The 4800 series Driver, OCing, Cooling and Tweaking Thread

[trt740]

I like my new score!

thats is a very nice score, great job bro.

 

[Trizmatic]

erocker, did you volt mod? I found that hitting 840 gives me a lot of artifacts. 830 seems to do alright on my GPU. What is your highest stable GPU clock?

 

[Trizmatic]

Im getting a 4870 on monday, so im looking after a good aftermarket cooler! But i just can't find any (mostly cause i know nothing about cooling for a gfx card). Anyone got some recommendations?

Stock coolers are working just fine. What is the need for an aftermarket? Keep in mind they will send the heat into your case rather then vent it out of the back.

 

[Kaleid]

I guess I got the worst 4850 that one can purchase. Max stable frequency is 645mhz on the core. Up it 5mhz more and there will be artifacts. Have not overclocked the memory since I'm waiting for Zalman memsinks.

It's a Sapphire. Use Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 with Nexus 120mm fan @ 7v and the temps are much lower than stockcooling (which I think is terrible, too high temperatures and too noisy)

Core is now idle at 40 and the VRMs are about 40 too.

Zalman heatsinks on the VRMs with airflow on them through the fins.

Tried different BRE edits for the voltage (1.2v), but still can't reach higher clocks.

Seasonic S12 500w should be enough to power the system

For comparison my GeCube 3870 overclocked to 830/2505 without problems with the same cooler (no vmods)

 

[eidairaman1]

I guess I got the worst 4850 that one can purchase. Max stable frequency is 645mhz on the core. Up it 5mhz more and there will be artifacts. Have not overclocked the memory since I'm waiting for Zalman memsinks.

It's a Sapphire. Use Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 with Nexus 120mm fan @ 7v and the temps are much lower than stockcooling (which I think is terrible, too high temperatures and too noisy)

Core is now idle at 40 and the VRMs are about 40 too.

Zalman heatsinks on the VRMs with airflow on them through the fins.

Tried different BRE edits for the voltage (1.2v), but still can't reach higher clocks.

Seasonic S12 500w should be enough to power the system

For comparison my GeCube 3870 overclocked to 830/2505 without problems with the same cooler (no vmods)

well every card is different doesnt matter if it comes from the same batch.

 

[LuxZg]

OP updated to include water cooling of the 4870. If anyone is interesting in water cooling your 4850/4870 I suggest that you keep the OEM front plate with fan on the video card. It should not hinder your water block. I would keep fan speed about the same so that your vregs/etc are properly cooled.

Thanks for the tip man! I won't be watercooling, but I'll try to fit Accelero S1 together with this bracket and original fan I doubt that I'll have enough clearance in the stock fan's area, but if I do, this could rock, LOL! I'll try some other setups, hopefully to find out what's the best way to aircool this card (4870). I'll be posting my results next week!

 

[EastCoasthandle]

Thanks for the tip man! I won't be watercooling, but I'll try to fit Accelero S1 together with this bracket and original fan I doubt that I'll have enough clearance in the stock fan's area, but if I do, this could rock, LOL! I'll try some other setups, hopefully to find out what's the best way to aircool this card (4870). I'll be posting my results next week!

Make sure you use either a rubber washer/Neoprene washer between the bracket and the video card. You can find these washers at your local hardware store. Do not let the bare metal of the bracket come in contact with the video card.

This photo shows neoprene and a rubber washer. If you can, try to get rubber washers as they are gummy while the neoprene washers are rigid.

 

[LuxZg]

Make sure you use either a rubber washer/Neoprene washer between the bracket and the video card. You can find these washers at your local hardware store. Do not let the bare metal of the bracket come in contact with the video card.

This photo shows neoprene and a rubber washer. If you can, try to get rubber washers as they are gummy while the neoprene washers are rigid.

Oh, thanks for the tip! Btw, did you just put insulation on screws? I see some rubber on the square (middle) metal part of the bracket, is that originaly there or did you add those as well? I do usually take a VERY good care about those things, but extra warning is always welcome, there's never too much of those

 

[mat9v]

After spending last few days flashing and reflashing my cards with different settings I arrived at the following conclusions:
- do not modify voltages through bios individualy (set them the same for all profiles 2d, lp3d and hp3d) otherwise stability is compromised
- do not set various memory freq. for different profiles (I left them all @ 300Mhz) or stability suffers)
- feel free to modify core frequency (I set 2d-150, lp3d-300, hp3d-830)
- fan modifications are safe, of course if you know what you're doing

In the end (at least untill I learn of some stable method) I mostly gave up and created profiles with AMD GPU Tool for 2D (150/300 loaded at boot time) and 3D (830/1100) started through shortcut. Voltage is also set through AGTool, although I have no idea if it's really working. Still 830 is perfectly stable for me as it was when I set voltage 1.363 in bios. I'll be testing to see if it really works for everyday use (games, movies, internet).

 

[FR@NK]

Still 830 is perfectly stable for me as it was when I set voltage 1.363 in bios.

I thought 1.276v was the max voltage when setting the bios?

 

[mat9v]

Well, I don't have a multimeter and it would be kinda strange since 1.263 is the default voltage. But I may be wrong, no documentation and no way to check for me.

 

[LuxZg]

@Frank - I believe you're talking about 4850 and mat9v is talking about 4870

@mat9v - could you pls populate your system specs, and/or confirm you're talking about 4870. And if so, does changing GPU core clocks in BIOS actualy work in Windows? I mean, clocks do drop once in 2D, right? Cos' I've seen people saying it's not working just right on 4870 (probably only because stock BIOS doesn't drop clocks enough). Tnx

 

[EastCoasthandle]

Oh, thanks for the tip! Btw, did you just put insulation on screws? I see some rubber on the square (middle) metal part of the bracket, is that originaly there or did you add those as well? I do usually take a VERY good care about those things, but extra warning is always welcome, there's never too much of those

No, I didn't put any insulation on the screws. That bracket is an OEM bracket and has a clear rubber gourmet attached on all 4 sides.

 

[mat9v]

Created signature, hardware specs are there.
Changing core and memory clocks in bios works and clocks drop as expected, but I suppose if you use Sidebar with lots of gadgets and so on, and 2d clock in bios is low enough, the hardware might stay in Low Power 3D mode, and not slow down to 2D mode. I don't use sidebar, it annoys me. But as I posted above there are serious limitations on the clock and voltages for stability sake. So for now I prefer to use mostly AMD GPU Tool to over/underclock. It's safer and "I" decide when to enter 3D mode and burn power

 

[mmaker]

Anyelse experience that loading CCC profile at certain overclock will not work? I can load profile with better fanspeed till 820/1100. After that nothing happens to the fanspeed. Really annoying since its stable and no articfacts at all at that speed. I dont really want to oc without good cooling.

sofar in 3dmark06 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=7601202 was at 820/1100

 

[mat9v]

Yes, after 820 profile loading does not happen. You can try to save profile and manualy remove part of settings concerning cor/mem clocks and try again. If not, sorry, only bios mod for you

 

[binormalkilla]

Ok I've OCed my 4850s using BIOS flashing to 750/1150 and it's completely 24/7 stable. Mine are on water too.
I finally got around to checking actual voltages with a DMM and found that I get 1.05 (probably 1.046, only 3 sig figs) and 1.17V at load..............however I flashed the BIOS to 1.21V (I've read this is the max)
I tried flashing it again with 1.3V and it didn't work...same results.
Anyone have any ideas? Has anyone else measured with a DMM?

 

[Urbklr]

Ok I've OCed my 4850s using BIOS flashing to 750/1150 and it's completely 24/7 stable. Mine are on water too.
I finally got around to checking actual voltages with a DMM and found that I get 1.05 (probably 1.046, only 3 sig figs) and 1.17V at load..............however I flashed the BIOS to 1.21V (I've read this is the max)
I tried flashing it again with 1.3V and it didn't work...same results.
Anyone have any ideas? Has anyone else measured with a DMM?

Yep, max from the bios is 1.21v, no matter how high you set it. Try the pencil mod, very very easy, and you can get 1.4v with it.

 

[binormalkilla]

Yep, max from the bios is 1.21v, no matter how high you set it. Try the pencil mod, very very easy, and you can get 1.4v with it.

I'm actually going to do the VR mod, but I'm still not sure why I only get 1.17V in 3d mode when I flashed 1.21V....even 1.3V. I just edited my BIOS to have all voltages 1.3V and it's still 1.17 on both cards.

 

[mat9v]

Eh, wish there were a pencil mod for 4870. I'm stuck at 830Mhz and don't really want to permanently alter my cards. For obvious reasons

 

[mmaker]

People with aftermarket coolers, how have you cooled the VRM? mine gets really warm. up 120c with furmark. I have put small heat sinks on them and a 120 fan blowing at low speed, but ye still high :/

 

[binormalkilla]

People with aftermarket coolers, how have you cooled the VRM? mine gets really warm. up 120c with furmark. I have put small heat sinks on them and a 120 fan blowing at low speed, but ye still high :/

Are you using an infrared thermometer or something?
Well I have copper RAMsinks on mine with a 120mm fan sitting in front of my cards.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

People with aftermarket coolers, how have you cooled the VRM? mine gets really warm. up 120c with furmark. I have put small heat sinks on them and a 120 fan blowing at low speed, but ye still high :/

VRM reach 79C using the stock OEM front plate. 80C using the stability test for 2 minutes

 

[oli_ramsay]

Hey east, what's that program you're using to display stats?

 

[EastCoasthandle]

Hey east, what's that program you're using to display stats?

Everest