Post your BFG 5900 OCs!!

[Ronin]

Originally posted by: howdyduty
434/918 with Autodetect

GameVE.com has the BFG5900.

RoninCS: Any negative issues with your flash? What bios did you use...Leadtek 380U ? I would like to get a hold of bios from a BFG5950U or even a BFG5900U bios.

It runs fine as is though. Still...gotta tweak.

None at that speed, no. I actually used the nVidia ref bios for the 5950U and it worked like a charm.

 

[titanmiller]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: Apocalypse23
I just got my new card. Its a BFG fx 5900. I have it running in my Athlon xp2500+ with ocz dual channel 2x256mb ddr pc3200 platinum ram, enermax 350Watt PSU, windows xp, abit nf7-s 2.0 board. I'am using the 53.03 nvidia drivers and I ran autodetect thrice in the overclocking options for the video card.
The first time it gave me a setting of 510/1.00gb , the next two times it gave me 454/957 and thats what I have set currently. I was curious to know what the maximum reccomended temperature is for the card, as i'm just a little paranoid about it. Thanks

Well if you notice NV has the default alarm set at something crazy like 120C.... Im sure thats too freaking high, but Id be willing to bet you could nail 70C and still be ok.

The 53.03 drivers have the max temperature bumped up to 145ºC, this is within the margin of saftey. There would be no point in having a shutdown limit if it is 70ºC above what the chip can stand, it is there to protect the hardware. We are use to seeing CPU temps and anything over 60ºC starts to get worrying, but GPUs are completly different.

Picture of my temperature meter<<I'll see if I can get a shot of it higher.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: titanmiller

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: Apocalypse23
I just got my new card. Its a BFG fx 5900. I have it running in my Athlon xp2500+ with ocz dual channel 2x256mb ddr pc3200 platinum ram, enermax 350Watt PSU, windows xp, abit nf7-s 2.0 board. I'am using the 53.03 nvidia drivers and I ran autodetect thrice in the overclocking options for the video card.
The first time it gave me a setting of 510/1.00gb , the next two times it gave me 454/957 and thats what I have set currently. I was curious to know what the maximum reccomended temperature is for the card, as i'm just a little paranoid about it. Thanks

Well if you notice NV has the default alarm set at something crazy like 120C.... Im sure thats too freaking high, but Id be willing to bet you could nail 70C and still be ok.

The 53.03 drivers have the max temperature bumped up to 145ºC, this is within the margin of saftey. There would be no point in having a shutdown limit if it is 70ºC above what the chip can stand, it is there to protect the hardware. We are use to seeing CPU temps and anything over 60ºC starts to get worrying, but GPUs are completly different.

Picture of my temperature meter<<I'll see if I can get a shot of it higher.

Well thats what I meant... I mean if the default setting is so outrageously high, Im sure that 70C or so is perfectly fine
Personally I cant get mine to 70 and its at 480/1000 (wont pass tests any higher )

 

[bpt8056]

Originally posted by: howdyduty
434/918 with Autodetect

Autodetect said the same thing for mine, but I actually managed to bump it up to 450 MHz (core) without artifacts. I haven't gone higher yet, but will give it a try over the weekend.

 

[howdyduty]

Gotta like the BFG5900. Glad I returned that $220 Radeon 9800 and got the 5900 for under $180. Upgraded from a BFGTi4200.

RoninCS: Thanks for the reply. Point us towards the repository of nVidia reference bios?

 

[big4x4]

Mine auto detects at 434 / 920 ! I had another one that auto detected at 450/950 but had to take it back.

 

[Razorguts]

OK, previously had my 5900 @ 475/950, and it ran smooth, only artifacting I saw was when watching video playback (mpg, wmv, avi, etc...). Kinda strange about that, but didnt affect my gaming at all...

anyway, I got cocky tonight and cranked to an even 500/1000, played FarCry for over an hour, saw no artifacting, no lockups, nothing at all. Upon quitting the game, vidcard proc temp was @ 66C. But I had artifacting all over my desktop, weird stuff. No lockups, but definite video degradation. I pulled her back down to 475/950, and I think that's the sweet spot.

Maybe I'll kick her up again and run 3dmark2k3 and hope for no lockups.

 

[bpt8056]

Update: I got the core up to 460 MHz without artifacts. I haven't gone up higher yet, but I'm breaking it in slowly. The auto-detect feature seems to be worthless as it stated my card can do up to 434 MHz. How does it analyze the card to report the speeds?

 

[anim8r]

475/950

 

[big4x4]

Took my card back to frys today since i started to have problems playing games ( not oc'd). Since I already got 3 used cards at frys, I made the guy working there open the boxes until I got a NEW one. Got the one I wanted, but no COD! Used atuo detect and got 512 / 1.02 . I dont have any plans to oc now, but maybe in the distant future. It looks like it has some potential!!!!

 

[bpt8056]

I've got the card up to 475 for the core without any artifacts. This is 36 MHz above what the Auto-detect mechanism determined the maximum speed that my card could go. Based on my observation, auto-detect is useless and I wouldn't be surprised if it was some kind of a random number generator.

 

[Ronin]

Originally posted by: howdyduty
Gotta like the BFG5900. Glad I returned that $220 Radeon 9800 and got the 5900 for under $180. Upgraded from a BFGTi4200.

RoninCS: Thanks for the reply. Point us towards the repository of nVidia reference bios?

I'll upload what I've got when I get home to where y'all can get it, and link it for you then.

 

[Apocalypse23]

From my experience these bfg chaintech cards are only able to be mostly stable at any values under 460/960 when overclocked. I've personally felt this when under excessive stress after long times playing a game I tend to see minor artifacts for a few seconds. I guess if you keep your values below or close to 460/960 then you wouldnt see problems while playing (if any). Ofcourse then again it also depends on each individual card.

 

[Razorguts]

Originally posted by: Apocalypse23
From my experience these bfg chaintech cards are only able to be mostly stable at any values under 460/960 when overclocked. I've personally felt this when under excessive stress after long times playing a game I tend to see minor artifacts for a few seconds. I guess if you keep your values below or close to 460/960 then you wouldnt see problems while playing (if any). Ofcourse then again it also depends on each individual card.

Uhh, am I missing something? BFG Technologies and Chaintech are two, separate companies... also, according to several posts here, the BFG cards can clock at 500/1000 with stability. But yes it does depend on each individual card...

 

[Apocalypse23]

yea i agree they are 2 seperate companies, however I believe bfg gets their fx5900 cards made by chanitech as they look exactly alike. I guess they have some endorsment ove the BFG tag. They probably make seperate cards for BFg and affix the tag. ATleast this is what i think about the fx 5900 nu cards, they both look exactly alike.

I may be incorrect.

 

[Razorguts]

Originally posted by: Apocalypse23
yea i agree they are 2 seperate companies, however I believe bfg gets their fx5900 cards made by chanitech as they look exactly alike. I guess they have some endorsment ove the BFG tag. They probably make seperate cards for BFg and affix the tag. ATleast this is what i think about the fx 5900 nu cards, they both look exactly alike.

I may be incorrect.

My point was that you referred to "these BFG Chaintech cards", as if they are one in the same.

Also, sure, you will see similar heatsink designs, check out some of the cards using the ATI chipset - that 2-fan heatsink looks just like the one from BFG (minus the heatsink covers with logos, of course). Even though BFG and Chaintech are different companies, they can still contract the same outside company to fabricate something like a heatsink. It's not like BFG manufactures their card from scratch... they design, then outsource parts manufacturing to contractors. The final cards may be assembled at the BFG site (or may arrive, again, from an outsource), then they are boxed and sent to distribution, or straight to resellers.

Unless those heatsink designs are patented, you may see them on several companys' cards...

 

[anim8r]

Funny you should bring up the Chaintech issue. Shortly after installing mine both Sandra and Powerstrip were identifying it as a Chaintech card.

PS gives more detail:

Chaintech - 1945270Fh, Rev.A1
Vendor ID 10DEh
Device ID 0331h

Looks like there's a bit more to it than simply looking like a Chaintech card.

EDIT: Actually both programs give the same info in different formats..

 

[pcmax]

Yes, they are made by Chaintech for BFG. Someone emailed them in another thread about it and BFG confirmed that Chaintech was one of the manufacturers for their card.

 

[ctk1981]

I havent installed mine yet to test it out. Currently have a 9800 Pro and just picked this card up to have as a backup. Maybe next week when I get the replacement 120mm fan for the rear of my case I'll take it out and slap in the 5900 for giggles.

As far as who makes the card, I dont see what the big deal is. You dont hear people going around quoting ATi cards as ATi-Sapphire cards. Or Powercolor-FIC cards. I realize it does get mentioned who actually makes the cards from time to time, but in the end....its just probably some asian making your card anyways.