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

[irenic]

i'm running both vista and xp and i can say that 3870 CF dont have any problem with any games u mentioned above..

just i have to admit the gameplay in xp is way smoother than in vista..

[KWSW]

Finally got approved to post here...

Anyway just wanna say thanks for the updated bios.

Managed to do this with a GeCube reference 3870:

[KWSW]

Although it seems that the new powercolour 3870 with 0.8ns rams and non reference hsf doesnt need a flash to get it to hit over the 862 wall:



But all still suffer from lack of higher volts so I still can hit 900+ core stable. :o

[Sampsa]

vGPU and OCP mods tomorrow (and VDDCI if necessary) and I'm ready to go

[MotF Bane]

My new Sapphire 3870 from MoboPro needed a flash to clear 862.

Edit:
Sampsa, when I used the stock thermal tape and Swiftech ramsinks on my 2900, it was actually higher temperatures on the memory than with absolutely nothing on them. That thermal "tape" seems pretty bad for anything other than occupying space to reach heatsinks. You noticed the same, or does it work decently for you?

[Sampsa]

Edit:
Sampsa, when I used the stock thermal tape and Swiftech ramsinks on my 2900, it was actually higher temperatures on the memory than with absolutely nothing on them. That thermal "tape" seems pretty bad for anything other than occupying space to reach heatsinks. You noticed the same, or does it work decently for you?

Haven't actually tested.. might be true. Did you noticed any difference in overclocking results?

[PPInDaHouse]

my PowerColor HD3870 is doing ~904/1380 stable stockcooled and without any mod.

Without this new bios it was stoppping at 862 on core...

[afireinside]

Man my cards must suck I cant break 875 for 3dmark.

Sampsa, when I used the stock thermal tape and Swiftech ramsinks on my 2900, it was actually higher temperatures on the memory than with absolutely nothing on them. That thermal "tape" seems pretty bad for anything other than occupying space to reach heatsinks. You noticed the same, or does it work decently for you?

Hmm maybe I'll try running the mems naked.

[STaRGaZeR]

Hmm maybe I'll try running the mems naked.

Keep us informed, I want to know that too since I´m on water.

And what about the heatsink without the thermal tape?

[afireinside]

Without the thermal tape, no contact will be made I believe. From what I can tell, the heatsinks have nubs that stick out to touch the pcb where the holes are. If you grind them down, it should work with regular thermal paste. For now I need to get my computer stable. I VPU recover even at 810mhz core in games

[MotF Bane]

Haven't actually tested.. might be true. Did you noticed any difference in overclocking results?

I did that memory temperature testing with my 2900, which hated memory overclocking anyways. All I was looking for was which one actually ran cooler - loaded up using ATiTool, or some games, and tested the temperature with an IR thermometer. (That IR toy is worth its weight in gold.)

As for now, the memory chips between mosfets and core have Enzotech ramsinks with the Enzotech sticky pad, and memory chips off to the side have nothing. I can test the temperatures on that, but obviously the ones between mosfets and cores have the power running through the PCB below.

Anyways. Using an MCW60, third component of the loop (follows a Conroe and a P35), I get 40C pretty much continuously with the below settings. 925/1225 was fine by OpenGL_FUR, but UT3 died in just a couple of minutes. 920/1225 seems good so far though, will do more testing soon.

[afireinside]

Ut3 loads cards HARD. I was peaking 3c higher than in cod4 while playing UT3. Is your card vmodded? 918 core is fast!

[MotF Bane]

Ut3 loads cards HARD. I was peaking 3c higher than in cod4 while playing UT3. Is your card vmodded? 918 core is fast!

No mods, this is only the second day with it. UT3 has now informed me that 1225 memory is unacceptable, so maybe 925 core actually would be. I'll need to keep experimenting.

[STEvil]

DiRT creates more load than UT3 for me.. even in the menu.

[afireinside]

DiRT creates more load than UT3 for me.. even in the menu.

True, that game did turn my 8800 into a toaster. I'll have to give it a whirl tomorrow.

crossfire is still being a...

Cod4 sees some great gains but I still can't play @ 1920*1200 with AA on or my fps will hit 30s at times. Even without AA, some levels/spots (especially with rain) will drop me into the 40s.

UT3 won't even load both cards anymore, and when it does/did, there doesn't seem to be a performance gain

Hellgate is still hopeless

I have both the latest hotfix and the just got the older "fix" for games only using 1 card. Some fix. Vista x64 FTL. Is CF easier to get to work in XP?

[golfjam]

Ok, replaced my PSU. Tried a 1200W and same problems. Good, I didn't want to spend another $350, will return tomorrow. 750W is back and COD4, UT3, COH runs perfectly. Still no Crysis, Supreme Commander and WIC in CF. Vista 64 still picky, no big news here. Just like afireinside, I've installed every hotfix, tried all drivers and still no good. But Maximus is way better than my previous P5K-E WiFi. I overclocked with less voltage and it runs cooler. My cards too. I've reapplied AS5 in both. Mobo runs @ 30C. Cards @ 36C idle and 55C loaded with fans @ 50% sotck cooling. It can't get better than that.

[Eastcoasthandle]

Let see some DiRT and COD4 screen shots. DiRT is one of the few games that stress a video card.

[2DIFF]

CF gave me a "brutal" boost in Bioshock: 160 fps in DX9, all settings high on 1280x1024. No improvement at all (far from it!) in COD4, Crysis, Race 07. Using driver v. XP32-64_8-43-1-1-071113a-055588E (Crysis "Hotfix"). Hope there'll be some new drivers soon!

[os008]

Guys, from what i could gather the Crysis Hotfix does NOT fix the CF bugs, instead, the latest official driver does, BUT, that same driver doesn't have the Crysis Hotfix, so you have to choose between either playing Crysis optimised, or playing all the other games on CF without bugs!

[Sampsa]

Did some testing today with Vapochill LS evaporator mounted on AMD Non-Qualification Radeon HD 3870 reference board (see pics above). Unfortunately this RV670 is not very good overclocker and it can only do 830 MHz stock and 860 MHz with 100% fan-speed.

Tested with 3DMark05:

1,5v 1000 MHz ok
1,53v 1012 MHz ok
1,55v 1026 MHz ok
1,57v 1039 MHz ok
1,595v 1053 MHz crashed to GT3
1,6v crashes and problems

Notes:

Catalyst and Rivatuner reported that GPU temperature was 19 Celsius during tests and it didn't change even under load so it was probably lowest value RV670's thermal sensor can read. I also measured the temperature of PWM components under load with infrared thermal meter:

1,5v ~49 Celsius
1,6v ~70 Celsius



Looks like I only had screenshot @ 1026 MHz saved. Memory is not maxed out yet.. just tested GPU this time.

[2DIFF]

About Crysis Hotfix and stuff: Can't this be combined? It worked before, for two x1950pro's in CF, I installed both the latest driver & the hotfix - and voilà.

[Clint]

Did some testing today with Vapochill LS evaporator mounted on AMD Non-Qualification Radeon HD 3870 reference board (see pics above). Unfortunately this RV670 is not very good overclocker and it can only do 830 MHz stock and 860 MHz with 100% fan-speed.

Tested with 3DMark05:

1,5v 1000 MHz ok
1,53v 1012 MHz ok
1,55v 1026 MHz ok
1,57v 1039 MHz ok
1,595v 1053 MHz crashed to GT3
1,6v crashes and problems

Notes:

Catalyst and Rivatuner reported that GPU temperature was 19 Celsius during tests and it didn't change even under load so it was probably lowest value RV670's thermal sensor can read. I also measured the temperature of PWM components under load with infrared thermal meter:

1,5v ~49 Celsius
1,6v ~70 Celsius



Looks like I only had screenshot @ 1026 MHz saved. Memory is not maxed out yet.. just tested GPU this time.

Good news!

Was those temps on the PWM's with active cooling of any kind...like a fan or such?

[Sampsa]

Was those temps on the PWM's with active cooling of any kind...like a fan or such?

No, those temps were measure Vapochill LS evaporator mounted on GPU and no active cooling on heatsinks.

[Miwo]

Did some testing today with Vapochill LS evaporator mounted on AMD Non-Qualification Radeon HD 3870 reference board (see pics above). Unfortunately this RV670 is not very good overclocker and it can only do 830 MHz stock and 860 MHz with 100% fan-speed.

Tested with 3DMark05:

1,5v 1000 MHz ok
1,53v 1012 MHz ok
1,55v 1026 MHz ok
1,57v 1039 MHz ok
1,595v 1053 MHz crashed to GT3
1,6v crashes and problems

Pretty weird that you don't get more benefit with the vapo . I can bench at about the same speeds / voltage settings on my Accelero S1 + 140mm Yate.

[LowRun]

Sampsa, have you done the Over Current Protection mod, Shamino suggested it rears it's ugly head in the 1.6v territory.