Overclocking Geforce 2 MX?

[MatthewF01]

OK, I have a Geforce 2 MX 100/200 32MB ram (yea, i know, pretty outdated, but it gets me by very well for gaming, and im looking into upgrading to the Geforce 4 440 MX), and I just recently stumbled upon those overclocking settings within the card's drivers. I read the article on this site about overclocking the Geforce GTS, and they spoke of how the GPU core frequency didnt need a boost, but rather the memory, because the GPU was waiting on the memory with stock settings, so not achieving a max fill rate. Has anyone performed any overclocking on my particular model card, and have reccommended settings for the core and memory frequencies?

Thanks so much for any help you can offer!

 

[Confused]

Firstly, welcome to AnandTech forums, and i hope you enjoy your stay

I don't have that particular card, but i do have the original GF2 MX, equivelent to the MX 400. I overclock this card, and it is true that with all GF2 MX's the memory bandwidth is very limited, and this is the best thing to overclock. When you reach the limit that the memory will get to, where you can play games without any artifacts or graphical hitches, then try increasing the core clock by a little, with these slower cards they need all the help they can get!

As for the GF4 MX, that does not, i believe, have any of the new features of the GF4, it is just a crippled GF3, like the GF2 MX is a crippled GF2 (but still a great budget card).

I do not play that many games, but i do play MOH:AA, and i definately notice the difference when i o/c my gfx card. I try not to play too many games as they take CPU cycles away from Seti @ home, which i run for TeAm Anandtech (look at "My Seti Help Page" in my sig if you are interested)

ConfusedBW

 

[LS20]

http://www.tweak3d.net/articles/gfmxoc/

 

[Clock2theMax]

I just sold a GF2MX 400 variant with 5.5ns RAM, and I could get 210/210 without any additional cooling on the heatsink...I suppose my generous case cooling was enough...I really didn't want to push it higher, but I've heard of others reaching 225/215...warm probably doesn't begin to describe that chipset and memory by then...you can use Coolbits to overclock with, or the RivaTuner utility is another fine solution...it has many other options as well that you might like to check out...best of luck to ya...

 

[MatthewF01]

Ah, well first off thanks for the warm welcome, and thank you even more for the great help! I got 3DMark 2001, and am doing a little research myself. So far I've left the core frequency the same, and turned the mem. frequency up all the way to 180 MHz. My 3D Mark was a measley 1551. Every 5 MHz increment i went up, i gained an average of 45 3D Marks. If I come up on the core frequency, will the Mark begin to drop down? If pushing the memory up beyond the core is what gives it the headroom to perform well, I should think that raising the core a little will cause a drop. Only one way to find out.... back to the lab!!

 

[MatthewF01]

225/215??? Why is it that my sliders in the card's properties only go up to 220/180?? Is mine a still lower model than a 400?

 

[Clock2theMax]

I believe all GF2MX cores have the same adjustable slider, 80mhz - 400mhz...what utility are you using to overclock with?...

 

[MatthewF01]

the slider for my core goes from 155-220. Im right clicking on my desktop, going over to the display, clicking advanced, then the Geforce2 MX 100/200 tab, then additional properties, then clock frequencies.





OK, after going from 180 MHz on the core to 185, i only gained 1 Mark. Now im stepping up 1 mhz at a time, and between 185 and 186 i gained 7 Marks.

Still workin, pushin pixels!

 

[daywalker]

Actually with me, things were a tad different. I have a Gefore 2MX 400 and i just had it overclocked as follows: The core clock set to 210Mhz and the memory clock set to 160Mhz. I use 3DMark2001SE and it gave me a 2530 fps score at 1024x768x32. I admit i was impressed because my score before the overclocking was at 2217fps. I played many games to test the card's stability, like Medal of Honor, Disciples 2 and Wolfenstein, the card was rock solid stable. And i didnt have a significant increase in my system's temperature, according to ASUS probe. Only my CPU raised up to 50C from the 47C that it was before, and the motherboard from 31C to 33C.

What made me curious though is this: The memory clock has 175Mhz as a maximum speed BUT the core clock has a 250Mhz maximum speed limit!!! But i am a bit hesitant to raise the core's frequency even more, because we all know that Geforce2MX and core clock speeds, dont mix well... But is it possible that my card can actually handle increased core speeds? What are your thoughts?

 

[Plester]

i thought it was common knowledge that o'cing the core on all GF2 family cards (including the MX) is of little or no value. people who are interested in o'cing their MX cards need to work on the memory !

example: i have an asus V7100 Pro (64mb MX400), it is default clocked at 200/200, i can get both the core and mem to 250, w/ it running at 250/250 it does 107fps in Q3 demo four (1024x/32bit/max detail/dynamic lights and gibs are off), if i lower the core to 175 and leave the mem at 250, i get 105fps. if i raise the core to 250 and drop the mem to 166 i get 70fps. you get the point.

moral of the story, leave the core alone and push your memory as far as you can.

ps. you might want to use a real game to measure the effectiveness of o'cing video cards.

 

[MatthewF01]

Well my testing finally hit its peak.

3DMARK | Core | Mem
-----------------------------
1370 177 160
1417 177 165
1456 177 170
1507 177 175
1551 177 180
----------------------------- (now i F' with the core speed)
1560 180 180
1561 185 180
1568 186 180
1572 187 180 ***** this is my current setting after these tests
1568 188 180

 

[MatthewF01]

ahhhh still further developments. After i hit that peak, and then began going down, i stopped, and did not continue with higher core frequencies. I just ran the core at 195 and 210 (with mem at 180) and achieved 1594 and 1607. I am about to run the core at max of 220...

 

[holdencommodore]

I'm running a Gainward MX 200 on a AMD K6-2 300. I overclocked it to the max, and only got around 30 3D marks extra when I overclocked the card. For 3d Mark 2000, I got a score of 1175, and for 3dMark 2001 I got a score of around 500. In the First 'car chase' test, I only get 1 FPS, and 0.4 FPS on the High Detail one. I think the processor is holding it back!

Cheers

 

[jiffylube1024]

Overclocking an MX is like souping up a Honda Civic, or a Hyundai for that matter. No matter what you do, it will still be a Civic/Hyundai. That said I'd definately do it myself if I had an MX however

 

[Plester]

you can put lipstick on a pig (MX200), but it's still a pig.

a MX400 w/ 4-5ns sdram can be a very fast card when o'ced. the V7100 Pro comes with 4ns ram and at 250 (have seen people get as high as 280 on the mem) it ain't much slower than an origional GF2 GTS.

 

[daywalker]

One other thing guys: What about temeperatures? I didnt have a problem overclocking the card's memory clock to 160Mhz (from the default 133 that it was before) and the maximum, is 175. But what if i overclock it to that speed? Only the GPU has a cooling system on it, but the memory banks dont have any cooling measure on and they are placed in such a way, that is difficult to "stick" a coooling fan on them. What should i do?

 

[MatthewF01]

daywalker, i would say just make sure you have sufficient case cooling. I have about 8 fans in my case, just to make sure, and i have a big 10cm fan hanging in the PCI slot next to the Geforce, so Im sure mine will do good enough, im not so worried. Just dont keep your pc in a hot room (mines in a chilly [finished] basement), and if you think it will help, punch out a few of the PCI slot openings around the card so air can move in and out a little more freely.
HAHA @ Plester, yes you can put lipstick on a pig, but that sure as hell doesnt make you wanna kiss it...

And my final results from last night! This is the part of my chart i wrote with a RED pen, hehe..
1594 195 180
1607 210 180
1615 220 180 *** this is with the core and mem at highest freq.
Oh well, thats the farthest I can push this card I guess.

Now i have a question about the Geforce 4 compared to the G3. You say that the G4 440MX is like a crap-o G3. Well does the 4 offer any different features the 3 cant handle, or can the 4 play back dvd's at a better quality than a 3? Or am I better off going with a 3 alltogether. Here's the kicker: I dont want to spend more than $100, or much over that amount. Can you guys gimme some pros and cons??

 

[Burnsy]

IIRC the GF4MX supports more DVD playback features, it does HWMC and iDCT. The GF3 only does HWMC.

The GF4MX also sports the LMA II of the GF4 Ti albeit with a slightly less efficient crossbar memory controller.

It also has the same accuview AA engine as the GF4 Ti.

It also supports the new nView multi monitor support.

 

[daywalker]

8 fans??? 8 FANS????? Sheesh!!!! Hey just out of curiosity, do you have a pic of the inside of your case???

 

[MatthewF01]

Well I watch a lot of full-screen AVI's and MPEG's, as well as dvds, and not to mention hugely detailed video games, so what would i be better off with? A 4MX or some model of 3?


And maybe its more like 5 or 6 fans, but its pretty cold in there. If i stick my hand in there if i have the side off, i can feel a LOT of air moving around in there. And no, I dont have any pictures of the inside........yet

 

[daywalker]

<< Well I watch a lot of full-screen AVI's and MPEG's, as well as dvds, and not to mention hugely detailed video games, so what would i be better off with? A 4MX or some model of 3?


And maybe its more like 5 or 6 fans, but its pretty cold in there. If i stick my hand in there if i have the side off, i can feel a LOT of air moving around in there. And no, I dont have any pictures of the inside........yet >>



Wow 5 or 6 fans...

I have only one fan inside my case that blows air to the motherboard and cards, but i want to install a second fan though that will blow even more air to the outside (somehow i think that the fan of my power supply isnt enough)... Was your case a special one for cooling? Or did you make it your self?

 

[CloX]

I had an MX 200 which I overclocked to 200/205. I HAD to to RUN anything at a playable res/speed.

 

[MatthewF01]

well, I built the pc myself, the case came with 2 fans, I replaced the power supply with a 300W ATX with a huge fan on the bottom to cool the system, then i added a few more inside, plus theres one on my Geforce cooling the GPU, then theres the cpu fan, and i have like 2 or 3 in PCI slots...