HD 2900 Series Overclocking and Feedback thread

[EastCoasthandle]

Mind as well start a new thread for this video card which should be released tomorrow. Right now, few have this card but I expect that to change within the next month or so. The first thing we will need to know is how to properly install a water block because the shim is slightly higher then the GPU core. The only water block that I know of that will fit inside the shim is the Maze4/5 as it's designed to fit the x800. From what I remember the x800 also has a shim higher then the GPU core. Also, is the issue with mosfet cooling. This round the mosfet cooler is affixed on the GPU heat sink making it all 1 unit. Once you remove the GPU heat sink you also remove the mosfet heat sink. What we need to know is if you can use the mosfet heat sink from the X1900xt/xtx on the HD 2900XT once you remove the GPU heat sink.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_MSI2900XT-07.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/MSI2900XT-07.jpg)
Make sure you remove the 2 screws to the left in order to remove the HS cover or else you cannot remove the HS.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_MSI2900XT-15.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/MSI2900XT-15.jpg)
Here is a photo of the HS as you can see the mosfet HS is also incorporated.



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_unlapped_HS.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/unlapped_HS.jpg)
In this photo you will see the millingl markings on the HS. It's not as bad as the X1900XTX that I showed sometime ago. However, they are there so a decent lap maybe appropriate.



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_lapped_HS2.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/lapped_HS2.png)


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_lapped_HS.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/lapped_HS.png)
Dry lapping with 2000 grit sandpaper appears more appropriate then anything else. As you can see the results I was able to remove the drill marks without removing much else.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_Idle55C_Load77C.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/Idle55C_Load77C.png)
Prior to lapping:
Idle 60C,
Load 80C
Idle after load 62C

Post lapping:
Idle: 55C
Load 77C
Idle after load 57.6C

Spec ViewPerf 7.1
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_Spec_ViewPerf_7_1.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/Spec_ViewPerf_7_1.png)
HD 2900 XT
1 6pin, 1 8-pin
8.37.4.2
858/900 using CCC Overclocker

Lost Planet
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_LP_Snow47_Cave62.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/LP_Snow47_Cave62.png)

HD 2900 XT
1 6pin, 1 8-pin
8.37.4.2
standard clock (I believe)

I ran to an unusual problem after the first test run above (in the photo). AA will no longer work, it remains at none after I hit the reset button. Obviously a problem with the game itself.

Company of Heroes
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_COH_73_OC_8__43Driver.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/COH_73_OC_8__43Driver.png)
HD 2900 XT
1 6pin, 1 8-pin
8.37.4.3
858/900 using CCC Overclocker

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_COD_71_9.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/COD_71_9.png)
HD 2900 XT
1 6pin, 1 8-pin
8.37.4.2
743/828 standard clocks

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_COD_79_5.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/COD_79_5.png)

HD 2900 XT
1 6pin, 1 8-pin
8.37.4.2
858/900 using CCC Overclocker

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/X1900xtx%20WC/th_COH37_6_1920x1200.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/X1900xtx%20WC/COH37_6_1920x1200.jpg)
x1900XTX
1 6-pin
Cat 7.4
Core clock: 756.00 MHz/Mem clock: 846.00 MHz

3DMark06

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/3d06_10972.png
HD 2900XT at standard clock

Frame Rate............BenchMark
3650.................... Return to Proxyon
2541.................... Firefly Forest
3794.................... Canyon Flight
3910.................... Deep Freeze
Cat 8.37.2, AI OFF

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/3d06_11824.png
Frame Rate............BenchMark
41XX.................... Return to Proxyon
28XX.................... Firefly Forest
43XX.................... Canyon Flight
43XX.................... Deep Freeze
Cat 8.37.2, AI OFF

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/3d06_11775.png
Frame Rate............BenchMark
4050.................... Return to Proxyon
2743.................... Firefly Forest
4260.................... Canyon Flight
4283.................... Deep Freeze
Cat 8.37.2, AI ON

Edit: 5/26/07

The Maze4 does cool the R600 GPU without any modification to the WB.. Also note that DangerDen's website also states that the Maze5 can also cool the R600 without any modification to the WB. The pics will show the Maze4 on the HD 2900XT. Please note that I used the OEM HS to cool the ram and mosfets. I also took measurements to make sure that it will fit.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_OEM_HS_Length.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/OEM_HS_Length.jpg)
Measured the Maze4 contact area


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_OEM_SHIM_Length2.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/OEM_SHIM_Length2.png)
Measured the inner diameter of the shim (space found within the shim)

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_Maze4_GPU_Impress.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/Maze4_GPU_Impress.jpg)
GPU Print fits the Maze4 contact area (corners of the GPU leave no room)


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_2900_Maze4.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/2900_Maze4.jpg)
Front of HD 2900 XT with the Maze4

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_2900_Maze4_Back.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/2900_Maze4_Back.jpg)
Back of the HD 2900 XT with the Maze4

Idle & Load Temps Using OEM HS
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_Idle55C_Load77C.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/Idle55C_Load77C.png)
Do to the nature of AMDGPU it shows both idle and highest temps (load temps)

Idle Temps Using Maze4
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_New_Idle_Temp_41.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/New_Idle_Temp_41.jpg)

I will update with load temps just as soon as I finish breaking in. Ambient is currently 30C

Edit:

Load Temps Using Maze4
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/th_New_Load_Temp_48.jpg (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/New_Load_Temp_48.jpg)
Load temps at 30C Ambient is only 48C (from AMDGPU)
3DMark06 @ 858/900 11838 (only 14 more then with OEM HS. If that means anything)

[Urlyin]

Mind as well start a new thread for this video card which should be released tomorrow. Right now, few have this card but I expect that to change within the next month or so. The first thing we will need to know is how to properly install a water block because the shim is slightly higher then the GPU core. The only water block that I know of that will fit inside the shim is the Maze4/5 as it's designed to fit the x800. From what I remember the x800 also has a shim higher then the GPU core. Also, is the issue with mosfet cooling. This round the mosfet cooler is affixed on the GPU heat sink making it all 1 unit. Once you remove the GPU heat sink you also remove the mosfet heat sink. What we need to know is if you can use the mosfet heat sink from the X1900xt/xtx on the HD 2900XT once you remove the GPU heat sink.

East from what I've seen I don't believe you'll be able to use the one from the x1900 series

[EastCoasthandle]

Thanks for the heads up. I am sure that a good lap on the HS should do it justice.

[TooFast]

anyone know why there is no overdrive option in the CCC???

[DaMulta]

do you have the 8-pin power cable?

[TooFast]

I do have 2 extra 8pins but they are labeled for cpu only. will these work?
i have the Enermax Galaxy 1000

[DaMulta]

Yes that will work.

[TooFast]

[QUOTE=DaMulta;337291]Yes that will work.[/QUOTE

I'll give it a try

[Alcpone]

I knew it wouldnt belong until we saw someone get 1, but two :toast:

[klondike]

Yes that will work.




8 PIN PCIe

(+12V) Yellow.....Black (GND)
(+12V) Yellow.....Black (GND) NOTCH SIDE
(+12V) Yellow.....Black (GND)
(GND)---Black.....Black (GND)



8 PIN CPU

Black (GND).....Yellow (+12V)
Black (GND).....Yellow (+12V) NOTCH SIDE
Black (GND).....Yellow (+12V)
Black (GND).....Yellow (+12V)

Source: PC Power and Cooling 750: http://www.pcpower.com/products/assets/S75Q/specs.pdf

NOT GOOD

I hope his card is OK

[TooFast]

I Didnt Try It Yet!! Thank God. Is There Another Way?

[vivanco]

according to www.enermaxusa.com , galaxy 1000 is DxX ready meaning that you get a 8 pin pcie connector, you should have one, it's colored red.

http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_49&products_id=115&osCsid=c3a043aecf455d937012216355098bec

[Ketxxx]

Benchmarks, OCing, cooler lapping, I expect the full monty boys ;)

[tkpenalty]

dude, just plug in two 6 pins.

[lane]

use AMD clock you can find here... with 2 x PCIe 6pin you can easely overclock ( and i think with one too..) this card is amazing .. wihtout push.. you put 850/1000 in stock cooler..(i have not try more yet..) without problem.. The overdrive can only be show if your plug the 8pin i think.. there's the 8.37 in AMD/ATI knowledge, you can access it by driver download page if this driver is a little bit better, it's not again the pinnacle..



EDIT: again for peoples don't know :...for submit score... rename the direcpll.dll (system32/Futuremark, example with 1.dll ) it will work and you can con launch normally 3D05-06 and submit score.. ( it's just for peoples don't know this tips...)

[TooFast]

according to www.enermaxusa.com , galaxy 1000 is DxX ready meaning that you get a 8 pin pcie connector, you should have one, it's colored red.

http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_49&products_id=115&osCsid=c3a043aecf455d937012216355098bec

now I'm pissed. my power supply does not have this!!!!

[DaMulta]

8 PIN PCIe

(+12V) Yellow.....Black (GND)
(+12V) Yellow.....Black (GND) NOTCH SIDE
(+12V) Yellow.....Black (GND)
(GND)---Black.....Black (GND)



8 PIN CPU

Black (GND).....Yellow (+12V)
Black (GND).....Yellow (+12V) NOTCH SIDE
Black (GND).....Yellow (+12V)
Black (GND).....Yellow (+12V)

Source: PC Power and Cooling 750: http://www.pcpower.com/products/assets/S75Q/specs.pdf

NOT GOOD

I hope his card is OK
I had nooo idea sorry about that and thats for this tip.

Well you could make your own PCI-E 8pin wire job I suppose.

[noneed4me2]

I have the Hiper 580w psu CF certified for the X1900's, one review said when running one 500w or better would be needed. Hope 2xpci/e will work with this PSU cause its awhile before I can afford another. Good news is my card should be here tommorrow from newegg's CA wherehouse.

[TooFast]

I have the older 1000watt galaxy :[ bummer big time.

[noneed4me2]

I have the older 1000watt galaxy :[ bummer big time.

Yours at least has alot of power behind it, I wouldn't swet it, check this out http://www.pcpartscollection.com/4posuto8atxm.html

[Wile E]

Yours at least has alot of power behind it, I wouldn't swet it, check this out http://www.pcpartscollection.com/4posuto8atxm.htmlThat's for the mobo 8pin plug. It won't work on the gfx card 8pin.

@TooFast- I wouldn't worry about it too much. Adapters are likely to appear shortly.

[noneed4me2]

That's for the mobo 8pin plug. It won't work on the gfx card 8pin.

@TooFast- I wouldn't worry about it too much. Adapters are likely to appear shortly.

Glad to know before I wasted twenty bucks on one. Will post as soon as I know if one card works with my PSU. Realy wasn't wasn't planning on overclocking it for awhile anyway, still really don't play anything that pushes my X1900gt anyways, but I do love new techy stuff to play with. My kids will probably find a game that will make good use of it.

[TooFast]

I do have two extra 8 pin, but there for the mobo only :[

[Wile E]

I just ordered the Corsair HX620 to along with my 2900 personally. But that's was only possible because of my tax return. If the psu doesn't come with the 8-pin, Corsair will give you one for free, just pay shipping.

[DaMulta]

I do have two extra 8 pin, but there for the mobo only :[
cut them off and re-wire it:)

[lane]

If you have the Galaxy, you can buy separetely the cable 8pin on Enermax site.. it' s work for all "modular" PSU ( Liberty and Galaxy,)

[TooFast]

nice! i found it on their site, but where can i buy it?

[lane]

Lol, like my OCZ GX850W is killed, i use a Enermax Liberty in wait.. so i have look for this and actually i have not find any shop here... but i will try ask directly Enermax.

[noneed4me2]

which driver do i use from the disc for Sapphire 2900XT. I explore it and see the Vista folder but how will it know which version I have, 32bit or 64bit?

[Alcpone]

which driver do i use from the disc for Sapphire 2900XT. I explore it and see the Vista folder but how will it know which version I have, 32bit or 64bit?

My guess is you have 32bit, thats what your specs say :slap:

[Judas]

My guess is you have 32bit, thats what your specs say :slap:

Hehe...that was a good one :p

[Ketxxx]

My guess is you have 32bit, thats what your specs say :slap:

lol Stewy strikes again :D

[EastCoasthandle]

Does anyone have this video card yet?

[Alcpone]

Does anyone have this video card yet?

Wile E :cool:

[noneed4me2]

Well everything works, using my PSU seems to work fine tooled around in Halo for abit with no issue. Now to sit and wait for some DX10 games and demos. I am using a Hiper 580w PSU and 2pci/e adapters. When I installed it i forgot to connect one of the power adpaters all the way and it still booted fine, but I didn't try to play any games with it disconnected. I increased the voltage to the pci/e bus for good measure. I am notplanning on overclocking it so for stock I can say it runs fine. I have installed the free copy of 3Dmark06 that came with the card but I haven't ran it yet, heard there were issues with hardware recognition. Will report back once. One of the reviewers on Newegg for the Sapphire version has the same psu as me and he also is saying it runs fine. Now to run 2 in CF I would need a recent CF certified 750w or better version but for one 500w or better should PSU work fine.

[noneed4me2]

The driver question was because it didn't offer me a choice when installing, I guess its all auto, but it works so I hope all is well. 3Dmark06 won't run, its funny that they ship an app with a product that won't run, didn't they test it first?

[Wile E]

Here's the solution to the 3Dmark problem.

http://service.futuremark.com/support/search.jsp?cid=14&fid=1311

It hangs on reading the card's clocks.

Also, the AMD GPU Clock Tool will let you overclock without the 8-pin.

[Wile E]

Woooot!! Broke 10k. Set the card clocks to 800/900 using Gpu Clock Tool.

Score = 10091

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=1978522

http://img.techpowerup.org/070517/2900XT _800&900.png

[KennyT772]

anyone know what the top score for a single gtx is?

[x800professor]

anyone know what the top score for a single gtx is?

Over 12,000. I'm not sure exactly. I can tell you that my 8800GTS 320 beat that 2900XT and cost over $180 less. However, the 2900XTs don't do well in synthetic benchmarks because they don't have much texturing power in comparison to the 8800s.

[Wile E]

Over 12,000. I'm not sure exactly. I can tell you that my 8800GTS 320 beat that 2900XT and cost over $180 less. However, the 2900XTs don't do well in synthetic benchmarks because they don't have much texturing power in comparison to the 8800s.You also have to figure that I have an AMD cpu, prof. That plays a big role in 3DMark.

[x800professor]

You also have to figure that I have an AMD cpu, prof. That plays a big role in 3DMark.

Yep...both things lower the score. You'll have to post some real world gaming results to see how that compares to an 8800GTS 320. I can tell you that a 320 can run oblivion with absolutely all sliders maxed out aside from grass distance (which is about 3/4 of the way up) and still never drop below 40fps, even when battling enemies outside next to a gate.

[Wile E]

Hmm, I don't have Oblivion, but on STALKER 1.003, with absolutely everything maxed and turned on, including all shadows and AA/AF @ 1440x900, I hit a low of 40fps outdoors, using Fraps.

EDIT: That's without overclocking the card.

[x800professor]

Hmm, I don't have Oblivion, but on STALKER 1.003, with absolutely everything maxed and turned on, including all shadows and AA/AF @ 1440x900, I hit a low of 40fps outdoors, using Fraps.

EDIT: That's without overclocking the card.

Very nice. How are the temps?

[Wile E]

Very nice. How are the temps?
Actually, I don't know. I haven't looked into anything to monitor them while playing yet. Just messin around still. I wonder if ATItool can read the temps? Guess I'll give it a shot.

EDIT: It apparently does not.

[x800professor]

Actually, I don't know. I haven't looked into anything to monitor them while playing yet. Just messin around still. I wonder if ATItool can read the temps? Guess I'll give it a shot.

EDIT: It apparently does not.

AMD GPU Clock tool evidently works for that.

[Wile E]

AMD GPU Clock tool evidently works for that.Dolt! I completely missed that tab. lol. Thanx prof.

EDIT: Okay, I hit a max of 74c after playing for about 20min

[x800professor]

Dolt! I completely missed that tab. lol. Thanx prof.

EDIT: Okay, I hit a max of 74c after playing for about 20min

That's not bad. Of course, I have no idea how much heat those can take. If its anything like the x19XX series, as long as it isn't 100c, you're fine. You'll have to see how it scales. Sometimes, you add a tiny bit of voltage and gain 20c, other times hardly anything happens...all depends on the card.

[lane]

with a standard OC on CD2 you hit easy more of 13300 stock air cooling..(850/1000) not maxed at all..

with only 3.3ghz on the E6700 i got 12400 on a non fresh install..
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/747/06gt8.png (http://imageshack.us)

For 3D05 you can count directly more of 20K. stock speed with a CD2@3.3ghz too.. with more of 4ghz: 25K easy allway

This is not maxed score at all in stock air cooling.. many have got better.. I wait build my Vapo ( if i can fix the chillcontrol card) and will begin real bench..

I have see the 3D06 bug sometimes.. if you experience low score.. just try relaunch it.. don't know what happend..

[Wile E]

That's not bad. Of course, I have no idea how much heat those can take. If its anything like the x19XX series, as long as it isn't 100c, you're fine. You'll have to see how it scales. Sometimes, you add a tiny bit of voltage and gain 20c, other times hardly anything happens...all depends on the card.My X1800XT with the Accelero X2 hit the same temps. So all things considered, it's not bad.

[noneed4me2]

Here's the solution to the 3Dmark problem.

http://service.futuremark.com/support/search.jsp?cid=14&fid=1311

It hangs on reading the card's clocks.

Also, the AMD GPU Clock Tool will let you overclock without the 8-pin.

Thanx. Well I got it working. I tested at 1680/1050 with all settings maxed hit 8426. Will try with stock settings later and see how high it gets. This is with a Opteron 170 clocked to 2750mhz and using DDR500 2x1gb with a divider at 229.

[mandelore]

Thanx. Well I got it working. I tested at 1680/1050 with all settings maxed hit 8426. Will try with stock settings later and see how high it gets. This is with a Opteron 170 clocked to 2750mhz and using DDR500 2x1gb with a divider at 229.

wow! with all settings maxed? like AA and anisio? and you got that score?? esp on a 2.7Ghz processor!! :respect:

[EastCoasthandle]

Well everything works, using my PSU seems to work fine tooled around in Halo for abit with no issue. Now to sit and wait for some DX10 games and demos. I am using a Hiper 580w PSU and 2pci/e adapters. When I installed it i forgot to connect one of the power adpaters all the way and it still booted fine, but I didn't try to play any games with it disconnected. I increased the voltage to the pci/e bus for good measure. I am notplanning on overclocking it so for stock I can say it runs fine. I have installed the free copy of 3Dmark06 that came with the card but I haven't ran it yet, heard there were issues with hardware recognition. Will report back once. One of the reviewers on Newegg for the Sapphire version has the same psu as me and he also is saying it runs fine. Now to run 2 in CF I would need a recent CF certified 750w or better version but for one 500w or better should PSU work fine.
right click the 3dmark 06 shortcut and click properties and at the end of target (which is "C:\Program Files\Futuremark\3DMark06\3DMark06.exe" add a space followed by -nosysteminfo "C:\Program Files (x86)\Futuremark\3DMark06\3DMark06.exe" -nosysteminfo

[EastCoasthandle]

well did it work?
OR
systemroot/windows/system32/futuremark/msc/
Rename direcpll.dll to something else, like directcpll.bak

[Tatty_One]

Yep...both things lower the score. You'll have to post some real world gaming results to see how that compares to an 8800GTS 320. I can tell you that a 320 can run oblivion with absolutely all sliders maxed out aside from grass distance (which is about 3/4 of the way up) and still never drop below 40fps, even when battling enemies outside next to a gate.

Just run Aquamark 3, it scores seperatly for GPU and CPU, it is pure graphics biased, the cpu performance plays little part in the GPU score I beleive.

[Tatty_One]

Still interested in what Amperage the card draws at load, ATi tool will tell ya Wile if you run the 3D artifact scanner, I am trying to figure if my Thermaltake SLi drive bay 250W secondry PSU will run the card, it obviously has the 2 6 pin PCI-E plugs and each 12V rail carries 13A so 26A in total, any idea's?

[noneed4me2]

well did it work?
OR
systemroot/windows/system32/futuremark/msc/
Rename direcpll.dll to something else, like directcpll.bak

Sorry was away abit. Yeah it worked thanx. Not sure if the copy isn't optimized for the card cause I think my score might be kinda high even with the settings I was using. The install CD is stamped with Sapphires logo going to run again later but everyones clamoring to try out the PC with the new card. Also waiting to see what others are getting. Got the Lost planet Demo to run just haven't had the time to play it (DX10 version of course). I had to fix 2 dll errors in it before it would run. I am looking forward to the DX10 game Spore coming out later this year.

[noneed4me2]

Still interested in what Amperage the card draws at load, ATi tool will tell ya Wile if you run the 3D artifact scanner, I am trying to figure if my Thermaltake SLi drive bay 250W secondry PSU will run the card, it obviously has the 2 6 pin PCI-E plugs and each 12V rail carries 13A so 26A in total, any idea's?

I am running just a 580w Hiper spu and the kids have been playing for hours with Doom and Halo with no issues yet, but I also only have limited other hardware; one harddrive, one optical, no other expansion cards, 2x120mm fans and 2x92mm fans (one a Vantec Tornado), and my PC pretty much is on 24/7. YOu are using a 600w psu although I am not familiar with the brand, I would think you would be OK as it only says you need 750w or better to run 2 cards.

[TooFast]

I cant wait till video cards are external!!!

[hat]

I cant wait till video cards are external!!!
I can.

[trt740]

You also have to figure that I have an AMD cpu, prof. That plays a big role in 3DMark.

My 8800gts goes well in to the 10000+ range even with my 3600x2 it beats your 2900 ,and with my 6000+ does 11111. The 2900 cards are the strangest hardware item I've ever seen. They are either fantastic like in Oblivion or totally suck there is no middle ground performance it's got to be drivers.

[strick94u]

I cant wait till video cards are external!!!

Your day is at hand
http://www.trittontechnologies.com/products/TRIUV100.htm

We use these at the school its an external svga and it works
we use it to extend our windows what my students see and what I see are not the same. but it will run a secound monitor in windows

[strick94u]

My 8800gts goes well in to the 10000+ range even with my 3600x2 it beats your 2900 ,and with my 6000+ does 11111. The 2900 cards are the strangest hardware item I've ever seen. They are either fantastic like in Oblivion or totally suck there is no middle ground performance it's got to be drivers.

You know Nvidia has not released the bad ass drivers for the 8800gts yet they say we will be able to beat the 2900 xt when they come out, oh wait we do now:laugh:


All kidding aside Ati released it to soon to late

[erocker]

cut them off and re-wire it:)

Love it!:D

[erocker]

Still interested in what Amperage the card draws at load, ATi tool will tell ya Wile if you run the 3D artifact scanner, I am trying to figure if my Thermaltake SLi drive bay 250W secondry PSU will run the card, it obviously has the 2 6 pin PCI-E plugs and each 12V rail carries 13A so 26A in total, any idea's?

I know the power peaks right around there. I also wonder how efficient that psu really is? It is dedicated, I certainly would try it.

[Tatty_One]

I know the power peaks right around there. I also wonder how efficient that psu really is? It is dedicated, I certainly would try it.

Hmmmmmm, I will try, at the end of the day, one rail is currently running my GTO at GTX+ overclocks so I think it would, however if it didnt I could always have one rail from the Thermaltake and one rail from the main PSU, that would work well mefinks.

[EastCoasthandle]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/0519_r600_oc3.jpg
Looks like the mosfet ramsink from the X1900xtx DO NOT fit in the holes of the HD 2900XT

EDIT: I checked myself the holes are not far enough apart.

Also you can count 5 black wires on the 8 pin PCIe connector. This should mean 5 ground wires.

[mandelore]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/HD2900/0519_r600_oc3.jpg
Looks like the mosfet ramsink from the X1900xtx will fit in the holes of the HD 2900XT

are those thingies for pouring liquid nitrogen in??

ooh, and i gotta spare x1900xtx voltage reg heatsink :)

[Steevo]

I saw the picture and now I have a woodie. Stable that is.

[EastCoasthandle]

I am sorry, I missed understood that photo. It appears that he had to cut 4 of the fins then drill a hole to get it to fit properly. If you look closely you will see white lines on the red heat sink. This indicates where he cut the fins.
Edit: I updated the OP to include before/after pics of the HS lapped.

[HellasVagabond]

I got one 2900 from a friends store to test it up against my 8800gts 320.

Sapphire X2900XT
1) The max temp i got after 30 mins of playing was 82 degrees ( 74 that a friend here said seem somewhat weird since i also have a 12' fan blowing air into the chassis. )
2) Without OCing the card since i figured it would go well above 90 degrees i got 28fps Avg in Stalker 1.003 outdoors at 1680x1050 everything maxed out with 4xaa , 4xaf with the fraps timed Bench and 39fps Avg in TDU same settings.

With the 8800GTS320 ( Oced )
1) Max temp i get after 30mins of TDU is 72degrees.
2) In Stalker at 1680x1050 everything maxed out with 4xaa , 4af i get 33fps Avg outdoors using the fraps timed bench and 41fps Avg in TDU same settings.

So thats enough about testing this card which i have no doubt it can possibly outperform mine if OCed but not with a big difference. For now im sticking with Nvidia and im glad i didnt wait 3 months for the X2900XT :)

[EastCoasthandle]

I got one 2900 from a friends store to test it up against my 8800gts 320.

Sapphire X2900XT
1) The max temp i got after 30 mins of playing was 82 degrees ( 74 that a friend here said seem somewhat weird since i also have a 12' fan blowing air into the chassis. )
2) Without OCing the card since i figured it would go well above 90 degrees i got 28fps Avg in Stalker 1.003 outdoors at 1680x1050 everything maxed out with 4xaa , 4xaf with the fraps timed Bench and 39fps Avg in TDU same settings.

With the 8800GTS320 ( Oced )
1) Max temp i get after 30mins of TDU is 72degrees.
2) In Stalker at 1680x1050 everything maxed out with 4xaa , 4af i get 33fps Avg outdoors using the fraps timed bench and 41fps Avg in TDU same settings.

So thats enough about testing this card which i have no doubt it can possibly outperform mine if OCed but not with a big difference. For now im sticking with Nvidia and im glad i didnt wait 3 months for the X2900XT :)
:shadedshu
If the CFM of the fan is greater then the CFM of the blower for your video card you will prevent the proper flow of air from circulating. I have a floor blower that I point towards the inside of my case and the results of doing that does increase my temps. In order to get the best out of your fan you have to put it on it's lowest settings and keep it at least 3' from the case IMO. I got you beat by 5C without any additional fans (like yours).
Look at OP for temps

[mandelore]

Without OCing the card since i figured it would go well above 90 degrees i got 28fps Avg in Stalker 1.003 outdoors at 1680x1050 everything maxed out with 4xaa , 4xaf with the fraps timed Bench and 39fps Avg in TDU same settings.


that dont make sense, i get better fps @ 1920x1200 on a single x1900xtx?

[noneed4me2]

Lost planet DX10 has issues for me. It plays fine after fixing the dll errors (2 of them) but has graphical problems I have not seen when running any DX9 apps. It has pixelation problems and serious image quality issues. I hope its not specific to my hardware but a driver issue that will be fixed later but this is the only DX10 software I tried and it left me disappointed. Oh well, all I think can be fixed later with driver updates, the game does play smooth with high settings if you disregard the image quality issues. I am going to download the DX9 version and see how it looks. If anyone else has the same issues running similar or different hardware please post if you have come up with a fix.

[fern420]

hi guys. im having some issues with my 2900's in crossfire using the amg gpu clock tool. when using amd gpu clock tool my number one card by default is showing 743 on the engine clock and 829 on the memory clock and i havnt even over clocked anything whatsoever and its a fresh windows install. i do believe its really running at those clock speeds too because my number one card is always about 15-20 hotter than number 2. on the number two card in showing 506 for the engine clock and 513 on the memory clock and if i change it at all it either freezes and i have to reboot or it just reverts back to the 500 gpu and 500 memory when i load anything 3d.

i know it isnt the card because i switched them around so now its doing the same thing on a different card and i know it isnt a power issue because i switched all the power inputs from the card that does over clock and the one that wont and theres still no difference, im also using a duro 900 watt power supply so i should have plenty of juice.

i wonder if this isnt some limitation with crossfire and 2900xtx in the amd gpu clock tool. has anyone heard of anyone successfully over clocking both 2900's in a crossfire setup uning the amd tool? are there any other programs out there that can over clocks the 2900 yet? im running on a 975 bad axe board so i doubt it can be a board issue. im stumped on this one. i really wish i could find some of the proper 8 pin power connectors so i can just use the built in over clocker. has anyone by chance seen or heard of place selling the new 8 pin pci-e power adapters?

[EastCoasthandle]

hi guys. im having some issues with my 2900's in crossfire using the amg gpu clock tool. when using amd gpu clock tool my number one card by default is showing 743 on the engine clock and 829 on the memory clock and i havnt even over clocked anything whatsoever and its a fresh windows install. on the number two card in showing 506 for the engine clock and 513 on the memory clock and if i change it at all it either freezes and i have to reboot or it just reverts back to the 500 gpu and 500 memory when i load anything 3d.

i know it isnt the card because i switched them around so now its doing the same thing on a different card and i know it isnt a power issue because i switched all the power inputs from the card that does over clock and the one that wont and theres still no difference, im also using a duro 900 watt power supply so i should have plenty of juice.

i wonder if this isnt some limitation with crossfire and 2900xtx in the amd gpu clock tool. has anyone heard of anyone successfully over clocking both 2900's in a crossfire setup uning the amd tool? are there any other programs out there that can over clocks the 2900 yet? im running on a 975 bad axe board so i doubt it can be a board issue. im stumped on this one. i really wish i could find some of the proper 8 pin power connectors so i can just use the built in over clocker. has anyone by chance seen or heard of place selling the new 8 pin pci-e power adapters?

I had issues getting that program to show temps. I had to reboot my computer in order to get it to work. Although it's not similar to your problem, I too am running on a fresh install windows install.

[Wile E]

I got one 2900 from a friends store to test it up against my 8800gts 320.

Sapphire X2900XT
1) The max temp i got after 30 mins of playing was 82 degrees ( 74 that a friend here said seem somewhat weird since i also have a 12' fan blowing air into the chassis. )
2) Without OCing the card since i figured it would go well above 90 degrees i got 28fps Avg in Stalker 1.003 outdoors at 1680x1050 everything maxed out with 4xaa , 4xaf with the fraps timed Bench and 39fps Avg in TDU same settings.

With the 8800GTS320 ( Oced )
1) Max temp i get after 30mins of TDU is 72degrees.
2) In Stalker at 1680x1050 everything maxed out with 4xaa , 4af i get 33fps Avg outdoors using the fraps timed bench and 41fps Avg in TDU same settings.

So thats enough about testing this card which i have no doubt it can possibly outperform mine if OCed but not with a big difference. For now im sticking with Nvidia and im glad i didnt wait 3 months for the X2900XT :)

The person that quoted 74 was me, after 20min of playing STALKER. You also have to realize that my cpu is water cooled, so it doesn't throw heat into my case, and I also have monster airflow in my case.

I have a CM Stacker 830 with 4 120mm 38cfm side intake fans, 1 120mm variable fan blowing in thru my bottom-front mounted rad, and 3 120mm 57cfm(iirc) blowing out from the rear, blow hole, and my top-front mounted hard drive cage. Not to mention the 120mm fan in my psu. All filterless, so they get the max flow possible.

[noneed4me2]

hi guys. im having some issues with my 2900's in crossfire using the amg gpu clock tool. when using amd gpu clock tool my number one card by default is showing 743 on the engine clock and 829 on the memory clock and i havnt even over clocked anything whatsoever and its a fresh windows install. i do believe its really running at those clock speeds too because my number one card is always about 15-20 hotter than number 2. on the number two card in showing 506 for the engine clock and 513 on the memory clock and if i change it at all it either freezes and i have to reboot or it just reverts back to the 500 gpu and 500 memory when i load anything 3d.

i know it isnt the card because i switched them around so now its doing the same thing on a different card and i know it isnt a power issue because i switched all the power inputs from the card that does over clock and the one that wont and theres still no difference, im also using a duro 900 watt power supply so i should have plenty of juice.

i wonder if this isnt some limitation with crossfire and 2900xtx in the amd gpu clock tool. has anyone heard of anyone successfully over clocking both 2900's in a crossfire setup uning the amd tool? are there any other programs out there that can over clocks the 2900 yet? im running on a 975 bad axe board so i doubt it can be a board issue. im stumped on this one. i really wish i could find some of the proper 8 pin power connectors so i can just use the built in over clocker. has anyone by chance seen or heard of place selling the new 8 pin pci-e power adapters?

Fill out your system specs so we can get a better idea of what your working with.

[fern420]

sorry about that. im running a

E6700
muskin redline DDR2-1000
intel D975XBX motherboard board
two sapphire HD2900XT
900 watt duro power supply

im just stumped here on why the second card wont over clock and more so why the #1 card is showing 743 and 828 for clocks. i dont think its a pci-e slot issue either, if i run just one card in the second pci slot it over clocks just fine but once theres two cards in crossfire the #2 card wont over clock with amd gpu tool, the over clocks show in the gpu tool until i load a game or 3d application, it just goes right back to the defaults of 500.

[fern420]

woops double posted, sorry.

[Wile E]

506/513 is the 2d clocks. 743/828 are the 3d clocks. Those are the right numbers.

When you select the second card, do you also select the 3d clock option?

[fern420]

506/513 is the 2d clocks. 743/828 are the 3d clocks. Those are the right numbers.

When you select the second card, do you also select the 3d clock option?


yep, for the second card both 2d and 3d are saying 506/513. i can check the box to put the same clock on both cards and it will until i enter something 3d, then number two goes right back to 2d speeds. could this be a power issue? i do have an entire rail not being used on the power supply (all sata connections) i suppose i could try getting some satat to molex connectors so i can then put the molex to pci-e connection on that, that way one card would be on its own rail. ive yet to converse with anyone that has a 2900 crossfire setup yet though so i cant confirm if another setup gets the same results.

[Wile E]

Sorry man. I only have one 2900. I was just taking a "shot in the dark", so to speak.

Someone really needs to release 8-pin converters, so that 2900 owners with older psus can just use Overdrive in the CCC.

[erocker]

You, do, have all of the power connectors in, right? That board should deffinately have dual electrical x16 slots... Are there any instructions for the motherboard for CF setup? It could be the chipset drivers? Mabye?

[fern420]

yes i have two, 6 pin pci-e connections in each card. is anyone sure if when in crossfire you can even over clock two 2900 cards? if im not mistaken with my two x1900 cards only one would really over clock but i was using the built in overdrive to over clock them so i cant be sure. the intel manual for the board doesn't say much, actually the board has 3 pci-e slots but it does tell you in the book to only use number one and two if running crossfire but thats about the only info it gives.

[spud107]

jus a thought/theory that could just be crap,
maybe the clock speeds just aren't being reported correctly, and the first card is getting hotter cos of the heat rising from second one.

[fern420]

jus a thought/theory that could just be crap,
maybe the clock speeds just aren't being reported correctly, and the first card is getting hotter cos of the heat rising from second one.

i have a Lian LI PC-PC 101 case so its the upside down config. the number one card is on the bottom and it truly is heating up more than the one above it, you can tell just from touching them.

the weirder thing is i can pull the two 6 pin power plugs from the bottom card, the one that is overclocking fine, swap them with the number 2 card and still, #2 wont oc but #1 does just fine so it kinda smashes my power issue myth i think. number one is the card im running my output to the monitor from also if that matters.



EDIT



when all else fails hit the help button i guess. i found this under the help section that was installed with the drivers so id imagine its up to date:

Note: Enabling ATI CrossFire™ for the selected graphics card automatically disables GPU Accelerated Physics for that same card.

Note: When ATI CrossFire™ is successfully enabled, all display devices, except the one used by ATI CrossFire™, will be disabled.

[spud107]

there goes my theory then
srry i couldnt help lol

[Wile E]

Here's another shot in the dark: What about trying to run 2 instances of GPU Clock Tool from 2 different folders? Use one for card 1, and one for card 2.

[fern420]

i think this mean that you can not over clock both cards in crossfire:

Note: Enabling ATI CrossFire™ for the selected graphics card automatically disables GPU Accelerated Physics for that same card.

i didnt think my 1900's both overclocked either, only the slave.


i appreciate the help though guys but if you do hear from another 2900 crossfire owner that can over clock both of his cards please tell. ill let you guys know if i find any of those 8 pin pci-e adaptos, they don't seem to exist yet though.

[Wile E]

Swiftech MCW60 waterblocks work as well, eastcoast. I'll be back with an edit once I find a link.

EDIT: Here it is, continue to the second page of the thread to see his confirmation. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2195987#post2195987

It also seems that the built in heat spreaders of the stock hsf are not actually attached to the core heat sink, apparently you can reuse them to continue to cool the mosfets and ram in a pinch.

[EastCoasthandle]

Has anyone with a HD 2900XT attempted to lap the HS and use AS5?

[Raovac]

You, do, have all of the power connectors in, right? That board should deffinately have dual electrical x16 slots... Are there any instructions for the motherboard for CF setup? It could be the chipset drivers? Mabye?

Just adding to erocker's quote, here is a clip from your MB specs.

- One Primary PCI Express* x16 (electrical x16 or x8) bus add-in card connector
- One Secondary PCI Express* x16 (electrical x8) bus add-in card connector
One PCI Express* x16 (electrical x4) bus add-in card connector

Ati chisets run both slots at X16, whereas Intel MB's run as above. Could this be the issue with the clock difference??

[noneed4me2]

If power is your issue the Hiper 730w models are the cheapest certified CF for the 2900 series http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010320058+50011154&name=HIPER . I have a 580w model and it is rock stable on voltages even with a high overclocked cpu. Plus it comes in a case you can reuse after you install the psu. All other brands and models seem to be in the $200+ range.

[fern420]

i came across this is the release notes for the most current drivers under the known crossfire issues, i think this is my culprit right here, im running 1920x1200.

"Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 or above on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT no longer results in the card using 3D clock settings"

i should still get 3d clock speeds on both cards when in something 3d yet the one card will stay at 2d clock speeds inside 3d programs.

tried a little test after i read that by turning everything down to 1024x768. i opened up 3d mark with the amd gpu tool open to check on the speeds but number two did show 2d for current speed while number one showed full 3d clocks, since i had 3d mark opened. heres the kicker though, in the gpu clock when i would select show current gpu then switch from one card to the other really quickly number two showed a 3d clock for just a second then back to 2d and it had to be that card since the 3d clock speed it showed was just fractions from the clock number one showed as current so it wasnt just the info from number one hanging in the program.


i just submitted a ticket to amd/ati so hopefully they can shed some light on it.

[lane]

For peoples with cfire.. it's cause the sofware you are use.. is not working for Overclock in cfire yet... All peoples have this issue.
it's only OC the first card.. You need wait ATi tool for this.. (ATI T. have work perfectly with X19xx series for OC both cards....)

[fern420]

i got a reply from ati customer care. they say my duro 900 is not enough power for two cards, apparently 900 watts just wont cut it and thats why my number two will not kick into 3d clock speeds. im a little skeptical on that one but they seem to be sure so ill order a new power supply and see if it helps the issue.

[Tatty_One]

i got a reply from ati customer care. they say my duro 900 is not enough power for two cards, apparently 900 watts just wont cut it and thats why my number two will not kick into 3d clock speeds. im a little skeptical on that one but they seem to be sure so ill order a new power supply and see if it helps the issue.

I find that VERY strange, I read a test review just last night, I think from Techguage that tested two 2900XT's in crossfire against the 8800Ultra, the crossfire rig contained a Quad core seriously overclocked, 4GB Ram, 2 opticals, 4HDD's etc etc and they used an OCZ 750W PSU with no issues at all.

[fern420]

now on my power supply i do have one entire rail going unused because they are sata, im not sure if that could factor in but the tech that i conversed with knew what he was talking about, as soon as i said i have a duro 900 he said "isnt enough" he knew about my power supply and even told me that the duro was just a re branded product from the silver team company and its actually only 750 watts and 900 peek. he refereed me to the good old ati crossfire certified equipment page.

luckily there was a cheaper alternative than a entirely new power supply, this juice box (http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-EP450CD) is 2900 crosssfire certified as shown on the ati/amd crossfire page (http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire/buildyourown2.html) as 2900xt crossfire certified so i ordered one. it has the two 8 pin pcie connectors and two 6 pin connectors.

i hate to run two power supplies but im just not going to go pop $300 on a new power supply when i have this monster already. the only thing that gets me is i see other 750watt power supplies listed as 2900 crosssfire ready. i wonder if it isnt a amp deal, where my power supply isnt putting out the proper amps.

i forgot to mention the power supply is running my water cooling system too, i probably should of mentioned that. i also suspect that having two six pin pci-e power connections to each card instead of one 6 pin and one 8 pin to each is also playing a part in this whole fiasco. that power supply they used in that review has two 6 pin pci-e and two 4 pin connectors where as mine does not. ill definitely give you guys an update when i get the other psu. although from what i read in the drivers release notes there are some issues with the clock speeds at resolutions over 1600x1200. the drivers are a little fubared still. hopefully they do release a new one this week.

[Wile E]

What's UVD?

[x800professor]

What's UVD?

Ultraviolet diapers. Or...Unifed Video Decoder. Read about it here:

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/ati_2900xt/3.html

[Wile E]

I'm not concerned then. My cpu can more than handle it.

[MarcusTaz]

Just confirmed the card does not have UVD= video decode acceleration logic:

http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/12552


Man I am torn on whether to get this card or not... I have 2 mobo's both Asus:

A8N32SLI-Deluxe
A8R32MVP-Deluxe

If I go Nvidia, it would be the 8800GTX and I would keep the Nvidia Chipset mobo
But if I go 2900XT of course I would use my crossfire mobo and sell the other platform.

Either way I have to sell one and I just cannot make my mind up...

Help :o

[badsykes]

For future 2900 series
for today 8800 series..

[EastCoasthandle]

I have updated the OP with photos of R600 with the Maze4

[Wile E]

Sweeeet!!! Thanx EastCoast. All I wanted to know is if I could use the stock heatspreader with a water block, to save money on ramsinks. My next upgrades are now a 3x120mm rad and a gpu block.

[MarcusTaz]

oh well I took the plunge, if it does now own up to my expectations fleybay it shall go.... Just to let you boys know I got the Diamond HD2900XT for 341.99 and here is how.

www.buy.com has the diamond make for 399.99.

http://www.buy.com/prod/Diamond_Radeon_2900XT_512MB_PCI_Express_x16_Video_ Card/q/loc/101/204584591.html

I then got a 7% coupon for the memorial day weekend, get it here:

http://www.buy.com/retail/coupon.asp?prid=80261253&adid=17581&dcaid=17581

that will bring the cost down to $371.99

Then I applied for the buy.com visa and the 1st purchase gets you $30 more off to a total of:

$341.99



Hope this helps some of you get a sweet deal...

[MarcusTaz]

I have updated the OP with photos of R600 with the Maze4


Eastcoast can you direct me to your link of pics? Not sure what the "OP" means... :)

[Wile E]

Eastcoast can you direct me to your link of pics? Not sure what the "OP" means... :)
OP= Original Post.

He just means the first post in this thread.

[MarcusTaz]

Cool thanks, oh and that deal you can get free shipping and no tax.... w00t!!!

[MarcusTaz]

I have updated the OP with photos of R600 with the Maze4


Eastcoast nice pics man. Hey that backplate on the GPU you used electrical tap as an insulator from the surface mount components? Hey man do you have plans to maybe use like an epoxy resin for that plate to ensure nothing pokes through the tape and short circuits?

[Wile E]

Couldn't you technically just use the stock back-plate for the block?

[EastCoasthandle]

Eastcoast nice pics man. Hey that backplate on the GPU you used electrical tap as an insulator from the surface mount components? Hey man do you have plans to maybe use like an epoxy resin for that plate to ensure nothing pokes through the tape and short circuits?

You notice that huh? That neoprene material is very important, if the metal comes into contact with any live components you may mess up your video card. I've had that for about a year and I found 1 hole in it. I didn't want to take any chances and the replacement for it (comes as a kit) does cost more then I expected. I figured electrical tape is a cost effective solution.
As far as epoxy resin goes, no not at all right now.

[EastCoasthandle]

Couldn't you technically just use the stock back-plate for the block?

The stock backplate's screws are not removable. And, the Maze4 base plate fits just fine.

[MarcusTaz]

Cool man, but just to let you know the epoxy resin is a very inexpensive solution. I mean the black vinal tape works and all but if you are an anal nut like myself then all ya have to do is put that plate on a work surface and just give it a couple of coats of resin and wala... insulated and hard, no pokey through.... :>)))

[MarcusTaz]

Hey no one commented on my deal... I hope some people see it... Maybe I will make a new thread. Also the http://www.theinquirer.net posted an article on the whole UVD fisaco... Read it here:

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39884


It is sad to see AMD/ATI getting bashed on this but after reading this article I think they are to blame.. :banghead:

[EastCoasthandle]

Hey no one commented on my deal... I hope some people see it... Maybe I will make a new thread. Also the http://www.theinquirer.net posted an article on the whole UVD fisaco... Read it here:

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39884


It is sad to see AMD/ATI getting bashed on this but after reading this article I think they are to blame.. :banghead:

I read it and it's a good deal :D. And I honestly don't feel sorry for them. That's an important feature if you are into HTPC HD/BR). For regular DVD its just fine but the whole issue with UVD is that it can decode HD/BR with a very slow CPU. Look at the links below for examples:

TESTBED
http://tinyurl.com/2va6xh

Results of Behind Enemy Line using AMD 2800 + 1.6 WinXP
http://tinyurl.com/355abx

Results of Open Season Line using AMD 2800 + 1.6 WinX
http://tinyurl.com/345g33

Results of X-men Last Stand Line using AMD 2800 + 1.6 WinX

Now are there a a lot of people with a 2800+? That's not really the point here, the issue is that UVD does in fact decode HD/BR with little effort from the CPU.

[noneed4me2]

Just confirmed the card does not have UVD= video decode acceleration logic:

http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/12552


Man I am torn on whether to get this card or not... I have 2 mobo's both Asus:

A8N32SLI-Deluxe
A8R32MVP-Deluxe

If I go Nvidia, it would be the 8800GTX and I would keep the Nvidia Chipset mobo
But if I go 2900XT of course I would use my crossfire mobo and sell the other platform.

Either way I have to sell one and I just cannot make my mind up...

Help :o


I have the A8R32 mvp deluxe, good board. Don't use 0701, stick with 0602, the manual memory dividers don't work. Only the Auto settings work and they set the ram at 133 only, at least everyone I have talked too using this bios has said they have the same issue.

[MarcusTaz]

I have the A8R32 mvp deluxe, good board. Don't use 0701, stick with 0602, the manual memory dividers don't work. Only the Auto settings work and they set the ram at 133 only, at least everyone I have talked too using this bios has said they have the same issue.

Dude thanks so much, since flashing I cannot OC for crap... Thanks for the heads up, flashing back to 0602.... :toast:

[Wile E]

I read it and it's a good deal :D. And I honestly don't feel sorry for them. That's an important feature if you are into HTPC HD/BR). For regular DVD its just fine but the whole issue with UVD is that it can decode HD/BR with a very slow CPU. Look at the links below for examples:

TESTBED
http://tinyurl.com/2va6xh

Results of Behind Enemy Line using AMD 2800 + 1.6 WinXP
http://tinyurl.com/355abx

Results of Open Season Line using AMD 2800 + 1.6 WinX
http://tinyurl.com/345g33

Results of X-men Last Stand Line using AMD 2800 + 1.6 WinX

Now are there a a lot of people with a 2800+? That's not really the point here, the issue is that UVD does in fact decode HD/BR with little effort from the CPU.But who in their right mind is gonna put a 2900 in such an underpowered system?

[EastCoasthandle]

But who in their right mind is gonna put a 2900 in such an underpowered system?

A lot of people who HTPC do so on a budget. What you need to take into account is the fact that this review shows NO (let me repeat that NO) video card decoding of any kind. This is not an issue of using a slow CPU. It's an issue that there is NO video card decoding using a single die, cpu. Therefore, you can take a good guess how much CPU usage maybe using a dual/quad core (IE more processors). The more CHEAPER video card with UvD reduces cpu usage down to 5%. Something is wrong here. I I hope that drivers will fix this and get it down to <20% but that remains to be seen.

[Wile E]

I see exactly where you're coming from, Eastcoast. It should definitely offload some video processing, but my only point is that you should have a cpu that's perfectly capable of playing HD content before you even consider this card. Therefore, it shouldn't keep you from enjoying HD content.

I'm a little upset it doesn't offload anything, it would be very nice. It's just not a necessity.

[EastCoasthandle]

I see exactly where you're coming from, Eastcoast. It should definitely offload some video processing, but my only point is that you should have a cpu that's perfectly capable of playing HD content before you even consider this card. Therefore, it shouldn't keep you from enjoying HD content.

I'm a little upset it doesn't offload anything, it would be very nice. It's just not a necessity.
CPU's were not design (specifically) to play HD/BR. That's the problem. People get stuttering, skipping problems if the HD/BR player becomes to dependant on the CPU.

[MarcusTaz]

Do we smell a Class Action Lawsuit against AMD/ATi for this debacle? I mean who is to blame, the ATI partners or AMD/ATI? If people bought this card for a HTPC for this reason for the UVD, then did then not buy the card under false pretences? Just thinking outloud here... :nutkick:

[lane]

Why? cause shop don't read spec of the card?... All review over internet have say the UVD is only for 2600-2400 cards.. (not Daylitech, when you lift NDA, forget to get info or invit by AMD/ATI, Intel or nividia (in the case it was an Nvidia nda))..

Guru3D on 12 May.. write the UVD is only for 2600-2400, basically the 2900 don't need it like the 2600-2400.. spec given by AMD about the 2900XT have never mention the UVD, but HD Avivo2.. to understand too..actually the 8.36-8.37 and beta 8.38 don't use the Avivo HD for decode Blue ray/HDCP, HDMI.. but only CPU... Catalyst will implement it only on 7.5 (so official 8.38).. Clubic. com same... and all other review i have see talking about the 2900XT, have say same.. this was the info they have got from AMD, or reading the spec of the card..

At same time: on AMD site, the spec of R600 series mention each time, the 2900XT don't use the UVD, but only the new HD Avivo 2..

n AMD talk about R600 Some shop have make the exact misstake i have make reading the April annouces of the UVD, when they was talking about the R600 series.. ( so it was more with our new generation card, if ready we will implement the UVD..)..

Is the reason they have not release the 2600-2400 at same time of the 2900XT?.. certainly the UVD was the last feature announced, and i can think they have got not enough time for do a new PCB for the 2900... But on the low model and specially on the Laptop GPU's.. this feature will be really great..

[Wile E]

CPU's were not design (specifically) to play HD/BR. That's the problem. People get stuttering, skipping problems if the HD/BR player becomes to dependant on the CPU.I haven't tried BluRay, but HD-DVD plays flawlessly for me using PowerDVD 7.3. (Note: I'm not arguing, just giving my own experiences for sake of comparison.) Last time I tried I was clocked at 2.6GHz, never tried lower. CPU usage was very high, but not high enough to cause problems.

[EastCoasthandle]

I haven't tried BluRay, but HD-DVD plays flawlessly for me using PowerDVD 7.3. (Note: I'm not arguing, just giving my own experiences for sake of comparison.) Last time I tried I was clocked at 2.6GHz, never tried lower. CPU usage was very high, but not high enough to cause problems.

How high? And which cpu/video card are you using?

[Wile E]

Around 40% usage at 2.6GHz on my Brisbane X2 4000+ and 2900XT.

[EastCoasthandle]

Around 40% usage at 2.6GHz on my Brisbane X2 4000+ and 2900XT.

Not to bad but still pretty high. I will be interested to know what the new cat drivers will do. Also, I wonder if the 60% performance is do to the HD 2900XT & cpu or just the raw power of the processor? How does a video card not perform using a lower, single die processor then turn on with a X2 4000+ is used? :confused:

[lane]

what driver? cause they have talk about only available on 7.5 official.. so it will reduce it a little bit ( don't wait miracle)... for the poor info i get.. actually it's uding only CPu... on the test i have see the 8800 take too around 40%..

[mandelore]

Dude thanks so much, since flashing I cannot OC for crap... Thanks for the heads up, flashing back to 0602.... :toast:

shit man, ive got that bios!!! flashing back to 602!!!!

[zekrahminator]

I haven't tried BluRay, but HD-DVD plays flawlessly for me using PowerDVD 7.3. (Note: I'm not arguing, just giving my own experiences for sake of comparison.) Last time I tried I was clocked at 2.6GHz, never tried lower. CPU usage was very high, but not high enough to cause problems.

How do you afford all this stuff :roll:.

[Wile E]

How do you afford all this stuff :roll:.
Credit Cards. :roll: That, and a nice tax return.

The HDDVD playback was with the XBox 360 add-on, btw. Forgot to mention that.

[EastCoasthandle]

Here is a article about it at TechReport (http://techreport.com/ja.zz?comments=12552)

[EastCoasthandle]

Interesting read over at Dangerden (http://www.dangerden.com)

[MarcusTaz]

Interesting read over at Dangerden (http://www.dangerden.com)

Nice, I saw that last night! :toast:

Defintetly seems the cheaper way to go...

The current block they are building is prob going to be big bucks, I would think $130+

http://www.dangerden.com/images/stories/posts/r600-top-original.jpg


BTW ordered the SWIFTECH|H20-120 Watercooled system yesterday so may be asking you a lot of questions... 1st water cooled system build.. :D

[EastCoasthandle]

Nice, I saw that last night! :toast:

Defintetly seems the cheaper way to go...

The current block they are building is prob going to be big bucks, I would think $130+

http://www.dangerden.com/images/stories/posts/r600-top-original.jpg


BTW ordered the SWIFTECH|H20-120 Watercooled system yesterday so may be asking you a lot of questions... 1st water cooled system build.. :D
No problem, but you mayl later want to watercool your GPU as well. Which will require a larger rad. I did the same thing and in the end purchased a 3 fan rad.

[MarcusTaz]

Ah man... So that rad will not do both? I should have known...

Well I have a P180 case and I was trying to mimic Swifttechs P180 cooling case, check it out here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108092

After doing the research on swiftech's site I realized that is was just a

SWIFTECH|H20-120 Watercooled system:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108075

Thes best thing about this is everything is inside.. I do not want stuff hanging out the back etc... I like it all contained inside...

Hey more more question... People talk about evaporation in some units and gunk junk in the lines etc.. Why not just use automotive coolant, glycol?? I mean it hast rust inhibators and lubricant in it and it is made strictly for cooling.

[MarcusTaz]

oh check this rig out 2 rads on this case but one is outside i guess to make room for the other....

Pic 3 towards the bottom..

http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/features/103082/school-of-hard-clocks/page4.html

btw you have some pics of your rig with the 2900XT installed??? Common man postem up!

[EastCoasthandle]

Radbox can support some 3 fan rads. Larger 3 fan rads like PA120.3 I am not sure about.

[Tatty_One]

Still trying to decide on what card(s) to get for my Birthday, do you think that my Thermaltake drive bay Sli PSU will run the 2900XT with it's two 6 pin PCI_E connectors, it has 250W and 25 Amps (13 and 12) available, otherwise I am going two 8600GTS's in SLi.

[MarcusTaz]

I currently have 2 EVGA 7900 GT KO in SLI and if you ask me it is overrated... Doing this again 1 great card cooled properly is the way to go. That is why I have the 2900XT on the way. In time this card will shine with proper drivers, and for the money it is def the better value...

Again IMHO your are better off with 1 great card then 2 mediocre cards...

[Tatty_One]

I currently have 2 EVGA 7900 GT KO in SLI and if you ask me it is overrated... Doing this again 1 great card cooled properly is the way to go. That is why I have the 2900XT on the way. In time this card will shine with proper drivers, and for the money it is def the better value...

Again IMHO your are better off with 1 great card then 2 mediocre cards...

I think you are right, certainly in DX10 I am guessing (hoping) the 2900XT is the way to go, thing is we dont really know yet, 2x 8600GTS sit somewhere between the 320 and 640MB 8800GTS performance wise according to the reviews I have read and in the UK I can get them for a total price which is £50 or $100 less than the 2900XT, the fact is tho I dont want to uprate my PSU so thats why I am kind of hoping 250W with 25 amps would power an overclocked 2900XT at load???? for me that is as much the deciding factor as what performance I MAY get from the single slot solution in the future, currently there is not I think enuff difference in DX9 between the 2 setups to warrant the extra money....dunno, still not sure TBH.

[erocker]

I think the PSU could do it. Is there any way to lead two more wires to make one connector an 8-pin?

[Tatty_One]

I think the PSU could do it. Is there any way to lead two more wires to make one connector an 8-pin?

Dunno, good point, I will have a look at that tomorrow.

[MarcusTaz]

You have plenty of power... Why not use a 6 pin off the 600 watt and then take your 2 6 pins and converted to a 8 pin from the Thermaltake??? It can be done can it not?

My Antec 650 tri cool has 2 6 pin pci-e and on 8 pin CPU which i plan on converting to a 8 pin PCI-E buy changing the pinout...

There will be plenty of convertors out soon, now that there is a market... but if you have some knowledge of wiring and are confident it can be done...

[Tatty_One]

You have plenty of power... Why not use a 6 pin off the 600 watt and then a 6 pin converted to a 8 pinn of the thermaltake??? i can be done can it not?

I'll have to look tomorrow, am not that "teccie" so might have to google for some help.

[MarcusTaz]

here check this out just found it:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=21721

I also noticed that your mobo is the 650 chipset... Correct me if I am wrong but that only runs one card at 16x and SLI is 8x each. If that is the case then I would say no to SLI as it is just a source for bottlenecking and with the new games comming out I would say to keep all the bandwidth you can on the PCI-E bus. Go for the 2900XT...

[Tatty_One]

here check this out just found it:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=21721

I also noticed that your mobo is the 650 chipset... Correct me if I am wrong but that only runs one card at 16x and SLI is 8x each. If that is the case then I would say no to SLI as it is just a source for bottlenecking and with the new games comming out I would say to keep all the bandwidth you can on the PCI-E bus. Go for the 2900XT...

It is 8x in sli but no matter, read a review at Anandtech last week, they tested 2 8800GTX's on the 680i chipset @ 16x16 and on the 650i @ 8 x 8............only an average of 2-3% performance difference not enuff to even notice, a couple of FPS at most. may be different of course in DX10 wth different/greater demands on the architecture but at the end of the day, if we are buying today we can only go on what we know.

[EastCoasthandle]

I deleted a bunch of crap fanboy-flaming.

Thank you
----------------------------
Back at the ranch... I wonder when these new cats are going to be released? I read the 31st but not sure. I am curious if Cat 7,5 fix some of the issues and increase performance...

[Wile E]

Yeah, what the hell did I miss? lol

Oh, and congrats on the front page of Dangerden, Eastcoast. I noticed it last night. My next 2 purchases are now a Maze5 and a Stealth GTS 360.

[mandelore]

dammit, the uk yet again misses out on a hissy fit :p (j/k)

[tkpenalty]

same.

HD2900XT's shim should be lower and the copper base is FAR TOO THICK. the heatpipes arent really doing their job.

[MarcusTaz]

Yeah, what the hell did I miss? lol

Oh, and congrats on the front page of Dangerden, Eastcoast. I noticed it last night. My next 2 purchases are now a Maze5 and a Stealth GTS 360.


Ah you missed nothing, just a little argument over the 8800 and the R600....


Thanks for keeping the thread clean and my 2900XT arives today!! Will post some pics ASAP! w00t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[EastCoasthandle]

Once the thumbnail expands on your screen, click on the photo again to get the original size of the photo.

All is set to max at 1680x1050 shadows on high.
AA 4X
AF 16x through CCC

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/th_DiRTDemo2007-05-3007-41-35-62.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/DiRTDemo2007-05-3007-41-35-62.png)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/th_DiRTDemo2007-05-3007-41-28-29.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/DiRTDemo2007-05-3007-41-28-29.png)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/th_DiRTDemo2007-05-3007-40-24-95.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/DiRTDemo2007-05-3007-40-24-95.png)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/th_DiRTDemo2007-05-3007-36-19-01.png (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/eastcoasthandle/DiRTDemo2007-05-3007-36-19-01.png)

[MarcusTaz]

Nice pics man... I forgot to mention I ordered a Westinghouse 37 inch 1080P LCD max rez 1920x1080 from Costco for $800. i will let you know how Dirt looks on it! Will post some pics ASAP...

[Tatty_One]

Having not seen the posts as I was tucked up in bed I cannot specifically comment but I know TRt well enuff to know that he is never agressive or insulting in a post period.

With regard to Wazz's comment however:

"In the future, please refrain from debating over hardware you don't possess in a feedback thread".

I have just read through the thread and there is a lot of comment and some degree of debate/views posted by what appears to be Non 2900XT owners....enuff said. All I did was ask a question about power requirements and options available to me, I can only imagine that from there it broke out into a "this card is best" scenario to cause the deletions.

[Urlyin]

Proactive moderation ... these things do tend to spiral guys...

trt740.. all's good .. brush it off and lets move on :toast:

[zekrahminator]

http://www.forumspile.com/Kittens/Kitten_109.jpg.

[Tatty_One]

http://www.forumspile.com/Kittens/Kitten_109.jpg.

Lol.....what a calming influence.

[Judas]

Well i ordered my Sapphire 2900XT , i decided to go red this time. Now have figure out how to connect it :p

Edit : damn now have to get sig changed

[yogurt_21]

lol's anywho

I'm getting my galaxy 1kw and hd2900xt on friday, my mobo will probaly be back from rma next week, which is unfortunate cause I'll be in rome on my honeymoon. so rig eta is now 6/20/07 lol's

oh yeah and has anyone checked vr zone lately? they keep updating their review.
http://vr-zone.com/index.php?i=4946&s=21

16k in 06 with a single card is pretty sweet.

[anticlutch]

I think what was out of control was the "benchmarks" that you posted. Not that I have anything against it personally, but I also think that 11k for 3dm06 is pushing it, especially at stock clocks. Either way however, bringing 8800's into this topic does seem to be irrevalent. this is a 2900xt overclocking thread, not an 8800 overclocking thread.

[trt740]

You guy I've seen the light sorry about all this the 2900xt is a very good card a little pricey and hot but not really all that bad enfact it's a true improvement over the x1900xt my apologies to all. My 8800gts was never at at stock in the benches I posted not sure were that came from . I corrected that but you wouldn't know wazzl removed my post stating that and the benchmarks I post with both cards overclocked, with similar Brisbane cpus at or near 3.0 ghz. Have a great day guys good luck with your cards.

[yogurt_21]

yeah well perfromance wasn't my main thing (obviously otherwise I'd have the 8800 ultra lol jk) but the hdmi features and native crossfire make it a much better appeal to me, especially with one of the few remaining am2 crossfire boards.

[HellasVagabond]

Yea also the NOISE , Power Consumption and Drivers are the reason why id never get that card.
And in the VRZONEs review with a Quad Core OCed at 4.2ghz , Memories way over 1000mhz and an X2900XT OCed via voltmodding at 1000mhz core and 2000mhz memories the 16.000k in 3dmark2006 aint that impressive.

[MarcusTaz]

Yea also the NOISE , Power Consumption and Drivers are the reason why id never get that card.
And in the VRZONEs review with a Quad Core OCed at 4.2ghz , Memories way over 1000mhz and an X2900XT OCed via voltmodding at 1000mhz core and 2000mhz memories the 16.000k in 3dmark2006 aint that impressive.

Here we go again... Noise????? Noise you say?? First off I just installed the card and noise is not an issue... At idle the card is in 2D mode and is wisper quite, during gaming is when 3D mode kicks in and it is not all that much louder then my friends 8800GTX and to boot who sits there an listens to a card cool itself when you either have a headset on or cranking speakers??? Please already... :rolleyes:

Sorry mods if I overstepped my bounds here but enough is enough on these negitive post about this card, people always get sucked into the hype and negative angle...

Will post pics soon people, card kicks A@# and I am loving it already.. BF2 at full everything , COD2 at full setting in DX9, tongiht gonna race GTR-2 all night, loving it all.. Thanks for the great forums...

[Ketxxx]

7 pages..... and barely any results to compare and look at. Bow your heads in shame people :shadedshu

[yogurt_21]

I'll post up plenty after june 20th, afraid i can't get any sooner lol.

and 16k in 06 on a single card is impressive no matter how you look at it, I mean seriously are you anywhere close to that? no? then wtf?

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=1788029
pretty close to a quad core with dual overclocked 8800gts cards. and remeber were talking single vs dual here.

seriously wtf, take your lack of knowledge on the subject elsewhere.

[Tatty_One]

I'll post up plenty after june 20th, afraid i can't get any sooner lol.

and 16k in 06 on a single card is impressive no matter how you look at it, I mean seriously are you anywhere close to that? no? then wtf?

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=1788029
pretty close to a quad core with dual overclocked 8800gts cards. and remeber were talking single vs dual here.

seriously wtf, take your lack of knowledge on the subject elsewhere.

Actually 16K in 3D Mark 2006 is impressive....well it is for me anyways! However, that is not a standard card so TBH in aint fair to quote it, I am sure that someone could do similar with the GTX etc etc. The only fair way to measure any cards performance is from stock purely cause everyone gets different results when overclocking.

[Easy Rhino]

card kicks A@# and I am loving it already.. BF2 at full everything , COD2 at full setting in DX9, tongiht gonna race GTR-2 all night, loving it all.. Thanks for the great forums...

i can do all that with my x1800xt ...

[fern420]

hi guys,

just wanted to do a follow up here. i got a power supply that was ati approved for 2900xt crossfire and i still have the same problem, my number two card will not go into 3d clock speeds, it just stays at 2d clock speeds all the time and if i use the amdgpuclocktool to change the 3d clock to the proper setting it just reverts back to 2d whenever i go into a 3d program. im at my wits end here, im almost ready to return both of these cards. does anyone here run a 2900xt crossfire setup? can they confirm if their second card is going into 3d clock speeds? the best and easiest way is to check the temps, my number one card runs almost 20 degrees hotter than my number two {the one not going into 3d speed}

i just dont know what to do and i tested each card on its own and they are fine, they go into 3d clock speeds just fine and even over clock flawlessly alone but once in crossfire that number two wont stick to 3d clock settings. amd's level 2 techs sound like a best buy employee, he was just pulling at straws and making guesses, he had no idea but also said he never heard of it happening. im just wondering if this is a common problem or is it just me.

[MarcusTaz]

Only advise I have it maybe driver limitation... I will have another 2900XT a by the end of the day today. Purchased another one for a friend in Canada.. Need to test it before shipping to him but I will setup crossfire anyway to test and wil let you know if I experiance the same issue... Will post back later when I have some results for you...

[fern420]

Only advise I have it maybe driver limitation... I will have another 2900XT a by the end of the day today. Purchased another one for a friend in Canada.. Need to test it before shipping to him but I will setup crossfire anyway to test and wil let you know if I experiance the same issue... Will post back later when I have some results for you...


please do, im eager to hear your results. im at my wits end here and i know some people at the xtremesystems forum said they can not over clock card number 2 on a 2900 crossfire setup but their 3d mark scores are right in line with mine so i wonder if they even checked to see if card two was reverting to 2d clock speeds when they entered a game. the heat will be your dead giveaway, just keep the side off your case so they have max cooling and see if one card isnt running 10-15 degrees hotter than the other in amdgpuclocktool even at idle.

i just wanted to add this problem only happens when crossfire is enabled, if its disabled both card hold their 3d clock speed just fine but as soon as i enable crossfire card 2 gets shut down to 2d clock speeds all the time.

[Tatty_One]

Are you guys aware that there are already some modded driver sets out there for the 2900XT??? I dont know if they address any of the issues there are or how good they are but I came across this by accident, most of you have probably already looked in any case:

http://www.dna-drivers.com/page.php?al=alias8224

Think you may have to register to get them as I could not find tha actual download link.

[fern420]

Are you guys aware that there are already some modded driver sets out there for the 2900XT??? I dont know if they address any of the issues there are or how good they are but I came across this by accident, most of you have probably already looked in any case:

http://www.dna-drivers.com/page.php?al=alias8224

Think you may have to register to get them as I could not find tha actual download link.

many thanks, ill give them a shot. the new cat and drivers are supposed to be out today but i sure wont hold my breath, hehe.

[fern420]

interesting find i just made. i went and set the 3d clock speeds in amdgpuclocktool BEFORE i enabled crossfire and low and behold the 3d clocks stuck! ive only tested one game, lego starwars 2 but im off to test some more right now. when i hit the show current clocks button amdgpuclocktool did show 3d clocks on both cards as i was alt and tabbed out although the number one card is still almost 20 degrees hotter.

this method seems to be working in BF2 too, both cards are staying in 3d clock speeds while playing bf2, atleast amdgpuclocktool shows them both at 3d clock speeds when i alt and tab out but the one is still much hotter. i wonder if this isn't just an issue with amdgpuclocktool not displaying the clocks properly because i tried after a reboot, i didn't adjust anything, just opened the clock tool and sure enough card number two says its 3d clock speed is set exactly the same as its 2d speed but when i loaded a game and alt and tabbed out the temp screen is amdgpuclocktool showed both cards running at 3d clock speeds but man that one is so much hotter and i don't even have the side on the case, it has massive airflow.

http://home.comcast.net/~fern420/cf.JPG

[MarcusTaz]

please do, im eager to hear your results. im at my wits end here and i know some people at the xtremesystems forum said they can not over clock card number 2 on a 2900 crossfire setup but their 3d mark scores are right in line with mine so i wonder if they even checked to see if card two was reverting to 2d clock speeds when they entered a game. the heat will be your dead giveaway, just keep the side off your case so they have max cooling and see if one card isnt running 10-15 degrees hotter than the other in amdgpuclocktool even at idle.

i just wanted to add this problem only happens when crossfire is enabled, if its disabled both card hold their 3d clock speed just fine but as soon as i enable crossfire card 2 gets shut down to 2d clock speeds all the time.

Great news!

Like I said will let you know, but as far as returning them for this issue, I say give it a little time, more then likely it is just a driver limitation. I ran 2 EVGA 7900GT KO before making the switch to ATI and let me tell you, SLI did not come for quite a while.. I did much research on SLI and basically Nvidia needs to trick (per say) Vista into thinking it is just 1 video card otherwise it will not run. So I have a hunch ATI just needs to give you the proper driver to get crossfire working....

Will post when I get the the other one installed. Fedex usually gets here 6-7PM EST USA, so will prob not be until later on.... :)

[MarcusTaz]

CAt 7.5 are out.. I got the card Fedex just delivered but I just realized I do not have enough PCI-E connectors to do Crossfire, unless anyone has a suggestion to run the 2?

[fern420]

CAt 7.5 are out.. I got the card Fedex just delivered but I just realized I do not have enough PCI-E connectors to do Crossfire, unless anyone has a suggestion to run the 2?

hmm, you could always use a couple of those molex to pci-e adapters if you have any laying around. im cleaning out my old drivers right now to try the new ones. i think allot of my problem is the amdgpuclocktool not displaying the proper clock speeds but i still just cant figure out why that one card is so much hotter than the other.

[Wile E]

hmm, you could always use a couple of those molex to pci-e adapters if you have any laying around. im cleaning out my old drivers right now to try the new ones. i think allot of my problem is the amdgpuclocktool not displaying the proper clock speeds but i still just cant figure out why that one card is so much hotter than the other.Is the bottom or top card hotter? If it's the top card, it's gonna run hotter because of the heat rising off of the bottom card. Water cooling might be a good solution.

[fern420]

Is the bottom or top card hotter? If it's the top card, it's gonna run hotter because of the heat rising off of the bottom card. Water cooling might be a good solution.

nope, its a upside down configuration so its actually the bottom card thats getting hotter. i dont know if perhaps its because the cards are stacked so "tight" that maybe the fan on the bottom card isnt getting enough intake of air? ill try lowering the clocks on both cards to only 500 and 500 across the board and let it sit for a hour to see if that one card is still hotter.

[Wile E]

I see. Yeah, if there isn't much space between the cards, one could be starving of intake air. Maybe get a fan in the side panel to push some cool air in there?

[MarcusTaz]

hmm, you could always use a couple of those molex to pci-e adapters if you have any laying around. im cleaning out my old drivers right now to try the new ones. i think allot of my problem is the amdgpuclocktool not displaying the proper clock speeds but i still just cant figure out why that one card is so much hotter than the other.


Ah I have some of them from my 7900 cards.... Great call will give it a go and post back...

[MarcusTaz]

Ok boys got them both installed and here are the numbers off my first run on 3dmark06:

Drivers Cat 7.5

Proc=AMD X24800+
mem=Corsair 3500LL Pro
Mobo=Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe
PSU=Antec 650watt
1 ATI 2900XT

3Dmark06=8659

2 ATI 2900XT

3Dmark06=10,001

Not bad I am sure I will get better numbers once I get my water cooled kit in and I am able to get the CPU up in frequency... As it is now I can only OC my CPU stable to 2.7 Ghz... I want to get it to 3 ghz. The proc is my bottleneck and I wish I had a Core 2 Duo, but I spent 632 on this CPu and I am not about to change my platform until I go Quad core.. :D

[Wile E]

Wow, that cpu is a bigger bottleneck than I thought. (No offense intended here). With my card at stock, and my cpu at 2.9Ghz, I scored 9682 in 06. With my cpu at 3Ghz and the card at 800/900 I managed 10,091.

Perhaps a clean Windows install is also in order?

[MarcusTaz]

Just a few pics for the ATi fans to enjoy..:respect:

Will post more once I get my Sifttech Watercooled kit installed...

wheres me pics??? they said uploaded.. Does a mod need to approve them??

[MarcusTaz]

Wow, that cpu is a bigger bottleneck than I thought. (No offense intended here). With my card at stock, and my cpu at 2.9Ghz, I scored 9682 in 06. With my cpu at 3Ghz and the card at 800/900 I managed 10,091.

Perhaps a clean Windows install is also in order?



I think I will as I moved this Vista Ultimate OS from my A8N32-SLI deluxe board. When I moved the HD the OS booted fine without an a reinstall, recognised everything so I just left it... My game play fine but I think a fresh install may help..

I am not a seasoned overclocker and I prob have much to learn.. Vista gives me a 5.2 score even though I know that number sortof unimportant. All my other components give me a 5.9 excpet my Proc which is 5.2... I run the Proc @ 12x multiplier 2.7ghz and mem @ (216) 433mhz with 2.5-6-3-3 timings... :confused:

[Wile E]

You definitely have enough cooling to go higher on the overclock. You should try to get her up to at least 2.9Ghz, and once you find your max stable overclock, do a clean re-install of Windows. Should get you hummin along nicely. Also note that Vista will diminish your 3dMark scores some, when compared to XP. Not saying you should dump Vista, just pointing it out.

[MarcusTaz]

yea I here that.. I paid mucho for vista and love the interface but the performance definetly needs improvment... I can dual boot and reinstall my XP pro but I dono, DX10 is comming soon and my clan is looking forward to Quake wars and more specifically MOHA AIRBORNE so I want DX10... As far as 2.9ghz.. I can get it there but it is not stable, at least at the 12x multiplier. I could try lowering the freq on the mem and loosening up the timmings a bit but I dono I think I will just wait for the water cooling.. my CPU at 1.45 volts @ 2.7ghz runs at 53 degrees during gaming... Any higher and she BSOD... Any specific advise on bios settings with my rig I am open ears... Check my Specs and let me know...

Thanks

[Wile E]

You don't have the Swiftech kit installed? That's what I was basing my advice on. If it's not installed yet, then by all means, wait until it is. I have the Swiftech kit, and when you said you hit 53c on 1.45v, my jaw hit the floor. lol.

So yeah, get water kit installed->overclock->reinstall. lol. And if you like Vista, just keep it. So long as you can play all your games in it, at the settings you want, it doesn't matter. Benchmarking isn't that important.

[fern420]

you know i think it really might be a air intake issue on my number one card causing all the heat. i went and put two fans in front of the cards just to help and it did lower the one by almost 10 degrees at idle but the cards are absolutely stacked on top of each other, there isnt even a 1/4 inch between them so i bet that card is just choking for air since the intake is on the top of it and the top of it is slammed right underneath the second card. anyone seen any after market air coolers for these cards yet? water would be ideal but i dont think my current water system could support 2 video cards.

[Wile E]

you know i think it really might be a air intake issue on my number one card causing all the heat. i went and put two fans in front of the cards just to help and it did lower the one by almost 10 degrees at idle but the cards are absolutely stacked on top of each other, there isnt even a 1/4 inch between them so i bet that card is just choking for air since the intake is on the top of it and the top of it is slammed right underneath the second card. anyone seen any after market air coolers for these cards yet? water would be ideal but i dont think my current water system could support 2 video cards.
What are your specs? Can you fill out the system info in your profile?

[fern420]

i filled them in on my profile. basically its:

core 2 duo E6700

HD2900XT CROSSFIRE

mushkin REDLINE 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000)

duro 900 AND Juice Box EP-450CD UNI

intel D975XBX

bios version 1479

SONY FDW-900

74 gig raptor


this intel board has the pcie slots right on top of each other so its really had to get air in between them.

[Wile E]

And what water cooling do you have?

EDIT: Let me make that more clear. What's a Hydrocool and Volcano 4005?

[fern420]

its the old corsair hydrocool 200 (http://www.overclockers.com/articles746/), its absolutely nothing special thats why im sure it isnt enough for two video cards. the volcano (http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/product/Liquid/Upgrade/cl-w0037/cl-w0037.asp)is some combo deal i fell for from thermaltake that is a water block with a loop radiator for a little extra cooling on it, again nothing special at all but it does the job just fine, ive never broke 40 degrees even at the most extreme overclocks.

[Wile E]

I imagine those could be worse. At least they aren't the Cooler Master Mini-Aquagates. I was stuck with one of those for a while. What about modding the Hydrocool for a better rad?

[Dos101]

Well I picked up the Sapphire HD2900XT yesterday, wow this thing blows through games. I have to say I'm a little disapointed in its ocing ability (maybe its cause I have two 6 pins plugged in instead of a 6 and an 8). Here are some before and after pictures of 3dmark06:

http://img.techpowerup.org/070601/3dmarkbeforeoc.jpg

this is at stock speeds, 11281 is a huge improvement over my X1950XTX's 7329

http://img.techpowerup.org/070601/3dmarkafteroc.jpg

with the engine clocked 92MHz higher to 835 and the mem clocked 179MHz higher to 1007 I get 871 more marks. If I overclock it anymore it becomes unstable and freezes while playing games or running 3dmark06.

ps: I'm using cat 7.5

[MarcusTaz]

Awesome man... hey, it is very easy to enable the ATI overdrive. All you need to do is this:

The 8 pin PCI-E plug has a ground wire on the top row with the 3 yellow 12v leads. So the top right hand corner of the pin plug just get a piece of wire and jump a ground from one of the bottom 3 black ground leads to the top right hand corner and this will enable overdrive and possible improve you OCing ability.. I have mine maxed out in over drive and it is stable...

858mhz on the core
898mhz x2 on the memory and gonna run 3d mark again now...

BTW, WILE E I reinstalled Vista last night and the PC is much smoother although I still failed to break far above the 10k Crossfire score. unfortunatley I am back to a single card as I just shipped the other one to my friend up north...

[fern420]

Awesome man... hey, it is very easy to enable the ATI overdrive. All you need to do is this:

The 8 pin PCI-E plug has a ground wire on the top row with the 3 yellow 12v leads. So the top right hand corner of the pin plug just get a piece of wire and jump a ground from one of the bottom 3 black ground leads to the top right hand corner and this will enable overdrive and possible improve you OCing ability.. I have mine maxed out in over drive and it is stable...

858mhz on the core
898mhz x2 on the memory and gonna run 3d mark again now...

BTW, WILE E I reinsta