How do you know when you've hit a wall in oc'ing a 9500np to 9700pro?

[ferrarifreak93]

I bought the connect3d 9500np 128mb card from newegg. I applied the softmod and I'm using rivatuner to overclock the card. I have oc'ed many cpu's and I know temperature is a big thing to watch. How can I monitor the temp on the video card? Right now I'm oc'ed to 9700pro speeds (325core, 310mem) and everthing is fine w/ no artifacts. When do you know when to stop?

 

[fredtam]

Take one side (core clock) up until you start to see artifacts on something like Unreal or 3DMark03. Move it up in 10MHz intervasl. When the artifacts start dial it back by 5Mhz.
Do the same thing with the memory clock.

 

[ferrarifreak93]

Don't you have to worry about the gpu/mem temps?

 

[fredtam]

Usually the card will start to show artifacts or other cause other instability issues if it overheats. If the system stays stable and there are no artifacts after a couple hours of gaming it is probably not overheating. I have not checked my card temps (it would probably scare me) but I run 400/358 on a 9800AIW Pro while gaming and run stock settings for general use via Powerstrip.

 

[Lyfer]

My Sapphire 9500NP > 9700 > 9800 using Cats 3.7 Works fine @ 340/305MHZ. The core can go pretty far, I've heard as high as 380MHZ with the sapphire 9500NP's. BTW are you using the latest Wizzard driver patch? He's released a 9800SE>9800 Pro mod as well.

 

[4x4expy]

I have a Sapphire 9500>9700 that does 380/300. The core oc nicely, but the 3.3ns ram was stingy with extra speed. ferrarifreak, just bump the core up by 10's like suggested, and then run 3dmark, one loop will usually be enough to show artifact. And I will just say that it will be obvious. If the full loop runs without artifact, and doesn't crash to desktop keep going up. Your GPU should be good for 370-380mhz and I dunno on your mem(depends on speed of mem, 3.3ns~300-310, 3.0ns~320-330, 3.6ns~hope for 300) You are only going to need extra cooling if you pushing the card to its bleeding edge. The r300 GPU is identical to that in the 9700pro which runs 325mhz with the stock cooler, so even though 350 is 75 above your stock speed, it is only a 25mhz overclock for the GPU. I run my softmodded 9500 at 350/300 and it totally screams. I would also recommend giving the latest Omega drivers a try.

 

[ferrarifreak93]

thanks for all the replies. I just have one more question. How does the 9500np -> 9800 work? Isn't the 9800 a totally different gpu (r350)?

 

[Kroffty]

You can read about it here link
I have my core watercooled and got it up to 400mhz core and 325mhz mem.
I was trying to get above 6000 on 3dmark . I made it to 6035 but I had alot of artifacts.
usualy when you push the core to far you see shimmering and blocks of pixles and when you push the memory too far you will see lond bars and speers acrost the screen.

 

[TStep]

You will know you've gone too far by the smell of an electrical fire, rather distinct.

Seriously, i have a Sapphire 9500np > 9800 card with 3.6ns memory. Like those have suggested above, try and overclock the gpu and the memory separately to find there limits (usually the introduction of artifacts). I first left the memory at 270, and was able to overclock the gpu to around 385, no artifacts. Then I ran 3DMark2001 for around 1/2 an hour to get things heated up. Artifacts started to show. Then i backed off in 5mhz steps until no artifacts and then 5 more for a safety factor. I settled on 370 mhz for the GPU. I then turned the gpu back to 270mhz and quickly ran the memory up until artifacts and backed off slightly. To my supprise the 3.6ns memory would go to about 315mhz (not bad for memory that has a theoretical speed of 278). Again, fed the card a continous dose of 3DMark2001 to heat things up, backed off in increments and settled on 310mhz. Then, I ran all the GPU up to 370mhz and the memory up to 310mhz and gave it a dose of continuous 3DMark2001 all was ok for a while, but artifacts started to appear after a while. I then backed each one down separately to find out which was too high, and the memory proved to be the culprit. Set the GPU to 370 and the memory to 305 and all has been well ever since.

Just my two cents, but when overclocking anything, I try to overclock just one parameter at a time leaving all other in their stock state. Then test them all at the same time after I've have reached each individual limit. Then tinker from there if there are any problems running in combination.

 

[WarpSpeed]

My ATI 9500 Pro runs 346.5/369 using Cat 3.6 drivers. Tried the Omega drivers, but they didn't work well. Haven't tried 3.7. Are they worth the effort?