Ramsinks on 9800 Pro

[OvErHeAtInG]

Well, being a budget-minded gamer, I recently bought the Sapphire 9800 pro for around 130 shipped, which to my mind represents a supeb value, hard to beat at this time. This card comes clocked at 380/340. Despite warnings that the cooler was cr*p, I proceeded to load ATITool... the core got to 425 (!) before backing down, and it ran at 420 for quite some time with never an artifact. I am waiting for an arctic silencer so I can run this clock speed in games without getting too nervous. I'm guessing I got an R360 core, I'll find out when I take off the cooler.

My problem is the RAM. It says Hynix HY 5DU283222A, which would seem to indicate it's the 2.8ns Hynix, which people seem to be happy with, I'm not sure if that's what was specified on the 9800XT, I'm guessing not. But, I do think that it should hit more than 350 MHz, which is what the OC gets to before artifacting. I'll go out on a limb and say it's caused by heat buildup. The question is, will getting more heat away from the core (and possibly the mem controller?) increase my performance any extra? Or should I spend an extra $15 and order ramsinks with that arctic silencer?

I've always thought ramsinks were a little hokey - but maybe I need them here?

 

[RussianSensation]

I honestly doubt that even overclocking the ram on 9800Pro to 800mhz would make any difference in games today. If you card has 128mb of ram, then its even more pointless. See the problem is that its 8 pipelines and today's cards have 16 and 1.1ghz memory, along with internal gpu enhancements.

 

[The Green Bean]

ramsinks may help in overclocking the ram

 

[paadness]

Ram sinks will greatly improve RAM OC.

The VGA Silencer will no doubt add stability to ur card.

Ur spending like a total of $ 150.

A 6600GT isnt far away. $ 160 already

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: paadness
Ram sinks will greatly improve RAM OC.

The VGA Silencer will no doubt add stability to ur card.

Ur spending like a total of $ 150.

A 6600GT isnt far away. $ 160 already

Yes, hearing you, I looked into that. But I would get the MSI, which is still a bit more. I heard a few raves of how o/c'able the current Sapphire 9800p was, then add to the mix that I'm just trying to tide over until I build a whole new system. Plus I'm a little biased toward ATI, I would rather have an old high-end card than a new mid-range one... etc

 

[jiffylube1024]

I put RAMsinks on 3.3ns Samsung RAM (ran hot as hell) on a 9800np and it gave me a huge o/c boost- about 35 MHz (70 MHz DDR) more! The Samsung RAM (3.3ns, 2.8ns) ran very hot on 9800 cards.

I'm not sure if the Hynix RAM runs quite as hot or would show quite as much of an improvement, but it couldn't hurt!

 

[selfbuilt]

My R9800pro (rev350 core) seems to have the same mem as you (Hynix HY 5DU283222A), and it runs great. I've using copper ramsinks and the VGA silencer 3 as well, and routinely run the card at 420 core, 375 mem, and have never experienced any artifacting (played through doom3 and hl2 completely etc.). I'm sure it can probably go higher, but I've been reluctant to push it beyond these levels, just in case. Enjoy the card!

 

[kyparrish]

Ramsinks really didn't help me out until I volt modded the vram.

 

[Noid]

My 9700pro has Alpha fins with AS adheasive.
I got significant results.

But, Overclocking is always a gamble.

Good Luck

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: selfbuilt
My R9800pro (rev350 core) seems to have the same mem as you (Hynix HY 5DU283222A), and it runs great. I've using copper ramsinks and the VGA silencer 3 as well, and routinely run the card at 420 core, 375 mem, and have never experienced any artifacting (played through doom3 and hl2 completely etc.). I'm sure it can probably go higher, but I've been reluctant to push it beyond these levels, just in case. Enjoy the card!

You can use ATItool to find the maximum stable overclock for ram and core, it runs a torture test and scans for artifacts.


I would be ecstatic with 375 mem. Which ramsinks are you using? Also: is it safe to use rubbing alcohol on ram chips to clean them for the sink application?

 

[Budman]

Maybe you should consider the Zalman VF700-AlCu instead of the VGA silencer,it cool even better & comes with ramsink too. 🙂

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: Budman
Maybe you should consider the Zalman VF700-AlCu instead of the VGA silencer,it cool even better & comes with ramsink too. 🙂

I am doing that at this very second, thanks. I mean, the VGA silencer is great especially for those who are caseflow-challenged, but that doesn't apply here.... too bad the Zalman only comes with aluminum ramsinks and not copper ones....