Can OC performance degrade?

[charlie]

After hitting 3.64gHz and 19k in 3dmk2k1 and <60 pifast my performance just seems to suck.
I did a complete new WinXP install and clean everything. I installed a new heatsink on my Raddy 9700 and the first time I fired it up I got some excellent 3dmk2k1 scores, but as I pushed the system harder, the performance seems to get worse. Now, a cold system will give me 15,700 3dmk's at 3400mHz and this is with the same cpu and mobo and mem settings as 19k+
I used to run the RAddy at 421/361 and it was cool. Now with the new heatsink or the old one...380/350 and it hits 15,700
But this all started before I removed the stock hs/f, so that's not it...
I thought it was a crappy Win install...
I dunno'
Can a video card slowly degrade? If yes, I'll just stick it in my desktop rig (internet and work) and wait for Geforce FX for my benching rig...
Any ideas?
C

[Liquid3D]

Albeit rhetorical; your positive there were no changes made after the first benchmark/s (driver's, voltage, memory, a program enabling Vsync, VGA BIOS flash, etc?)

I know the molecular structure of most any material changes after excessive heating/cooling. Perhaps it's simply residual heat damage after pushing the card too hard? I read an article pertaining to this phenomenon in microcircuitry. I'm looking for it.

[NoEcho]

I've seen stuff like this, heard about more. Never been sure that it's permanent though.

Buddy's OC'd duallies (xp 1.5's @ 1.7) grew progressively less stable till he had to run them stock.

I've seen my Epox mobos lose their edge. With the Epox it seems like the voltage regulators going bad.

I doubt it's the chip itself, think they either run or die and that's that. But when it comes to analog components, capacitors or whatever, they might burn out with overclocking. Solder points could be a weak spot too.... Tough to say.

To guard against this I've taken to cooling the clock chips on the mobo and making sure the NB is always actively cooled. Not "over" overvolting my P4. Pretty obvious stuff.

I think if you're cooling both primary and secondary chips enough, and if you're running an AMD cpu or a decently volted P4, and it's not an Epox mobo then any degradation is more likely caused by driver issues than by permanent OC damage.

[FUGGER]

I have been running the same 3.06HT since Comdex and I am still going up in speed as I changed motherboards again.

4,140Mhz max so far and I have abused this CPU badly.

[Pedant]

Have you considered thermal protection kicking in on the cpu?

[DriveEuro]

sudden northwood death syndrom

[Aaron]

This may sound dumb, and you may have thought of this, but I neglected to reinstall the intel AGP driver and dropped like 4K in my benches, those bad boys make all the diference. Could have just been an oversight on your part if you need them they are titled "nfinst_enu" A search on Intels website should turn them up.

Aaron

[charlie]

I think it's the vid card...
I removed the v-mod and now it's stable at stock settings/speeds,
but even then if I oc it to 380/350 (which used to bring me 18,xxx)
at 3400mHz, now it's like 15,700! Don't even see 300fps flashes in Drago Low, pathetic! A few days ago I saw 412fps flashes...
Oh well, I can tell you the cpu's not degraded! Out of anger, I rammed some extra voltage down my 2.66 "troat" and cranked her up again...giving me a new personal best for clockspeed/mem speed! Geforce FX here i come! Maybe I'll sell my raddy on Ebay as a STOCK running card with a note that it don't OC! Strange...wish I had a 'bro with a rig that could test my raddy!
C

[k1114]

Just a thought, my radeon le used to be clocked at 300/250 stable. After a while I could only clock it at 297/247 stable, now im down around 290/240 without artifacts. Cards can degrade over time.

[NoEcho]

Unlocked my new 9500, pipes and clock. Saw the score go up for the pipes (10k -> 12.5 k) but overclocking freaks it out big time... after a few minutes. Suspect its the stock cooling... maybe the TIM pad's limits. Losing the Riva2 tuner (though it's 9700 sys tweak appears to remain in place) and using Rage3d's Tweaker and then flashing the card's bios with Warp11 raised the score to 14,2xx at stock speed.

Know those scores are nothing to shout about, guess the way it's relevant to the thread is maybe it's heat instability this guy is experiencing from TIM degradation.

Used to think that replacing the TIM with AS Epoxied Crystal Orb, or just ASIII (or Shin Etsu or whatever) was the way to go but with the Geforce GPU's there was always the issue of the depression in the center. Figured I'd just leave this new Radeon be. Think I'll have to not let it be. Hope the Radeon's don't have that friggin divot to deal with.