2008 XS Cheapazchips 3D challenge

[G H Z]

Thats how bandwidth crippled these cards are, 10MHz makes all the difference in the world.

Thought I had you Spike...till you posted that last run

[dinos22]

things are heating up now

[systemviper]

i was worried about this riser card impacting on scores but it seems to be ok

Wow, didn't even know they exist, I want one!

[dinos22]

Wow, didn't even know they exist, I want one!

fleebay FTW

i wish they had longer ones

[systemviper]

fleebay FTW

i wish they had longer ones

I just found a place that sells them for 58.00 at 3" and ggoes up to 15" for an extra 46.00

Wow so they are between 60 and 120.... WOW

[STEvil]

errrrrrrrrrrm

oomhs did it on my card and tested at 2.3v on air

Your card is neither asus or sparkle!

[dinos22]

Your card is neither asus or sparkle!

lol i thought they are all roughly same sorry

[STEvil]

well, pretty close...

I cant find the overcurrent mods for the other cards now for some reason. Was going to reference off them and go for broke tonight on the Asus.

[G H Z]

I cant find the overcurrent mods

This is the only one I've seen.

http://desertshooter.nl/hwigpu/vmod8400-2.jpg

[zakelwe]

Wow, video Mem is slaughtering me with only minor increases

I think we should take into consideration the results from this competition if another cheap video card comp is done in the future. Overclocking the gpu is more interesting than the memory so we need to pick a card which is not so bandwidth limited as this one to give the big gpu overclocks more weight. Well in my opinion.

There's lots of good overclocking skills being done here just to be hampered with crappy memory, I fear STEvils Sparkle will be another example .

If these cards were 128bit or had 700MHz ( 1400Mhz effective) GDDR3 memory then I think it would have been a lot better.

I have updated Dinos22 scores and G H Z yet another backup that sadly got trumped this time. Has he got time to do more benching, he won't give up now I think ! He's a meglamaniac! ( in the nicest possible way of course)

Regards
Andy

[oohms]

STEvil i replied in your asus 8400gs mod thread

(darn havent had time to bench my card for ages )

[Johnny Bravo]

This is not going well - card is being a PITA under cold My memory is clocking even worse in the cold

Gonna have to try again think I will have to end up running on air in the end

[[XC] gomeler]

I think we should take into consideration the results from this competition if another cheap video card comp is done in the future. Overclocking the gpu is more interesting than the memory so we need to pick a card which is not so bandwidth limited as this one to give the big gpu overclocks more weight. Well in my opinion.

There's lots of good overclocking skills being done here just to be hampered with crappy memory, I fear STEvils Sparkle will be another example .

If these cards were 128bit or had 700MHz ( 1400Mhz effective) GDDR3 memory then I think it would have been a lot better.
Regards
Andy

Sadly I have to agree. I have been so turned off from benching my 8400GS that my 3850's have been getting a ton of attention lately. Next contest should be the 3650 DDR3 if they drop in price. When they get down to $60 we should try again, those should be fun cards to bench. Maybe we'll get lucky and the HD4xxx series will have some cheap 128-bit cards?

[STEvil]

STEvil i replied in your asus 8400gs mod thread

(darn havent had time to bench my card for ages )

Thanks. I might have thought up a tricky way of bypassing OCP on the sparkle card... just gotta figure out which mosfet its using.

[SpikeP]

well i think i am out of the competition. think i have broken one of the memory chips when going for 612mhz. boots but the screen is awful. Can't understand what is trying to display.

I am trying a few things now to see if it comes back, but i doubt it. That would leave these last two days to everyone else to beat the 03 score i set. I agree with the memory bandwidth thing. I have gained lots out of just increasing the memory by a few mhz. Core has been pretty poor on this card. just doesn't want to scale.

If i come back with another post in like 30 mins to a hour, you know i am still in, but looks like im down and out now. no joke!

Been fun doing this. Learnt i suck at soldering.

- Paul

[STEvil]

These cards can take massive vGPU, wow.

Ran 2.5v into my Asus... couldnt bench above 2.05 but I ran 2.5 into it on the desktop with ATi Tool artifact tester going lol!

1000/2538/477 in it... artifact free.. on water! lol.

edit

594/1458/432 on the Sparkle so far. Memory comes stock at 300mhz. 445 makes it do weird stuff. 1.25v gpu 1.9v mem stock.

[dinos22]

doin well Stevil

common fellas these cards must also die in February
this was a hidden rule in Andy's rulebook or you are wasting your time

let's see them scream, cry, yell, beg, burn

[Deanzo]

common fellas these cards must also die in February
this was a hidden rule in Andy's rulebook or you are wasting your time

Sorry dino, I'm letting you guys down, after 1.35v OCP or something kicks in and it just turns itself off.
So I'm finding it very hard to blow it up, though I'm very keen to do just that

[T_M]

Alright you have tempted me Dino, tonight mine will face the wrath of voltage.

[dinos22]

Alright you have tempted me Dino, tonight mine will face the wrath of voltage.

[STEvil]

I might use the Asus to supply memory voltage to the sparkle lmao

[Johnny Bravo]

Well that was an experience.....

Think it's time I put up my results - these will probably be the first and last set too as the card is on it's way out - might try some extreme runs just for the hell of it but for now I'll have to make do with what I eventually achieved.


http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=9341668



http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=5749015

Here's the classic photo shoot of the whole affair:


Vmods in place and ready to go!


GPU Caps replaced with ultra low ESR SAMXON capacitor 1500uF


Memory Cap replaced with low ESR Sanyo aluminum capacitor 1200uF


Johns love of plastidip knows no limit The board is sealed!


Some OS-CON caps soldered in parallel to the ceramic caps for the memory - this proved to be a bad move, really buggered up my memory clocks


Behold my secret weapon...GDDR2 pots! Beautifully held in place with a quick grip. GPU pot is also in shot, made out of spare material in the workshop


Top down shot


Some Swiftech RAM coolers on the MOSFETs to keep them cool


Action shot of the GPU tube keeping the card cool with some LN2


Look at that high quality lagging just peeling under the cold


You may have noticed in the last two shots that the RAM pots weren't included. That's because in the process of benching the card all setup I learned a few things about Qimonda memory:

• It sucks
• It doesn't like voltage
• It doesn't like the cold
• It suck
• It dies real easily
• err....did I mention it sucks?

Considering the above list the ram pots proved to be a complete waste of time.

Next up I'm going after Rol-cos nature record with all sorts of die hard(fast) vmods on this board

[zakelwe]

Wooow nice work there !

I'll update tonight the leaderboard.

Regards

Andy

[zakelwe]

Updated leaderboard.

Tomorrow is the last full day. I'm going to say that the deadline is 8am Saturday UK time which is probably midnight on the Pacific coast USA time.

We have had 3 dead cards up to now I think so approx25%. As a last day challenge for people who have great gpu's but poor memory there will be a special prize for anyone doing 3v through nature on the gpu.

Just send a screen print of the rivatuner temps through the run and perhaps one of a voltmeter reading and you will be entered. Can anyone get to the end of nature with 3v on the core?

Regards

Andy

[2fink]

Updated leaderboard.

Tomorrow is the last full day. I'm going to say that the deadline is 8am Saturday UK time which is probably midnight on the Pacific coast USA time.

We have had 3 dead cards up to now I think so approx25%. As a last day challenge for people who have great gpu's but poor memory there will be a special prize for anyone doing 3v through nature on the gpu.

Just send a screen print of the rivatuner temps through the run and perhaps one of a voltmeter reading and you will be entered. Can anyone get to the end of nature with 3v on the core?

Regards

Andy

3 volt is hardcore
cant wait to see the results... i hope some cards will survive!

is another contest planned for the future? maybe end of april/may?