HD 2900 Pro 256bit Version by Sapphire 512mb OVERCLOCKING

[Crazyhorse]

Hey guys,

that would be my first day i m posting here on TechPowerUp Forums even though i have been here since a while and took alot of advise and here and there some software.

I heared alot people in other forums or at Newegg bashing the 256bit Version for the HD 2900 Pro card and its not worth it you can get the 512bit card for bla bla bla more. So here I want to put my overclocking experience with this card.

I bought as mentioned from Newegg $154.99 - $15 MIR = $140.

The card itself is rather large and might not fit in every case. But compared to the 512bit Version this card has only 1 8pin power plug which you can use simply a 6pin molex to power the card.

The recommended PSU is a 550W but I m only at a 500W PSU and i heared from a german Forum people actually use 400 - 450W PSU's.

Short to my Setup:
I got an ABiT QuadGT P965 Chipset
Overclocked E4300 to 3.0ghz
2gb DDR2 GEIL Esoteria at 8xx CL 4 4 4
HD 2900 Pro 256bit
500gb Seagate SATA
Antec 500W Smart Power
Antec 900 Case
Samsung 22" LCD

The first time i benched this card stock I was somewhat disappointed. Stock means 600/800 (1600) under 3D I got like 8900 3DMark06 score. Which still isn't bad at all for a $140 Dollar Videocard.

Then I overclocked the Card to 700/900 which was quiet easy all the way up until 740 on the Core and slowly the points increased. I got stuck at a certain point and did read that this bios runs on a lower Voltage then the HD 2900 Pro 512bit Bios. So I figure i tried a biod mod got the Quantum Force Bios Editor and had to find out it wouldn't work with this card.

After hours of searching i finally found a german forum where people have posted like 20 - 30 different (self made) bios versions. So i got myself a nice bios version where the VCore was increased from 0.8V to 0.85V for the 2D and from 1.08V to 1.15V for 3D.

I m not done testing this card yet and yes they actually have a 1.2V for the 3D out as well i might try this later with water or so. Running the fan for Benchmarks at 50% - 80% sound is louder then a jet engine here is a first nice result i would like to provide since this is about the same score i got with my overclocked HD 3870 512mb, difference is this card only does DX 10.0 and is about $80 or more bucks cheaper.

Right now, i m still testing but I got http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=4806005
a decent score not far away from my HD3870 which was clocked at 860/1300(2600).


The Picture shows basicly my clock speed i clocked with Riva Tuner and it shows too that GPU-Z 0.1.5 did not show the actual clock speed.

Important too, if you update your bios with higher Voltage your Overdrive will be gone. But i found it always better to mess with ATi Tool and Riva Tuner anyway. Just wanted to say that this 256bit Version can be very well attractive.


This is the link to the German Forum with all the different Bios Versions people made there. If anybody needs help reading just ask me.

http://www.forumdeluxx.de/forum/showthread.php?t=438630

[thoughtdisorder]

Interesting stuff Crazyhorse! Welcome to TPU forums!:toast:

[Crazyhorse]

thanks for the welcome, i had to do some research first because i couldn't find alot to that 256bit Version at all. I m still in the testing phase though.

What i would be interessted in is if the 8pin molex would do in this case make a difference to the 6pin molex because the only 8pin molex i got on my PSU is in the board right now.

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

if it wasn't for the dam,n power consumption on these cards, cause the hd prices are weird and ridiculous

[Crazyhorse]

_FBi;619609']if it wasn't for the dam,n power consumption on these cards, cause the hd prices are weird and ridiculous

As far as i understood the 256bit Version does not consume as much power as the 512bit. Hey i m even running my whole system on a 500W and i can overcock the card 845/1150 with the 1.15V Bios just fine. Of course its using more then the HD 3xxx Series but I think it doesn't use near as much as the 2900XT.

[Deusxmachina]

I just put mine in yesterday. Played some Bioshock at high settings. Very nice.

Mine's on an 8-pin 900watt, but still at stock voltage. ATI Tool locked at 810 core. Overdrive set it to 686. I haven't let ATI Tool try to max memory yet, but Overdrive put it to 840.

I read a lot of 256-bit bashing comments at various sites, with some people saying it's complete trash, but I don't see how it's a big deal unless maybe you're running over 1920x1200. The 8800GTs don't have any problem with a 256-bit bus. Different technology? Maybe. But the 3870 doesn't mind a 256-bit, either.

There's a great 15-page review here on the 2900xt with the overclocking page talking about different voltages, so you might want to take a look at that if you haven't recently.

I had seen a mention in the 3DMark thread here about putting an 80mm fan on the back of the 2900. The guy said the holes are already there for it. I've read the Sapphire 256-bits are on a different PCB, but not sure. I'm looking at mine in the case right now and trying to figure out what if any holes would fit an 80mm.

Read a couple mentions of people replacing the stock fan with a 120mm. I'll be searching for more later. This thing isn't loud at stock voltage, but it's not quiet, either. My BFG 7600GT fan isn't as loud as the 2900, but, amusingly, it might be more annoying since instead of just a rush of air it sounds like a high-rpm motorcycle.

I noticed the 3850/3870 downclock themselves to 300mhz in 2D. These are set almost twice that high. Might be able to save a decent bit of power at idle with downclocking them further.

Anyway, just thought I'd chime in since I couldn't find any reviews of this card and mine showed up yesterday. Was hard to pass up at $140 shipped. Not much else in the ballpark at that price, even used.

[Crazyhorse]

I just put mine in yesterday. Played some Bioshock at high settings. Very nice.

Mine's on an 8-pin 900watt, but still at stock voltage. ATI Tool locked at 810 core. Overdrive set it to 686. I haven't let ATI Tool try to max memory yet, but Overdrive put it to 840.

I read a lot of 256-bit bashing comments at various sites, with some people saying it's complete trash, but I don't see how it's a big deal unless maybe you're running over 1920x1200. The 8800GTs don't have any problem with a 256-bit bus. Different technology? Maybe. But the 3870 doesn't mind a 256-bit, either.

There's a great 15-page review here on the 2900xt with the overclocking page talking about different voltages, so you might want to take a look at that if you haven't recently.

I had seen a mention in the 3DMark thread here about putting an 80mm fan on the back of the 2900. The guy said the holes are already there for it. I've read the Sapphire 256-bits are on a different PCB, but not sure. I'm looking at mine in the case right now and trying to figure out what if any holes would fit an 80mm.

Read a couple mentions of people replacing the stock fan with a 120mm. I'll be searching for more later. This thing isn't loud at stock voltage, but it's not quiet, either. My BFG 7600GT fan isn't as loud as the 2900, but, amusingly, it might be more annoying since instead of just a rush of air it sounds like a high-rpm motorcycle.

I noticed the 3850/3870 downclock themselves to 300mhz in 2D. These are set almost twice that high. Might be able to save a decent bit of power at idle with downclocking them further.

Anyway, just thought I'd chime in since I couldn't find any reviews of this card and mine showed up yesterday. Was hard to pass up at $140 shipped. Not much else in the ballpark at that price, even used.

That makes me think if you can go 800+ on stock Voltage that if i have a 8pin molex in the card I can do quiet a little bid of damage. With the 6pin PCi Express i can do a max right now with 1.15V Bios of 845/1150. I get artifacts starting memory at 1200.

But thanks for the post that kinda keeps my hopes up for more OC with a 8pin molex in the card. Heat is not an issue for me at the moment i got the Antec 900 case 200mm fan on top and 5 120mm fans installed. Plenty of airflow while the cpu is watercooled.

[thoughtdisorder]

I just put mine in yesterday. Played some Bioshock at high settings. Very nice.

Mine's on an 8-pin 900watt, but still at stock voltage. ATI Tool locked at 810 core. Overdrive set it to 686. I haven't let ATI Tool try to max memory yet, but Overdrive put it to 840.

I read a lot of 256-bit bashing comments at various sites, with some people saying it's complete trash, but I don't see how it's a big deal unless maybe you're running over 1920x1200. The 8800GTs don't have any problem with a 256-bit bus. Different technology? Maybe. But the 3870 doesn't mind a 256-bit, either.

There's a great 15-page review here on the 2900xt with the overclocking page talking about different voltages, so you might want to take a look at that if you haven't recently.

I had seen a mention in the 3DMark thread here about putting an 80mm fan on the back of the 2900. The guy said the holes are already there for it. I've read the Sapphire 256-bits are on a different PCB, but not sure. I'm looking at mine in the case right now and trying to figure out what if any holes would fit an 80mm.

Read a couple mentions of people replacing the stock fan with a 120mm. I'll be searching for more later. This thing isn't loud at stock voltage, but it's not quiet, either. My BFG 7600GT fan isn't as loud as the 2900, but, amusingly, it might be more annoying since instead of just a rush of air it sounds like a high-rpm motorcycle.

I noticed the 3850/3870 downclock themselves to 300mhz in 2D. These are set almost twice that high. Might be able to save a decent bit of power at idle with downclocking them further.

Anyway, just thought I'd chime in since I couldn't find any reviews of this card and mine showed up yesterday. Was hard to pass up at $140 shipped. Not much else in the ballpark at that price, even used.

Welcome, Deus!:toast:

[DaMulta]

That's odd about the voltage, my HD2900 PRO 1GB 512bit flashed into an XT is volt modded my the bios and I can still use overdive.


If you take two blacks from the 4pin plugs, you can wire them into your card for the 8pin plug BTW.

[Deusxmachina]

Yeah, I read somewhere yesterday about just grounding the two pins and Overdrive will work. Doesn't matter much though since other tools work.

The card description said no for VIVO. So now I'm wondering if it has the Rage Theater chip on it or not. I'm typing on this at the moment so can't check until later.

Now to look for that guy who put the 80mm fan on top....

[brownbox]

Hi
I too am a 256bit owner wanting more form the card. Any chance you could give a direct link of the BIOS file you used? Did it work alright (any problems when flashing?)

[Crazyhorse]

Go to the link and look for [Tiger83] [200,295 / 0,85V] [std / 1,15V] , thats the one i downloaded and used. I flashed the card via Winflash here from TechPowerUp.

Save your original bios first before you flash. I had no problems flashing, the speed of vpu and memory will be the same after this flash 600/800. You just got more Voltage which should make it possible for you to overclock higher.

[brownbox]

Cool, thanks for that. What were your temps like at the highest clocks?
Also, I am not familiar with Winflash. Is it just a windows based flashing program? Does this mean I dont need a memory stick, or a floppy drive?

[Deusxmachina]

Looks like the 256-bit ones don't have the VIVO Rage Theater chip. Don't know about the 512-bit ones.

I found the 80mm fan-for-the-back mod. http://www.overclock.net/2808673-post34.html

Word is the rebate place's website for the Sapphire via Newegg has been down for an entire week. That's not good.

[Psychoholic]

hmmm, i wonder if i could crossfire a 256bit 2900 Pro with my 512bit 2900 Pro

[brownbox]

Well, I came across 2 problems
1. The downloads on that site arent working.
2. I am running vista Ultimate. (Im assuming ATIWinflash will not work properly on vista, as seems to be the case with most things i try). I was able to save my BIOS very easily, so maybe it will flash this easily too?

[Scrizz]

Well, I came across 2 problems
1. The downloads on that site arent working.
2. I am running vista Ultimate. (Im assuming ATIWinflash will not work properly on vista, as seems to be the case with most things i try). I was able to save my BIOS very easily, so maybe it will flash this easily too?

if atiWinflash doesn't work, you can always use atiflash ;)

[brownbox]

well i just did it and i can confirm 100% that it works. The low low 2d clock/voltag is a nice touch. mmmmm, silent desktop. I will try 3d at lunch time

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

how low?

[low351]

Hey, I've got the Sapphire HD2900 512MB 256bit and even though I'm not as brave as Crazy Horse I'm happy with the modest overclock that ATI overdrive gave me. In fact I'm running it at the best it would give me which is 700/850. I get a 9160 from 3dMark06 and some guy got the same score with an Intel 6600/8800GTS 320MB combo so I'm pleased as punch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/low351/Perf.jpg

[Deusxmachina]

well i just did it and i can confirm 100% that it works. The low low 2d clock/voltag is a nice touch. mmmmm, silent desktop. I will try 3d at lunch time

It's silent? I thought the fan never went below 31% ever? Or did you just turn it down manually?

Psychoholic, pretty sure you can crossfire any of the 2900s together. There's a page, probably on the ATI site somewhere, with a chart of what cards work together with what. Can't remember where I saw it exactly the other day.

[Scrizz]

crossfire chart:
http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire/charts.html

[KainXS]

crossfire chart:
http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire/charts.html

nice link, i can use this:toast:

[Scrizz]

np

[Deusxmachina]

Forgot to mention, if people haven't read it elsewhere, there is some talk about high memory settings not being worth a whole lot due to timing adjustments. The key memory settings are 713, 833, 909, 1000. One article said you want to stay just below those numbers or way above them. That's why you see people with 999 memory clocks instead of 1000. The record-setting 2900 people often keep the memory in that ballpark.

YMMV, of course, but for anyone who doesn't like to risk frying their memory too much, it's nice to know some record-setters keep their memory under 1000. Core clock seems to be king on these.

[Ketxxx]

11k isnt anything to sniff at. 512bit cards arent actually that much faster, maybe 2000pts or so, which in reality is probably an average of an extra 3FPS.

[low351]

Thanks for that tip Deusex. :) So If I understood properly my maxing the ATI overdrive settings to 700/850 may be detrimental. I should set it more like 700/832, or 1 under 833. Does the rule apply for the GPU clock as well? I found it odd that despite my being able to test and apply the 700/850 I received values like 696/811 when I ran auto-tune.

- Greg

[Crazyhorse]

My memory did throw artifacts at 1200 which is pretty damn good for DDR3. I can have it run at 1150 without any artifacts but i haven't tried this in gaming out yet only 3DMark06 but i did game a few hours on 840/1100 without any problems.


I m not really brave just been overclocking since a while if i was brave I would make a VMod on the card at like 1.5V with Water and clock it to like 1.2 - 1.4ghz on the VPU until it burns out.

[brownbox]

My idle temp is around 35'c, and its mid summer here in NZ, so thats not bad. The fan goes down to 25% under 50'c. The 2d clocks are 200/300, with .85v.
At 823/1000 the card levels out at 75'c @ 44% fan with 30 minutes of ATI Tool.

Thinking of getting a HR-03 for it, so I can pump 1.2 or 1.3v into it

[Crazyhorse]

Does anybody here have a recommendation for a Videocard Power Supply. I have found one on Newegg for like $79.99 but that seems a little on the high side.

[Deusxmachina]

Thanks for that tip Deusex. :) So If I understood properly my maxing the ATI overdrive settings to 700/850 may be detrimental. I should set it more like 700/832, or 1 under 833. Does the rule apply for the GPU clock as well? I found it odd that despite my being able to test and apply the 700/850 I received values like 696/811 when I ran auto-tune.


I'm not sure if the rule applies to the pros, much less the 256-bits, to be honest. The couple references I've seen of it people were talking about the xt, and the pros supposedly have tighter timings. But, it's something to go on, and if world-record holders (1370/1050 clocks) aren't trying to max their memory, then there's probably something to it.

Overheating memory is a good way to kill a card, and it's not as easy to know exactly what you're doing like with core monitoring, so if it gives people something to think about before cranking their memory to the moon, then hey.

I think Overdrive tends to clock lower. It's just how it is. Personally, since I'm not trying to break any 3Dmark records and so far I can max every game I've played at 600/800, I'm already having second thoughts on upping the core, much less flashing to the higher voltage bios.

These are kickass cards, especially at the current price :), but heat goes up real quick when overclocking them. For anyone who didn't catch some of the super overclocking links, the 2900xt is the first card ever to still get too hot while being cooled with liquid nitrogen.

And on that heat note, mine was just running at 65 degrees with no case fans but the side of the case off. (waiting on new fans.) With a mild 120mm fan in front of the card, temps dropped to 60 or 61. With no fan again and back at 65 degrees, I underclocked to 300 core, and within three minutes the temp dropped to 55. I then underclocked the memory to 400, and temp is now 52.

I had been wondering about that after seeing the 3850/3870s downclock to 300core in 2D. I don't have a kill-o-watt meter or anything, but I'd bet the "huge wattage difference" of 2900s at idle compared to 3870s gets a lot smaller when underclocked to 300 like those are.

Crazyhorse, I was considering things like the Antec 500watt, but with 17a + 17a on the +12v, I didn't think that would be enough if I really went overclocking wild with the card. There have been good deals lately on the Coolermaster 750watt. Got mine for $60 after rebate, and it's gotten good reviews. It's actually 900watts peak. 650watts on the +12v. It's bigtime.

It's easy to find a 30-or-so amps on the +12v PS for under $50, and I bet a stock-voltage pro would be fine with that, but if you're cranking it up, you probably need more than 30a.

[Deusxmachina]

The fan goes down to 25% under 50'c.

Yep, you called it. With mine idling around 60 most of the time (lousy circulation, as I mentioned), and having read 31% is the lowest the fan goes, I started playing with ATI Tool fan speed just now, and 28% or lower is the magic number. With the lower 2d clocks and forcing the fan speed to 28% if needed, the card is FAR less annoying. I didn't think it was overly bad at 31%, but 28 or lower is a remarkable difference. It's so quiet I thought the fan shut off, but there's still air coming out the back.

[Crazyhorse]

I actually bought today a Videocard Power Supply epower EP-450CD with 8pin PCi Express Connectors. So i will have the Antec 500W running for the PC but the EP for the Videocards. I also looking forward to get a second card then the Antec wouldn't be enough anymore I guess. I m also interessted in if the with the 8pin ower i can do better then 840mhz on the Core. I guess we will find out next week when it gets here.

[Qru]

Hello, just registered to this site. I bought my HD2900pro 256bit about a week ago and it's been great for the money. Good for replacing my old 7900GT.

I'm just writing some thoughts and info about my computer that are somehow related to this thread..

Already flashed my bios with the help of the same german board that is posted earlier in this thread, (found it via google) :).
I use a bios made by derschlambi that has values 207/302@0,8V and 750/1000@1,15V. The card uses the fan at 25% when idling, don't know about temp at load yet.. low enough that it doesn't crash after 6h of BF2 :).

Anyone figured out how to make your own bios files? I guess I understand the part where you calculate the hex values to decimal etc.
But it's the checksum part that I'm not so sure. Is it so that if you have at one line default sum of 745 at default, then after your modifications to the line the sum gets, lets say, 823 you just count 823-745=78 and convert it to hex = 4E and find some 00 at the error message part of the bios file and then put 4E there or in any slot and just add (or subtract if the modified sum is smaller than the default) 4E to the value of that slot?

My germany aint that good, just used google translator :).

I can actually run 3dmark06 without any artifacts at 800/1000, but I read at other forums that for finding max stable clocks you might want to run ati whiteout demo that uses DX10, this starts to have artifacts when I set my gpu clock >750.

About power supply and its wattage, I use 430W Seasonic S12 and I think it isn't too small, at least the computer hasn't crashed in that way :). Other specs about my comp:
E6300@3290Mhz (7x470)
abit ip35
2GB mushkin 800Mhz memory
3 HHD's
2 DVD's
Some fans

I got these scores in 3Dmark06 with it when running vista with all the little programs that are normally on (utorrent, msn, etc etc.)
Little lower than that 11k score posted earlier with similar comp, I think it's the vista :).

3DMark Score 10648 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score 4515
HDR/SM3.0 Score 4815
CPU Score 2852

[elementskater706]

Get a hex editor called cygnus hex editor. This hex editor program calculates your checksum. After you have put in your desired clocks, just start changing values in the comments part of the file. Then just compare the original. You only have to do this with abit motherboards though.

[Deusxmachina]

In fact I'm running it at the best it would give me which is 700/850. I get a 9160 from 3dMark06 and some guy got the same score with an Intel 6600/8800GTS 320MB combo so I'm pleased as punch.

I finally fixed my hard drive that was stuck in PIO mode. In PIO, a DVD would take 40+ minutes to burn. 3Dmark was 3500. :rockout:

At 745/825, C2D at 2.8ghz, 40 browser windows open, Catalyst image quality still on high, etc, 3Dmark was 9500. I figure upping the CPU to 3.2ghz would make the numbers a might prettier. Maybe on the next reboot.

I set the fan to 100% to see what it's like. That's funny stuff.

[Crazyhorse]

I finally fixed my hard drive that was stuck in PIO mode. In PIO, a DVD would take 40+ minutes to burn. 3Dmark was 3500. :rockout:

At 745/825, C2D at 2.8ghz, 40 browser windows open, Catalyst image quality still on high, etc, 3Dmark was 9500. I figure upping the CPU to 3.2ghz would make the numbers a might prettier. Maybe on the next reboot.

I set the fan to 100% to see what it's like. That's funny stuff.


You should be able to run the memory at around 1000mhz without adjusting anything. That could give you some little extra as well even though the memory doesn't do near as much damaga as the gpu clocks.

I can't wait for the Videocard PSU to come and see if i can do somewhat better with a 8pin.

[mahdiy85]

About power supply and its wattage, I use 430W Seasonic S12 and I think it isn't too small, at least the computer hasn't crashed in that way :). Other specs about my comp:
E6300@3290Mhz (7x470)
abit ip35
2GB mushkin 800Mhz memory
3 HHD's
2 DVD's
Some fans

I got these scores in 3Dmark06 with it when running vista with all the little programs that are normally on (utorrent, msn, etc etc.)
Little lower than that 11k score posted earlier with similar comp, I think it's the vista :).

3DMark Score 10648 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score 4515
HDR/SM3.0 Score 4815
CPU Score 2852

Nice system, and it's great to know your 430W is holding up well as I just bought a 430W Antec earthwatts PSU(seasonic mfc I think)

The settings in the German site for the bios mods, what do they mean? For example, 207/302@0,8V and 750/1000@1,15V
This translates to 207MHz core/302 memory at .8V..for idle operation?

As soon as I have my PC up I can't wait to jump on some power computing.

[brownbox]

Yes thats correct, and 750/1000@1,15v translates to 750 core/1000 memory@ 1.15v. under load

Just thinking, will the stock cooler take 1.2v? Whats the max temps I should keep under with this card? ATM, its under full load at 70'c (fixed fan speeds in rivatuner).

[Crazyhorse]

Yes thats correct, and 750/1000@1,15v translates to 750 core/1000 memory@ 1.15v. under load

Just thinking, will the stock cooler take 1.2v? Whats the max temps I should keep under with this card? ATM, its under full load at 70'c (fixed fan speeds in rivatuner).

Yes i had the stock cooler with the 1.2V Bios unfortunately it didn't give me much more but i m sure it will when i get the 8pin PCi Express on a dedicated Videocard PSU. It will take until next week or so but of course i will share some reviews.

[brownbox]

What PSU are you planning on getting that has an 8pin?

[Crazyhorse]

What PSU are you planning on getting that has an 8pin?

epower EP-450CD from mwave.com. I m planing on going Crossfire soon i figure a dedicated VGA PSU would be great for that.

[mahdiy85]

Good luck man, and thanks for the clarification^

[brownbox]

Nice! I thought about a seperate PSU, but I cant find any space to put it in my case. :o

[Crazyhorse]

Nice! I thought about a seperate PSU, but I cant find any space to put it in my case. :o

hehe since this one will fit the 5.25" bay I got plenty of room. I only use 1 x DVD Burner there for i have a few extra bays =). :toast:

[Crazyhorse]

What can i see i received the PSU and have to RMA it. Can't even handle one card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102717

Now you can have that 256bit card for $134.99 after $15 MIR. Thats an awesome price.

[mahdiy85]

Hey,
I'm trying to use ATI Tool yeah, but the program freezes. Which version are y'all using and where can I download it?

Thanks!

[Crazyhorse]

Hey,
I'm trying to use ATI Tool yeah, but the program freezes. Which version are y'all using and where can I download it?

Thanks!

I don't use ATi Tool, i find Riva Tuner more efficient and more reliable for HD 2900 / HD 3870 Cards.

[mahdiy85]

The latest riva tuner(I think I have) says this card isn't officially supported or something. No worries, right?

[Deusxmachina]

I use the current ATI Tool. Also use it on my 7600GT in my HTPC. RivaTuner is too annoying to use if not used to it.

I would think you can get the latest ATI Tool around here since as far as I know W1zard (?) is the one who wrote it.

[Robert Jordan]

I have to only use ATITool V.27 or it wont detect my overclock and will crash. Dont know what is the reason but I have to make sure I only use that version. I know, I checked "update" from withing ATITool the other day and it updated to v.24 and wouldnt work. I also tried v.26 and it didnt work.
Also after I flashed my bios with v.85/v1.15@std, now unless my ATItool is loaded my desktop screen (on monitor 2) is fuzzy on 1/2 of the screen!! Immediately as it gets through loading, the fuzziness goes away. Strange but it sure is sweat getting the HD2900Pro 256bit to overclock to 725/909 @ extremely stable status. Isnt life sweet when you get something for nothing...
Thanks to the original poster for highlighting the techniques to flash the bios.

Robert in Mesquite,Tx

[Crazyhorse]

Did you try out Riva Tuner yet ? Lately i prefer Riva Tuner over ATi Tool.

[Robert Jordan]

I have used RivaTuner in the past, I guess I will try it again if YOU suggest it.. Thanks, I'll keep ya posted on how it worked.....

Rob in Mesquite,Tx

[low351]

Update:

I now have my card OC'd to 750/1000 using Riva tuner and it appears stable. I've been gaming a few nights with it, Counter Strike Source, and it's behaving. I've also run 3dMark06 on it repeatedly.

I didn't change the bios so it's running the regular voltages.

I did have to uninstall Catalyst 8.2 and then reinstall specifying only the video card drivers. With catalyst installed the card would run at the Riva settings only one time then it would go to the ATI overdrive settings, that was frustrating me during the 3Dmark06 because only the first test would run at full OC.

I couldn't get ATI tool to work for me but then I was trying before I reinstalled drivers only. I will probably install it again just to run the fuzzy cube test and check for artifacts.

I probably won't push the card higher until I get a thermalright HR-03 R600 or the new Arctic Xtreme 2900...

[Robert Jordan]

I'd say by your overclock without bios mod that you have a very good card! Is it a R600 chip?
Without the bios mod, Id be lucky with a 600/700 OC. Maybe yours is a 512bit version instead of a 256bit version.. not sure but you got really good OC speeds....

Rob in Mesquite,Tx

[MarcusTaz]

I have the pro 512mb 256 bit running at 790 / 1000 stable @ 1.2 volts with my own custom bios mod. My only issue is RBE is yet to have the ability to mod the bios to adjust fan steppings. I have no room for a water block or after market cooler. I have to run the fan @ 70% to keep her @ 70c during gaming COD4 @ 1920x1080p... The card kicks ass and for the money it is a great buy. The only issue is the fan stepping. It takes to 90c before it goes up over 30% and that is too long to late. By that time my card is to hat and starts acting up.

The creator of RBE flash jus needs to know where the code is to put fan steppings editing in his tool. I wish someone knew and could provide it to him...

[Robert Jordan]

I use ATITool v.27 (only one that works right) and i have it set to adjust the fan settings depending on the temp. Every 10C I go up another 10% on the fan (ie:70c=70%,etc).
It keeps mine around 74 in COD4.

[MarcusTaz]

I use ATITool v.27 (only one that works right) and i have it set to adjust the fan settings depending on the temp. Every 10C I go up another 10% on the fan (ie:70c=70%,etc).
It keeps mine around 74 in COD4.


So ATI tool will make the fan step up as temp increases? I run vista and I know ATI tool has not been as stable under Vista but I wilkl certainly give it another try..

Thanks!

[MarcusTaz]

Update:

I now have my card OC'd to 750/1000 using Riva tuner and it appears stable. I've been gaming a few nights with it, Counter Strike Source, and it's behaving. I've also run 3dMark06 on it repeatedly.

I didn't change the bios so it's running the regular voltages.

I did have to uninstall Catalyst 8.2 and then reinstall specifying only the video card drivers. With catalyst installed the card would run at the Riva settings only one time then it would go to the ATI overdrive settings, that was frustrating me during the 3Dmark06 because only the first test would run at full OC.

I couldn't get ATI tool to work for me but then I was trying before I reinstalled drivers only. I will probably install it again just to run the fuzzy cube test and check for artifacts.

I probably won't push the card higher until I get a thermalright HR-03 R600 or the new Arctic Xtreme 2900...

I had the same issue with ATI overdrive taking over my OC settings. Just disable the CCC control center from booting up and your custom clocks will run just fine.

[Jaybee]

How high have most people been able to get these cards to go on the stock bios?

I think I've got myself a really good one, as it clocks at 770 GPU and 1096 ram with no artifacts with the stock bios.

I think that I might even be able to get a little more If I had a better power supply, for all gaming and benching I have the fan set to 50% and I can hear (and see with the Riva Tuner hardware monitor) my Fan RPM drop a few hundred RPM under load. Is this normal, or a sign that I should spend more than 50 bucks on my power supply?

[Crazyhorse]

How high have most people been able to get these cards to go on the stock bios?

I think I've got myself a really good one, as it clocks at 770 GPU and 1096 ram with no artifacts with the stock bios.

I think that I might even be able to get a little more If I had a better power supply, for all gaming and benching I have the fan set to 50% and I can hear (and see with the Riva Tuner hardware monitor) my Fan RPM drop a few hundred RPM under load. Is this normal, or a sign that I should spend more than 50 bucks on my power supply?

I think stock bios i can do 750 / 1150 with 1.15V bios i can do 840 / 1150

[MarcusTaz]

I think stock bios i can do 750 / 1150 with 1.15V bios i can do 840 / 1150

Well then you got yourself one heck of a card. The best I can do is 790 and 1100 on mem and playing COD4 my fan will jump to minimum 65% to keep it cool...

[Crazyhorse]

Well then you got yourself one heck of a card. The best I can do is 790 and 1100 on mem and playing COD4 my fan will jump to minimum 65% to keep it cool...

Its an ok card, I used to have a second but that burned up lol....

Considering you get a Geforce 8800GS for $90 after Rebate or 8800GT for like $150AR...

[Deusxmachina]

I think I've got myself a really good one, as it clocks at 770 GPU and 1096 ram with no artifacts with the stock bios.

I think that I might even be able to get a little more If I had a better power supply, for all gaming and benching I have the fan set to 50% and I can hear (and see with the Riva Tuner hardware monitor) my Fan RPM drop a few hundred RPM under load. Is this normal, or a sign that I should spend more than 50 bucks on my power supply?

I would guess it's normal. If the power supply is in question I think you'd have far worse problems than a small fan slowing down. My friend recently got a 500-ish watt Corsair I think for like $45, and my 750/900peak was $60. Definitely some deals out there at times. Power supply buying, like most things, mainly sucks when you need one right away and can't wait a bit for a great deal to pop up.

Real-world clock speed example on my 256bit: Was playing Crysis on modded Very High XP settings. I was messing around with different settings on the main beach area about 20 minutes into the game. Was getting generally 21fps just standing there or walking around at 1600x1200 and 650/700. Upped the core to 750 and got 24, maybe 25, doing the same thing.

Before Crysis, I had no need to up the voltage. Heck, I was playing everything at 650 core. Now I'm about to look up bios mods to hopefully get 850-ish. ATITool maxed core at like 815, so figure at least 800 stable on more volts is doable. If 650 to 750 got three maybe four fps from 20fps range, and if 850 can get another 3fps out of it, going from 650 to 850 and from 21fps to 27.5fps on these cards is a big deal. Then again, maybe it's not surprising since people say how well the core scales. Pretty good considering an 8800GT was around $100 more at the time and still haven't hit $140.

For fan control, ATITool 27 works fine on mine. I still get a kick out of forcing it to 100% once in awhile to see the cat jump.

Crazyhorse, what did it take to kill the card?

[mahdiy85]

Hey guys,
I have been busy and never got the chance to play around with this since getting my video card.
How is it that you can set the clock frequency high for 3d, and low for normal operation? When overclocking with Ati tool for example, that clock setting is going to run all the time, or only when you run a 3d app?
Also, what's a good program to flash the bios with?

[ZenEffect]

Hey guys,
I have been busy and never got the chance to play around with this since getting my video card.
How is it that you can set the clock frequency high for 3d, and low for normal operation? When overclocking with Ati tool for example, that clock setting is going to run all the time, or only when you run a 3d app?
Also, what's a good program to flash the bios with?

i use atiwinflash... found on this website. you can underclock/undervolt 2d states then overclock/overvolt 3d. from personal experience, undervolting 2d below .875 volts will result in a unrecoverable black screen when switching from 3d to 2d (i.e. exiting cod4)

the bios has various "states" of which it switches between. plugging in just 2 6pin power cables disables ati overdrive, and thus will allow you to clock higher w/o any additional mods or steps... just install the drivers with ccc and you are good to go. if you are on a single video card, it wont matter, but when you are running crossfire, and need ccc to enable crossfire.. then this step is very important as it will not switch to 3d states when the clocks of memory or core are above what the slider allows. this occurs on 7.12 drivers and later. there is an inf fix that i implemented that im sure some of you guys use here, but it gets annoying modding the inf every driver release. you should really just mod the bios for overclocking as rbe allows you to set your fan profiles, clocks, and volts. after the bios is flashed there is no need for tools like atitool or riva tuner. just use gpu-z to monitor your temps and you are set.

[Deusxmachina]

For anyone that's used RBE to edit the bios, did your vendor box come up as 2900xt instead of pro? Loading one of the German bioses into RBE, the box shows as 2900xt. I don't know whether to leave it alone or to change it to a pro. GPU-Z does show my card as a pro, as it should.

[MarcusTaz]

For anyone that's used RBE to edit the bios, did your vendor box come up as 2900xt instead of pro? Loading one of the German bioses into RBE, the box shows as 2900xt. I don't know whether to leave it alone or to change it to a pro. GPU-Z does show my card as a pro, as it should.

First off mod your own bios with RBE... Use ATI Winflash (get it in the download section here) and take the stock bios out of your card and just tweak the voltage to 1.15 for starts and try 750 and 900 mem for starts...


My card is a Sapphire and it comes up as vendor unknown. If I force it to a manufacture the card gives me a CODE 10 failure in Vista, so I just leave that alone

[Deusxmachina]

What a mess flashing turned out to be. I wasn't going to bother except AITool would no longer work even after multiple installs, so figured may as well flash it finally and lower the 2d volts and up the 3d volts. Only a few modded bios from that German site can be downloaded anymore. The stock bios shows as a 2900xt, as do the few German ones I grabbed. Just didn't want to brick it.

Flashed a couple German ones in there, and all was well except the clock numbers, but it gave me 1.15v to test with. After finding a comfortable max clock, used RBE on the stock bios and then upon reboot got "no video driver found" and "driver service error" errors. Reinstalled the video drivers with no change. Flashed to a known working German bios, no change. To the original bios, no change. Looked up what other people have been saying about "driver service errors" for years, which turns out to be people including ATI basically having no idea how to fix it.

I did try saving a bios as "2900 pro." GPU-Z wouldn't recognize the card as anything. So, that's not good.

Hours and umpteen reboots and flashes and driver installs later, I could suddenly right-click to open up Catalyst and all looked well. Too bad I was using a bios I didn't really want. Flashed to what I wanted, and repeat the "driver service error" cycle again. Kept flashing and rebooting and reinstalling video drivers until it magically worked. I have yet to reboot again to see if it will keep working.

[MarcusTaz]

What a mess flashing turned out to be. I wasn't going to bother except AITool would no longer work even after multiple installs, so figured may as well flash it finally and lower the 2d volts and up the 3d volts. Only a few modded bios from that German site can be downloaded anymore. The stock bios shows as a 2900xt, as do the few German ones I grabbed. Just didn't want to brick it.

Flashed a couple German ones in there, and all was well except the clock numbers, but it gave me 1.15v to test with. After finding a comfortable max clock, used RBE on the stock bios and then upon reboot got "no video driver found" and "driver service error" errors. Reinstalled the video drivers with no change. Flashed to a known working German bios, no change. To the original bios, no change. Looked up what other people have been saying about "driver service errors" for years, which turns out to be people including ATI basically having no idea how to fix it.

I did try saving a bios as "2900 pro." GPU-Z wouldn't recognize the card as anything. So, that's not good.

Hours and umpteen reboots and flashes and driver installs later, I could suddenly right-click to open up Catalyst and all looked well. Too bad I was using a bios I didn't really want. Flashed to what I wanted, and repeat the "driver service error" cycle again. Kept flashing and rebooting and reinstalling video drivers until it magically worked. I have yet to reboot again to see if it will keep working.


If you need the Stock Bios I have it let me know in PM and I will email it. DO NOT change the vendor setting, it does not work as the same thing happen to me. :toast: