Radeon 4850 speed locked?

[rh71]

I was finally able to get into Catalyst Control Center and go into the ATI Overdrive settings. Nothing I try will change the "current value" of 500MHz. I even try autotune to no avail.

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/3931/catvm.jpg

I also tried the "test custom clocks" of 625MHz gpu / 993MHz memory and it actually passed the test - I hit accept, but the current value stays at 500MHz.

Why is this seemingly locked? Don't see anything in the BIOS or anywhere else. Still trying to determine why this machine is getting only 18fps in WoW with all settings on low.

Radeon 4850
Q6600 quad core
4GB RAM
Vista64

 

[lopri]

103C idle?

 

[rh71]

^ no that was just after auto-tune (which apparently didn't do a damn thing for me)... idle I am about 89C.

 

[Qbah]

1) Those are 2D clocks - they won't increase unless you run something, so it's fine.
2) 103C even under load it too much. And holy sh!t, that fan at 83% must be screaming - how can you cope with the noise?

Set your clocks and run some 3D app, windowed. You will see that the card will increase speeds to the values you set once a load is put on the GPU.

As for your WoW problem. Check in GPU-Z that the card is running at PCI-e x16. Install the newest drivers. Run that fan at 100% and see if it changes anything.

My guess is the card just overheats and throttles down - hence the low WoW performance. 100C+ is crazy high...

Still, those temps are way too high...

 

[Marty502]

89ºC idle is just crazy.

Using a cheapo case?
My 4670 idles around 45ºC and with FurMark stressing it hits around 72ºC at most.
Those are ideal numbers... even around 85ºC under load is acceptable. 103ºC isn't.

 

[rh71]

this is my case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137 which should be pretty good. The Asus 4850 card's stock fan should still be able to keep it 45C like you guys are saying right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121253

my actual pic: http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/8499/img6372u.jpg (yes all fans spinning)

There's no cards within 2 slots of the thing and there's minimal dust in there. I'm thinking how can I possibly create so much heat? It's normal 75F room temperature in here and the case sits on top of my desk out in the open.

 

[Farfrumhumpn]

Three words: Akasa . . . Neo . . . Vortex. Get that heat out of your case.

 

[Visaoni]

Unless that is an old picture, how do you consider that minimal dust? Do you live in a construction zone? You may wish to invest in a can of compressed air.

 

[rh71]

btw, you were right about the value increasing to what I set it to when under load. I ran WoW in windowed mode and it did jump to 625MHz at some points, but the fps is still horrid at 12fps. And of course we have this heat issue. Why am I special in that department? What are you guys doing different?

 

[rh71]

Unless that is an old picture, how do you consider that minimal dust? Do you live in a construction zone? You may wish to invest in a can of compressed air.

I'll have to wait till morning to make any noise - but I'll bet my temps won't drop to anywhere near 45C.

 

[shangshang]

I used to have a Visiontek 4850. My 4850 didn't idle anywhere near 45C. As I recall, it idled somewhere between 60-65C, and that was my case side panel removed. With the case side panel fully on, it idled in the 68-72C range. However, 89C idle is very high. And as I also recall, at load (furmark), it would run at 100-101C and will occasionally hit 103C too! But this is in the summer months when room temp is in the 90F.

For a 75F room temp, your idle and load temperatures are high.

My 4850 also only ran at around 240 Mhz when idling and in 2D mode (even though I set the card at 625 Mhz). So like some poster said, you will only see the card hit maximum Mhz in 3d mode.

As for WoW low framerate, I don't really know. Wow is cpu intensive but your CPU is Q6600 so it should easily handle Wow. I think something is wrong with either Vista64 and/or catalyst drivers.

 

[YBS1]

The 4850's do run unusually warm (more so than any other HD4xxx card) and that's normal, but the posters above are right...your's does seem to be well above average. Enough that it may be causing some issues. I'm using my 4850 in this pc temporarily actually and it's idling at about 74 and doesn't go near 103 even under load with fan set to auto.

 

[Borealis7]

i have an MSI 4850 with the round zalman-looking heatsink. it idles around 40C sometimes during cold winter days it drops to 35C because i have 2x120mm metallic fans drilled into my side panel directly above the video card.

that's why i'll never buy a "shroud" cooled VGA card in the future, exposed heatsink gets the benefit of my fans.

 

[GaiaHunter]

We will have to see what happens when he cleans the dust, but if I recall correctly, even the first 4850 with reference design were never that hot and once people changed fan speeds it would actually be quite cool.

Seems more like a card with some kind of problem.

 

[dug777]

I have a Asus 4850 with the Glaciator HSF, to which I added little VRM heatsinks and then strapped a Spire 80mm case fan over the back end of the card (so alongside the Asus one, whoch just covers the core) using fishing line It's clocked at 770/1073 atm, stock voltages.

Anyway, I'm idling at 43'C right now (in a 21'C room), but it loads up hot and always has done in the year and a bit I've had it.

FarCry seems to get it almost as hot as stuff like FurMark, and I've been playing that for the last hour and a half (GPU-Z basically shows a flat 100% load throughout for the GPU), GPU-Z says the GPU temp got up to 95'C (it seems to read off the DISPI0 sensor, the coolest of the 3), the MEMI0 temp levelled out at 120'C.

No artifacting, no stability problems, and as I say, I have been running it at or around this OC since I got it.

 

[rh71]

Well I've cleaned out the dust, the majority of it was on the outside of the case where the side fan sucks the air in (obvious because dust was gathered there much more than anywhere else).

The machine was off all night, so I cleaned it all out including blowing directly on/in the 4850. I booted it up and it started at 45C, then after just minimal web browsing for 5 mins, it was up at 80C @ 29% fan speed (auto). Right now I set it at 55% fan speed (threshold of acceptable noise for me) and it's idling at 70C.

Better. But I should mention I had the case open before I even posted this thread yesterday and was still getting 89C. Time to check the temps after a session of gaming...

Perhaps I should put a makeshift solution in front of the card (which btw the side fan is already in front of), but this heat thing doesn't really solve my fps issue.

 

[dguy6789]

Two points: Everything as far as clocks go is fine, as stated earlier in the thread by others. Your current clocks are just 2D clocks, the values you do set will take effect when you play a game.

My next point is, I very strongly recommend that you do not overclock using the stock 4850 single slot cooler. The stock single slot 4850 cooler is already on the very limit of capacity, you will most certainly shorten the life of your card if you overclock is for extended periods of time using that cooler.

 

[rh71]

BTW I loaded up GPU-Z and this is the info compared with CCC.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/3451/47735007.jpg (current & default values says 625MHz in GPU-Z)... weird.

EDIT>> going back to 500MHz then (was 625MHz, enabled, by default).

 

[dug777]

BTW I loaded up GPU-Z and this is the info compared with CCC.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/3451/47735007.jpg (current & default values says 625MHz in GPU-Z)... weird.

EDIT>> going back to 500MHz then (was 625MHz, enabled, by default).

625 is the stock speed for a 4850. 500 is the 2d 'idle' clock (which it will default to automtically, click on 'sensors' in GPU-Z and see what happens when you start a game and then alt-tab out). If your card can't handle 625, it's faulty and needs to be sent back

 

[dguy6789]

GPU Z reports what the GPU's 3D clock is set at, Catalyst Control Center shows you the current 2D clocks.

 

[dug777]

GPU Z reports what the GPU's 3D clock is set at, Catalyst Control Center shows you the current 2D clocks.

See the three tabs at the top of GPU-Z: Graphics card/Sensors/Validation

Click on Sensors.

You then see all the things GPU-Z can read off the card, the first of which is 'GPU core clock'. That shows real-time GPU clock, and you can see it ramping down/up as you enter or leave 3d apps such as games.

Mine is currently reading 500MHz, as it's idling in 2d mode If I load a game, I see it shoot straight up to 770, and then drop back if you alt-tab out.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

use the sensors tab of GPU-Z to see more up to date stats on current clocks and temps

that being said, I'm going to recommend investing in aftermarket cooling, that single slot stock cooler on the 4850 is terribad

My S1 "passive" with a front intake 120mm blowing over it keeps my temps ~37C idle and 53C load

 

[lavaheadache]

OP probably has 16 AA on or something weird. Double check your 3d settings

 

[rh71]

OP probably has 16 AA on or something weird. Double check your 3d settings

pretty much everything is on "use application settings" ... and it's all on low settings at 1280x720, 60Hz refresh, 1x multisample. I tried changing these, including resolution, and it's all still in the teens fps. I tried manually setting 2X AA and it's still in the teens. I've even set affinity to use all 4 CPU cores and it's to no avail.

 

[lavaheadache]

reinsttall vid drivers? is this a new problem?