X1800 series experiences / overclock results etc.

[Dynamic]

I was going to work my ass off for 2-3 weeks to get an GTX 512, but now i'm having second thoughts. You think it's worth getting the X1800XT and flashing it with the XTPE bios to 700/1600 clocks? from the original 625/1500? Now would that Bios work for every X1800XT out there or only for Sapphire models? I play COD2, Quake4, Doom3, and F.E.A.R. So i wanted to know which GFX Card would be a better choice between the GTX 512 and the X1800XT, anyone?

 

[Dynamic]

is there any original ATI crossfire edtion cards out there !!!! not connect 3d

I'm not sure, the only one that i see is in Monarch, but i'm sure other sites will have the CF editions out soon.

 

[TooFast]

I was going to work my ass off for 2-3 weeks to get an GTX 512, but now i'm having second thoughts. You think it's worth getting the X1800XT and flashing it with the XTPE bios to 700/1600 clocks? from the original 625/1500? Now would that Bios work for every X1800XT out there or only for Sapphire models? I play COD2, Quake4, Doom3, and F.E.A.R. So i wanted to know which GFX Card would be a better choice between the GTX 512 and the X1800XT, anyone?

x1800xt all the way, 3dmark05 9750 512gtx cant beat that!

 

[Dynamic]

x1800xt all the way, 3dmark05 9750 512gtx cant beat that!

Yes, i'm aware of ATI owning Nvidia in Futuremark, but what about OPENGL games, hmmm? I mean i can save and go buy an X1800XT for like $530 or go for the GTX 512 for slightly higher. The GTX 512 is faster, but it is going to be phased out around Feb. 2006 for the new comers G71 and G72 to arrive. By then the R580 will strike which is going to be so much faster then the X1800XT. I actually saw some 256meg x1800xt on some sites, but i'm not going for them. Trust me, i've seen practically every review out there for all these cards, but how much of an improvement is that bios flash going to give the x1800xt? How many people tried flashing their cards other then the dude that posted pics?

 

[Hypersonik]

This is what I am desperate to find out. Can you flash the XL to the XT? I hope it'll cure all the problems I have been having!

 

[kitt3]

This is what I am desperate to find out. Can you flash the XL to the XT? I hope it'll cure all the problems I have been having!

Iam not sure about that , but anything can be flashed trust me ppl aint stupid out there .

 

[benzman]

Yes, i'm aware of ATI owning Nvidia in Futuremark, but what about OPENGL games, hmmm? I mean i can save and go buy an X1800XT for like $530 or go for the GTX 512 for slightly higher. The GTX 512 is faster, but it is going to be phased out around Feb. 2006 for the new comers G71 and G72 to arrive. By then the R580 will strike which is going to be so much faster then the X1800XT. I actually saw some 256meg x1800xt on some sites, but i'm not going for them. Trust me, i've seen practically every review out there for all these cards, but how much of an improvement is that bios flash going to give the x1800xt? How many people tried flashing their cards other then the dude that posted pics?

I tried the PE bios, it is completely stable, except the heat is getting quite hot. With the stock cooler, it reaches 88C at full load, so I bought Zalman's Fatal1ty vga cooler, but it still reach 80C at full load. I believe the r520 is very overclockable, heard it can go as high as 1G if watercool.

 

[kitt3]

Wow coool u guys already flashin this gg.

 

[benzman]

I dont think you can flash XL to XT as the memory timing is different. Maybe you will get errors......... or even cant boot up the card... I wont take the risk to flash XL to XT. You may just want to use the overclocker to increase the voltgage to get higher core speed!

PS: FOR THE TEMPERATURE ISSUE AFTER PE BIOS FLASH, does 88C (full load) consider an unacceptable temperature for this R520 core? I heard someone saying even 90C is still ok for the new generation card... what do you guys think?

 

[Hypersonik]

well the 90nm process will allow more heat. The memory is the same on the XL and the XT so I cant see any technical problems like that. AFAIK, the XL is the XT, just clocked lower, all the hardware is the same

 

[benzman]

the XL uses 1.4ns memory vs XT uses 1.2ns

 

[pheoniXfury]

The R520 core is very overclockable indeed, but don't expect to go 1G on water...I'd be drooling for a week if that happened. The 1G/1G barrier was broken using dry ice or LN...forgot wich one.

You can expect clocks as high as 800 on the core for XT if u have water....700+ is seen everywhere with air. The XLs are a different story, as they are looking very random now, I'm planning to sell my new system in favor of another one early next year when I can go for a dual 16x with one R580 to start off with. The XLs can do 640/700+ provided that you weren't unlucky like me.

As with flashing XL to XT, we'll have to wait till they release a 256MB version of XT card or if someone mods a BIOS of the 512 XT.

 

[Upke]

the XL uses 1.4ns memory vs XT uses 1.2ns

My XL has 2.0ns, what up with that?

 

[pheoniXfury]

lol...that's rough...

It does make sense for the companies to use cheaper 500Mhz memory since the default MEM clock is 495Mhz. I've heard that some companies are definitly going that route.

Maybe return that one with an excuse and get a new one from a different maker. 5ns RAM probably won't take you to 600+ or even 700+ memory speeds...so it won't catch up to the XT's performance unfortunately.

 

[Upke]

Yeah, I might have to, as I'm getting black dot artifacts, at stock speeds in Fear (demo) and in 3D Mark 03. Whats up with that eh?

 

[pheoniXfury]

If you're running stock...It should be fine.

I've noticed that these cards usually don't give artifacts, if they're too hot, they just crash. I love the pre-9800 days...my 9800Pro never locked up...just artifacts so I know that it's maxed out.

The black dots may actually be a driver bug...we know that these drivers are still in their early stages and we will probably see a lot more fixes and more performance over time.

There is already a confirmed problem with Call of Duty 2 where some game effects are redered incorrectly.

What driver are you running? Maybe checkout the 5.13 beta...u can find it at Guru3D.com...this driver includes HD video hardware acceleration...u'll also find the Avivo Xcode there, but I think it is in its very very early stages.

 

[ThorAxe]

My Powercolor X1800XT 512mb arrived and worked fine for a day then started to die. It would display pink stripes even in the BIOS. After much research it looks like the memory was bad. Unfortunately I have to wait until the 5th Jan before I can return it as the store I bought it from is on the other side of Australia and is closed over Christmas.

I hadn't even overclocked it.

 

[Upke]

That sucks dude.

I've tried the 5.13 drivers, but everytime my PC boots up it shows a catalyst controle center message like : "CCC needs to find the right settings for SMARTGART, before that it will not function" So I can't run 5.13 Beta. But it should be out today.

Edit: I left my pc on when I went to school today, at 550/550, when I came back it had locked up with complete artifacts. Tried to take it out, and a new fan, etc etc nothing worked. Reset the bios, went to onboard video card. Removed the overclocking program's. And its working now again. I guess overclocking this card is not done for me...

 

[hotrippr]

X1800xl Overclockable?

I am getting frustrated at this card! Has anyone sucessfully Ocd w/stock cooling? I tried disabling ATI services, upping the Voltage, tried Atitool10beta, installed catalyst beta5.13, tried with OC tool. The best I can get with this is 547 core, stock mem. I am starting to regret buying. This thing is a pain in the rear to OC! What makes this card worse is that is doesnt work with my DVI-D cable, only works with DVI-i cable, so I have to use stupid VGA cable connected with the ATI dvi/VGA adapter! VGA cable sux!

 

[pheoniXfury]

ouch dude!...now I know why they don't clock the memory so high...I hope you get it replaced as soon as they open up. The 1.2ns memory modules are in mass production but still wouldn't be able to guarantee 100% maybe.

Yeah, the XL cards seem to be giving a hard time...I still don't understand how those people over at XS are able to pull such high clocks with stock and fully stable...maybe in my case the cooler(which I believe is grounded) acts as a shield for EMI (since I'm running a small water block that's not grounded now)?

it seems that it's very possible to get high numbers(630/693) and not have artifacts at all...but the card will lock up after a while. (btw...don't...please don't use auto oc in ATI Tool...only because the card will not show artifacts at all and then the next speed bump will lock it and ATI tool doesn't detect this and will keep trying to put in a higher clock). As soon as I have some time, I will get the stock cooler back on and see what temps and clocks I get.

 

[Upke]

Yeah same problem here... read my reply above.

That, and that I get artifacts in 3Dmark03 and Fear MP demo.

 

[zOaib]

X1800 Doa !!!!

well got my x1800 xt today it was the sapphire oem one , when i opened the box , the installation cd was broken due to the way it was shipped i alreayd got abd feeling about the card , well put it in , booted up fine althouhg my asus acreen was all pink without colors , and i wa slike UH UH !! .........anyways came to widnwos fine installed drivers and everythign was fine it detected the card , and then wanted to run 3dmark05 well 3dmark didnt run scereen went blank and my system halted with "no signal shwoing up on the lcd screen" , now the damn thign is in the box back and will ship for a RMA tomorrow , AAAAAAAAHHHHHH !!

 

[hotrippr]

x1800xl

5.13 out today, can use overdrive to oc memory now. Catalyst overdrive doesnt crash anymore. I get 65 degrees idle with stock cooling and 547/549 settings. Is that high temp? 3dmark05 locks up, assuming cause of heat. What are some temps people are getting w/stock cooling while idle? I moved my hard discs to the top of my case saw a drop of a couple of degrees. Still 65 seems too high. Anything outhere to cool this thing down? I will probably be getting a new case-see if that goes well.

Well it wasnt the heat making it crash. I opened my case and blew a huge fan in it, upped core to 554, ran 3dmark05, ati fan never turned up once, able to keep it between 50-60 and it still locked up. Probably need more volts. It seems ATI doesnt want it to go past 547. The increase in mem to 549 didnt do much. Kept locking up on the beginning of the 2nd test in the forest.

5.13 also fixed my dvi-d cable problem(kinda). Well the cable only works after windows starts now, better than nothing I guess. Luckily I have a small tv on my desk, so I will use that for BIOS or DOS. Dvi is way better than vga cable, now I can see the difference after having used vga for a couple of weeks. My guess is that one of the BIOS needs to be fixed MB or VidCard to permanently fix the cable prob.

If u r thinking of buying the xl, dont! go dig in the dumpsters for a couple of weeks and recycle those cans to buy the 1800XT, crossfire is out $579 retail.

 

[ThorAxe]

well got my x1800 xt today it was the sapphire oem one , when i opened the box , the installation cd was broken due to the way it was shipped i alreayd got abd feeling about the card , well put it in , booted up fine althouhg my asus acreen was all pink without colors , and i wa slike UH UH !! .........anyways came to widnwos fine installed drivers and everythign was fine it detected the card , and then wanted to run 3dmark05 well 3dmark didnt run scereen went blank and my system halted with "no signal shwoing up on the lcd screen" , now the damn thign is in the box back and will ship for a RMA tomorrow , AAAAAAAAHHHHHH !!

Mine would also black screen after starting 3DMark and any other 3d application.

It's interesting that you have a A8N-SLI Premium as this is also the board that I was using. Probably nothing to it though as i have seen a number of reviews and users that have the same board and an x1800xt.

Never thought that I would be waiting for the holidays to be over.

 

[kitt3]

5.13 out today, can use overdrive to oc memory now. Catalyst overdrive doesnt crash anymore. I get 65 degrees idle with stock cooling and 547/549 settings. Is that high temp? 3dmark05 locks up, assuming cause of heat. What are some temps people are getting w/stock cooling while idle? I moved my hard discs to the top of my case saw a drop of a couple of degrees. Still 65 seems too high. Anything outhere to cool this thing down? I will probably be getting a new case-see if that goes well.

Well it wasnt the heat making it crash. I opened my case and blew a huge fan in it, upped core to 554, ran 3dmark05, ati fan never turned up once, able to keep it between 50-60 and it still locked up. Probably need more volts. It seems ATI doesnt want it to go past 547. The increase in mem to 549 didnt do much. Kept locking up on the beginning of the 2nd test in the forest.

5.13 also fixed my dvi-d cable problem(kinda). Well the cable only works after windows starts now, better than nothing I guess. Luckily I have a small tv on my desk, so I will use that for BIOS or DOS. Dvi is way better than vga cable, now I can see the difference after having used vga for a couple of weeks. My guess is that one of the BIOS needs to be fixed MB or VidCard to permanently fix the cable prob.

If u r thinking of buying the xl, dont! go dig in the dumpsters for a couple of weeks and recycle those cans to buy the 1800XT, crossfire is out $579 retail.

With that kind of heatsink it seems very high for being IDLE .