maxing out the 9550

[bios]

When you say you got 370 on the memory on your previous 9550XT, do you get artifacts when running ati tools artifact finder?

 

[Nobru_rv]

When you say you got 370 on the memory on your previous 9550XT, do you get artifacts when running ati tools artifact finder?

That is the value that atitool found as a max stable value before artifacts came across my monitor.

 

[bios]

Did you attain thoese overclocks with stock cooling? If not what type are you using?

 

[Nobru_rv]

Did you attain thoese overclocks with stock cooling? If not what type are you using?

Are u a cop in your private life??

Yes,stock cooling,i dont know why it is so unbeliavable. All cards are different. Even when they are same type. For ex. i had an 9800 pro 128 mb that could overclock only 20 core clock even with vga silencer cooler.

 

[wazzledoozle]

That crack isnt mine i swear, its a plant!

 

[ati.bob]

New personal record:

Sapphire Radeon 9550 128-bit/128MB with 5ns Super Slow & Crappy Samsung RAMs..
New core clock : 445MHz (most stable at 440MHz)
New RAM clock : 250MHz (most stable at 240MHz)

3Dmark2001SE results : 6000 3Dmarks
Aquamark3 results : 18848 Aquamark Triscore

The results is obtained with my P3 CPU running at 840MHz/140MHz FSB and RAM at 140MHz FSB/CL2.. plus I changed the original thermal paste that comes with my VGA card with Cooler Master HTK-002 (leftover from my CPU HSF application ).. I also tweaked the card's memory timings with more agressive timings..

I'm done tweaking my old P3 now.. it's time to get a new PC..

 

[ReconCX]

good job, I'm still hoping I can get to 350x2!

 

[ReconCX]

I'm able to get to 337.5x2 now... only 13mhz more! =)

 

[jmattick]

Are u a cop in your private life??

Huh, cop?!? Who said cop?!!?
*drops baggie*
What ever can I do for you officer?

 

[ReconCX]

*ahem* back on topic... once again. =D

 

[wazzledoozle]

Hey recon where can i get that Half Life 2 stress test?

 

[ReconCX]

You have to have preordered HL2 via steam. Counter-Strike:source was released for beta testing to those that preordered and the videostress test is included.

 

[bim27142]

That is the value that atitool found as a max stable value before artifacts came across my monitor.

what's an artifact? and by the way, does it necessarily take some time to scan for artifact? how long does it usually take? and also, how long does it usually take to scan maximum core OC and ram OC using ati tool? stopped scanning mine when i tried it because i got bored waiting and the progress in scanning those frequencies are very slow...

 

[wazzledoozle]

what's an artifact? and by the way, does it necessarily take some time to scan for artifact? how long does it usually take? and also, how long does it usually take to scan maximum core OC and ram OC using ati tool? stopped scanning mine when i tried it because i got bored waiting and the progress in scanning those frequencies are very slow...

It all depends on many variables, see what time frame is average for you. An artifact is when the gpu or ram is overheating or over oc'd, it processes data incorrectly and causes visual *artifacts* or defects (Dont call it defects though)

 

[bim27142]

I have a Gecube 9550 extreme edition with hynix 2.5 memory chips. I've flashed the vcard bios with a vcore running @ 475 Mhz, and memory running@ 320mhz x 2 (640 mhz). this is the default speed right now with no problems whatsoever.

guys, is it still safe to OC a GeCube? because this is already heavily OC'ed by GeCube itself... i really love to max out this card but i'm kinda afraid to...im just OC'ing the mem from 250 to 300, i find it stable in all my current games but i really don't notice significant improvements in actual gameplay though atitool shows an ave gain of 10fps (looking at the 3Dwindow)...what can i do to really notice a certain "boost" in this card's performance?

 

[wazzledoozle]

guys, is it still safe to OC a GeCube? because this is already heavily OC'ed by GeCube itself... i really love to max out this card but i'm kinda afraid to...im just OC'ing the mem from 250 to 300, i find it stable in all my current games but i really don't notice significant improvements in actual gameplay though atitool shows an ave gain of 10fps (looking at the 3Dwindow)...what can i do to really notice a certain "boost" in this card's performance?

Go play a game like Doom 3 or Half life 2, and you will notice the difference.

Or it could be that your card is locked, what drivers are you using?

 

[bim27142]

Go play a game like Doom 3 or Half life 2, and you will notice the difference.

Or it could be that your card is locked, what drivers are you using?

nope it's not locked, i think gecube already flashed their 9550XT's with a 9600 bios because it was natively detected by windows as 9600 series and also atitool as RV360 chip, device id 4152.

i'm using ati cat 4.11... are omega drivers really better and is it stable? i haven't tried using omega yet...

and yes, i do play doom3...i play it while running stock(400/500) speed then i tried it on OC(400/600) and i can't seem to notice any boost at all... what i want to eliminate is the stutter(when playing doom3 and far cry) i usually experience when i fire a weapon if the game is just starting, though after a couple of seconds it runs smoothly already...

 

[wazzledoozle]

nope it's not locked, i think gecube already flashed their 9550XT's with a 9600 bios because it was natively detected by windows as 9600 series and also atitool as RV360 chip, device id 4152.

i'm using ati cat 4.11... are omega drivers really better and is it stable? i haven't tried using omega yet...

and yes, i do play doom3...i play it while running stock(400/500) speed then i tried it on OC(400/600) and i can't seem to notice any boost at all... what i want to eliminate is the stutter(when playing doom3 and far cry) i usually experience when i fire a weapon if the game is just starting, though after a couple of seconds it runs smoothly already...

You wont be able to get rid of the stuttering.

 

[bim27142]

You wont be able to get rid of the stuttering.

so you mean this also happen to you guys? i mean, using 9550 series cards only... i presume this don't happen to high end cards...

 

[bim27142]

a friend of mine suggested to make my ram 1GB... i'm currently running on 512MB dual channel.

 

[wazzledoozle]

a friend of mine suggested to make my ram 1GB... i'm currently running on 512MB dual channel.

More ram wont help the stuttering unless your running a high end card. More ram on the video card is what helps the stuttering, but right now 256 Mbyte is the most available. IDSoft has said that 512 Mbyte of ram on the video card would be ideal for doom 3.

 

[Alley Cat]

A few more questions about the Radeon9550

Hi there. I have a few questions, and I would be extremely happy if you would answer any one of them (yes, even answering one question should be nice enough of you):

I just bought a Gigabyte Radeon 9550 - the one with the 128 bit. Don't remember the exact model.

I want to mess a bit with overclocking as I read in many places that the 9550 begs for it.

So I will start in cooling solutions:
My first question would be if one of the Arctic coolers is appropriate for it? I didn't see any '9550' listings, only whole hundreds (9600, 9700, 9500 etc..)

If I won't find an arctic cooler model than I consider buying the ZALMAN Heatpipe VGA Cooler ZM80D-HP as I heard it is appropriate for any model and I don't have many other efficient options. Is it any good?

It would also be nice if someone knows of a guide that explains throughoutly how to remove existing cooling solutions (that came with the card) and installing new ones (and by saying throughoutly it should say that I want explanations for many types of cooling ).

How are your experiences with turning the Gigabyte model to 9600 pro? I don't know how to do it, what BIOS to look for, and I have absolutely no idea what is this 4ns you keep talking about... I don't want to mess up my card (when I looked at the Gigabyte part of the BIOS page it gave unknown information about the 9600 pro model). Should I use the flashing tool from Gigabyte?

Do you know any good guide on how to twick/ocerclock/optimize/whatever the Radeon 9550?

And last but not least - it seems that the VTool 2 I downloaded from Gigabyte just get's 'stuck' in it's image after I start it - it means I see all the options and they beg for me to click on them (by changing their color) but when I actually click on them or try to move the slider of the MHZ nothing happens at all.

Here is my system specs:

Biostar U8798 Pro motherboard with VIA P4X400 / VT8235 chipset
P4 2.66GHZ
512 DDR 333 MHZ
Gigabyte Radeon 9550 (I installed the softmod 4.11 drivers. Should this remove the overclocking protection completely?)
100 GB HD

 

[bim27142]

Hi there. I have a few questions, and I would be extremely happy if you would answer any one of them (yes, even answering one question should be nice enough of you):

I just bought a Gigabyte Radeon 9550 - the one with the 128 bit. Don't remember the exact model.

I want to mess a bit with overclocking as I read in many places that the 9550 begs for it.

So I will start in cooling solutions:
My first question would be if one of the Arctic coolers is appropriate for it? I didn't see any '9550' listings, only whole hundreds (9600, 9700, 9500 etc..)

If I won't find an arctic cooler model than I consider buying the ZALMAN Heatpipe VGA Cooler ZM80D-HP as I heard it is appropriate for any model and I don't have many other efficient options. Is it any good?

It would also be nice if someone knows of a guide that explains throughoutly how to remove existing cooling solutions (that came with the card) and installing new ones (and by saying throughoutly it should say that I want explanations for many types of cooling ).

How are your experiences with turning the Gigabyte model to 9600 pro? I don't know how to do it, what BIOS to look for, and I have absolutely no idea what is this 4ns you keep talking about... I don't want to mess up my card (when I looked at the Gigabyte part of the BIOS page it gave unknown information about the 9600 pro model). Should I use the flashing tool from Gigabyte?

Do you know any good guide on how to twick/ocerclock/optimize/whatever the Radeon 9550?

And last but not least - it seems that the VTool 2 I downloaded from Gigabyte just get's 'stuck' in it's image after I start it - it means I see all the options and they beg for me to click on them (by changing their color) but when I actually click on them or try to move the slider of the MHZ nothing happens at all.

Here is my system specs:

Biostar U8798 Pro motherboard with VIA P4X400 / VT8235 chipset
P4 2.66GHZ
512 DDR 333 MHZ
Gigabyte Radeon 9550 (I installed the softmod 4.11 drivers. Should this remove the overclocking protection completely?)
100 GB HD

just to give my opinion on some of your questions: first, what you have in mind is quite risky(BIOS flashing) and chances of getting messed up is just around the corner. so, if you haven't tried it yet, mind as well think twice or just risk it is completely up to you. luckily i bougth the one from GeCube which is already being flashed by a 9600 BIOS. first thing you've got to do is try an OC'ing software first and see if you can get it to work by just that alone with no BIOS flashing. i suggest you get ATITool and check it if it does report something like this: (goog thing)

device id: 4152
chip type: RV360

if it's like this: (not so good thing)

device id: 4153
chip type: RV350

then, most probably your card is OC locked that's why nothing happened to slider you made mention above..if it is OC locked, i think ATITool can remove it real time but don't know if it's gonna be permanent.. and as for BIOS flashing, check this link:

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/107

and for additional info, just browse within this site(techpowerup) and/or read the threads all along...

 

[ReconCX]

flashing gives it slightly better performance too (different mem timings, also possibly volt differences too). It's worth the risk if 1) you know what you are doing, 2) you have a backup PCI card to do a restore.

 

[Alley Cat]

just to give my opinion on some of your questions: first, what you have in mind is quite risky(BIOS flashing) and chances of getting messed up is just around the corner. so, if you haven't tried it yet, mind as well think twice or just risk it is completely up to you. luckily i bougth the one from GeCube which is already being flashed by a 9600 BIOS. first thing you've got to do is try an OC'ing software first and see if you can get it to work by just that alone with no BIOS flashing. i suggest you get ATITool and check it if it does report something like this: (goog thing)

device id: 4152
chip type: RV360

if it's like this: (not so good thing)

device id: 4153
chip type: RV350

then, most probably your card is OC locked that's why nothing happened to slider you made mention above..if it is OC locked, i think ATITool can remove it real time but don't know if it's gonna be permanent.. and as for BIOS flashing, check this link:

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/107

ATITool did report the RV350 thing. But as far as I can understand from browsing this site this only means my card came with the factory defaults of the 9550. That is what I saw in the flashing the BIOS guide.
I installed the softmoded drivers. Only than I installed the Vtuner by gigabyte. Aren't the softmoded drivers supposed to remove the OC lock? If so, why do I have problems with the VTuner? Perhaps it's the other way around? That the VTuner doesn't understand the Softmoded drivers?