ATI 4850/4870 voltmod thread

[GenTarkin]

quick question here guys...dont mean to vere off track but wasnt sure where to ask this...but which 4850 would be the highest probability to buy that has higher than average stock voltages? which manufacturer...
Thanks

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

ummm none... There all the same stock voltage

[GenTarkin]

ummm none... There all the same stock voltage

well I thought I saw someone say that either the voltage or...maybe the core quality between manufacturers was different...just enough to give the stock oc ability higher chances?

[LuxZg]

@dejanh - well, it would still be nice to have BIOS that unlocks Overdrive so we don't have to use 3rd party tools..

@whoever is interested - I won't be voltmoding my HD4870 (just came in today) since I don't want to solder on it. But what I can happily say is - that it runs on Chieftec 450W PSU (GPS-450AA-101A) even when overclocked (780/1090, i just gave auto-tune a try and left it at that untill weekend and Accelero mounting). So if there are people unsure about if these cards will work on their computers, I belive there's no fear, as long as you don't voltmod..
Taking that in consideration, I felt that buying 4870 was a better choice than going for 4850+new PSU, and then bothering with voltmods. Mildly OCed 4870 is still better than what I'd get with pencil-modding 4850, and it's less trouble overall.

But this is not to stop your OCing attempts, keep volting and clocking those cards by all means It's nice to see 1GHz cards, even if it's not in your computer

P.S. Oh, and that's all with my E4400 clocked to 3,2GHz as well..

[dejanh]

Welll, if it makes you guys happy I will be posting the 4870 XOC BIOS for you not too long from now...

[LuxZg]

Thanks man! I bet that it will be at least partly usefull

[STaRGaZeR]

Welll, if it makes you guys happy I will be posting the 4870 XOC BIOS for you not too long from now...

Me wants

[sandwichamwin]

I'm getting ready to vmod my 4870, and am slightly concerned with the comment at http://sandwichamwin.blogspot.com/ stating "Before continuing, double check that the resistance is still set at 50ohms and the jumper is set in the 'off' position (not connecting the trimpot to ground)! We wouldn't want to boot up and have a dead card would we?"

What is meant by this? I've vmodded 2 other cards, and not had any concern with booting with the mods enabled. Am I missing something here or misreading this? I see other folks with hard-wired mods (http://img59.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0975dp9.jpg), but am thrown off a bit by that comment. Can someone clarify?

-Matt

I think i might need to do some fixes. It was written at midnight after a long day at work.

I was just trying to emphasize how important it is to make sure you're booting up with maximum resistance so a newbie won't accidentally boot with maximum volts and fry their card. It's perfectly safe to boot with the mod on, i might edit that part out.

[dejanh]

Here you go gentlemen. The (in)famous 4870 XOC BIOS. 128-kb, exported with GPU-Z 0.2.6. I've zipped it so that I can put it here

By the way, I have finally managed to make a fully stable setup with this card. I am running at 850/1150 artifact free and very solid. Max GPU temps are around 65C. The volts are 1.349 core and 1.598 memory.

[LuxZg]

Just wanted to give heads-up to this thread - ASUS 4870 TOP BIOS

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=196551

Fixed fan profile, 10-15MHz better overclocks, unlocked Overdrive to 900MHz for core, mem is locked at 1100MHz.

But we'll be waiting Diamond XOC BIOS as well, since it has even bigger range (990/1200 you said?) Even if Diamond XOC BIOS is maybe flawed a bit (poor overclockers?) perhaps someone can combine those two and give us best of both worlds

EDIT: LOL! You jumped in while I was typing And didn't notice it at all Was reading your thread at ncix and just got to mvktech BIOS page (where you've posted it just few minutes before posting it here )

[sandwichamwin]

Why do we need to flash to a new bios? I can hit 950mhz with stock bios and amd gpu clock tool.

[dejanh]

I already posted the XOC BIOS two posts up...if somebody did not notice...

[LuxZg]

@sandwichamwin - Well, you don't HAVE TO. But perhaps it helps.. And for those that aren't aiming THAT high as you do, and perhaps using stock cooler, it's a worthy find.. Anyway, it can't do much harm having more info at your disposal

EDIT: @dejanh - you're too quick for me I just editted my previous post a minute ago
More at your XOC card.. I've noticed that before running Furmark you could go to 870/1200. SInce a lot of people are warning NOT to use furmark, as it can kill your card, have you thought about perhaps Furmark being the guilty part of low-OC equasion on these cards?
I've noticed in ncix thread that other guy tried with his Crossfire setup, but he was following your advice to first OC to 850/1100, than "BURN IN" (or I'd say burn-out ) the cards with Furmark, and only than to try lower clocks... Maybe the cards would be working fine if it wasn't for Furmark "burns"? I have to say that I have never used Furmark longer than a minute, and that was on non-oced X1950, so I can't really say if this could be it or not. But way too many people sc**wed their cards with Furmark, so I'm just wondering...

[sandwichamwin]

@sandwichamwin - Well, you don't HAVE TO. But perhaps it helps.. And for those that aren't aiming THAT high as you do, and perhaps using stock cooler, it's a worthy find.. Anyway, it can't do much harm having more info at your disposal

Cool thanks. I just didn't want to be missing out on any fun

[dejanh]

@sandwichamwin - Well, you don't HAVE TO. But perhaps it helps.. And for those that aren't aiming THAT high as you do, and perhaps using stock cooler, it's a worthy find.. Anyway, it can't do much harm having more info at your disposal

EDIT: @dejanh - you're too quick for me I just editted my previous post a minute ago
More at your XOC card.. I've noticed that before running Furmark you could go to 870/1200. SInce a lot of people are warning NOT to use furmark, as it can kill your card, have you thought about perhaps Furmark being the guilty part of low-OC equasion on these cards?
I've noticed in ncix thread that other guy tried with his Crossfire setup, but he was following your advice to first OC to 850/1100, than "BURN IN" (or I'd say burn-out ) the cards with Furmark, and only than to try lower clocks... Maybe the cards would be working fine if it wasn't for Furmark "burns"? I have to say that I have never used Furmark longer than a minute, and that was on non-oced X1950, so I can't really say if this could be it or not. But way too many people sc**wed their cards with Furmark, so I'm just wondering...

You would think that, but no, the problem is not that at all. FurMark did not do anything to either of us. I can still run even as high as 890/1200, but it is only marginally stable. Sometimes quick, sometimes after prolonged periods of playtime artifacts start to appear. In ATITool however, they were there all the time, always. I am not happy with that. I do not need the card to run at 890,880,870/1200 or whatever and be "seemingly" stable. I jumped the gun before because I only tested it using 3DM06 and Vantage and stated I was stable at 870/1200. It was never the case unfortunately.

By the way, FurMark will not do anything to your card if the cooler is sufficient, but I keep a close eye on temps, volts, and everything when testing Fan at 100% no temps, including MOSFETS went over 70C. It was worth putting the idea out there though, hehe

Oh, one other thing that may be important, and maybe one of you can chime in on this...I noticed that I can push the card higher than 850/1150 but it starts to artifact. Then, in order to remove artifacts I up the vcore. However, as I up the vcore past 1.39V, the number of artifacts starts to increase exponentially and the higher the voltages the more artifacts I get. Now, considering that temps at 1.42V and at 1.349V are not that different and that I already verified those are not an issue, this sounds like either the card is consuming too much power now that the PSU cannot give it, or the 2x6pin + PCIe slot cannot supply, or the core is maxed out. Any ideas why artifacts would increase if voltage is increased past a certain point if temps and hence overheating are not the problem? I am running a single 4870 XOC with a CM EP 600w SLI/Crossifire-Ready PSU.

[stangracin2]

need help put a accelero s1 rev 2 with 2 120's on my card
put it in turned it on 30C idle all other temps for it were between 34C and 36C
load was 36C didn't pay attention to the others but they were below 55C
but now i am getting the LED closest to the GPU core

[dejanh]

need help put a accelero s1 rev 2 with 2 120's on my card
put it in turned it on 30C idle all other temps for it were between 34C and 36C
load was 36C didn't pay attention to the others but they were below 55C
but now i am getting the LED closest to the GPU core

Here is the diagnostic chart...

HD4870 LEDs
D1601 - Red LED On, shows critical temperature fault
D1602 - Red LED On, shows External power connector A was removed
D1603 - Red LED On, shows External power connector B was removed
D601 - Red LED On, shows critical Core power fault

Yours would be the D1603, but I'd be betting your voltage regulators are getting too hot so the card is failing.

[stangracin2]

ive got them sinked i wonder if i nudged one

is it dead or is all i have to do take it of secure all the sinks and put it back on and back in the computer

[dejanh]

Damn, I just realized you are talking about 4850. Wait a sec...

HD4850 LEDs

D1601 - Over temp protection enabled
D1602 - EXT 12V fault

So, are you getting D1601 or D1602?

[stangracin2]

i'll post a pic up here to show you what i have sinked

[dejanh]

i'll post a pic up here to show you what i have sinked

See my post above...and yes, a pic would be good.

[stangracin2]

1601

[dejanh]

^ There's your answer then. You are overheating, most likely on voltage regulators. If not that, I would look at ram then, and lastly the GPU. Clearly though something is wrong with how you mounted your cooler and/or sinks.

[stangracin2]

my dad took the digital to work but when you looke at the stock cooler
everywhere there was thermal tape i have a heatsink

i'll clean the car and start again

[stangracin2]

nope now you know the cooling i have is better than stock so i don't know whats up