7600GT

acole1

Golden Member
Sep 28, 2005
1,543
0
0
I am new to nvidia cards so bear with me.

The 2 programs I have seen suggested are Coolbits and Rivatuner.

I have googled both and it looks like Coolbits is built into every nvidia forceware driver? (I just downloaded the most recent one - 84.21) Is this correct?

Also I have downloaded Rivatuner 5.18, which was the newest one I could find, but it says it only supports up to 6800 series. Can/should I be using this on a 7 series card?

What are your suggestions for temps? It idles at 55c with the default warning temperature at 115c.

If you could provide your input on which of these programs would be best, where to download them (links), and perhaps suggestions on how to use them, that would be great!

Thanks!

BTW it is an eVGA 7600GT CO - default 580/1500
 

Rhezuss

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2006
4,118
34
91
I OC with Coolbits 2.0 most of the time. I too got a 7600GT (MSI). I idle at 49-51 celcius and the temp goes up to 55-60 celcius under load (not sure though).

I OC'ed the card from 560/1400 to 594/1500. For some unknown reason, I can't get past 600MHz cause 3Dmark05 freezes and can't complete. I went from 5400 to 6300 at 3Dmark05. At stock, my 7600GT score exactly like my OC'ed 6800GT (which was stock 350/1000 and OC'ed at 420/1150). When I overclock, I up the speeds with 10-15MHz increment and test (with 1 run or 2 of 3Dmark05).

You got a nice card in your hands and can overclock quite well. Good for you if you can get past 600MHz core clock.
 

dug777

Lifer
Oct 13, 2004
24,778
4
0
i looked at a gainward card @ 600/1500, but that's 360AUD, wheras i can get a 7900GT for 460 AUD ;)
 

Rhezuss

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2006
4,118
34
91
Originally posted by: dug777
i looked at a gainward card @ 600/1500, but that's 360AUD, wheras i can get a 7900GT for 460 AUD ;)

Well I paid my MSI NX7600GT 249CAD (210USD).

 

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
14,264
3
81
the program I used to OC when I had nvidia was NVHardPage. Worked well, except that the monitor would flicker two to four times every time i opened overclock, changed the clock, and applyed it. but it worked well.
 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
106
Heh, came onto these boards to find out exactly the same thing. Just installed my eVGA 7600GT CO, got it for $175 :)

Installed the 84.22 driver set, then opened rivatuner and noticed it didn't support the card. Checked for a later version, but 15.8 is the latest. I'll have to check out Coolbits, and see what I can do. For now, I'm going to leave the card at stock. 580/1500 w/12 pipes is a heck of a lot faster than my flashed 6600 at 400/650 w/8 pipes, so I'm going to be impressed either way.

Powerstrip also doesn't support it yet.
 

acole1

Golden Member
Sep 28, 2005
1,543
0
0
Originally posted by: Avalon
Heh, came onto these boards to find out exactly the same thing. Just installed my eVGA 7600GT CO, got it for $175 :)

Installed the 84.22 driver set, then opened rivatuner and noticed it didn't support the card. Checked for a later version, but 15.8 is the latest. I'll have to check out Coolbits, and see what I can do. For now, I'm going to leave the card at stock. 580/1500 w/12 pipes is a heck of a lot faster than my flashed 6600 at 400/650 w/8 pipes, so I'm going to be impressed either way.

Powerstrip also doesn't support it yet.

Rivatuner is supposed to overclock it? I installed that today and played around with it. I didn't even know it was supposed to OC :p maybe they will support it later :frown:
 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
106
Rivatuner will be able to once they add support for the card. I had to get Coolbits 2.0, which worked just fine. I haven't OC'd it yet, still running it through it's paces at stock to make sure everything is running well.
 

marketsons1985

Platinum Member
Apr 15, 2000
2,090
0
76
I've had my card for about a week, ran it pretty solid at 622/1550 with coolbits, but stepped it down a bit due to the lack of airflow in my case. I'm currently running at 601/1528 and my temps idling at 57 and under load at about 67. Once I get a bit more airflow (my case is inbetween my desk and my fridge, talk about bad circulation) I should be able to bring it back up.

So...Coolbits FTW!
 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
106
Currently I'm idling at about 50C. It loads to about 63C with RTHDRIBL, but as far as in gameplay...don't know. I used to use rivatuner to keep a history of temps, but obviously can't do that at the moment :)

First impressions...this card is badass for <$200. Coming from my old 6600 @ 400/650, I used to be able to play DoD:Source at 1024x768 full HDR + high details, no vsync/AA/AF at about 50fps average, maybe 30fps during battles.

Now with the 7600GT at that res I can enable 4xAA/16xAF and get ~85fps average, about 60fps during battles, 50 if it gets really smoky. Looks like it's going to be a crime for me not to up the resolution, so 1280x960 is where I will be heading. In addition, I've been running with my Opty only lightly overclocked...I can up it another 500mhz, which would definitely help in a Source based game, and I haven't even overclocked the GPU yet. Schweet.

84.22 driver set definitely seems solid. With the drivers set to high quality, I'd say their image quality is on par with the 79.11's that I enjoyed so much, but the ultimate shimmer test will be Guild Wars, if I can find my disc...formatted recently, and don't have hardly any of my games on my system :eek:
 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
106
I was only able to get an OC of 615 on the core, and 810 on the memory, but these were seperate. When combined, I can only do 600/800 comfortably. Temps look good too...as I never break 63C...I'm seeing quite a few guys out there who can't get much more than 625mhz on the core, so I wonder why?

Maybe the GPU core voltage is rather low, and we'd see an OC benefit from increasing it?
I'm going to find a review that shows the power consumption of the card...maybe the problem might be that we're approaching the limits of what the PCI-express lane can provide to the card without an additional molex connector.
 

acole1

Golden Member
Sep 28, 2005
1,543
0
0
My memory doesn't seem to be OCing very well... when I run the test 777 is my max and at 778 the test fails (at stock core speeds). Is this normal? Should I push this up untill the system crashes?

My core is another matter. With memory at stock 750 (1500Mhz) I can hit 670 with the test passing, and at 675 the system crashes.... is that a 15% OC? (80Mhz over stock 580Mhz)

I can run 639/777 stable (moving ram up then core)
or 665/777 stable (moving core up then ram) but this seccond set worked only once. I tried it again and it crashed my system.

Which would be better? A higher RAM speed or higher core speed? Temps are staying btwn the idle 45c and never surpassing 47c.... even at 670 core clock. (So says the temp monitor in the driver.... I also have the side of the case off and a PCI cooling fan below it.)

I have also crashed at 660/765 so I am not able to determine how stable it will run or what combo I will use to get the best results. Also, I am using my work computer :eek: so will all these results be totaly different when I get it into mine? (I am still in the process of ordering parts.) And since I am using my work computer I can't really run any true benchmarks. (like 3dmarks06)

I am a total n00b at OCing video cards so any more suggestions would be great! Thanks!
 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
106
Well, 600/800 wound up not being 3dmark stable, so I had to bump it down to 600/775. By that point, I realized there was no point in overclocking this card at all, since stock is 580/750. I wish all video cards were like Opterons that blew through 40-50% overclocks without trouble ;)
 

kyparrish

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2003
5,935
1
0
I'm thinking about pulling the bios off of the card w/ nvflash, and seeing if I can't raise voltage via nibitor.
 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
106
Originally posted by: kyparrish
I'm thinking about pulling the bios off of the card w/ nvflash, and seeing if I can't raise voltage via nibitor.

Hmm, that would be interesting. If you do give that a go, let me know. Thanks!
 

kyparrish

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2003
5,935
1
0
Originally posted by: Avalon
Originally posted by: kyparrish
I'm thinking about pulling the bios off of the card w/ nvflash, and seeing if I can't raise voltage via nibitor.

Hmm, that would be interesting. If you do give that a go, let me know. Thanks!

/sigh. Just ordered a 7900gt from ZZF (the eVGA was back in stock, and I've got an NV Silencer 5 sitting around here). I'm probably going to wait on the bios voltage experiment since I want to sell this 7600 in an unmodded condition.

I've gone from a 6800GS to 6600GT to this 7600GT to a soon to arrive 7900GT. At least I haven't had to change drivers too much :)
 

acole1

Golden Member
Sep 28, 2005
1,543
0
0
So I guess it looks like the RAM doesn't OC very well on this card. :(

What temps are you running? Mine never got over 47c... I was wondering if the temp monitor isn't showing it right. Some of yall said you were looking at 50-60c? If I am really running at 47c then there isn't much point in getting an NV5 for it for me, and my core clock should be going higher w\o crashing. Ideas?

I am looking forward to being able to run 3dmarks and test it. But that might not be for another month :(
 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
106
I idle at about 50-52C, and load at around 63-65. I don't think it's a temp issue holding us back.