X1800 Xl = Wow!

[cantankerous]

Ok guys, got in from work this morning and mounted my Zalman FS-V7 with ceramique. All seemed to go well as I have no artifacts after a run of 01, 03 and 05 as well as looping of 01 continuously for 30+ mins. The only thing im worried about is my mounting of the heatsink on the card. I don't know why as it's super easy, but the heatsink kept slightly shifting across the core as as I was trying to mount it. I hope this didn't muck up my thermal paste job.

Anyhow, I haven't been to bed yet so am going to do so now. While I'm sleeping I'm going to loop 3dmark03 continuously until I get up. Hopefully it will last as I am still on stock volts and speed but with much better cooling. This will also give time for the ceramique to settle and cure. If all is good I will start the painstaking joy of finding my max overclock on this card either later today or tomorrow. Once I have this done I am going to do a fresh format and start again so I can finally enjoy my system. I want to beat Quake 4 as I'm right at the end.

BTW, is it just me or is anyone else finding the Zalman coolers fins very cool to the touch, even after extensive use? You are probably thinking it's not making proper contact with the core, but if this is so then why no artifacts, lockups or crashes after an hour or so of pure benchmark running? While it was going I put my hand against the side fins of the heatsink and didn't feel it warm at all. Perhaps it is because I am still on stock volts and speed, but the thing is very cool to the touch. Anyone else find this or is their Zalman actually getting warm to hot?

[tckrto]

the outer fins is much cooler (bigger fins) compare to the inner fins (smaller fins)
try to touch the inner fins u can feel most of the heat is trap at the inner fins

[trans am]

Ok guys, got in from work this morning and mounted my Zalman FS-V7 with ceramique. All seemed to go well as I have no artifacts after a run of 01, 03 and 05 as well as looping of 01 continuously for 30+ mins. The only thing im worried about is my mounting of the heatsink on the card. I don't know why as it's super easy, but the heatsink kept slightly shifting across the core as as I was trying to mount it. I hope this didn't muck up my thermal paste job.

Anyhow, I haven't been to bed yet so am going to do so now. While I'm sleeping I'm going to loop 3dmark03 continuously until I get up. Hopefully it will last as I am still on stock volts and speed but with much better cooling. This will also give time for the ceramique to settle and cure. If all is good I will start the painstaking joy of finding my max overclock on this card either later today or tomorrow. Once I have this done I am going to do a fresh format and start again so I can finally enjoy my system. I want to beat Quake 4 as I'm right at the end.

BTW, is it just me or is anyone else finding the Zalman coolers fins very cool to the touch, even after extensive use? You are probably thinking it's not making proper contact with the core, but if this is so then why no artifacts, lockups or crashes after an hour or so of pure benchmark running? While it was going I put my hand against the side fins of the heatsink and didn't feel it warm at all. Perhaps it is because I am still on stock volts and speed, but the thing is very cool to the touch. Anyone else find this or is their Zalman actually getting warm to hot?

cantankerous,
the slight shifting on the core and HS is normal. mine does that. the temps are really good. mine never went over 55c my outer fins are cool as well. note I am in NY and it's fall and the cold wind was blowing directly on the card.

[cantankerous]

thanks for reponse guys. I am sure my thermal job is ok but I would have liked the core it stay in one place while I screwed it to the nipples. Perhaps I was just nervous and hasty as I kept missing the holes on the bracket and would manually shift the heatsink over the core to fit over the holes again. I am sure I wiped/moved some of the thermal paste around.

Yea out here in Toronto it is same deal, cold and windy.

Oh yea, 3dmark 03 ran for 2h 45m straight at 1280 x 1024, 32 bit, 6 x aa, 16 af and was still running artifact free when I got up. This ceramique should cure pretty quick the way I am running it and will start with the overclock later.

BTW, what do you guys get stock on your X1800XL? With my setup in sig I get about 7250.

One last thing while I am on a role here sorry, did you guys have a bunch of parts left over from your zalman install such as 4-5 screws plus 2 rubber washers? I did and going over the instructions multiple times gave no place to use these.

LASTLY I PROMISE! I noticed the Zalman could be mounted two ways with the four mounting holes given to you. With the card front facing you, PCIE connector down you can mount it upper left to bottom right, or upper right to bottom left. Does it matter which way it goes and how did you guys mount yours?

Thanks a bunch guys.

[deathman20]

Stock values seem right I got 7.3k if not mistaken.

I mounted mine where there big fins point over tward the power regulator area. Figured it was best for cooling since it might help cool the ram chips a little.

For mounting, I used 4 washers, 4 screws, 4 offsets, 1 heatsink+fan , 1 mounting back plate. Think there was some screws left over and a washer. It fit good so really didn't pay much attention.

[gunit]

I had the same fukking problem :\ Card went RMA. Got artifacts @ stock voltages and Stock speeds in Quake 4.

If i get my new card i will not use higher voltages until its supported in CCC or an good version of ATi Tool. And i'm thinking of buying a X1800 XT 512 MB Card. I think the XL cores are just not as good as the XT ones. They don't like high voltages somehow :\.

it should be obvious the XL will not OC as good as the XT. you should get yourself a 512MB XT, or else you might have a stroke cause the XL seems to frustrate you more than most people.

[trans am]

I mounted my 700-CU the same way as deathman20 using the screws diagonally like the original ati cards used to mount. this aims the fins right at the ram and cools everything perfectly.

[cantankerous]

I mounted my 700-CU the same way as deathman20 using the screws diagonally like the original ati cards used to mount. this aims the fins right at the ram and cools everything perfectly.

Sweet. Upon checking my card I mounted mine the same way. Good job. Glad I don't have to take it apart to remount it as I never even thought of the fins pointing towards the ram for cooling.

[gunit]

I mounted my 700-CU the same way as deathman20 using the screws diagonally like the original ati cards used to mount. this aims the fins right at the ram and cools everything perfectly.

u have the XL right? what are your idle temps around 625 core?

[Astennu]

it should be obvious the XL will not OC as good as the XT. you should get yourself a 512MB XT, or else you might have a stroke cause the XL seems to frustrate you more than most people.

Yeah i'm planning that. But there are no Xt's in the nederlands yet. So i need to wait a little longer But i hav'en got my XL back from RMA. But now i can sell it as brand new

[mR Yellow]

Just want to give u guys a update on mobo boot screen logo issue.
I flashed my bios last night at it fixed the logo corruption issue.

[Revv23]

I mounted my 700-CU the same way as deathman20 using the screws diagonally like the original ati cards used to mount. this aims the fins right at the ram and cools everything perfectly.

fins release heat, they dont take it away...

In theory, it would be best to have the fins as far away from hot components as possible, and the most free flowing air going towards your ram, the fan will blow air equally in all directions, and the clearest path to your ram would lead the best cooling.

In practice, i doubt this matters at all though.

[mR Yellow]

Link to official 5.11 Cats
http://www.tweaktown.com/file-librar...ad.php?file=12

[LexDiamonds]

This thread has been a good read... seriously concidering a x1800 of some sort.

One observation after reading thru, there seems to be a reoccuring theme..

People are flinging voltage around on STOCK cooling like it was going out of style! Even the Zalman gadget is junk compared to any sort of watercooling...

Here we have a 1st in the industry really.. in the fact that there is an easy to use software volt changer available. It is the cursed union of air cooling and extra volts... I'm sure ATI loves people running there cores at 95+C simply because they made voltage a software option...RMA city.

Now granted voltage changing is outside of the box for the average user, but the implactions of being able to increase voltage so easily should not be taken lightly.


People are abusing it here. Now I know people are using XT values for reference, but obviously the XT has a more robust cooling solution and for all we know could have cores binned at higher Tmax, whatever.

Point I am trying to make is that extra volts on Vid cards works a bit differently than on your neighborhood A64. Its easy to slap around .1v here and there on cpus and get away with it w/ stock HSF.

I guess it just worries me that people are throwing big volts around on video boards simply becasue there is a tool available to do so. GDDR is fragile stuff and thankfully no one here has keeled one yet due to confirmed overvolt, but be careful guys! Cool these down with water or phase before hitting with juice.

/rant off

[Astennu]

Just want to give u guys a update on mobo boot screen logo issue.
I flashed my bios last night at it fixed the logo corruption issue.

Uhmm i got 704-BT2A bios. May be i should go for a DFI Expert board Ony it has no 32x pci e lanes. Thats a bigg miss.

[turtle]

I enjoyed your rant Lex and concur with most of it. Glad I didn't have to write it.

The only thing I would add is that cores may not have been binned for speed, but more possibley just using the top stable amount of voltage for common users (whos' cases may run warmer) to safely use on good air. They may have become XT's, with stock cooling to fit with that.

As no XL's seem to be doing less than 625 on comparible cooling to XT's and voltage, I highly doubt they're binned other than the first batch of XL's probably came from the first spin (but were fixed with the metal layer).

That being said, I wish we could see some more results from XL/XT's on water. I'm curious how hard those can be pushed (volts/clocks)...I wonder if (on average) it's considerabley better (compared to gfx cards of the past) than air.

[Astennu]

The new cores that are shipped now are A15. Most XL's have A14. Later on XL's will also get the A15 cores. Maybe then XL's will be able to run higher voltages. Like XT cards do. But they clock verry nice i must say.

[cantankerous]

Anyone here running the new 5.11? I am and have no issues. Just a couple questions however. Have any of you run the automated clock checker in the overdrive tab? If so what did the utility say your best clocks were? I just ran it and it told me it successfully passed at 574/449 which is max for overdrive. I am not sure if I should take this as a grain of salt or if it is accurate. During the test the core never got above 52c. After it was done I did a run of 01, AQ3 and 05 all in a row and all successfully completed without error. I am hopping in the shower now and am going to loop 01 nature without title screens as this gets the core the hottest over time than any other test in the 3dmarks. At max after running all the benches my core never got above 54c which is quite good considering stock would have been about 20c more than this. I take it I mounted my Zalman properly then. It has only been 24 hours since I installed it so I don't think the ceramique has 100% cured yet but know knows. Maybe another day or so and it may drop another 1c. hehe. Anyhow ill let you know what I come up with. the 574/549 was at stock volts as well. I will try adding voltage later to see what I come up with but so far the temps are very good for this clock speed. My X800XL at 421/553 netted me the same temps so I'm happy.

[deathman20]

Anyone here running the new 5.11? I am and have no issues. Just a couple questions however. Have any of you run the automated clock checker in the overdrive tab? If so what did the utility say your best clocks were? I just ran it and it told me it successfully passed at 574/449 which is max for overdrive. I am not sure if I should take this as a grain of salt or if it is accurate. During the test the core never got above 52c. After it was done I did a run of 01, AQ3 and 05 all in a row and all successfully completed without error. I am hopping in the shower now and am going to loop 01 nature without title screens as this gets the core the hottest over time than any other test in the 3dmarks. At max after running all the benches my core never got above 54c which is quite good considering stock would have been about 20c more than this. I take it I mounted my Zalman properly then. It has only been 24 hours since I installed it so I don't think the ceramique has 100% cured yet but know knows. Maybe another day or so and it may drop another 1c. hehe. Anyhow ill let you know what I come up with. the 574/549 was at stock volts as well. I will try adding voltage later to see what I come up with but so far the temps are very good for this clock speed. My X800XL at 421/553 netted me the same temps so I'm happy.

Running the 5.11's also no issues. Finally got good temp readings now. Getting roughly 62C or so loaded core with my OC. Not bad I'd say. Considering the voltage is near XT volts, and yet its 10-15C cooler then my old X800Pro Vivo 16pipe @ 510/560 so im happy about that (That card is now running over 570 core with its new owner)

Truely can't wait to ATITool hits. Finding max core and mem would be really nice feature I'm looking forward to, expecially once I raise the voltage, otherwise I think I'm going to stay at this speed and enjoy having a XT for a few hundred less

[cantankerous]

Couldn't agree with you more my friend. If you are bored deathman, do me a favour? Run the automated clock checker in the new 5.11 and let me know what it tells you your max core/mem is in the overdrive tab. Just curious to see if it told me max avail and alloted is true or it isn't very accurate.

Another question, why in my registered 3DMark05 can I NOT select loop all selected tests? It is grayed out and I can only select the option loop selected tests X amount of times. This isn't what I want to do.

I'm going out to run some errans for the day but am going to leave 03 looping continuously at 560/550 on stock volts to see how it holds up and what temp it is at after the couple hours of doing so. When I get back I will finally start upping volts to see how I make out.

[danikd]

I love Intel's stock heatsinks ( not CPU ) With 13db 80mm fan in idle about 5-6 degrees better then Zalman VF700Cu.Hope that in burn will be even better (Is mainly Al - better heat disperze than Cu on VF700 ) I check it tommorow ... no time today ( Beertime ). Sorry photo from cell phone ...

[cantankerous]

Oh that is a sweet heatsink! Will that fit on the X1800? The fact that its quieter and cooler than the zalman really got me going here.

[Quigs]

Got my Saphire X1800XL oem from newegg and I thought I would post the results. This round of cards I have no idea what makes a good card or not from an overclocking standpoint. I only ran through 3dmark05 a couple of times. The card is finicky to say the least in overclocking. I am using the overclock tool. I had a 7800GT prior to this card. Here are some scores - stock cooling, X2 4400+ (@2.4), 1gb OCZ ram. Temps at idle are 60c and load 80's.

3dMark05 Scores
7800GT
Base: 7349
475/1.1: 7687
485/1.2: 8054 (max I could get with stock cooler)

X1800XL
Base: 7228
600/600 1.2/1.9: 8094 (very easy overclock - and beats 7800)
650/700 1.3/1.9: 8687
625/750 1.275/1.95: 8625
650/800 1.3/2.2: 8962

I tried using the ccc overclock and the sytem hangs when doing overdrive. Looks like mine needs some voltage to perform. Not real sure if these are good numbers or not. I did play F.E.A.R and Tiger Woods 2006 with the 625/750 setting for a couple hours. My F.E.A.R scores stink though...

Trying to get the core above 650 seemed to be a challenge. Although I can get it to 675 if I bump the voltage -but it is flacky.

What gets me is people are getting way higher scores then these with less clocks. Only thing I have running is Norton Internet Security. Is that killing the score? Does this card look good from an overclock standpoint?

[deathman20]

Very nice clocks there Quigs. I would of guessed you should of hit 9k with 650/800, your so close. I got basically that score at 641.5/801 so background apps might be killing it or your ram timings/speed of the ram possibily.

[cantankerous]

Very nicely done! I am yet to use the overclocking tool for voltage changes but for me, on 5.11, the overdrive automatic checker didn't crash at all for me so I am sure with some voltage I should do quite well as well. I had 3dmark03 looping for over 3.5 hours straight with the card at 560/575 which was stritctly done through the overdrive tab of CCC. I had 03 running with 1280 x 1024, 32 bit, all settings maxxed to put extra strain on the card. I stopped it only because I was bored of seeing it run and at the time my temp was never over 53c with the zalman cooler and it was artifact free. Tomorrow I am starting voltage changes as this card should be well worked in now as well as cured on the thermal paste. Again thanks for your post as your numbers are something to look forward to. Quigs, what would you say your max fully, 100% stable overclock is and at what voltages. When I say 100% I mean something you would be happy to leave it at 24/7 without any hardlocks, system reboots, drops to desktop, vpu recovers and of course artifacts.