What do other X1950XT owners think of this...

[Dr. Spankenstein]

In an attempt to do some troubleshooting in my new system, the weak link kept pointing toward the video card. Constant reboots during bechmarks and other tests and GPU temps reaching into the low 70s with the fan @100% on an 691/904 OC got me to wondering.
As info, the card in question is a HIS X1950XT IceQ Turbo 256Mb card purchased a couple of months ago from NewEgg. Here is the rest of my components: E6600@ 3.36GHz, 2Gb Mushkin XP-6400 running 1:1 (533) on 1.9v, on a D975XBX (Rev. 306) tucked neatly in an Ultra Aluminus tower w/Ultra 600W X-Connect PSU (CPU cooled by Tuniq Tower 120).

Well, I took the IceQ cooler off and was QUITE surprised by what I saw! They must not have a shortage of thermal paste at the HIS plant.:laugh: Next, I removed the foam pad on the heatsink as it was crooked and I'm an anus about things like that. Removing the pad took a nice copper-colored plating from my solid BRASS heatsink. (I thought the color of the heatsink was suspect....)

I then moved on to checking as to whether or not I had the 1.1 or 1.2 Samsungs under the thermal pads. :eek: They put some smokin' HYNIX memory chips in this card!:rockout: Now the question remains: Why can't I get over 904 mem clock speeds? I have tried ATITool, ATI Tray tools and the included HIS iTurbo (which tops out at 675/1890).

Is there something I'm overlooking? What is holding back this card (besides the current heat issue)? I guess I should see how it fares after I clean things up. I would like to ditch the thermal pads but would it be kosher to have the sink against the chips? For the regulars on the forum, yes I'm the gut who thought my was fooked because of the warping I saw from the ramsinks being ratcheted down on top of the thermal pads.:o

Any inspiration or suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Bryan

[x800professor]

In an attempt to do some troubleshooting in my new system, the weak link kept pointing toward the video card. Constant reboots during bechmarks and other tests and GPU temps reaching into the low 70s with the fan @100% on an 691/904 OC got me to wondering.
As info, the card in question is a HIS X1950XT IceQ Turbo 256Mb card purchased a couple of months ago from NewEgg. Here is the rest of my components: E6600@ 3.36GHz, 2Gb Mushkin XP-6400 running 1:1 (533) on 1.9v, on a D975XBX (Rev. 306) tucked neatly in an Ultra Aluminus tower w/Ultra 600W X-Connect PSU (CPU cooled by Tuniq Tower 120).

Well, I took the IceQ cooler off and was QUITE surprised by what I saw! They must not have a shortage of thermal paste at the HIS plant.:laugh: Next, I removed the foam pad on the heatsink as it was crooked and I'm an anus about things like that. Removing the pad took a nice copper-colored plating from my solid BRASS heatsink. (I thought the color of the heatsink was suspect....)

I then moved on to checking as to whether or not I had the 1.1 or 1.2 Samsungs under the thermal pads. :eek: They put some smokin' HYNIX memory chips in this card!:rockout: Now the question remains: Why can't I get over 904 mem clock speeds? I have tried ATITool, ATI Tray tools and the included HIS iTurbo (which tops out at 675/1890).

Is there something I'm overlooking? What is holding back this card (besides the current heat issue)? I guess I should see how it fares after I clean things up. I would like to ditch the thermal pads but would it be kosher to have the sink against the chips? For the regulars on the forum, yes I'm the gut who thought my was fooked because of the warping I saw from the ramsinks being ratcheted down on top of the thermal pads.:o

Any inspiration or suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Bryan

I've had two of those cards. One wouldn't overclock beyond 900, the other easily overclocked when I added a little memory voltage. In other words, add a LITTLE memory voltage and then try it. Experiment, see what happens.

[Dr. Spankenstein]

You know, I had tried it at 2.20v at one time and I saw no appreciable difference.
Thanks for the reply and the insight about the two cards: one go, one no-go.
Any other ideas?

[DOM]

well with mine fist was DOA then my current one I couldnt get over 945 on the mem but since after 2,2 1/2 months Ive gotten 675/972 with stock 3D volts IDK how but I guess it need some time to break in :p

[Dr. Spankenstein]

Interesting......
Hope mine "matures" as nicely!
Shouldn't these chips do 1000Mhz with relative ease? I haven't heard many reports of 1000+ speeds.

Any comments on removing the thermal pads and shortening the standoffs so that the ramsinks sit directly on the chips (with some AS5, of course!)?

Again, thanks for the feedback. Good to know there are some helpful and sympathetic souls still out there!

Regards,

Bryan

[Formula350]

Well 1.1ns is rated at 900mhz.

I just got my HIS cooler for my Sapphire card, so I know exactly what you mean about the thermal paste LOL. Using copper/brass/alu spacers might not work so well since they would all have to be lapped to have a super flat mating surface, and then use AS5 between the ram and the spacer, and the spacer and the ram-sink. I thought about mounting it w/o the thermal pads too, but not sure if it would tighten down enough. You'd have to use shorter screws.

Does HIS remove the plastic cover on the thermal pads to show the sticky? In other words, was it hard to remove the thermal pads due to them being adhered to the RAM? Seems all the companies don't do that. That'd be why they're 'burnt' looking.

[Tatty_One]

I have just received a limited edition powercolor extreme silent blah blah blah, it stocks at 650/900 but it has the 1.0ns memory so will acheive 1000mhz (theoretically), you will not get there with 1.1ns memory no matter how much voltage is put through as it is beyond the capability of the chip.

Apparently, 70C at full load is acceptable for the GPU, I have read reviews where 1950XT's have hit 89C at load and been perfectly stable?????

[Zalmann]

Ditch the stock heatsink. Get some aftermarket job and put ramsinks on. As for your RAM, Hynix (formerly sold under the Hyundai name) memory is okay, though not the best. Samsung is usually better from what I have observed, although this won't do you any good as you can't change the RAM chips.

Maybe one of the reasons why you can't clock the memory so high, is that the thermal pads they supply are usually poor quality and don't transfer heat too well. Using RAMSINKS may help with this.

A good heatsink for your case maybe the Thermalright HR-03, that's if you've got room in your case.

[DOM]

Well my max bench was 749.25/1044 but it was cold during it, Ive had it at 702/1008 stable but dont rember the volts and thats with stock paste on the gpu ive put some Arctic Silver CMQ-22G The high-density, ceramic-based thermal compound since then and my idle is 40 and load is in the low 60's high 50's

[Formula350]

Zal, HIS has separate memory sinks from the GPU cooler.

[Zalmann]

Zal, HIS has separate memory sinks from the GPU cooler.

Right, that makes more sense, haven't seen the HIS xt's in peron, although I nearly bought 1 myself earlier. Now I'm glad I didn't, and got my Gigabyte pro instead.

[Formula350]

All of HIS' setups are separate, not just XT, anything that uses the IceQ heatsinks. My 1600 had individual ramsinks, but were alu. These use one big L shaped finned copper piece.

[Zubasa]

All of HIS' setups are separate, not just XT, anything that uses the IceQ heatsinks. My 1600 had individual ramsinks, but were alu. These use one big L shaped finned copper piece.
The ICEQ and the ICEQ3 are 2 different coolers.
The ICEQ on the X1600 is simply the VGA Silencer from AC.:p

[Formula350]

Yea, it says Arctic Cooling 3 on the bottom :) Still cools the same down to 40c under load. Well my Pro gets to 50c, but it's not AS crippled as the 1600 is heh

[Batou1986]

personally what it think is that HIS has poor quality control on there "TURBO" cards alota people are hit and miss with these "Turbo" cards as with my 1950pro which magically passed 3 3dmark 06 runs without a hitch but would brick the whole computer in oblivion and 2142 to the point where i had to literately un plug the whole computer before it would boot again even after upgrading to a 750w 60 amp psu

[Formula350]

Sounds more like a driver issue. Why you have to unplug though is beyond me though.

[Batou1986]

nope not drivers not power not temps nor anything else on the system i even tried the drivers that came with the card

[Dr. Spankenstein]

Well, here's an update...
Just cleaning and reapplying AS5, repositioning the thermal pads (which are of the gelatinous variety) got me to 698/904 @ max 65C under load. Major artifacts if I moved above 904 memory even with mem volts @ 2.2. Haven't got around to smoothing the heatsink surface, but I will. Not very scientifically, I also cleared all the old drivers out (w/DriverCleaner) and installed the NGO 7.2 drivers so I'm not sure which is responsible for the change. I'm leaning toward the drivers...

I'm not so sold on any aftermarket cooling being any better than this IceQ3 (if implemented correctly). Not sure if individual ramsinks would help as they would have to be shortened to fit under the curent cooler. I may just give it a try.

Does a reboot during benchmarks point more toward a heat issue or something else? There is room to grow, I just can't seem to get to it.

I am enjoying the suggestion/opinions/banter regarding this issue. Thanks for getting involved!

Cheers,

Bryan

[Formula350]

Seeing as you used modified drivers, who knows what the problem is. I just stick with ATi. I've never noticed any more speed or image quality over Omega, or anything of the like.

[Tatty_One]

In my experience, a reboot or freeze during a bench is either temps or often just pushing the GPU or GDDR to hard, heat or not they have a max threashold, try knocking back 10Mhz on each and see if that does the trick, you can always crawl back up afterwards to find the max stable again.

[DOM]

Dr. Spankenstein I know I had more then 2.2V on the mem to get it to 1000Mhz but whats the max volts for that mem do you know cuz I dont and whats your volts cuz these are my stock are yours the same in 3D clocks

[Tatty_One]

Dr. Spankenstein I know I had more then 2.2V on the mem to get it to 1000Mhz but whats the max volts for that mem do you know cuz I dont and whats your volts cuz these are my stock are yours the same in 3D clocks

Dom, Drop that MVDDQ down a little. just slightly under 2.0 as it may give you a little more headroom on the memory overclock but WILL lower your temps a little.....(just a little tip from my 1800XT days!).

[oldswab]

I just installed a zalman vf900-cu on my sapphire x1950xt, and have yet to see a temp drop. At stock speeds, Oblivion tops out (so far) at 87C if I run around in circles long enough. :confused: Fan mate is disconnected--I have the fan running at full 12V off a mobo lead.

I may have used too much AS5, though. I added a dollop about the size of a pea-half. Need to borrow some more isopropanol from work and give 'er another go, I suppose.

[Formula350]

I'm jealous :\ I wish ATiTool would adjust my voltages! Damn 1950Pro :(

[Dr. Spankenstein]

Dr. Spankenstein I know I had more then 2.2V on the mem to get it to 1000Mhz but whats the max volts for that mem do you know cuz I dont and whats your volts cuz these are my stock are yours the same in 3D clocks

Yes, I have those voltage settings @ stock 3D, then when I want to do some benching, I bump up the Core voltage to 1.5. Does anyone else get more frisky with their voltages?

oldswab-

this was my fear, exactly! I actually looked one of these over at a local CompUSA that was closing and I have to say, I wasn't of the belief that this could do better than my IceQ3. (It doesn't hurt that the IceQ3 (at least) pumps the hot air out of the case!):p

Regards,

Bryan

[Formula350]

(at least) pumps the hot air out of the case!):p

That's EXACTLY why I tricked HIS to send me their cooler setup :) I just didn't like the idea of the X2 dumping the hot air against my motherboard, and still upside down. I honestly think their original R&D team either quit, or got fired. Their original design (What HIS uses) works so well IMO.

[DOM]

Yes, I have those voltage settings @ stock 3D, then when I want to do some benching, I bump up the Core voltage to 1.5. Does anyone else get more frisky with their voltages?


Yes, I have up it more then 1.5V done all of them to the max but thats was just for benching and it was COLD. but 1.5V should be I think its like the max for if your going to use it 24/7

[oldswab]

oldswab-

this was my fear, exactly! I actually looked one of these over at a local CompUSA that was closing and I have to say, I wasn't of the belief that this could do better than my IceQ3. (It doesn't hurt that the IceQ3 (at least) pumps the hot air out of the case!):p

Regards,

Bryan

Honestly, it should be a better cooler. I think I need to strip off the old AS5 and try re-applying. I mean, it's a big chuck of copper leading to serrated copper in the middle of a fan running at 12V. I should not be seeing near-boiling temps had I done the install by the t. 87C isn't really "scary" territory, but I would like to see a drop in temps for the price I paid for the cooler. :) room for overclocking should be forthcoming with a nice aftermarket cooler, in my experience (upgraded from an x800xt AIW with an arctic cooling ati silencer).

The memory ramsinks, though, are a very nice addition to the vf900-cu package, though.

[Dr. Spankenstein]

Yes, I have up it more then 1.5V done all of them to the max but thats was just for benching and it was COLD. but 1.5V should be I think its like the max for if your going to use it 24/7

Good to know.

But, with ATITool or ATI Tray Tools why would anyone run their OC'd profile 24/7?:p
I'm just trying to get a respectable framerate for a couple of hours without it puking!
I've also been tring to bump up my systems voltages to see if that is the culprit for the lock-up/reboot thing that happens every time I bench in 3DMark05 w/ core/mem above 688/900! (Although, I still pulled 14186 marks at these timings!)

I plan on taking a more systematic approach to weeding out the culprit in the reboot issue.
I have tried uninstalling the drivers (in safe mode w/driver cleaner) and trying NGO drivers based on 7.2, ATI based 6.12 and 7.3 Catalyst. No change...
Now on to running with 1 stick of RAM then alternating sticks to see if that's the prob. These Mushkin XP2-6400 seem pretty solid, though.

One thing that might be telling is that when I'm scanning for artifacts in my overclock in ATITool when I pass my (current) max OC timings of 688/900 @ 1.5V/2.2V + 100% fan, the power draw shows to be 20.8A!:eek: ....at which point the whole enchilada locks and then reboots. Could this card actually be needing that many Amps?:twitch:
I know the specs say to have a PSU that provides 30A on the 12V rail, but come on!

Could be I just don't know what I'm messing with....

Bryan

@ oldswab,

We wish it were copper! It is only a copper-colored coating that has been applied to a brass base. If you refer to the photos in my first post, It shows the coating sticking to the foam spacer and the lovely machined brass surface underneath. I've got my sights on smoothing the surface of the heatsink since it currently has some burrs that I would rather not have poking my cards core!
I agree thought, I like the cooler in concept. Now if we could get it to function like it should.

I would suggest opening it up and removing the gob of crap and replacing with an appropriate layer of AS5.

[oldswab]

"I would suggest opening it up and removing the gob of crap and replacing with an appropriate layer of AS5."

Crackers. I removed the old AC5, applied a more appriate amount, and reseated the cooler. Temps still run into lower 80 (83C so far) on Oblivion.

Saw this one came out recently--looks like it would lower temps by ~10C if the review is to be taken seriously. I may just ebay the zalman and check it out:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/coolermaster-coolviva-pro_5.html

[erocker]

I really don't think that HIS coolers are copper. They are anodized aluminum made to look like copper, and I highly suggest lapping them, my heatsink had a gouge running through the middle of it!

[tkpenalty]

hey guys, dont make me say it again, the AcceleroX2's heat generated wont cause anything to die okay?