2900XT Overclocking

[Xion X2]

All I've been reading on this forum since this card was released is how well it overclocks on good cooling. Guys have been posting 950+ core shots on good water setups on stock voltage. Well, now I'm perplexed.. and more than a bit disappointed.

I'm sitting here w/ an OEM Sapphire 512MB XT topping out at 875 on the core. I haven't tried running the memory much higher than 950MHz, but I was really hoping to get a much higher core overclock than this. Temps aren't a problem; I'm loading at 56C on my watercooling w/ a Maze5 at 875 | 925.

I'm using the AMD GPU tool to overclock with since it's all I've seen people use. Whenever I try to go 900MHz on the core my system freezes. I'm using an 850W Quad-rail Silverstone Zeus PSU w/ two 6-pin PCI-e connectors. One connector has 18A all to itself, the other has around 10A. I've also tried switching to another rail with around the same amount of amps on it to no avail.

From watching the results of Kinc and a few others, it's seemed that an 8-pin wasn't necessary to overclock with. But those were on engineering samples, and I'm wondering if retail models are different or if they simply don't overclock as well as the ES.

Thoughts, anyone? I'm really hoping that I'm missing something easy here, but it's beginning to look like I got a dud overclocker.

[Kinc]

I have both AMD cards and retail cards. My retail are from ASUS and they overclock better then the AMD card, about 10MHz core. You absolutly do not need the 8-pin. I have been running well over 1200MHz with the 850W Zeus PSU using two 6-pins. Lets hope Wizzard is out with a beta of R600 ATItool soon, more Voltage will help you for sure.

[Xion X2]

Man, I just can't believe that mine is topping out on stock voltage at 875MHz.

Is there anything in the BIOS that might be affecting this? Any kind of PCI-E options? Right now I have PCI-E speed set to auto | 16x and PCI-E Latency Timer at 64.

What is that other temp on the GPU tool recording? It's averaging about 56C as well. Is it the mosfets or the RAM? I don't have any heatsinks for the RAM/mosfets right now; I'm just using the stock faceplate/backplate that came on the card w/ the fan still attached.

[burton]

i know benching with 8800 pci-e usually is set to 120 i dont know if it is the same for ati though

[Kinc]

Man, I just can't believe that mine is topping out on stock voltage at 875MHz.

Is there anything in the BIOS that might be affecting this? Any kind of PCI-E options? Right now I have PCI-E speed set to auto | 16x and PCI-E Latency Timer at 64.

What is that other temp on the GPU tool recording? It's averaging about 56C as well. Is it the mosfets or the RAM? I don't have any heatsinks for the RAM/mosfets right now; I'm just using the stock faceplate/backplate that came on the card w/ the fan still attached.

You have to cool the power components and ram. Use the heatspreader that is detachable from the original cooler.

[Xion X2]

You have to cool the power components and ram. Use the heatspreader that is detachable from the original cooler.

Do you mean the black and red frontplate/backplate? Because I'm using those. The only things I have taken off are the red shield and copper heatsink.

This is what it looks like, except the fan is attached where it is detached in this pic. I also have the black backplate on the back of the card:

[nicepun]

56c @ load for watercooled seems a bit warm, mine goes to around 48c @ load and idles around 38c~40c. Don't feel bad, my tops around 890, anything else 3DMark06 crashes and the VPU Recovery (I guess I need to disable this option) kicks in.

You have to cool the power components and ram. Use the heatspreader that is detachable from the original cooler.

So what's better, the stock heatspreader or ramsinks?

[RichBa5tard]

You probably don't want to hear this, but isn't 875mhz pretty good? Out of 53 samples, the average core overclock on a 2900XT is 833mhz...

[Kinc]

875MHz is not bad at all for 2900XT with stock voltage. With 100% fan speed my cards have a loaded temp of 52C (ASUS) and 56C (AMD) running stock clocks and 875MHz. The stock cooler is really powerfull with the airflow provided by the fan spinning at 100%. Are you using a combined loop or a single loop for the graphics´card? As I said before with atitool ou will see higher clocks on water with more voltage.

[AbelJemka]

My card top at 870 with a crappy waterblock and i think is already rather good. I hope for 900MHz with new top and a little voltage. My ram go rigth to 1100MHz I have better results with 1100MHz than 999MHz. I know that 1100MHz have relaxed timigs but i think that frequency compensate the timings.

[macci]

Guys have been posting 950+ core shots on good water setups on stock voltage.

Are you sure about this? (the "stock voltage" part mainly)? As I havent seen a single card that can do that (950 w/ default voltage + stock watercooling).

As far as I can tell 875 is pretty much what it should be with normal watercooling + default voltage. You will get 900MHz with higher voltage easily.

In general I think that 133MHz GPU overclock at default voltage is not a horribly bad result?

[toddm27]

both of my cards top around 880/890 under water (sapphire retail)

[gandalfone]

mm...I with stock 850/1050.....with wb 890.....but when water is cold

875 is not bad

[mascaras]

All I've been reading on this forum since this card was released is how well it overclocks on good cooling. Guys have been posting 950+ core shots on good water setups on stock voltage.

they are not with default GPU voltage on that clocks


regards

[gandalfone]

they are not with default GPU voltage on that clocks


regards

[andre X_X]

i've been tested this card mem freq... for my card (HIS 2900XT), 999mhz = 695fps nature 2k1, 1160mhz = 725fps nature 2k1, and >1161mhz = 650fps nature 2k1. no matter how high i set the mem freq, it would turn very bad after 1160mhz.

[Kunaak]

since when did 133 mhz on the core become a bad OC?

a normal card, in the past, barely gave a extra 50 mhz...
let alone 130+.

I think peoples expectations get too high sometimes, from either a lack of experience, or too many screen shots.

[Viktor]

since when did 133 mhz on the core become a bad OC?

a normal card, in the past, barely gave a extra 50 mhz...
let alone 130+.

I think peoples expectations get too high sometimes, from either a lack of experience, or too many screen shots.

Well you forget the fact that the old cards didnt have as high-clock frequency as the new ones thus the overclocking also became alot lower.
100mhz @ a 350mhz card is alot more than 133mhz on a 750mhz....

[Dynasty]

lol 875mhz on core is actually quite decent....
I needed atleast 1.25+ vddc for 920mhz &
with stock vddc most I got of my very
1st ati/amd card was only 850mhz on air.
So, 875mhz on core w/stock vddc is actually nice...

[Xion X2]

Well, I was going by the results I saw from Kinc, Sampsa, VR-Zone, and TechPowerUp. All these guys, at least to the best of my knowledge, were claiming 950MHz and up on stock voltage with good cooling. There was also another or two around this place who posted shots of 940MHz on stock voltage.

Oh well.. I guess I can relax now. I just had a completely different perspective before on how well this thing overclocks. Guys were making it sound like 1GHz was a cinch for anybody on watercooling.

I'm running a combined loop, btw. Temps have now dropped to 51C on load when playing F.E.A.R. now that the paste is starting to cure some.

[macci]

Sampsa got 950MHz with stock voltage, yes, BUT that was with DryIce cooling! (-80C).

Techpowerup clearly states in the article that they got 911MHz at 1.36V (default is 1.2V). 850MHz with default voltage.

Vr-Zone got 880MHz with improved default cooler + default voltage.
They did reach over 1GHz BUT that was with voltage modding (1.35V) and Cascade cooler (which means around -80C).

I dont think anybody has reached 1GHz with watercooling (with any voltage).

So your result at 875MHz with default volts is pretty good

[Xion X2]

I stand corrected then. Thanks for the explanation.

I guess I also didn't realize that dry ice would give you a higher overclock if temps weren't really a problem on the lesser system. I was only loading at 55C.

[Xion X2]

56c @ load for watercooled seems a bit warm, mine goes to around 48c @ load and idles around 38c~40c. Don't feel bad, my tops around 890, anything else 3DMark06 crashes and the VPU Recovery (I guess I need to disable this option) kicks in.

My idle has now dropped to 39C and load temps on F.E.A.R. have dropped to 51C.



And a few pics of my build:

[Eastcoasthandle]

Take a look at this thread I created. It may explain some things.

[STEvil]

Sampsa got 950MHz with stock voltage, yes, BUT that was with DryIce cooling! (-80C).

Techpowerup clearly states in the article that they got 911MHz at 1.36V (default is 1.2V). 850MHz with default voltage.

Vr-Zone got 880MHz with improved default cooler + default voltage.
They did reach over 1GHz BUT that was with voltage modding (1.35V) and Cascade cooler (which means around -80C).

I dont think anybody has reached 1GHz with watercooling (with any voltage).

So your result at 875MHz with default volts is pretty good

Wasnt Opp @ 950+ with water + volts?