Radeon 9700Pro has problem over 200FSB even after locked AGP BUS

[CoolLight]

I finally managed to have my A7N8X Deluxe motherboard stable at 200FSB with the new 2100+ @ 11.5x200. Passed both Prime95 and Memtest86.

However, at 200FSB, my Radeon 9700Pro will freeze or reboot during 3DMarks2001SE test. At 198FSB, it won't. I remember I read somewhere before that many people having problems of running Radeon 9700Pro past 200FSB, but I can't find the links anywhere now.

And, YES, I did lock the AGP bus at 66Mhz in BIOS. The Video Voltage is at default. Heat is not a problem for this issue since I have good GPU cooling. My computer is running Windows XP pro SP1, with DX9, Catalyst 3.0 official driver from ATI.

Is this problem fixed by ATI now? Has anyone successfully run 3DMarks2001SE on Radeon 9700Pro over 200FSB?

Thanks for any info.

Edit: Unfortunately, my A7N8X board is dead now upon a save and exit in BIOS, exactly same as described in this thread
Asus nFORCE2 (thread retitled)
Hopefully it is not the high FSB killed the motherboard, I am gonna start a new thread in motherboard forum crying for help.

 

[Killrose]

Try underclocking the agp bus down 5MHz. I know they say it's locked, but try it any way's. I tried running my 9700 @75MHz, and I was getting lock-ups, so now I have it set at 70MHz on my 8RDA running @185MHz bus.

And it is not nessasairly the fault of your 9700 either.

 

[CoolLight]

No, definitely it is not the problem of the Radeon9700.

It is OCed to 365/330 now. Normally, it only lock up above 400 Core.

This 200 FSB thing is killing me now. I have already lock the AGP bus to 66Mhz (default). But, every single time I run 3Dmarks2001SE, it freeze seconds after the first test started. At 198FSB, it complete the test successfully with no artifacts at all.

I wondered if this has anything to do with the 3DMarks2001SE test itself not working properly above 200 FSB?

 

[gururu]

i think you are lucky either way. I can't get me 9700 happy with any fsb over 145MHz.
with the onboard I can take her up to a fsb of 160

 

[CoolLight]

It is not the 3DMarks problem. I just ran some games, like NFS Hot pursuit. They freeze or reboot like 3DMarks.

So, it is once again my video card's problem, just not stable at 200FSB. Hopefully ATI may release a driver to improve it.

 

[SickBeast]

ok why would you expect ati to support people running at 200mhz fsb settings?

just be thankful there isn't smoke billowing out of your case...

but really, would it kill you to run at 195mhz fsb? i know, i know, you'll lose a whole 100 3dmarks...

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
ok why would you expect ati to support people running at 200mhz fsb settings?

just be thankful there isn't smoke billowing out of your case...

but really, would it kill you to run at 195mhz fsb? i know, i know, you'll lose a whole 100 3dmarks...

I agree

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: CoolLight
No, definitely it is not the problem of the Radeon9700.

It is OCed to 365/330 now. Normally, it only lock up above 400 Core.

This 200 FSB thing is killing me now. I have already lock the AGP bus to 66Mhz (default). But, every single time I run 3Dmarks2001SE, it freeze seconds after the first test started. At 198FSB, it complete the test successfully with no artifacts at all.

I wondered if this has anything to do with the 3DMarks2001SE test itself not working properly above 200 FSB?

Ok, i'm totally confused now. You are complaining because @365/330 your Radeon 9700, and your FSB @200MHz your 3D is locking up? Like I say, try underclocking the AGP. Unless you have a spectrum analizer or some other peice of test gear to varify that your AGP is in fact 66MHz while the FSB is set to
200MHz, there is no problem here. Nvidia/Asus may claim it is 66 MHz, but somehow I doubt it. And it is not an ATi problem to be fixed by new drivers.

I would try setting your AGP to 63MHz or something and then if that works, go up from there. But you should at least experiment with it.


Also you should be using all of Memtest's test proceedures, not just the7 std tests. Read THUGSROOK's CAS thread.

 

[CoolLight]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
ok why would you expect ati to support people running at 200mhz fsb settings?

just be thankful there isn't smoke billowing out of your case...

but really, would it kill you to run at 195mhz fsb? i know, i know, you'll lose a whole 100 3dmarks...

The thing is, if I lock the FSB to 66Mhz, set ATI R9700Pro to default speed, it still can't function over 200FSB. Which means, in order to use the Video card, I have to underclock my whole system.

I bought this video card hoping to use it for at least one or two year. In the specs, it only says it needs 66Mhz AGP bus, it never said it will fail if above certain Motherboard FSB. What happen if 200FSB Barton/Hammer became a standard, I would never be able to use it simply because of Video problem. This should be fixed by ATI.

Too bad, on A7N8X, the next lower AGP BUS of 66Mhz in the BIOS is 50Mhz, so I have no way to set it to 63Mhz or something. I will ran some more complicated memtest86 tests on the memory to make sure they are not the culprits.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: CoolLight

Originally posted by: SickBeast
ok why would you expect ati to support people running at 200mhz fsb settings?

just be thankful there isn't smoke billowing out of your case...

but really, would it kill you to run at 195mhz fsb? i know, i know, you'll lose a whole 100 3dmarks...

The thing is, if I lock the FSB to 66Mhz, set ATI R9700Pro to default speed, it still can't function over 200FSB. Which means, in order to use the Video card, I have to underclock my whole system.

I bought this video card hoping to use it for at least one or two year. In the specs, it only says it needs 66Mhz AGP bus, it never said it will fail if above certain Motherboard FSB. What happen if 200FSB Barton/Hammer became a standard, I would never be able to use it simply because of Video problem. This should be fixed by ATI.

Too bad, on A7N8X, the next lower AGP BUS of 66Mhz in the BIOS is 50Mhz, so I have no way to set it to 63Mhz or something. I will ran some more complicated memtest86 tests on the memory to make sure they are not the culprits.

You're not "underclocking" your system by running less than 200Mhz FSB. You're overclocking to levels most manufacturers would look at as void of warranty.
Not to mention ATI would laugh at you for telling them they need to fix it. There is nothing to fix. Components aren't rated for that type of use. Consider yourself lucky.

Furthermore, if the 200Mhz FSB did become standard then I bet the 9700Pro would work fine...why? Because the mobo and CPU etc would be thoroughly tested at the rated speed before being certified for production. They would be Rated for that speed and work 100% at that speed. You can't expect to overclock by 60+Mhz on the FSB and have everything work perfect all the time.

 

[CoolLight]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

You're not "underclocking" your system by running less than 200Mhz FSB. You're overclocking to levels most manufacturers would look at as void of warranty.
Not to mention ATI would laugh at you for telling them they need to fix it. There is nothing to fix. Components aren't rated for that type of use. Consider yourself lucky.

Furthermore, if the 200Mhz FSB did become standard then I bet the 9700Pro would work fine...why? Because the mobo and CPU etc would be thoroughly tested at the rated speed before being certified for production. They would be Rated for that speed and work 100% at that speed. You can't expect to overclock by 60+Mhz on the FSB and have everything work perfect all the time.

Good point.

I am not complaining about R9700. Just looking for some information here.

I just found one thread at XtremeSys talked about this issue. High FSB fix for 9500/9700

I already took off the shim, and replaced the stock HSF with Crystal Orb with AS3 on my R9700. If heat is the problem here, that would make it a lot easier. But, I doubted it. I remember I read another thread saying wierd problem of R9700 over 200FSB, can't seem to find it now.

 

[rbV5]

The thing is, if I lock the FSB to 66Mhz, set ATI R9700Pro to default speed, it still can't function over 200FSB

With the AGP locked, how does the FSB effect the AGP video card?

 

[CoolLight]

Originally posted by: rbV5

The thing is, if I lock the FSB to 66Mhz, set ATI R9700Pro to default speed, it still can't function over 200FSB

With the AGP locked, how does the FSB effect the AGP video card?

That is exactly what I have been asking.

 

[Killrose]

Try setting the AGP to the 50MHz speed. Asus must know something, and I bet it's that the AGP is incrementally gaining MHz as the FSB is increased on their board design. Too bad you can't play with it a MHz at a time like I can on my Epox 8RDA.

 

[rbV5]

That is exactly what I have been asking.

The FSB should be transparent to the video card with a locked AGP. I was going to go with an ASUS NF2 for my rig, but I decided to pass for now. It "seemed" to have trouble running over 200 FSB (at least initially) no matter what card/memory you were using, and issues with poor IDE drivers and PCI transfer rates. I wonder if it maybe having trouble supplying voltage to the AGP slot? I can't believe that 5Mhz out of spec or so would make much difference, I'm running mine over 75MHz on the AGP right now without issues. Something other than the video card seems to be the trouble here.

 

[Ketchup]

It has been posted in these forums that an AGP lock at 66 MHz doesn't mean it is going to run 66 MHz at every FSB. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. I would play with the different frequencies and see if that does anything for ya. You might try 205 and see if that works.

 

[CoolLight]

Too bad I just killed my Motherboard's BIOS by going with too high FSB. Even removing battery, clear CMOS won't bring her back. :|

Just been laughed at by the wife, am using her computer now. Oh well, another good lesson for me.

 

[Ketchup]

Killed BIOS with too high FSB? I really don't think that's possible.

 

[CoolLight]

Originally posted by: ketchup79
Killed BIOS with too high FSB? I really don't think that's possible.

Yes, the motherboard won't post upon a reboot, monitor turned orange lite instead of green. Shut down by press power botton 4 seconds, unplug the power cord until motherboard lose power, replug the power, power up, still no video. Power down, unplug the power cord, pop out the battery, jump the CLRMOS pin, jump it back to normal position, push in the battery, plug power cord, power up, NO GO... ( In reality, I did much more tan that, including unplug some harddisk, uninstall some of the memories, jump 133FSB pin to 100FSB, etc, etc.)

Basically, I tried everything off my head until now. Still no way to revive it. I am pretty the BIOS is rock dead now.

 

[Tom]

"rock dead "

nice phrase

 

[CoolLight]

Actually, my A7N8X board is dead also upon a save and exit in BIOS, exactly same as described in this thread
Asus nFORCE2 (thread retitled)
Hopefully it is not the high FSB killed the motherboard, I am gonna start a new thread in motherboard forum crying for help.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: CoolLight
Actually, my A7N8X board is dead also upon a save and exit in BIOS, exactly same as described in this thread
Asus nFORCE2 (thread retitled)
Hopefully it is not the high FSB killed the motherboard, I am gonna start a new thread in motherboard forum crying for help.

So you get no beeps? just nothing? I assume your fans spin and everything else?
Try pressing and holding the insert key on power up. That might allow you to boot into bios and make changes.

 

[CoolLight]

I got no beeps. Fan was spining, no video. After 10+ times of repeatitive clearing CMOS, the fan is NOT even spinning now. It is getting to the point that press the power button/unplug power cord does nothing now.

 

[Killrose]

Either that or you PSU took a dump.

 

[Ketchup]

Sounds like the PSU. The fans will still power up even if the motherboard is dead. What power supply are you using?