Why doesn't my 7800gt o/c anymore?

[Mortac]

I have an eVGA 7800GT which runs at default 470/1100. When I bought the card a bit over a year ago I overclocked it to 504/1200 and it ran just fine at those settings for several months, after which I had to reinstall Windows due to a virus. I've now had the card running at default settings for a few months but decided today to overclock it again, but it's not letting me. I have even tried such measly overclocks such as 476/1110, but Coolbits just keeps telling me that the settings are too high and it won't allow them. I just can't figure out what's causing this.

The only changes I'm aware of over my previous Windows installation concerning the video card are these:

- I used to have an older driver version, and now I'm running the latest Nvidia drivers.
- I'm pretty sure I had an older version of Coolbits, although I'm not sure if it even was Coolbits, but it should be because it looks nearly the same (just cosmetic differences iirc) and it was also integrated into the Nvidia driver window just like the one I'm currently using.
- I used to have the DirectX version previous to the one released in December 2006.
- When I bring up the "clock frequency settings", it first lists the core clock at 470mhz, just as it should be and always has been, but it lists the memory at 2.20ghz instead of the 1.10ghz as it used to.

Can anyone please help me out?

 

[apoppin]

dp

weird

 

[apoppin]

try different driver versions and report back if necessary for further analysis

--use the latest DX

-general: make sure your MB chipset drivers are up-to-day - all drivers including soundcard - and your OS to the latest SP ... and defrag your HD and check for more viruses or trojans.
--just because

and try RivaTuner

EDIT: check your case for changes ... dust buildup ... blocked air flow ... etc.


. . and welcome to ATF Video
:thumbsup:

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: Mortac


- I used to have an older driver version, and now I'm running the latest Nvidia drivers.

Go back to the older drivers. The newer ones are prone to disallowing overclocks...

 

[Mortac]

Originally posted by: Modular
Go back to the older drivers. The newer ones are prone to disallowing overclocks...

Bah. Why are companies such control-freaks..

I'll give that a try tomorrow though. Thanks!

 

[Captante]

As suggested above try using another utility like RivaTuner or ATI-Tool to overclock & see how that works for you... it is possible that your card is getting "tired" & just won't overclock as highly anymore , but that usually happens gradualy so I think the newer driver being overly conservative is the problem.


Edit: Incidently I strongly suggest you slightly underclock your GPU when you arn't gaming to lower temps & strain on the RAM.

 

[Mortac]

Why does the mem clock display twice the value it should be through Coolbits, though? Something tells me it shows exactly twice the value for a reason. Seems too coincidental otherwise.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Mortac
Why does the mem clock display twice the value it should be through Coolbits, though? Something tells me it shows exactly twice the value for a reason. Seems too coincidental otherwise.

i have the same problem with my 6800GS AGP.

RAM shows up as 2400mhz

 

[Stumps]

it's a bug in the 9x.xx series drivers, I had to switch back to the 84.21's to get decent performance and overclocks out of my 7800GS.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Stumps
it's a bug in the 9x.xx series drivers, I had to switch back to the 84.21's to get decent performance and overclocks out of my 7800GS.

:thumbsup:

I loved those 84.21s

D/Ling now

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: Mortac

Originally posted by: Modular
Go back to the older drivers. The newer ones are prone to disallowing overclocks...

Bah. Why are companies such control-freaks..

I'll give that a try tomorrow though. Thanks!

BIOS flash to 500/1200 FTW!?

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: Stumps
it's a bug in the 9x.xx series drivers, I had to switch back to the 84.21's to get decent performance and overclocks out of my 7800GS.

:thumbsup:

I loved those 84.21s

D/Ling now

84.21's are the best nVidia drivers ever. I remember installing them for my 6600gt and getting about 10-15 more FPS in FarCry over the previous version I was using.

 

[apoppin]

the only problem you may run into with them is in the very latest games

my O/C wasn't that much better with the 84.21 over the very latest for my 7800GS OC
[they both made the fan waaay too loud at max OC]

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: apoppin
the only problem you may run into with them is in the very latest games

my O/C wasn't that much better with the 84.21 over the very latest for my 7800GS OC
[they both made the fan waaay too loud at max OC]

I never had any problems with the fan running loud on my 7800GS OC, but then again I do have a cooler running G71 so that could be a factor.

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: Mortac
I have even tried such measly overclocks such as 476/1110, but Coolbits just keeps telling me that the settings are too high and it won't allow them. I just can't figure out what's causing this.

The new CP occasionally gets itself in a rut and subsequently fails any sort of clock change (even massive underclocking) until the computer is restarted.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Stumps

Originally posted by: apoppin
the only problem you may run into with them is in the very latest games

my O/C wasn't that much better with the 84.21 over the very latest for my 7800GS OC
[they both made the fan waaay too loud at max OC]

I never had any problems with the fan running loud on my 7800GS OC, but then again I do have a cooler running G71 so that could be a factor.

i O/C'd it so the fan was running 100% of the time ...

just annoying ... like my NB fan is now becoming ...
[gotta go back "in" ... now that everything else is 'silent' ... it stands OUT! ]

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: apoppin
just annoying ... like my NB fan is now becoming ...
[gotta go back "in" ... now that everything else is 'silent' ... it stands OUT! ]

I had luck with the Zalman active chipset cooler--turned out to be fairly quiet compared to the 8000rpm beast MSI put on this board. Unfortunately, my NB fan is right under the PCI-E slot, so I couldn't use the passive cooler (although I have one in an Athlon XP rig--works fine w/ system bus OC'd from 133 MHz to 200 MHz).

 

[Mortac]

84.21, are those compatible with the latest DirectX?