Best OC utility for NVidia card? (7900GTO)

[MichaelD]

I've got an EVGA 7900GTO; I've read that I can probably get darn close to GTX speeds.

That's great, but it's got to be rock-stable with zero artifacts. Best way to see how far I can go is to OC it, which I've not done yet. The card is well broken in; 4 months old and tons of gaming done on it.

Should I use Coolbits or RivaTuner?

 

[morgash]

i used the Nvidia control panel (since it has OCing in it stock now) and used ATItool 0.25 beta as a stability tester, almost nothing beats its artifact scanner. Using those 2 I got my old 7900gt up to 695/1950 with a volt mod. On the new version of ATItool u can OC Nvidia cards just as well so you may want to just use that (in the 0.25 beta you could OC em, but the mem was at 1/4th of actual speed, made fine tuning a biatch.)

morgash

 

[MichaelD]

Where on the control panel do I find OC settings? I looked for it, don't see it.

 

[morgash]

ummmm. lol. I have a x1900xt installed right now so I cant look. I could have sworn I didn't have to install coolbits. If you really cant find it just install coolbits and use it, it amounts to the same thing anyways.

morgash

 

[morgash]

oh ok, ran a quick google search and they disabled it without use of coolbits after the 90.x series drivers. I last had my 7900gt before last summer so that could explain it.

morgash

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks, Morgash. I thought I was losing my small mind. I even used the Help function on the NVidia CP!

I'll check out CB.

 

[MichaelD]

Well, this is interesting.

This is my first experience w/the overclocking screen on the new drivers.

I loaded Coolbits 2.0 (works great) and selected "Find Optimal." It raised my core/memory clocks by about 1%.

Stock was 1320/650. "Optimal" is 1364/672. That cannot be right. My card can't be that much of a loser. For kicks, I ran 3DM05; a whole 200 points difference. Not worth the trouble, IMO.

What's the deal with this "Optimal" thing? I know how to OC a videocard; it takes a LOT of time just sitting there, staring at 3DMark. Is the Optimal thing the complete suck or what?

 

[morgash]

Don't use optimal, its about as useful as a knife at a gun fight. Raise the mem clocks to about 1600 right off the bat. You should easily get that with no volt mods. The core at 672 is probably pretty close to as high as you are gonna go without more voltage. Then download ATItool and use its artifact scanner to check the stability. If it runs for about 1-2 mins then go up more. If it fails, then back it down and try again until you get it stable for 1-2 mins. After you get that let it run for about 10 mins. If THAT is stable then you should be good to go.

morgash

 

[MichaelD]

1600? :Q Wow, that's HIGH. I will give it a shot. I never did have any luck with ATITool though.

 

[BassBomb]

by 1600 he means 800 in reality

 

[bcracer220]

i have the same problem kind of with my MSI 7900GTO. it detects the same optimal settings 672/1360, but when i raise it to 1600 on the mem it freezes (yes i know 800 real), does this sound right to anyone? should i flash it to gtx?

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: morgash
Don't use optimal, its about as useful as a knife at a gun fight. Raise the mem clocks to about 1600 right off the bat. You should easily get that with no volt mods. The core at 672 is probably pretty close to as high as you are gonna go without more voltage. Then download ATItool and use its artifact scanner to check the stability. If it runs for about 1-2 mins then go up more. If it fails, then back it down and try again until you get it stable for 1-2 mins. After you get that let it run for about 10 mins. If THAT is stable then you should be good to go.

morgash

The 7900 GTO is basically a factory volt-modded 7900 GT with memory that wouldn't hit GTX speeds (i.e. 1600 MHz) or anything close. The first retail boxes were actually 7900 GT boxes with "GTO" stickers on them. Card-makers had to do something with all that faulty GPU memory. Granted, the GTO has a much better cooler, but even so the card's probably at its limits or very close to them. Your ATITool advice is excellent, though.

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: bcracer220
i have the same problem kind of with my MSI 7900GTO. it detects the same optimal settings 672/1360, but when i raise it to 1600 on the mem it freezes (yes i know 800 real), does this sound right to anyone? should i flash it to gtx?

You're thinking the RAM voltage will go up if flashed to a GTX?

Find out how high the RAM will clock without the increased voltage *before* you make your decision.

 

[bcracer220]

it wont go above 700 the way it is now, what should i do flash it r no?

 

[lopri]

I'd vote for RivaTuner. If your card can really capable of such high frequencies, you can use an option called "Disable Clock Test" or something like that under Power User tap in RiverTuner. It'll force the clock speed of your choice regardless of anything. Search for it and make sure you use the right option.

 

[TheRyuu]

Rivatuner by like 1000000000x

With Rivatuner you can pretty much do anything. Disable the stupid clock test, control low power 3d control (good if you have the "cold bug"), etc...

Rivatuner+nHancer pretty much covers it so I don't have to go into the new Nvidia CP which I hate.

 

[Navid]

This is what ATITool looks like with a 7900 GTO.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Navid/ATITool.GIF

It is the easiest overclocking utility. It also let's you check stability.

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: Navid
This is what ATITool looks like with a 7900 GTO.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Navid/ATITool.GIF

It is the easiest overclocking utility. It also let's you check stability.

QFT
Since coolbit was locked in newer drivers the ATItool has now become my #1 chocie for o/c utility.
Back to the topic, I have mine, a 7900GTO over clocked @ 710/1600 and has stayed there ever since.
The core could go a tad higher @ 710 and stable but the memory is the issue. Anything over 800 (2x800) starts giving 3dmark06 a freeze in mid way thru the benchmark execution.
On the other hand do not believe what you read there that the GTO can o/c close to the 7900gtx. I'm not suggesting it's not impossible but the GTO inherits a much slower GDDR3 ram than the GTX.
My 7900 GTX (inside a dell which uses a 470w psu) has been running rock solid at 720/1800 for almost a year now.

 

[bcracer220]

Originally posted by: videopho

Originally posted by: Navid
This is what ATITool looks like with a 7900 GTO.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Navid/ATITool.GIF

It is the easiest overclocking utility. It also let's you check stability.

QFT
Since coolbit was locked in newer drivers the ATItool has now become my #1 chocie for o/c utility.
Back to the topic, I have mine, a 7900GTO over clocked @ 710/1600 and has stayed there ever since.
The core could go a tad higher @ 710 and stable but the memory is the issue. Anything over 800 (2x800) starts giving 3dmark06 a freeze in mid way thru the benchmark execution.
On the other hand do not believe what you read there that the GTO can o/c close to the 7900gtx. I'm not suggesting it's not impossible but the GTO inherits a much slower GDDR3 ram than the GTX.
My 7900 GTX (inside a dell which uses a 470w psu) has been running rock solid at 720/1800 for almost a year now.

sry but ur claim that it inherits slower ram isnt true, the ram is actually faster in terms of timings, therefore if u compare a gto and gtx clocked at the same speeds the gto is actually a bit faster. now, that being said, is there any use trying to flash my MSI 7900gto to gtx, i cant hit gtx speeds (best i can hit on the mem is 700), but will the increase in voltage from the gtx bios do the trick? or is there no voltage increase if flashed in such a manner?