Unleash the Gladiator (RV670): 862MHz GPU Clock Limit Fixed

[96redformula]

I am returning my 8800GT to Best Buy on Monday. It was a total of $279 after taxes, and I was able to get a MSI 3870 earlier today for $215 shipped from clubit. The 8800GT is a great card and I had a hell of an overclocker hitting 780 on the GPU with stock voltage, but I felt the image quality in Crysis was laking a bit and more importantly I could use an extra $65 for the holidays.

I will be watercooling my 3870, so look for some more watercooled results next week.

[slugzkea]

I am returning my 8800GT to Best Buy on Monday. It was a total of $279 after taxes, and I was able to get a MSI 3870 earlier today for $215 shipped from clubit. The 8800GT is a great card and I had a hell of an overclocker hitting 780 on the GPU with stock voltage, but I felt the image quality in Crysis was laking a bit and more importantly I could use an extra $65 for the holidays.

I will be watercooling my 3870, so look for some more watercooled results next week.

is the GT that bad? I am considering switching to an 8800GT just because this 3870 really can't cut it on like 32/32 sprites in TF2 with everything maxed (1650x1050 8xaa 16xaf shadows everything high). without hardware volt mods, I can only achieve 877core and 2600 mem. I want a card that won't drop under 60fps under extreme load.

But the image quality is superb, it is the absolute best.

How is the image quality with CS S and TF2? is there a serious difference between the two cards?

[RealyPssd]

My system is:

AMD Opteron 148 @ 11 x 264 - 2.904GHz
DFI NF4 LP Ultra-D
2 x 1GB Crucial Rendition RAM @ 207MHz
HIS HD 3870 512MB @ 891/1305

[hstuehmeyer2000]

is the GT that bad? I am considering switching to an 8800GT just because this 3870 really can't cut it on like 32/32 sprites in TF2 with everything maxed (1650x1050 8xaa 16xaf shadows everything high). without hardware volt mods, I can only achieve 877core and 2600 mem. I want a card that won't drop under 60fps under extreme load.

But the image quality is superb, it is the absolute best.

How is the image quality with CS S and TF2? is there a serious difference between the two cards?

did you test the oc on your vid card, i was able to go up to 891/2700 and have no artifacting source but it was slower than 891/2300 which was stable

test it with ati tool

[Inteleron]

Just ordered my 3870. Looking forward to the gain in speed and image quality from the 7 series. I'll let you guys know if the latest batch of sapphires are shipping with the new bios.

[96redformula]

is the GT that bad? I am considering switching to an 8800GT just because this 3870 really can't cut it on like 32/32 sprites in TF2 with everything maxed (1650x1050 8xaa 16xaf shadows everything high). without hardware volt mods, I can only achieve 877core and 2600 mem. I want a card that won't drop under 60fps under extreme load.

But the image quality is superb, it is the absolute best.

How is the image quality with CS S and TF2? is there a serious difference between the two cards?

It wasn't that bad, but I seem to be getting strange shimmering issues similar to the 7900 series of cards on several games. The overclock was not the culprit either, but I am at a max resolution of 1366x768, so the 3870 + $62 Cash back sounds good to me right now.

[Xevipiu]

Perfect

[os008]

The problem was fixed by AMD graphics department, not by me

Hey man,
Where did you get it from, AMD's web-site? or a newer card's BIOS save?

Would like to know to monitor any updates for the 3850 card's BIOS updates.

Thanks.

[Lane-k]

Perfect

Nice specially with your CPU only @ 4ghz...

[afireinside]

Got my 3870CF aka 3dmark queen today. Games run like crap Chillin at 860/1250 for now...

Can I flash both cards at once wth ATIflash?

Can I control the fan speed on both cards some how? Riva only controls the first card I'm loading 91c.

[HousERaT]

Got my 3870CF aka 3dmark queen today. Games run like crap Chillin at 860/1250 for now...

Can I flash both cards at once wth ATIflash?

Can I control the fan speed on both cards some how? Riva only controls the first card I'm loading 91c.

Yes, you can flash both cards at the same time. In Riva just use the pull down to the second card and you'll be able to control the second card fan.

[afireinside]

Yes, you can flash both cards at the same time. In Riva just use the pull down to the second card and you'll be able to control the second card fan.

I tried to do that right away but the second card isn't showing in riva

[HousERaT]

You have the cards set in Crossfire in CCC and do you have a bridge on the cards?

[afireinside]

Yes I have both bridges on the cards. It certainly is working. I score 64k 03 at 860/1251 in Vista...

[HousERaT]

ok, well you've got me stumped then.

I'm only using one bridge. My system seemed to act funny when using two bridges.

[afireinside]

What do you mean "funny"?

Mine refuses to post after a reboot from anything but in the BIOS. I have to turn the PSU off then back on in order to boot again. This in turn causes my OC to "fail" according to ASUS. Maybe it's just a maximus issue.

BIOSes flashed on the cards to the 860/1200 ones from IAXtech. OC results later!


Hmm... Look at zolkorns shot here:



My GPUZ says "disabled" for crossfire, even after disabling and re enabling it via CCC.

Maybe my drivers are broken? I blackscreened when installing them and it never went away (typical ATI...). I waited a few minutes and rebooted. Everything was installed and ran fine when I rebooted so I figured I was fine.

[HousERaT]

I would uninstall the drivers then reinstall them. Something ain't right. I'm using two 3870s with one bridge on a Maximus Formula and my GPUZ looks like Zolkorn's.

[GenTarkin]

Quote:
Originally Posted by cstkl1 View Post
http://www.iax-tech.com/video/3800biosmod/03.htm
currently trying the 830/2400



I tried this BIOS for the 3850 on my 3850...and before it, I could do 730/2030
I can still only do around that.... =(

I noticed though on that link they have a field in the bios editors called VDDC3
is that the voltage for the core any chance? if so couldnt modifying that to the 3870 of 000b make the 3850's core voltage higher?

Also any other suggestions of a BIOS to try for my card that could get its core higher?

[afireinside]

progress!

Got fan control to work in rivatuner, major PITA though. Need to disable CF, set fan speed, enable CF, OC, run benchmark.

Also, these things are NOT temp limited. I load 88c in games and peak 92c during 3dmark with the default fan speed running 860 core. I tried 100% fan speed which dropped idle to 36c. Set clocks to 905 and it crashed with some vertex lock error before GT4. Set clocks down a notch to 890 and it locked during GT1. Time to order some VRs... I need to figure out a better way to cool them to.

On top of all that, reseating with ceramique didn't help my GPU temps at all And ATI made the ram and pwm sinks retarded so that they can not be remounted with real TIM.

CF in games is a mixed bag.

Hellgate doesn't use CF at all. If I play windowed mode and watch CCC, the second card has 0% load.

CSS works great and I get a 42% performance increase!

UT3 also works great. 1920*1200 max settings 80-90 fps average (capped @ 90) lowest I see after all the textures have loaded is mid 70s in large fights.

Crysis doesn't seem to work at all

ET quake wars works! Fixed it ftw.

860/1251 CCC set is game stable so far it seems. 875 (864 real) core set in CCC runs 3dmark but scores go down if anything. I tried quake wars @ 1281 ram and I GPU recovered within <5 minutes. Set down to 875/1251 and it GPU recovered after ~10 minutes. Is the 860/1200 BIOS off IAX tech not a fixed version for the 862 core limt or am I hitting a volt/heat ceiling?

[MorGo7h]

How do you oc both cards? I guess if you clock with atitool/rivaturner you only oc the master card?

[afireinside]

I've just been using CCC. You can click the drop down box and pick the second card. Set the same clocks for that. I think riva sets both at once.

860/1251 VPU recovered in UT3 I was able to play quake wars for 45 minutes problem free before I got bored and quit though. After that I had checker boards in any game at any clocks until I rebooted. *sigh*

[ZoLKoRn]

I would uninstall the drivers then reinstall them. Something ain't right. I'm using two 3870s with one bridge on a Maximus Formula and my GPUZ looks like Zolkorn's.

Yep connect a one bridge it can enable Crossfire my new setup on one bridge >> Link

I've just been using CCC. You can click the drop down box and pick the second card. Set the same clocks for that. I think riva sets both at once.

860/1251 VPU recovered in UT3 I was able to play quake wars for 45 minutes problem free before I got bored and quit though. After that I had checker boards in any game at any clocks until I rebooted. *sigh*

not yet Rivatuner don't both at once in OC, you can try for looked is card 2nd
it how coreclock run by open Rivatuner graph on 2nd card and run some 3D
you will see real clock jump from 2D to 3D clock

[MorGo7h]

What about the 864mhz wall in crossfire? Can you pass 864mhz on the 2nd card in CCC with the modded bios?

[ZoLKoRn]

yep you can pass 864MHz in crossfire with bios moded because bios mod it has
core/mem 875/1250MHz after you flashed your card will boot to 875/1250MHz instant

[MorGo7h]

I think I need some Vr's and a 900/950/1000 bios