7900GT Overclocking Question

[dfuze]

I got my BFG 7900GT the other day and it has been nice and quiet, fast, and cold
(running in the low 40s C). I'm working on overclocking it and I seem to be running
into something odd. I am at work, so I don't have the exact numbers, so the
numbers I am using are close but examples... I can get a 3dmark05 score of
about 9000 setting the speeds to 524/724, but if I bump up the speeds a little more,
my score drops to somewhere in the low 7000s. Is this because after a certain point
the card needs more volts (similar to o'cing a cpu)?

Also, I have the 6 plug pci-e power plug plugged into the card, but do I also need
to plug in the 4 plug (looks same as the one for an optical drive) into the mobo next
to the video cards or is that only if i use SLI (i have the A8N-sli board but use only
1 card).

Thanks for any help.

 

[Ctrackstar126]

1. What drivers are you using
2. That 4-pin is only for sli
3. What are temps after overclocking

 

[Hauk]

Odd.

I found a review on the EVGA 7900GT Superclock:

The card seemed to easily run at 565/1650 but performance in AM3 dropped several FPS

nV News EVGA 7900GT Superclock Review

 

[dfuze]

I am at work so I can't say for sure the drivers I am using. It was the ones that
came with the video card. I was trying to get those new ones from NVidia
(84.xx?) but the link is broken; I guess they don't want to release them just
yet. If I remember correctly, I think the drivers are 82.xx something.

As for temps, my card (using Everest and the utility unlocked w/ coolbits) I am
running in the low 40s C (stock cooling) even after running 3dmark05 or playing
BF2.