Sudden loss of video while gaming on X1900XT

[Ike0069]

Well, I just got thru playing for about an hour of BF2 after rolling back to 6.2 cats.

OC is 648/778 with ATI TT version .940.

No problems. Of course, before I say everythign is fine I will have to play for more than an hour, but this looks promising. VC temp peaked at ~73C.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: Pabster
nVidia has always had a reputation for great drivers. ATI, not so great. That said, I've never had a whole lot of issues with either one. ATI Tray Tools is great (not perfect, but great) and sure beats the hell out of that bloated .NET-coded CCC garbage.

I've had the freeze and black screen before and it was always from pushing the overclock just a little too far. (Irrespective of the CAT driver set installed.)

I do like ATI TT quite a bit. As you say, "not perfect", but still damn nice. Just the way it's set up, it's fairly easy to get it to do what you want it to do (once you get a little help -- Thanks Josh )

As for the freeze and black screen, I got that a few times when trying to OC this card with ATI TT, but it's differetn from what I experienced when gaming. When I OC's a little too much, the entire system locks up and the monitor thinks the PC is shut down. I never got a "no signal" message, and the monitor light truns from green to amber, just as it does when I shut down my PC.

 

[anandtechrocks]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
Well, I just got thru playing for about an hour of BF2 after rolling back to 6.2 cats.

OC is 648/778 with ATI TT version .940.

No problems. Of course, before I say everythign is fine I will have to play for more than an hour, but this looks promising. VC temp peaked at ~73C.

Yea, ATI Tool and 6.2 Cats are the best combination for overclocking ATI cards

 

[josh6079]

One thing I just noticed last night with using only the newest ATI TT. I had two profiles I was using, one was the XTX stock frequencies that is completely stable and the other was a default bios stock (500/600) with very low volts (1.175 for core, etc.)

When playing games, I sometimes caught a flicker in the screen, the same kind of flicker that happens when you hit the "Reset Display Driver" option through the ATI TT system tray menu. When I investigated what caused it, I minimized my game and looked at what 3D profile was being used and to my surprise it was the stock one instead the XTX frequencies!! ATI TT was changing my frequencies automatically, even though I had specified through every possible ATI TT setting to ONLY use the XTX profile.

That said, maybe the same has happened to you and when it makes the frequency switch it must loose the video signal, this happened to me when I manually switched the clocks with a 3D application running.

I'm currently using Cat. 6.6's with ATI Tool 0.25 beta 14, I'll see if that has any simular issues (but I doubt it will)

 

[Zenoth]

Ike0069, sorry just arrived in this thread, I haven't read all the posts.

But the issue you described in your original post sounds like your VPU Recovery kicked in.

If that'd be the case, then you'd just have to disable the feature in question in CCC (if available, I don't know if it is, I don't use CCC, I use ATi Tray Tools instead).

Usually, you don't have to disable VPU Recovery, but if your card is over-clocked, there is a good chance that it isn't stable to start with, VPU Recovery or not. Try to run at default frequencies all while VPU Recovery is disabled. Then if everything seems alright, start to OC again, but do leave VPU Recovery disabled. It isn't very useful. Hope it helps.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: josh6079
One thing I just noticed last night with using only the newest ATI TT. I had two profiles I was using, one was the XTX stock frequencies that is completely stable and the other was a default bios stock (500/600) with very low volts (1.175 for core, etc.)

When playing games, I sometimes caught a flicker in the screen, the same kind of flicker that happens when you hit the "Reset Display Driver" option through the ATI TT system tray menu. When I investigated what caused it, I minimized my game and looked at what 3D profile was being used and to my surprise it was the stock one instead the XTX frequencies!! ATI TT was changing my frequencies automatically, even though I had specified through every possible ATI TT setting to ONLY use the XTX profile.

That said, maybe the same has happened to you and when it makes the frequency switch it must loose the video signal, this happened to me when I manually switched the clocks with a 3D application running.

I'm currently using Cat. 6.6's with ATI Tool 0.25 beta 14, I'll see if that has any simular issues (but I doubt it will)

Hmm.......so you are saying it's switching to 2D mode (speeds and voltage) while playing a game? That would defintiely cause issues.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Ike0069

Originally posted by: josh6079
One thing I just noticed last night with using only the newest ATI TT. I had two profiles I was using, one was the XTX stock frequencies that is completely stable and the other was a default bios stock (500/600) with very low volts (1.175 for core, etc.)

When playing games, I sometimes caught a flicker in the screen, the same kind of flicker that happens when you hit the "Reset Display Driver" option through the ATI TT system tray menu. When I investigated what caused it, I minimized my game and looked at what 3D profile was being used and to my surprise it was the stock one instead the XTX frequencies!! ATI TT was changing my frequencies automatically, even though I had specified through every possible ATI TT setting to ONLY use the XTX profile.

That said, maybe the same has happened to you and when it makes the frequency switch it must loose the video signal, this happened to me when I manually switched the clocks with a 3D application running.

I'm currently using Cat. 6.6's with ATI Tool 0.25 beta 14, I'll see if that has any simular issues (but I doubt it will)

Hmm.......so you are saying it's switching to 2D mode (speeds and voltage) while playing a game? That would defintiely cause issues.

If that's the case, ATI Tool has an option to Force 3D for an application.

 

[Josh7289]

Just making a suggestion. Haven't read all the posts.

It could be a motherboard problem or incompatibility with the video card. Might want to contact your manufacturer about that.

 

[josh6079]

Hmm.......so you are saying it's switching to 2D mode (speeds and voltage) while playing a game? That would defintiely cause issues.

If you're using ATI TT to control your clocks and your driver settings. It happened to me anyway and from the sound of it, yours may be doing the same thing.

I just got home so I'll open and close and play as many games as I can to see if using ATI Tool + ATI TT's is the better combination.

 

[MadRat]

Just because the powersupply has enough capacity for a standard motherboard, it doesn't mean the power rails can supply enough for the demand. I'd have to lean towards it being a power supply issue.

 

[Ike0069]

Weill, I loaded up Farcry (patched to 1.33) last night and tried it out. I got allkinds of crazy corruption , but ony when I could see outside. For example, I'm in a room and the screen is perfect, as soon as I open a door to the outside the screen corrupts completely. I back away and when the door shuts, the screen is perfect again. Then, as I was playing with this, my damn VC stopped again.

After reading the release notes for the patches, the corruption was a know issue with certain ATI cards and I needed to back down the lighting and texture qualities. I did that and then played for a while with no corruption and no loss of video.

So I really don't know what to think about this. The loss of video seems to just be completely random, so it's really making it hard to figure out exactly what is causing it.

I'm now going to try stock core speed with very high RAM clocks and see what happens. Maybe it is just a core OC pushed to high.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Avalon
Ahh, thanks for letting me know. I was about ready to go and try some OC'ing, but you saved me a good bit of time. Very curious. I do remember in a previous thread that someone said disabling the service "ATI Hot Key Poller" and "ATI Smart" helped. It didn't work for me. Let me know how the 6.2's go. I will definitely give it a try.

That will stop the 2D/3D mode switching. Personally I set 3D clocks only and run those 24/7. I don't see the point of switching clocks all the time. It is rather confusing to some as well as they think their card is running much slower than it should be.

 

[Avalon]

What is the default core and memory voltage in 3D mode for an X1900?
I'm just going to do what Pabster suggested and force my card into 3D mode.

Right now my 2D voltage is 1.2V and the mem is 2.08V. I wish ATT had a way to show 2D and 3D and not just the current, like you can do with Nvidia.

 

[Ike0069]

1.4V is the stock 3D volts. RAM voltage apparently stays the same from 2D to 3D.

Since a VC spends the large majority of its life in 2D mode, I personally like the idea of having reduced speeds/voltage.

 

[josh6079]

Well, after using the ATI Tool + ATI TT set as extensively as I used just the plain ATI TT, I have to say that I no longer get the weird automatic clock switch during gameplay. I'd suggest doing all of the following while making sure the normal ATI services (ATI Smart and Hotkey Poller) are disabled:

[*]Uninstalling ATI TT and/or ATI Tool.

[*]Installing ATI TT and disabling overclocking during the installation.

[*]Installing ATI Tool 0.25 beta 14 (most stable and non-buggy one I've found to work well)

[*]Setting clocks/volatges in ATI Tool profiles.

Note: For trouble shooting purposes I'd suggest leaving ATI Tool's 3D Detection disabled until you are sure that there are no problems. Just make two profiles (Stock and Overclock) and manually load the appropriate ones before a game. This will ensure that no automatic service is making frequency/voltage switches.

If you still have the similar issues that I myself had using strictly ATI TT, then let me know.

 

[Ike0069]

I've never tried ATI Tool, so what is the purpose of using both (Tool and TT)? If you are using ATI Tool to set all you clocks, is there any need to use ATI TT?

I did game quite a few hours yesterday with clocks at 628/778 with no issues. So I'm beginning to think it was just my core clock was too high (@ 648). It wasn't exactly pushing new speed limits and my temps were great, but I've no issues since lowering it to 628.

Of course, I've changed so many things this past week that I can't be 100% certain what the root cause was/is. I'm simply too impatient to make one small change at a time and then test it out thoroughly.

 

[josh6079]

If you disable ATI TT's overclocking settings when you're installing the application, you'll need ATI Tool to handle the voltages and clock frequencies and ATI TT to govern the driver settings such as 4xAA, 16xHQAF, other 3D profiles, vsync+tb, etc.

Also, you XT should hit the stock XTX clocks with a voltage of 1.425 and be completely stable. For my ATI Tool's XTX profile I use 1.425/2.089/2.083/1.486 on my voltages and my clocks are solid with XTX speeds.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: josh6079
If you disable ATI TT's overclocking settings when you're installing the application, you'll need ATI Tool to handle the voltages and clock frequencies and ATI TT to govern the driver settings such as 4xAA, 16xHQAF, other 3D profiles, vsync+tb, etc.

Also, you XT should hit the stock XTX clocks with a voltage of 1.425 and be completely stable. For my ATI Tool's XTX profile I use 1.425/2.089/2.083/1.486 on my voltages and my clocks are solid with XTX speeds.

Ok, so ATI tool is only for OC'ing?

As for the voltage, I haven't tried above 1.4v yet, but I was planning on trying 1.425 and see how that works. So I guess the only difference in cores between the XT and XTX is the slight extra voltage to get 650?

 

[josh6079]

Yes, ATI Tool is for clocks and therefore overclocking.

From a Madshrimps guide I read, 1.425 is the stock voltage for an XTX which has a core clock of 650 Mhz.

 

[Ike0069]

Well, I raised my speeds back to 648/778 with vcore at 1.425.

I played a couple of hours of BF2 and Far Cry with no issues. So it really looks like my "sudden loss of video" issue was caused by too much of a core OC with not enough voltage. Haven't tried any more on the core, but I'm happy with XTX speeds for now.

Josh, are you able to change the core and RAM voltage with ATI tool?

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
Well, I raised my speeds back to 648/778 with vcore at 1.425.

I played a couple of hours of BF2 and Far Cry with no issues. So it really looks like my "sudden loss of video" issue was caused by too much of a core OC with not enough voltage. Haven't tried any more on the core, but I'm happy with XTX speeds for now.

Josh, are you able to change the core and RAM voltage with ATI tool?

Yes, you can change both core and ram voltage with it.

 

[josh6079]

Yes, in fact ATI Tool gives you the most specific voltage controls.

You can control the memory voltage, the memory output buffer voltages, the core voltage, and an additional core voltage that is kind of mysterious but seems to help with OC's if it is almost maxed out.

 

[Matt2]

So, does anyone know why ATI Tool will not work with my system now? I'd hate to thread hijack, but I just installed ATI Tool (was using ATI TT to OC) to play with voltages and when I opened it, it gave me clocks of 0/125 ???

It also says that my display device "does not seem to be currently used by Windows" ???

 

[josh6079]

What version of ATI Tool are you trying to use?

 

[Matt2]

The same one that worked before... 0.25 I believe.