Gigabyte HD4850 CrossFire and Singlecard Results [Archive]

[XC] gomeler

07-08-2008, 10:49 PM

This is the first of many posts you'll see from me on this subject. I had what can considered to be a steamy love affair with the HD3850 and I've decided to start working over her hotter and faster sister, the HD4850. To kick things off I started working with the card on the stock cooler with stock volts. This was the first and last time I'll be benching these cards on stock coolers though, they just crave extra cooling and a rough hand with the volts.

CPU: QX9650 : 9x400
MB: Gigabyte X48T-DQ6
MEM: Corsair PC3-1800C7
GPU: 2x Gigabyte HD4850 512MB
PSU: OCZ 700w GameXStream

SE : Single Card
CF : 2 Cards
SK : stock speeds
OC : overclocked, clocks near numbers.

Results
3D06 SE SK 13924
3D06 SE OC 14783 680/1050
3D06 CF SK 20290
3D06 CF OC 20409 650/1050

VAN SE SK E21635
VAN SE OC E22478 660/1100
VAN CF SK E29998
VAN CF OC E30898 660/1100

VAN SE SK P7157
VAN SE OC P7629 660/1100
VAN CF SK P11086
VAN CF OC P12521 660/1100

Oddly enough, 3DMark 2006 was more strenuous on the cards than 3DMark Vantage. These initial results aren't spectacular, next up though involves volt-modding the cards and putting the cores under my Arctic Cooling S1's. No pictures this time around or screenshots, waste of bandwidth for barely above stock speeds :p:

ymer

07-09-2008, 12:11 AM

Wow great scalling with 3d06

[XC] gomeler

07-09-2008, 01:04 AM

I didn't show bu the scaling from 3GHz to 3.6GHz to 4GHz is also very impressive. At stock clocks the cards are bottlenecked in CF it seems below 3.8GHz or so. Looking forward to matching these with some 5+GHz Core 2 power.

TheGoat Eater

07-09-2008, 02:11 AM

you jump up quite a bit in points I noticed :up:

Nice results for stock cards... Now void those warranties :D

ymer

07-09-2008, 08:18 AM

you jump up quite a bit in points I noticed :up:

Nice results for stock cards... Now void those warranties :D

no!! don't listen to that guy he's nuts :shakes:

Yea voltmod those after you pick up with the CPU speed for some real results :up:

XCheater

07-09-2008, 02:42 PM

[XC] gomeler

07-09-2008, 02:55 PM

I hope I have some QX9650 processor :(
My 4850 CF setup just doesn't scale near those above, mine scoring only 18100 on Q6600 3.55GHz
But it really scales perfectly on some games supporting multi GPU such as DMC4, but not in crysis, CF just make it worse

Well the extra tweaks with the 45nm chips mean my 3.6GHz is closer to a 3.9GHz 65nm chip, so that might explain the performance differences :shrug: This was on a fresh install of Vista SP1 too, which probably helped the scores a bit. Ironically my scores through 06 were higher in Vista than XP SP3 although that XP install was a bit dirty. Friday or Monday I get LN2, have to drive to Airgas as nobody on campus will supply me with LN2 unless I have a 180L dewar *fail*

iTravis

07-09-2008, 03:03 PM

So you're saying the HD4800 series still bottleneck at CPU running less than 3.8Ghz? :|

[XC] gomeler

07-09-2008, 03:06 PM

So you're saying the HD4800 series still bottleneck at CPU running less than 3.8Ghz? :|

For 3D06 at 1280x1024 at stock settings, yes. It was scaling from 3GHz to 3.6GHz to 4GHz. Sadly I'm using one of those aluminum 45nm heatsinks and my QX isn't 100% stable at 4GHz through 06 and Vantage on that little pos. Might just use my F1EE and throw ice cubes in there *hrm..*

iTravis

07-09-2008, 03:18 PM

gomeler;3128091']For 3D06 at 1280x1024 at stock settings, yes. It was scaling from 3GHz to 3.6GHz to 4GHz. Sadly I'm using one of those aluminum 45nm heatsinks and my QX isn't 100% stable at 4GHz through 06 and Vantage on that little pos. Might just use my F1EE and throw ice cubes in there *hrm..*

I hope this only affects benching but not in real gaming performance. Cuz I remember back then when I had my 8800GTX, I did see a big gain going from 3.4 to 3.6Ghz so I ain't that surprise when the HD48xx series require at least 3.6Ghz.

TheGoat Eater

07-09-2008, 07:00 PM

gomeler;3128091'] Might just use my F1EE and throw ice cubes in there *hrm..*

DICE pellets are pretty inexpensive :D- especially if you go to a distributor... I was given 35lbs for $10 - I know its no LN2 but in a pinch...:up:

TheKarmakazi

07-09-2008, 10:33 PM

nice work gomeler! I await 1ghz from you soon :)

these cards are impressive.... *resists ordering*

[XC] gomeler

07-10-2008, 12:58 AM

Vanity Shots!

http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Small/IMG_0716.JPG (http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Large/IMG_0716.JPG)

http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Small/IMG_0718.JPG (http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Large/IMG_0718.JPG)

http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Small/IMG_0719.JPG (http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Large/IMG_0719.JPG)

http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Small/IMG_0721.JPG (http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Large/IMG_0721.JPG)

http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Small/IMG_0724.JPG (http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Large/IMG_0724.JPG)

http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Small/IMG_0726.JPG (http://gomeler.com/pic/Articles/Review%20Gigabyte%20HD4850%20512MB/HD4850%20Pictures%20Large/IMG_0726.JPG)

[XC] gomeler

07-10-2008, 01:23 AM

I did the vgpu mods on both the cards and put the Arctic Cooling S1's onto the GPUs. I kept the CPU at the same speed to 1) show GPU improvement 2)CPU heatsink blows. I don't have any heatsinks on the mosfets, chokes, or GDDR3 but I do have a ~110 cfm fan blowing over the entire card and heatsink.

1 card of mine really blows so that's why the CF results are at 885/1100. No matter the volts, 890MHz core is not stable, went up to 1.65v. Using 1.55v for all of these runs.

NEW RESULTS IN BOLD

3D06 SE SK 13924
3D06 SE OC 14783 680/1050
3D06 SE OC 17177 905/1100
3D06 CF SK 20290
3D06 CF OC 20409 650/1050
3D06 CF OC 21112 885/1100

VAN SE SK E21635
VAN SE OC E22478 660/1100
VAN SE OC E26392 905/1100
VAN CF SK E29998
VAN CF OC E30898 660/1100
VAN CF OC E30898 885/1100

VAN SE SK P7157
VAN SE OC P7629 660/1100
VAN SE OC P9450 905/1100
VAN CF SK P11086
VAN CF OC P12521 660/1100
VAN CF OC P12423 885/1100

Observations : I feel like the CF runs were slightly bugged. Looking over the screenshots for Vantage, GT1 and GT2 sometimes show zero improvement while in CrossFire. There was some slight artifacting so I think the weaker card is gumming up the works. No worries though, 1.65vgpu and dry ice tomorrow and LN2/dice on Friday :rocker:

revogamer

07-10-2008, 01:44 AM

woah, nice scores, especially in the single runs, and 905 with 1.55 is quite low?, i can get 850 core 3dmark stable with just a pencil mod - about 1.35-1.4v (Accelero S1)

XCheater

07-10-2008, 01:31 PM

XCheater

07-10-2008, 01:38 PM

gomeler;3128091']For 3D06 at 1280x1024 at stock settings, yes. It was scaling from 3GHz to 3.6GHz to 4GHz. Sadly I'm using one of those aluminum 45nm heatsinks and my QX isn't 100% stable at 4GHz through 06 and Vantage on that little pos. Might just use my F1EE and throw ice cubes in there *hrm..*

So 1280x1024 stock settings bottlenecking....
So then I just need to make use of it at highest possible settings :rofl:
One thing...
Please bench it at 3GHz and 3.6GHz 1280x1024 @AA 4x and AF 16x and let's see the differences

[XC] gomeler

07-10-2008, 04:30 PM

Well I think you just need faster processor, don't overclocks your GPUs anymore because it might be a waste unless you have more powerful processor
It might be back to the previous problem isn't it? :yepp:
CPU bottlenecks :ROTF:
From all reviews and tests, all I can say is on 4GHz QX9650 you could get that 21000 in 3dmark2006 in 4850 stock speed:yepp:
That's the only solution now, anyway 20 thousands points in 2dmark2006 and you'll be free to play all games while maxed out on all categories:yepp:
Perhaps add a 4870 and you'll get 24000 on 3.6GHz QX9650 :yepp:
If next-gen motherboard is out and we get a 3 PCIe 16x then 26000 barrier will be broken :yepp:

Well with 4.2GHz and 690/1100 I hit 23k 3D06 :cool: It definitely needs a faster processor. Debating on picking up dry ice today or just waiting for LN2 tomorrow.. think I'll review a few other things today on air and then blow stuff up tomorrow :up:

So 1280x1024 stock settings bottlenecking....
So then I just need to make use of it at highest possible settings :rofl:
One thing...
Please bench it at 3GHz and 3.6GHz 1280x1024 @AA 4x and AF 16x and let's see the differences

Will try to remember to do that, going to be a busy night but I suspect you won't see too much of a performance hit.

-Acid-

07-10-2008, 05:29 PM

nice results there mate !!!

Gonna chase you with my 2900xt's tho

20575 and i,m at pretty low clocks with them cards too !!!

[XC] gomeler

07-10-2008, 05:40 PM

nice results there mate !!!

Gonna chase you with my 2900xt's tho

20575 and i,m at pretty low clocks with them cards too !!!

I'm aiming for 30k here ;) Going to have to bring out the big guns for that one.

-Acid-

07-10-2008, 05:45 PM

Were's riptide

erm.... mate i need to borrow the phase unit and stick two heads on it

i need around 1300+ core and 1050 mem for that and a 5.5ghz plus quad for 30k

25k ish is my aim with my current setup tho

look forward to the updates!!!!

XCheater

07-11-2008, 04:12 AM

3dmark06 SS please :)

[XC] gomeler

07-11-2008, 01:16 PM

25 liters of liquid nitrogen and 25 pounds of dry ice were just picked up by me. Insulating up my favorite X48T-DQ6 right now :cool:

3dmark06 SS please :)

Didn't save the screenshots as they are for the most part worthless. Did upload to hwbot though, links below have the screenshots embedded.

Crossfire HD4850 http://www.hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=752295
Singlecard HD4850 http://www.hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=752296

TheGoat Eater

07-11-2008, 04:03 PM

wow - can't wait to see the scores with the CPU Cranked to the max :up:

XCheater

07-11-2008, 04:57 PM

gomeler;3133450']25 liters of liquid nitrogen and 25 pounds of dry ice were just picked up by me. Insulating up my favorite X48T-DQ6 right now :cool:

Didn't save the screenshots as they are for the most part worthless. Did upload to hwbot though, links below have the screenshots embedded.

Crossfire HD4850 http://www.hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=752295
Singlecard HD4850 http://www.hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=752296

great, but overclocked 4850 CF doesn't seem to gain more fps ;) which is a rather weird while single card does a great job at the same 3600MHz CPU freq :shakes: I hate it when it comes to this point

XCheater

07-11-2008, 05:00 PM

btw how do you vmodded those 4850? pencil mods or soldering one? any artifacts or graphical corruptions so far?
since I get graphical corruption just when OCing it to 690/1100 using overdrive without any vmods :p:

[XC] gomeler

07-11-2008, 05:30 PM

great, but overclocked 4850 CF doesn't seem to gain more fps ;) which is a rather weird while single card does a great job at the same 3600MHz CPU freq :shakes: I hate it when it comes to this point

Welcome to being CPU limited ;) Just wait 2-3 hours. First time putting this processor under LN2 so I have no clue how it'll scale.

XCheater

07-12-2008, 07:02 AM

gomeler;3133986']Welcome to being CPU limited ;) Just wait 2-3 hours. First time putting this processor under LN2 so I have no clue how it'll scale.

just becareful mate :yepp:

[XC] gomeler

07-12-2008, 04:24 PM

Worst night benching ever. :down:

1) QX9650 blows, 5350MHz @ 1.9v through 3D06 @ -110C.
2) 1st X48T-DQ6 I was using would drop in performance as I ramped up the clocks. Never seen this behavior before. Went from a ~8k CPU score @ 5200MHz to a 5500 CPU score @ 5300 after the first 20 minutes. Can't explain it, perhaps the NB is dying or the PWM cap's were too cold? 2nd X48T-DQ6 died through my last 3D06 run under the 2nd CPU test, no condensation so I'm puzzled.
3) 1st HD4850 had massive screen corruption the moment I booted it. I suspect there's a short as it functioned perfectly on air.
4) 2nd HD4850 was doing nicely up to 1075MHz @ 1.67vgpu under dry ice. I could complete 3D03 at those speeds about a quarter of the time, 3D05 would crash, and 3D06 I could run each test individually but not in a series. I suspect my GPU pots are being swamped by the core.

Observations:
I think the PWM on the HD4850 is a severe bottleneck. RV770 is a powerhungry core and the 2-phase design is simply swamped above ~1025MHz. I could bench at 1025MHz with 1.55v but going to 1050MHz required a jump to 1.63v and the voltage fluctuated terribly in GT3 of 06. 1100MHz won't be possible without a lucky core and either LN2 or a massive reworking of the PWM. The mosfets were around 85C through GT3 of 06 @ 1075MHz and the chokes were around 60C with sinks on both and heavy airflow.

I'm picking up the pieces to further test my dead/dying gear and might be able to salvage one of the 4850's to bench it tonight. Never had so many random deaths in a 12 hour period.

Moc

07-12-2008, 04:31 PM

Oh man, what a terrible night....
Hope you can bring life back into this card :D ....

[XC] gomeler

07-12-2008, 05:33 PM

Both mobos are dead and 1 4850 is dead. Pulled out my new E8400 and the ES EP45T-Extreme for tonights escapades. Hope tonight goes better :up: Sadly my weaker card survived, not too happy about that.

revogamer

07-12-2008, 08:35 PM

damn, bad luck man, hope it goes good tonight

TheGoat Eater

07-12-2008, 11:41 PM

sorry to hear about that -that absolutely sucks :(

XCheater

07-13-2008, 06:44 AM

oww man, you are not careful enough :shakes:
btw send me that last survivor of 4850 :rofl:
I'll make it tri CF :yepp:
btw good luck for your next test
I wonder if someone could get 900/1100 in CF :yepp:
it would be great :D

[XC] gomeler

07-14-2008, 04:43 PM

Well I got the E8400 up to 5300MHz on the crippled ES board but I couldn't go above DDR3-1400Mhz so it was stuck with the 1:1 divider and 6-6-6-18 timings. GPU was doing 1025/1100 and I completed a 3D03 run and scored 41xxx 3DMarks. Then ran a 32M run at 5200MHz and it took 18 minutes. After that I immediately shut the rig down and called it a day, should have ran a bandwidth test to see exactly what the memory was performing at. Working on a replacement board, not exactly a wasted weekend as I did learn a lot about the HD4850, the EP45T-Extreme, and my E8400. Still had ~8 liters of LN2 left so I decided to make ice cream with it. Going to film making the ice cream next time :up: Be back in ~4 days, figure that's how long UPS/Fedex will take.