Sapphire X1800GTO2 512MB

[mestizo]

Anyone?

 

[Tcracker]

I want it to please.
AIM: Suidakraband
yahoo: TcrackerX

 

[Star]

i've had some major issues overclocking this card. stock bios it wasn't even stable at 600 mem. after XT flash it got 700 with 2.1v for a little while, but now locks up. previous one i RMA'd only hit about 625 w/ stock bios. ati drivers won't even install with any of the bios' i've flashed, says INF error. i had to manually force load them in device manager. oh and rivatuner doesn't work with it either. worked fine with the old bios. unfortunately i didn't back it up. could anyone post the stock bios for Sapphire x1800gto2? thanks

Edit: well, some progress.
after a failed attempt at flashing XTPE bios w/ lower clocks, i had to flash it from DOS back to x1800XT. this time windows detected it properly and ati drivers install properly. ATiTool also now gives me voltage and fan settings, and rivatuner's hardware monitoring works again.

i've got the mem stable at 684 (1368) but at a whopping 2.2V i don't know how safe that is. core is also at 684 and 1.4V (will hit higher but temps cause the fan to be loud and unbearable)

getting a zalman VF900-CU tomorrow so i'll see if temps are holding the mem back at all. core i'm not too concerned about. still a bit disapointed in this card though.

 

[cisco kidd]

The Zalman VF900 is not good for the X1800GTO2, neither is an Accelero 2. I tested both units and if you search around forums you will see the stock sink is the best.

Reason for this is it removes the hot air out of case. This card runs hot as it is, VF900 does not remove the hot air it leaves it within case , I did not find the Accelero 2 to do any better than stock cooler when I had a true 1800XT

I have ordered one of these X1800GTO2 from newegg and expect it next week to my USA addy. I am not banking on it flashing obviously these did not make the cut to X1800XT or PE cards thus they are downclocked and sold as is thus the varying success.

Personally if I can up the mem voltage a tiny bit and get 700 out of it I am good to go with core at 600. But I can tell you stock cooling is the best just remove it and lap it and add AS5

I will post back once I have tried the flash and see where I end up, it is a crapshoot but a decent enough 512DDR3 card to hold one off till DX10 and then I will see what the cards are like and wait for revision 2 of DX10 cards.

 

[g12rxz]

I helped a kid out last night who i guess was soliciting peoples advice via IM, he bricked his card last night, seems like these are the xt cores that cant handle the xt speeds.

 

[cisco kidd]

I helped a kid out last night who i guess was soliciting peoples advice via IM, he bricked his card last night, seems like these are the xt cores that cant handle the xt speeds.

I may not even bother with mine then, I may just leave it as is and work with overclocking it best it can do. Remember peeps there is a reason these cards are renamed and sold for a lower asking price

btw I pm'd you on the c3d gto

 

[Star]

After some more testing, i still had bugs with anything above 575 core speed, nomatter how much voltage i used. running windows media player would cause my screen to go black and video card fan on full. Weird though how it passed artifact testing for 5 hours at 684mhz though.

The memory seems stable at 650/1300 with stock voltage but with a XT bios with higher latencies. Very disapointing. I've RMA'd this card to get a refund and i've ordered a x1900XTX instead. If i can't find the stock bios for this card i guess i'll just leave the XT bios and have it at 500/500.

This is the card $150 mail in rebate!!! $276 after rebate.

The sad thing is, after all this, this will be my 4th card. 2 RMA refund and 1 RMA replacement. after i get the $150 mail in rebate i will be down about $120 from all of this compared to the frist card i bought (HIS x1800GTO) (so total of about $346 i've spent for all this and plus $38 for zalman hs/fan) but i rather return it now while i still can, then to spend a entire year with a card i'm unhappy with. Maybe i can sell my old c3d x800gto@XT for $100.

Oh and about the zalman cooler, yeah i thought about that. it's gonna push a lot of heat into my case but i leave the case open anyways. the main thing is it will be much quieter and i'm sure it will cool better with case open or even with a 120mm fan blowing on it. When i get a new case i will make sure it has a fan over the PCI-E slots.

BTW, no one can give me the stock x1800gto2 bios? i would like to reflash it to that before RMA'ing it.

 

[pmrdij]

BTW, no one can give me the stock x1800gto2 bios? i would like to reflash it to that before RMA'ing it.

Star i can get you my copy of the stock BIOS once i get home this evening (sometime after 6 PM PST). tell me where to send it.

i've been able to get my card (from Newegg) to 650/700 with 1.325v/2.225v using W1zzards ATI Tool. ATi CCC only provides 575/550 as the max OC's if i remember correctly. at any rate i looped through FEAR, Doom3 and 3DMark03 "Nature" tests and never saw a temp higher than 58C last night (it was cold indoors to begin with - maybe 23C).

***cooling information/rant***
i've got a Zalman VF900-CU on the GPU with some trusty old Tweakmonster Copper Nickel plated BGA sinks on the Memory. used the TM's because for the life of me blue Ramsinks DO NOT look nice on red PCB (wish Zalman considered this when putting such with the VF900-CU - i would have been a lot happier with aluminum sinks painted to look, and poorly, like copper) and on that same note, aesthetically speaking, the Ramsinks from both Vantec and Thermaltake have a goofy looking design and while i'm at it none of them can hold a candle to the Swiftech BGA Ramsinks but those are to tall to fit under the VF900-CU fins.
***end cooling information/rant***

so far my results are pleasing as i've seen about a doubling of my FPS with every title at the same AA/AF settings from my old X850 XT running at 580/594. i run 1280x1024@32 with 4xAA w/AAA Quality and 16xAF w/HQ AF.

i can confirm issues with flashing this card as i encountered the same problem where after flashing to the XT PE i could not install either the 6.7 or 6.8 Catalyst drivers due to an INF not found error. another note for everyone out there --> after i flashed successfully to the XT PE and finding out that not a driver out there knew what to do with it going backwards to the XT BIOS or back to the GTO2 BIOS resulted in screen corruption after successful flashing (i flashed in DOS using the current ATIFLASH). scared the @#%! out of me .

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune

 

[Tatty_Two]

In the UK, the GTO2 is only about £10 cheaper than the 1800XT so it aint worth bothering TBH. If 650/700 is around what they can do it soes not come anywhere close to an XT so save some time and hassle if your in the UK and get the XT!!!

 

[pmrdij]

In the UK, the GTO2 is only about £10 cheaper than the 1800XT so it aint worth bothering TBH. If 650/700 is around what they can do it soes not come anywhere close to an XT so save some time and hassle if your in the UK and get the XT!!!

625/1500 is what you get when you buy the 512MB version of the 1800XT so with a little more tweaking i'll be there.. hassle yes but i consider my purchase a positive result considering my clocks and the price i paid ($209 USD after rebate). here in the States the 512MB 1800XT has almost all but vanished and where it is available there is a significant price difference. in some cases the 1800XL even sells for more than this card.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune

 

[Tatty_Two]

625/1500 is what you get when you buy the 512MB version of the 1800XT so with a little more tweaking i'll be there.. hassle yes but i consider my purchase a positive result considering my clocks and the price i paid ($209 USD after rebate). here in the States the 512MB 1800XT has almost all but vanished and where it is available there is a significant price difference. in some cases the 1800XL even sells for more than this card.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune

Thats why I said in the UK, but you are wrong if you think thats all you can get outta a 512Meg 1800XT, you can in fact get 750/900 with the right setup and there are a few that use these forums that can push to those clocks, if you are just talking stock speeds of course then yeah but your talking tweaking cards, here is one link to a thread that shows one such TPU Member who scores over 11000 in 3D Mark 2005!:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=6192&page=77

I appreciate what you are saying cost wise and in the UK the card I was referring to was the one I have which is just the 256MB version but if performance is some peoples thing then they would perhaps rather have a 740/900 (in my case) XT than a 512MB GTO2 with some potential to unlock to 16 pipes that goes at 625/750 and cannot keep up performance wise for really no saving at all.

 

[pmrdij]

Thats why I said in the UK, but you are wrong if you think thats all you can get outta a 512Meg 1800XT, you can in fact get 750/900 with the right setup and there are a few that use these forums that can push to those clocks, if you are just talking stock speeds of course then yeah but your talking tweaking cards, here is one link to a thread that shows one such TPU Member who scores over 11000 in 3D Mark 2005!:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=6192&page=77

I appreciate what you are saying cost wise and in the UK the card I was referring to was the one I have which is just the 256MB version but if performance is some peoples thing then they would perhaps rather have a 740/900 (in my case) XT than a 512MB GTO2 with some potential to unlock to 16 pipes that goes at 625/750 and cannot keep up performance wise for really no saving at all.

well i obviously have some more OC'ing to try out. i've spent most of my time trying to find out what those in the know consider to be the highest volts i should attempt at the memory level as when i go over 700 i get artifacts even at 2.225v. i'll have to review that link and see where the rainbow leads me . for myself it was all about the extra 256MB. so far 650/700 makes me quite happy as since day one of AA/AF implementation i've not enjoyed going below 4xAA or 8xAF for any reason and with some titles i've had to do that up until now with my Sapphire X850XT.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune

 

[Star]

Star i can get you my copy of the stock BIOS once i get home this evening (sometime after 6 PM PST). tell me where to send it.

sent u a PM with my email.

***cooling information/rant***
i've got a Zalman VF900-CU on the GPU with some trusty old Tweakmonster Copper Nickel plated BGA sinks on the Memory. used the TM's because for the life of me blue Ramsinks DO NOT look nice on red PCB (wish Zalman considered this when putting such with the VF900-CU - i would have been a lot happier with aluminum sinks painted to look, and poorly, like copper) and on that same note, aesthetically speaking, the Ramsinks from both Vantec and Thermaltake have a goofy looking design and while i'm at it none of them can hold a candle to the Swiftech BGA Ramsinks but those are to tall to fit under the VF900-CU fins.
***end cooling information/rant***

blah, who cares anyways, when the card is installed it's upside down anyways

 

[pmrdij]

blah, who cares anyways, when the card is installed it's upside down anyways

not with my case --> V1000 from Lian Li is a pre-BTX experiment and as a result i see everything. here's an image of my system back in 2004 when i got this case:

funny enough i am seeing better temps than those i've seen posted as with the card not being upside down the heat travels easily upward through the heatpipes as would happen in nature (cold down/hot up). anyhow email on its way in a few moments.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune

 

[Star]

not with my case --> V1000 from Lian Li is a pre-BTX experiment and as a result i see everything. here's an image of my system back in 2004 when i got this case

wow! i want! i absolutely love that case! i was looking at this case just a few days ago which is also a Lian-Li case. I love how the board mounts upside down and the psu on bottom. and the compartments. looks like a mac G5 kind of. i like that window on yours, it's very tasteful and not too flashy. I don't see anything like that on newegg except the server version, but it's a v2000 i think. oh here is the one u have i think. awesome! it's cheaper too.

BTW, whats in ur case that is making that red glow? one of those cathode ray tubes or whatever it's called?

 

[Star]

well i've just reflashed the card back to the stock bios. thanks pmrdij!

i did notice something odd though. whenever flashing in ATiWinFlash after reboot, no drivers will install. maybe it's not programming the device ID properly or something. using ATiFlash in DOS worked fine though.

your screen corruption may have been because you had ATiTool set to auto-overclock ur card on windows boot, and the stock bios has lower memory latencies, thus making ur card have severe artifacts when running at the same speed u had stable in the XT-PE bios.

 

[2r4z0r2]

can someone send me the gto2 stock bios please

2r4z0r2@gmail.com is the address

 

[pmrdij]

wow! i want! i absolutely love that case! i was looking at this case just a few days ago which is also a Lian-Li case. I love how the board mounts upside down and the psu on bottom. and the compartments. looks like a mac G5 kind of. i like that window on yours, it's very tasteful and not too flashy. I don't see anything like that on newegg except the server version, but it's a v2000 i think. oh here is the one u have i think. awesome! it's cheaper too.

BTW, whats in ur case that is making that red glow? one of those cathode ray tubes or whatever it's called?

it's a phenominal case. kind of a pain when it comes to cable management and having hands the size of mine but aside from that it is worth every dollar you spend on it. i see they've tweaked it some more after looking at the product link you provided to Newegg. interesting. the top fan idea actually seems like a good move as it would certainly further the lowering of temps at the Graphics area of the case. can't seem to find a side panel like such to buy for my existing case... damn. as for the lighting those are cold cathodes from the original source of such (PCMods.com - now known as Directron). almost five years old and still lighting up 2/3's of my apartment .

well i've just reflashed the card back to the stock bios. thanks pmrdij!

i did notice something odd though. whenever flashing in ATiWinFlash after reboot, no drivers will install. maybe it's not programming the device ID properly or something. using ATiFlash in DOS worked fine though.

your screen corruption may have been because you had ATiTool set to auto-overclock ur card on windows boot, and the stock bios has lower memory latencies, thus making ur card have severe artifacts when running at the same speed u had stable in the XT-PE bios.

actually i hadn't even bothered with installing ATi Tool until after i got the drivers issue situated.. i think i am calling Newegg on Tuesday and buying into a year of net replacement. i remember the days where everything i bought could be RMA'd through them throughout the warranty period. those were the days .

can someone send me the gto2 stock bios please

2r4z0r2@gmail.com is the address

sent .

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune

 

[overclock[r]]

Yes, the review from the computer mag tested which could run in XT speed. It should be selling for around $260... which is a sweet price for 1800XT

It's worth to upgrade from X800GTO2 @ 850XT speed? Heard DirectX 10.0 is coming soon, should I wait for the new cards or forget about video card and upgrade to AM2 platform instread?

u no what, this is off topic, but newegg has the msi x1900xtx for 276$
thats called a good deal LMAO

 

[pmrdij]

u no what, this is off topic, but newegg has the msi x1900xtx for 276$
thats called a good deal LMAO

saw that, however, MSI and i fell out years ago when one of their KT333 boards, which supported the new Barton's at the time, fried my workstation video card and they refused to do anything despite my proving to them that by supporting the 333 speed they had neglected to lock the AGP to 66MHz. upon first boot with my new CPU i saw the scolling progress bar on the WinXP splash screen replicated about 75 times all over the splash... pulled my Matrox card and swapped in a Geforce 4 card from MSI, got into Windows without issue and checked the AGP speed and if i remember correctly it was somewhere in the 90's. nice $$$ product that killed a $$$ product. haven't gone back to them for anything since and likely won't regardless of the cost.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune

 

[Star]

i see they've tweaked it some more after looking at the product link you provided to Newegg. interesting. the top fan idea actually seems like a good move as it would certainly further the lowering of temps at the Graphics area of the case. can't seem to find a side panel like such to buy for my existing case... damn.

I actually like your version better even though it has less cooling, u can actually see ur video cards and stuff

u no what, this is off topic, but newegg has the msi x1900xtx for 276$
thats called a good deal LMAO

Yeah! i just bought one! can't wait to get it. comes next day from newegg usually, but because of dumb labor day i have to wait until tuesday. it's in the damn ups facility i work at too! sucks that i can't just find my box and walk out with it haha

 

[OCcsdude]

I am considering whether I should get the gto2 or that x1900xtx. Should I get the gto2 and wait out for the dx10 cards, or should I splurge on the x1900xtx? Any thoughts?

Btw, these forums look great and I can see myself spending lots of time here.

 

[pmrdij]

I am considering whether I should get the gto2 or that x1900xtx. Should I get the gto2 and wait out for the dx10 cards, or should I splurge on the x1900xtx? Any thoughts?

Btw, these forums look great and I can see myself spending lots of time here.

so far after revamping my GTO2 BIOS i am up to 700/800 at 1.450/2.100. bizarre outcome of such at the moment is that despite my BIOS having a profile for Overdrive i don't have access to the settings within it.. error comes up reading: "ATI Overdrive capabilities have not been properly initialized yet. Please try again later."

Tatty_One you wouldn't happen to know how the hell one would correct being disallowed access to the CCC Overdrive options?

Yeah! i just bought one! can't wait to get it. comes next day from neweg usually, but because of dumb labor day i have to wait until tuesday. it's in the damn ups facility i work at too! sucks that i can't just find my box and walk out with it haha

you'll love it . that's flipping funny that you can't even pick it up yourself what with being employed there .

- Robert (pMr)dEATHiNjUNE

 

[OCcsdude]

so far after revamping my GTO2 BIOS i am up to 700/800 at 1.450/2.100.

That sounds very nice. How do you think it would perform next to a x1900xt?

 

[pmrdij]

That sounds very nice. How do you think it would perform next to a x1900xt?

review: FEAR x1900XT/XTX and Doom3 X1900XT/XTX. in comparison with my speeds Doom3 at 1280x1024x32 4xAA/AAA/16xHQAF averaged 101FPS and FEAR at 1024x768x32 4xAA/AAA/16xHQAF averaged 90FPS. problem is there is no guarantees with OCing.. hell this ATi CCC Overdrive issue is driving me nuts...

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune