amd gpu tool, the over clocks show in the gpu tool until i load a game or 3d application, it just goes right back to the defaults of 500.

 

[fern420]

woops double posted, sorry.

 

[Wile E]

506/513 is the 2d clocks. 743/828 are the 3d clocks. Those are the right numbers.

When you select the second card, do you also select the 3d clock option?

 

[fern420]

506/513 is the 2d clocks. 743/828 are the 3d clocks. Those are the right numbers.

When you select the second card, do you also select the 3d clock option?

yep, for the second card both 2d and 3d are saying 506/513. i can check the box to put the same clock on both cards and it will until i enter something 3d, then number two goes right back to 2d speeds. could this be a power issue? i do have an entire rail not being used on the power supply (all sata connections) i suppose i could try getting some satat to molex connectors so i can then put the molex to pci-e connection on that, that way one card would be on its own rail. ive yet to converse with anyone that has a 2900 crossfire setup yet though so i cant confirm if another setup gets the same results.

 

[Wile E]

Sorry man. I only have one 2900. I was just taking a "shot in the dark", so to speak.

Someone really needs to release 8-pin converters, so that 2900 owners with older psus can just use Overdrive in the CCC.

 

[fern420]

yes i have two, 6 pin pci-e connections in each card. is anyone sure if when in crossfire you can even over clock two 2900 cards? if im not mistaken with my two x1900 cards only one would really over clock but i was using the built in overdrive to over clock them so i cant be sure. the intel manual for the board doesn't say much, actually the board has 3 pci-e slots but it does tell you in the book to only use number one and two if running crossfire but thats about the only info it gives.

 

[spud107]

jus a thought/theory that could just be crap,
maybe the clock speeds just aren't being reported correctly, and the first card is getting hotter cos of the heat rising from second one.

 

[fern420]

jus a thought/theory that could just be crap,
maybe the clock speeds just aren't being reported correctly, and the first card is getting hotter cos of the heat rising from second one.

i have a Lian LI PC-PC 101 case so its the upside down config. the number one card is on the bottom and it truly is heating up more than the one above it, you can tell just from touching them.

the weirder thing is i can pull the two 6 pin power plugs from the bottom card, the one that is overclocking fine, swap them with the number 2 card and still, #2 wont oc but #1 does just fine so it kinda smashes my power issue myth i think. number one is the card im running my output to the monitor from also if that matters.



EDIT



when all else fails hit the help button i guess. i found this under the help section that was installed with the drivers so id imagine its up to date:

Note: Enabling ATI CrossFire™ for the selected graphics card automatically disables GPU Accelerated Physics for that same card.

Note: When ATI CrossFire™ is successfully enabled, all display devices, except the one used by ATI CrossFire™, will be disabled.

 

[spud107]

there goes my theory then
srry i couldnt help lol

 

[Wile E]

Here's another shot in the dark: What about trying to run 2 instances of GPU Clock Tool from 2 different folders? Use one for card 1, and one for card 2.

 

[fern420]

i think this mean that you can not over clock both cards in crossfire:

Note: Enabling ATI CrossFire™ for the selected graphics card automatically disables GPU Accelerated Physics for that same card.

i didnt think my 1900's both overclocked either, only the slave.


i appreciate the help though guys but if you do hear from another 2900 crossfire owner that can over clock both of his cards please tell. ill let you guys know if i find any of those 8 pin pci-e adaptos, they don't seem to exist yet though.

 

[Wile E]

Swiftech MCW60 waterblocks work as well, eastcoast. I'll be back with an edit once I find a link.

EDIT: Here it is, continue to the second page of the thread to see his confirmation. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2195987#post2195987

It also seems that the built in heat spreaders of the stock hsf are not actually attached to the core heat sink, apparently you can reuse them to continue to cool the mosfets and ram in a pinch.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

Has anyone with a HD 2900XT attempted to lap the HS and use AS5?

 

[Raovac]

You, do, have all of the power connectors in, right? That board should deffinately have dual electrical x16 slots... Are there any instructions for the motherboard for CF setup? It could be the chipset drivers? Mabye?

Just adding to erocker's quote, here is a clip from your MB specs.

- One Primary PCI Express* x16 (electrical x16 or x8) bus add-in card connector
- One Secondary PCI Express* x16 (electrical x8) bus add-in card connector
One PCI Express* x16 (electrical x4) bus add-in card connector

Ati chisets run both slots at X16, whereas Intel MB's run as above. Could this be the issue with the clock difference??

 

[noneed4me2]

If power is your issue the Hiper 730w models are the cheapest certified CF for the 2900 series http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010320058+50011154&name=HIPER . I have a 580w model and it is rock stable on voltages even with a high overclocked cpu. Plus it comes in a case you can reuse after you install the psu. All other brands and models seem to be in the $200+ range.

 

[fern420]

i came across this is the release notes for the most current drivers under the known crossfire issues, i think this is my culprit right here, im running 1920x1200.

"Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 or above on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT no longer results in the card using 3D clock settings"

i should still get 3d clock speeds on both cards when in something 3d yet the one card will stay at 2d clock speeds inside 3d programs.

tried a little test after i read that by turning everything down to 1024x768. i opened up 3d mark with the amd gpu tool open to check on the speeds but number two did show 2d for current speed while number one showed full 3d clocks, since i had 3d mark opened. heres the kicker though, in the gpu clock when i would select show current gpu then switch from one card to the other really quickly number two showed a 3d clock for just a second then back to 2d and it had to be that card since the 3d clock speed it showed was just fractions from the clock number one showed as current so it wasnt just the info from number one hanging in the program.


i just submitted a ticket to amd/ati so hopefully they can shed some light on it.

 

[lane]

For peoples with cfire.. it's cause the sofware you are use.. is not working for Overclock in cfire yet... All peoples have this issue.
it's only OC the first card.. You need wait ATi tool for this.. (ATI T. have work perfectly with X19xx series for OC both cards....)

 

[fern420]

i got a reply from ati customer care. they say my duro 900 is not enough power for two cards, apparently 900 watts just wont cut it and thats why my number two will not kick into 3d clock speeds. im a little skeptical on that one but they seem to be sure so ill order a new power supply and see if it helps the issue.

 

[Tatty_Two]

i got a reply from ati customer care. they say my duro 900 is not enough power for two cards, apparently 900 watts just wont cut it and thats why my number two will not kick into 3d clock speeds. im a little skeptical on that one but they seem to be sure so ill order a new power supply and see if it helps the issue.

I find that VERY strange, I read a test review just last night, I think from Techguage that tested two 2900XT's in crossfire against the 8800Ultra, the crossfire rig contained a Quad core seriously overclocked, 4GB Ram, 2 opticals, 4HDD's etc etc and they used an OCZ 750W PSU with no issues at all.

 

[fern420]

now on my power supply i do have one entire rail going unused because they are sata, im not sure if that could factor in but the tech that i conversed with knew what he was talking about, as soon as i said i have a duro 900 he said "isnt enough" he knew about my power supply and even told me that the duro was just a re branded product from the silver team company and its actually only 750 watts and 900 peek. he refereed me to the good old ati crossfire certified equipment page.

luckily there was a cheaper alternative than a entirely new power supply, this juice box is 2900 crosssfire certified as shown on the ati/amd crossfire page as 2900xt crossfire certified so i ordered one. it has the two 8 pin pcie connectors and two 6 pin connectors.

i hate to run two power supplies but im just not going to go pop $300 on a new power supply when i have this monster already. the only thing that gets me is i see other 750watt power supplies listed as 2900 crosssfire ready. i wonder if it isnt a amp deal, where my power supply isnt putting out the proper amps.

i forgot to mention the power supply is running my water cooling system too, i probably should of mentioned that. i also suspect that having two six pin pci-e power connections to each card instead of one 6 pin and one 8 pin to each is also playing a part in this whole fiasco. that power supply they used in that review has two 6 pin pci-e and two 4 pin connectors where as mine does not. ill definitely give you guys an update when i get the other psu. although from what i read in the drivers release notes there are some issues with the clock speeds at resolutions over 1600x1200. the drivers are a little fubared still. hopefully they do release a new one this week.

 

[Wile E]

What's UVD?

 

[x800professor]

What's UVD?

Ultraviolet diapers. Or...Unifed Video Decoder. Read about it here:

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/ati_2900xt/3.html

 

[Wile E]

I'm not concerned then. My cpu can more than handle it.

 

[MarcusTaz]

Just confirmed the card does not have UVD= video decode acceleration logic:

http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/12552


Man I am torn on whether to get this card or not... I have 2 mobo's both Asus:

A8N32SLI-Deluxe
A8R32MVP-Deluxe

If I go Nvidia, it would be the 8800GTX and I would keep the Nvidia Chipset mobo
But if I go 2900XT of course I would use my crossfire mobo and sell the other platform.

Either way I have to sell one and I just cannot make my mind up...

Help