Overclocking an X1900XT with ATI Tool.

[LW07]

OK, I've downloaded ATI tool, and have yet to install it. I've downloaded the 0.25 beta 14 version, BTW. I got a few questions:

1. Is the 0.25 beta 14 version reliable, or does it crash alot? I want to know this before installing it.

2. My X1900XT gets temperatures of 60-62C Idle and 85-87C under load. Does this give me safe headroom to overclock or should I back off? I have the stock fan and don't wish to remove it.

3. If I'm safe to overclock, do I have to up the voltage in order to overclock my card or can I leave it at stock voltage?

4. How should I overclock(I have never overclocked before and I want to know for sure before I step into the waters) the core and memory?

5. How much will this overclocking shorten the life of my X1900XT?

 

[SynthDude2001]

1) It's reliable, if you use it with Catalyst 6.3 or earlier. With newer driver versions, ATI Tool seems to reset to 2D clocks (or even lower, like 400/600) whenever you play a video or whenever certain types of videos appear in game intros (like FEAR). I'm not entirely sure if this same problem exists with 6.6 since I haven't tried ATI Tool with it yet (other than to regulate fan speed).

2) I would recommend increasing the fan speed (which you can do in ATI Tool). I changed mine so that it ramps up much earlier, hitting 100% at or over 70C. I never see load temps over about 75C now (before, they were nearing 90C too), and idle is closer to 50C or even a bit under.

3) You should be able to get at least a decent overclock without upping the voltage - right now I'm running 675/765 on stock voltage (through CCC actually), haven't really tried for higher yet.

4) Increase the core speeds 5MHz or so at a time, then run the "Scan for artifacts" thing in ATI Tool. Once you see artifacts and/or your system crashes, you've found your limit and should back off a step. Memory is similar...

5) As long as you don't increase the voltage much (or at all), it shouldn't have much of an effect. I don't claim to be an expert here, but unless you really overvolt excessively, IMO the X1900XT will probably be slow and old before it would die anyway.

 

[LW07]

1. Well, I'm using 6.5, so ATI tool is a no-no for me now. However, the ATI TRAY Tools have a thing that I can use to set the fan. And I've already tried 6.6 and I hated it(I didn't use ATI tool, but I really didn't care because I hated 6.6, CCC wouldn't even let me set the overdrive past 621/720), and other stuff as well.

2. Can you show me a good setting for the fan settings? And will increasing the fan's life make the fan die sooner?

4. Well, since I can't use ATI tool, how would I tell if I was getting artifacts then? Would it be like garbled up, or what?

 

[Ackmed]

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=gethowto&howtoID=61

 

[fbrdphreak]

You can use ATI Tool with CCC installed.

Choose Start-->Run and type 'services.msc'
Double-click on the ATI services listed and change them to Disabled; reboot
Load ATI Tool and overclock using the guide Ackmed posted

 

[LW07]

Can you use ATI TRAY Tools to set the fan speed and still have CCC installed without it intefering with CCC or CCC intefering with ATI TRAY Tools?

I'm not talking about the ATI Tool where you can up the voltage, but the ATI Tray tools that can be used as a replacement for CCC.