Aftermarket cooling or not!?

[Matt2]

I was seriously considering selling my X800XL and picking up a 7800GT. For now, I've managed to talk myself out of spending $330 and keeping the X800XL.

Today I extensively tested my X800XL just to see how far I can OC this damn thing.

Unfortunately I found very early on that the core max was 432mhz. 435mhz on the core caused MAJOR artifacting, to the point where the whole screen was tearing. I backed it off to 432mhz and everything was a-ok.

Using 3DMark05 I then began bumping the RAM frequencies by 5mhz increments and running a 3DMark05 run each time I increased the RAM freq. I got all the way up to 585mhz before I got artifacting. At 585mhz I got artifacting for just a second in the 3rd GPU test, but the rest was fine and the run completed. In light of the artifacting at 585mhz, I backed the RAM back down to 575mhz.

At 432/585 I scored 5744.

I am very happy with this score as it is good for 1st when comparing projects with exactly 2.7GHZ CPUs and good for 4th against projects with approx. the same CPU speed.

Now my question is, is dropping $30 on a ATI Silencer Rev.5 going to give me a boost in core and RAM freq? My goal is for this X800XL to hit 450/600 with the ATI Silencer. Is this a reasonable goal seeing how I am sitting on 432/580ish with the stock cooler?

What have been your experiences?

I apologize in adbance because I know someone will point out that I already have a thread that kinda asks this question, but I wanted to be a little more straight forward because my decision to get the Silencer will be based on your opinions. I have never owned an aftermarket cooler except one on a TNT2 16MB that I had a LOOONG time ago.

Thanks for your input and insight!

 

[dman918]

What prog did you use to OC the card? That seems like a phenomenal OC for that card. I am having all kinds of problems getting any kind of OC out of mine. Also, less than 5200 in 3DMark05 for me (w/ amd 3200 oc'ed to 2.5ghz).

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: dman918
What prog did you use to OC the card? That seems like a phenomenal OC for that card. I am having all kinds of problems getting any kind of OC out of mine. Also, less than 5200 in 3DMark05 for me (w/ amd 3200 oc'ed to 2.5ghz).

I'm using ATI Tool. I agree, it's a fatastic OC on the memory, much more than I thought it was previously capped at. But the core is what I am really trying to OC and that's why I am considering getting the Silencer, but I need some opinions on how much the Silencer will effect the core OC!

 

[niggles]

Originally posted by: Matt2
I was seriously considering selling my X800XL and picking up a 7800GT. For now, I've managed to talk myself out of spending $330 and keeping the X800XL.

Unfortunately I found very early on that the core max was 432mhz. 435mhz on the core caused MAJOR artifacting, to the point where the whole screen was tearing. I backed it off to 432mhz and everything was a-ok.

Using 3DMark05 I then began bumping the RAM frequencies by 5mhz increments and running a 3DMark05 run each time I increased the RAM freq. I got all the way up to 585mhz before I got artifacting. At 585mhz I got artifacting for just a second in the 3rd GPU test, but the rest was fine and the run completed. In light of the artifacting at 585mhz, I backed the RAM back down to 575mhz.

At 432/585 I scored 5744.

That's an amazing 3dmark score. I'm getting about 5388 and check my rig out below. I've got more beef than you except for RAM and I'm still below you... also I've OC'd my card to 440.5 on the core and 580. You'd think our scores should at least be equal. I'd say you've got a pretty great card there.

 

[anandtechrocks]

I've read at xtremesystems that the Zalman VF700 or the Thermalright V1 are better coolers than the Arctic Cooling series. Using the Thermalright V1 on a 6600 GT I got to 595/1230, and on a 6800 GT with a Zalman VF700 I got to 440/1200. Both heatsinks perform about the same, but the Zalman is quieter (and cheaper, I paid <$30 shipped).

Although mine are not ATI cards, my OC did go up a lot as a result of the new heatsinks, so even if you do get the Arctic Cooler I think you will see more speed.

 

[Nextman916]

First off congrats on that OC! I personally would save my money and leave the stock cooler. What temps are you currently getting with your new oc?

 

[Matt2]

I'm getting 45*C idle, ~75*C load. At 585mhz on the RAM Far Cry starts to artifact badly after about 5 minutes of gameplay. Before that it's fine though. 575-580 is stable with no artifacting after about an hour of gameplay.

The fact that 585 artifacts heavily not right off the bat, but five minutes into gameplay... doesn't that suggest an overheat? I think it would because the RAM will heat up over a period of time. What do you guys think?

I mainly want to get this aftermarket cooler to squeeze as much as I can out of this X800XL because I decided NOT to upgrade to a 7800GT.

anandtechrocks-

Thanks for the heads up, I'm gonna look into the Zalman!

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
I've read at xtremesystems that the Zalman VF700 or the Thermalright V1 are better coolers than the Arctic Cooling series. Using the Thermalright V1 on a 6600 GT I got to 595/1230, and on a 6800 GT with a Zalman VF700 I got to 440/1200. Both heatsinks perform about the same, but the Zalman is quieter (and cheaper, I paid <$30 shipped).

Although mine are not ATI cards, my OC did go up a lot as a result of the new heatsinks, so even if you do get the Arctic Cooler I think you will see more speed.

I found the VF700-ALCu for $23.99 with free shipping. Is this the cooler you were talking about? VF7ALCU

or was it the slightly more expensive one? http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=CA-VF700CU&c=pw

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say the Copper one is the way to go.

Does the ZAlman cover the ram chips?? IT doens't look like it in the pics on the webpage and no coverage on the RAM would be a deal breaker.. let me know, because I will jump on this.

 

[anandtechrocks]

Hey, don't worry about the ram, Zalman includes these nice aluminum ram sinks that cover the top and bottom each individual ram chip.

 

[Nextman916]

Lower to 580 going 585 with artifacts is useless because you wont see 1 fps increase 580 vs. 585. I still would recommend you saving your money as your temps are good.