Overclocking my X800 Pro

[DyslexicHobo]

I have a Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro with a Zalman heatsink (the one with the 2 heatpipes). I got ATI tool so I could overclock it, but I was wondering how fast it's safe to clock it at. Right now the highest I've put it to is 550/550 (the default being 450/475, or something around that) with the chip temp going to about 65C after about twenty minutes of testing for artifacts in ATI Tool, I'm guessing scanning for artifacts will put it at max load.

How hot is it safe for it to run? And if I scan for artifacts with no errors for a few hours does that mean it will be very stable in games? Thanks for the help, I don't know much about OCing video cards. :/

 

[Dough1397]

i think 65C is as high as you should go, but check with other first lol...

 

[DyslexicHobo]

Well yeah, I really doubt I'll ever need to go above 550/550 anytime soon. I just want to play some HL2 on high settings for now.

 

[GML3G0]

The X800 Pro easily plays HL2 with the settings maxed out at an average of about 55+ FPS with 1600 x 1200 4x AA 8x AF. Look here.

 

[Dough1397]

everyone doesnt have a64 4000+, he could be bottlenecked by his processor....

 

[GML3G0]

But he's asking about overclocking his video card. You're overclocking for nothing if the CPU was the bottleneck already without the overclock.

With the X800 Pro, if his processor was at x.xxGHz, he would get the same framerates with or without the GPU overclock if his CPU was the bottleneck. Understand what I'm trying to say here, Dough1397?

 

[DyslexicHobo]

Hmm ok, I guess my CPU is the bottleneck then... No wonder my 3dMark scores weren't much higher when I OC'd my video card.

 

[zakee00]

welll, i dunno. his cpu COULD be the bottleneck. try ocing it up to 2.4GHz and see if your 3dmark scores go up

 

[Megatomic]

My Gigabyte X800 Pro (with BBA X800 Pro BIOS) runs at 45C in 2D and hits 57C or so after playing HL2 for a few hours. If I run RTHDRL 1.2 my card can hit 71C and does so without locking up or displaying artifacts. This is with the stock Gigabyte cooler installed.

I'm not sure about how high the GPU can get safely but 71C seems to be ok. My card is overclocked to 501/501 currently and I've no need to go higher. HL2 runs so well and looks just awesome as it is. :heart: