ATI X1900XTX clocks too low...

[coredumperror]

Hi all,
This is kindof a continuation of my post about low 3dmark scores, but I'm pretty sure I've discovered the problem, so it's no longer about my scores. I've read on numerous tech sites that the X1900XTX runs at 650MHz core and 775MHz RAM, but mine is running at 500MHz core, and 594MHz RAM. What the heck?

I tried clocking it to 650/775 with ATI Tray Tool, and it just caused my fan to speed up to super-loud and my system to lock. I rebooted to prevent any damage, and I've been afraid to mess with it since.

I've run 3DMark06 several different times, with Catalyst 6.6 and 6.9, and with and without Control Center installed. Every time I get around 5200 points, which is over 1000 less than people with systems nearly identical to mine.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Do a search in this forum. This issue has been discussed a gazillion times. The X1900XTX will run 2D at 500/600. It will run 3D at 675/775. You've done something that stops it from ramping up to 3D speeds.

Also note, if you manually adjust the speeds using ATI Tool or ATI Tray Tools, you will need to increase the gpu voltage.

 

[josh6079]

EDIT: Whoops, I thought you were talking about the X1950XTX. My mistake

Have you disabled the ATI services?

 

[coredumperror]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
You've done something that stops it from ramping up to 3D speeds.

Also note, if you manually adjust the speeds using ATI Tool or ATI Tray Tools, you will need to increase the gpu voltage.

Any idea how to undo whatever I did to get it stuck at 500/600? When I first installed it, I messed with ATI Overdrive in Control Center, but all I did was unlock it, and press the "automatic detection" button. That crashed my machine... lol. That's probably what it is, but how do I fix that?

As for the voltage settings, thanx for the advice. I didn't know about that.

 

[Capt Caveman]

1. Download DriveCleaner Pro
2. Reboot into Safe Mode
3. Run DriveCleaner Pro to uninstall your ATI Driver
4. Reinstall your ATI Drivers(I'm currently using 6.9 w/out any issues)

 

[coredumperror]

I'll give that a try, thanx!

BTW, I did a search on the forum (new and archived articles) and I couldn't find more than a handful articles that even mentioned the x1900xtx in passing. I searched for "x1900xtx" "x1900 xtx" and "xtx" (all without quotes), and only ended up with like 5 total articles. I *know* the x1900xtx must have been mentioned more often than that (hell my own posts didn't show up), so I'm thinking that there's something wrong with the search tool.

 

[coredumperror]

It worked! I used Driver Cleaner like you said, and reinstalled Catlyst 6.9. I got 6243 3DMarks. I left Control Center open on my second monitor, and it was reporting my GPU temps in the high 70C/low 80C range though! I couldn't hear my fan powering up at all. Are those temperatures safe??

 

[Pabster]

You can control and specify fan parameters with ATT.

I leave my Accelero X2 running 100% as it isn't very loud and cools better. You wouldn't want to do that with stock cooling or it would sound like a hairdryer.

High 70's is not unusual with stock cooling.

 

[tersome]

500/600 is 2d clocks. It switches to 650/775 and ups the gpu voltage to 1.425 in 3d mode.

Low 80 range isn't really safe. The fan should power up.

 

[Ike0069]

With ATI TT you can set the fan speed based on temps. The default settings spin the fan up too late IMO.

I set mine to got to 64% at 65C, and 68% at 70C. You can start up the monitoring graphs and watch how the temps are. I've yet to break 75C as 64 - 68% fan speed seems to be a very good cooling range.

If your temps are lower 80's while in 3D mode, then that is fairly normal. If this was while in 2D mode, something is definitely wrong.

I still use the stock cooler as it is somewhat effective, but it is definitely absurdly loud. Even when I'm playing BF2 with all the noise in that game and speaker turned up nice and loud, I can hear the damn fan spinning up down as temps go up and down. I'm not a silence freak, but this cooler has no business being put on a $400 VC. ATI needs better engineers apparently. This card may be the one that stops me from ever buying an ATI product again.

 

[Munky]

Low 80's is ok for the x1900's. My older x800 cards used to crash or artifact in the low 80's, but my x1900xt doesnt mind the temps until you get into the 90's.

 

[josh6079]

I still use the stock cooler as it is somewhat effective, but it is definitely absurdly loud. Even when I'm playing BF2 with all the noise in that game and speaker turned up nice and loud, I can hear the damn fan spinning up down as temps go up and down. I'm not a silence freak, but this cooler has no business being put on a $400 VC. ATI needs better engineers apparently. This card may be the one that stops me from ever buying an ATI product again.

You do know that their X1950XTX stock cooler is probably the best stock cooler for a video card don't you? I think more of their future cards will stem from that design rather than from the first X1900's.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: josh6079
You do know that their X1950XTX stock cooler is probably the best stock cooler for a video card don't you? I think more of their future cards will stem from that design rather than from the first X1900's.

I believe he was referring to the stock cooling on an X1900XT card.

The stock cooling on the X1950XTX is very nice. The tests I've seen show it performs nearly as well as the Accelero X2 which is awesome.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: josh6079

I still use the stock cooler as it is somewhat effective, but it is definitely absurdly loud. Even when I'm playing BF2 with all the noise in that game and speaker turned up nice and loud, I can hear the damn fan spinning up down as temps go up and down. I'm not a silence freak, but this cooler has no business being put on a $400 VC. ATI needs better engineers apparently. This card may be the one that stops me from ever buying an ATI product again.

You do know that their X1950XTX stock cooler is probably the best stock cooler for a video card don't you? I think more of their future cards will stem from that design rather than from the first X1900's.

Yea I know, I was just venting.

One thing that stops me from going with an aftermarket cooler is I want one that exhausts outside the case. The stock one does that, so I'm not sure I'll change to something else that doesn't, even if it much quieter.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: josh6079
You do know that their X1950XTX stock cooler is probably the best stock cooler for a video card don't you? I think more of their future cards will stem from that design rather than from the first X1900's.

I believe he was referring to the stock cooling on an X1900XT card.

The stock cooling on the X1950XTX is very nice. The tests I've seen show it performs nearly as well as the Accelero X2 which is awesome.

I know, I was responding to his "I'm not a silence freak, but this cooler has no business being put on a $400 VC. ATI needs better engineers apparently." statement by indicating the X1950XTX (ATI latest card) has got one hell of a cooler on it already and would hopefully foreshadow that ATI's R600 may have a similar approach.

One thing that stops me from going with an aftermarket cooler is I want one that exhausts outside the case. The stock one does that, so I'm not sure I'll change to something else that doesn't, even if it much quieter.

H2O FTW. Don't have to worry about that kind of air flow, temps are no longer an issue, whisper quiet operation, and a nice "bling-bling" effect to go with it. The drawback, $500 can go "bye-bye" very quickly if you mess up.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: josh6079

One thing that stops me from going with an aftermarket cooler is I want one that exhausts outside the case. The stock one does that, so I'm not sure I'll change to something else that doesn't, even if it much quieter.

H2O FTW. Don't have to worry about that kind of air flow, temps are no longer an issue, whisper quiet operation, and a nice "bling-bling" effect to go with it. The drawback, $500 can go "bye-bye" very quickly if you mess up.

I have been very tempted to try out Water cooling, but basically I just don't have the balls right now. I've read several posts of a few drops of water taking out something, and I don't really want to explain to the wife why I need a new $400 VC because I wanted to "play around" with water cooling.

I might still give it a try in the future, but not just yet.

 

[josh6079]

Yeah, I fried my X1900XTX because I was an idiot and tried adjusting the reservoir with it still in my case along with my other hardware. It would have been fine if I would have let the water that I spilt evaporate a little longer, but I was impatient and couldn't see some drops that were lurking around the voltage regulators.

In any case, you pretty much don't have to worry about it so long as your hardware is

A) Not close to your loop that you're constructing

B) Not plugged in or having an electric current going through it.

If the distilled water happens to get on a motherboard a little bit or video card, or for that matter anywhere that you're not sure if it has come in contact with hardware, then just wait for at least 24 hours before powering on anything. If it evaporates and there was never an electric current to catalyize a burn, then your hardware should be fine.

It was risky, and since I did it I know how to handle water loops among hardware much more efficiently. But, it's not for everyone.