How to overclock Radeon 9700 Pro?

[xerocool]

I'm not sure if this belongs in video, but I assumed since this has to do with overclocking I'd start here first, so pardon me if I'm wrong.

Firstly, I have a Radeon 9700 Pro built by ATI that is stock everything. I'm wondering what are the ways to overclock it- meaning are there programs available that I could use in WinXP to overclock it there, or do I have to go into BIOS and change the settings there?

Secondly, what settings do I change? I assume it has to do with the AGP/PCI clock table, though I'm not really sure. If anyone could spend a little time explaining to me exactly what the AGP/PCI clock table represents, I'd totally appreciate it. Also, I figure if the VGA cpu is analogous to the system CPU, then I could also fool around with the voltages too, though I also assume that if the analogy holds then too high a voltage could hurt my video card.

Finally, if I do overclock it (and I plan to), I would like a nice new heatsink/fan to go with my card, I know alot of people use Zalmans, but I was looking at the new Thermaltake Giant III Extreme. Any suggestsions about which video card heatsink is the best?

Thanks!

 

[NEVERwinter]

actually this belongs to the Video

first, you don't overclock a VGA card from the BIOS. You must use another software such as Powerstrip (shareware) or freewares such as ATItool, Rage3D Tweak or Radclocker. You can also flash the BIOS of your VGA card with the BIOS of another manufacturer's Rad9700, sometimes it helps the overclock as well.

second, the settings you change is the core/GPU speed and RAM speed (in MHz). yes, it is possible to fool around with the voltages, but it can only be done with hardmodding like putting resistors on your card, etc.

go to Rage3D to read various articles about Radeon family.

 

[xerocool]

Originally posted by: NEVERwinter
actually this belongs to the Video

first, you don't overclock a VGA card from the BIOS. You must use another software such as Powerstrip (shareware) or freewares such as ATItool, Rage3D Tweak or Radclocker. You can also flash the BIOS of your VGA card with the BIOS of another manufacturer's Rad9700, sometimes it helps the overclock as well.

second, the settings you change is the core/GPU speed and RAM speed (in MHz). yes, it is possible to fool around with the voltages, but it can only be done with hardmodding like putting resistors on your card, etc.

go to Rage3D to read various articles about Radeon family.

cool, ok, so then what about the the AGP voltage that I can change in bios, what does that do? And then what is the AGP/PCI clock table for?

also, what are some good and safe settings for the GPU/MEM speeds? i don't want to fry my system, and i want it to last a long time.

 

[govtcheez75]

I wouldn't mess with the AGP voltage unless you're getting unstable SYSTEM overclocks (i.e. system crashes). I would leave everything at their default settings, and not even mess with the bios. The only thing you need is a freeware such as the Rage3D tweaker, or Radclocker (either will give you about the same performance), and just increase the two clock speeds which are your "core", and "memory" speeds.

Also, with your 9700pro, it's a crapshoot. I know of a few that don't overclock well at all, with only minimal gains without artifacts, and there are a few that overclock like crazy without anything. I had a AIW9700pro that wouldn't overclock past 350/325 without major artifacts even after putting a decent heatsinkfan, and ramsinks on the memory. I tore off one of the ram chips trying to pry the ramsink off, so I got a new AIW9700pro which does 380/350 before it starts to get a little "unstable".

I would run many 3DMark2001, and 3DMark03 between about 5-10mhz increments, and take it rather slowly. You should be able to find a decent "sweetspot" for your card. Don't worry about changing out your heatsink, and adding more voltage unless you're getting really crappy overclocks...and even then, a good heatsink isn't going to help much. Maybe 10 more mhz here and there...which will be an almost unnoticeable Frames Per Second difference. If your 9700pro doesn't overclock well, just accept the fact that you have a poor overclocker and be happy with what you got. It's still a great card at stock speeds.

 

[WobbleWobble]

I have a Radeon 9500 Pro with a Zalman HP-80A. I use ATI Tool to detect what the max core/mem speeds my card can handle. What I do then is use RadEdit to edit my hacked 9500 Pro BIOS and set the core/mem speeds into the BIOS and flash it so I don't need any utilities running in the background.

 

[xerocool]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble
I have a Radeon 9500 Pro with a Zalman HP-80A. I use ATI Tool to detect what the max core/mem speeds my card can handle. What I do then is use RadEdit to edit my hacked 9500 Pro BIOS and set the core/mem speeds into the BIOS and flash it so I don't need any utilities running in the background.

i tried using ATI tool. the first time i used it, it went through alot of the program and then my system crashed and rebooted. then i changed the settings on system properties so it wouldn't reboot after an error. then i tried it again and it just froze my computer instantly when i tried to find the max core speed again. any ideas?

edit: i just tried it again, it went through a little bit like 10 secs then i got blue screened- it said the program went into an infinite loop.

 

[NEVERwinter]

well then... seems that you must o/c it by yourself. Increase the core + mem by 5-10MHz increment and run 3dmarks. If you noticed some graphical corruption on 3dmark, it means that you have gone too high, decrease again a little.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Is the rest of your system stable? Can you pass Prime95 and Memtest86 for starter?

 

[xerocool]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble
Is the rest of your system stable? Can you pass Prime95 and Memtest86 for starter?

actually i just upgraded to the latest version of Catalyst and now everything's graavy