R9800 OC with powerstrip

[dakels]

I successfully OC'd my R9800 NP (non-pro not a SE) to 420mhz core and 340mhz ram. Up from a 325/290

My system and the Cat drivers read my R9800 as a Pro, but I know its not since I saw the 325/290 speed of a NP.
I did find out that it is a true 256-bit with 8 pipes.

I did the OC using powerstrip with testing first with ATItool. I actually went up to 440mhz on the core clock safely and still going, but decided not to push it too far and left the OC at 420. The ramI tried to push to 350mhz but it would not hold. Everytime I leeft the control panel it would reset back to default. I assume because it couldn't hold that speed without errors. So 340 works just fine.

I am not very familiar with card OCing so I was wondering if there is anything I should be aware of besides this. I thoroughly tested out the OCed results on multiple applications. Doom 3, photoshop, maya, WoW and they all saw very noticeable improvements. I also tested several times with Aquamark3 and 3Dmark03. Burn in tests with ATItool and Sandra showed now errors or artfacting. Looks like a success!

Pre OC Benchies:
Aquamark3: 36,000-37,000
420/340 OC: 45,000-46,000

Right in line
http://graphics.tomshardware.c...04/images/image006.gif

So a few questions:

Is the way I did it acceptable? I figured I really didnt need to run the Bios flasher because my card was the full 8 pipe 256-bit version just underclocked. Correct assuption? Would the flasher make any difference? I am avoiding things that would complicate matters for a minimal gain.

Also, my gigabyte-8knxp bios allows me to set the AGP aperature to alot of different settings, from 8mb-16mb-32mb-64mb-128mb. I set it from 128mb to 64mb. I think I lost a little bit of score in aquamark but it could be fluke. I didnt test it enough.

Anything else I should know?

 

[Thor86]

I haven't used Powerstrip in a long time, since ATItool is free, you can use ATItool to load up on startup and use the 2D/3D clock settings for your card. Works great for me. As far as ATItool for testing graphical artifacts, I would take those results less seriously as it will most likely say it can clock higher, but a quick demo/bench of 3DMark or even better, running an actual game that you play would be the best test for stability and artifact testing for your overclocking adventure(s).

Have fun!
:beer:

 

[dakels]

thanks Thor
Everything seems to be running well. I ran doom3 today for a fwe hours and no problems. I am shocked how demanding the application is though...
1280x1024 2x AA ultra high detail was killing the vid card. I had to ramp it down to high detail no AA to keep fps dips from going below 25. Now I average about 45 fps with peak at 60 and dip at 30.

edit: wow apparently Doom 3's video card demands at ultra graphics quality demands more then even the top video cards... It was meant for more next gen technology with 512mb video memroy...