What are people getting when ocing a 9800xt using stock cooling?

[Soccerman06]

I recently came home for Thanksgiving, and notice that the games I play are quite slow on my playing system even on 10x7. The games I usually play are CSS, UT2k4 (these 2 are fine), FEAR, AoE 3, Civ4, COD2, and so on. I dont have much time here, only 1-1/2 days left before I have to go back to college. I would like to keep the heatsink stock and so use the overdrive to OC, not some 3rd party tool. What would you guys recommend a decent speed to start out with, dont want to push it too far because this has to last me until next Chrismas or so (or when/if UT2k7 requires a better card). I just need a small boost to tide me over until then.

Thanks

 

[jiffylube1024]

440/380 is about as high as I'd expect it to go, give or take. FEAR is a beast; try 800X600 for that one.

 

[Soccerman06]

I try to stay away from FEAR because its soo demanding, but yes I do run it at 800x600.

Edit: Thats it? 412/365 stock at 64C at somewhat load. Thats 28mhz core and 15mhz memory?

 

[Captante]

The 9800XT is already pushing that core close to its limit & lots of those cards won't OC very much... best you can do is crank it up little by little until you have artifacts and/or lockups then back it down a little from the point you had problems. Also I suggest clocking the card down when your not gaming... underclocking it during normal use will make it run much cooler & extend its life.