x800 Vmod or not?

[mustrum]

I got a x800 PRO VIVO flashed to 16 pipes currently running on PRO bios.
The card can't reach 520 core (510/575 in 3dmark03 but only 500/520 in joint ops, 500/570 in Doom3). Now i bought me an ATI silencer 4 to add some cooling. I doubt that the additional cooling will bring my card to XT PE speeds so i wanna do the vmod (in fact i allready did up to 1.48v wich made my core goto 530 and more but it was too hot so i ordered the ATI4 silencer).

Now my question is: How will the vmod affect my cards lifetime. I plan to go to 1.45v maybe a bit more. I know that upping voltage shortens lifetime allways but will it last for 2 years?
I know noone knows for sure but there's 9800 XTs with vmods around. Did they last for a while?
My Athlon XP is running with high (1.85vcore 2.4ghz) vcore for over a year now without any trouble.
btw: I don't plan to let the card exeed 75 degrees celcius by any means. (Hopefully way lower than that)

[mustrum]

I installed the silencer now and it lowered my temps from 75 to 62. With a 1.47v mod the card wont go above 65 degrees. I still can't run 520/560 mhz though! Does this card needs so muchz more juice? I feel uncomfortable to do a vmod that high (1.5v+ range).
Strange thing is that the card reboots in 3dmark03 wich it didn't do before the vmod. I also have 4.6v low in mbm5 readig on my 5v rail.
Could it be that my 431Watts enermx doesn't cut it anymore?
Somehow i start to think it's a PSU issue but io have no other PSU to test it out. (The 350w forton burnt down when i took my barton 2500+ CPU to 2.4ghz :D )

[Freddy23]

I don't think it's a question of PSU, i have a p4 2,8@3,2 Ghz , 2 HD's in a Raid 0 and a Radeon XT PE ...with a little 300 Watt Enermax and I have no probs with stability. But, of course you don't need the 12V from your PSU, maybe you have reached the recommended combined maximum for 3,3 and 5 V (watch the sticker of PSU, your system should have a typical power consumption of about 250 Watt). If you try out another PSU watch out for a higher Power of 3,3 and 5V combined.

[mustrum]

Hmm i took away quite some load off the PSU (no case fans and downclocked my CPU 200 mhz) and the same thing is happening. I guess it'S not the PSU but a bad overclocking graphics card. I'd need 1.5v or maybe even 1.55v to get stable XT PE clocks i fear. I could do it without going past 70 degrees load but i am not sure if it's wise to do still. Electronic migration will be quite high if i overvolt the GPU by that much i guess?

How far can i go hmmmmm? :confused:

[sersalpha]

I thought that the AGP voltage is the voltage that the port uses to communicate with the northbridge and that the core voltage was supplied by the 3.3v rail. Therefore I'd have to say that you're barking up the wrong tree. What does your 3.3v rail read under load? If it's low, then a better PSU will probably allow you to clock your card higher. Adjusting the AGP voltage is going to do nothing more than consume more power and shorten the life of your card if I'm not mistaken.

[mustrum]

My 3.3v Rail is rock solid. I am not upping the AGP voltage. I am voltmodding the GPU of the graphics card itself.

[Freddy23]

I wouldn't mod the GPU so much until it's necessary. Maybe in a year or two you should try that out, but atm there's no reason unless you want to get 3dmark03 scores of 13.000 and above. Every game is working superb with your card so don't kill that 400 bucks card just for a few fps or points..and you won't get your card rma'd after fan and vmod.

[mustrum]

I played around a bit more with my card now. I can get stable at 520/560 easy (even more) with 1.5v now and 3dmark and Doom 3 work like a charm.
The problem is that i get this (had that before te silencer and thought ram cooling would fix it) when i play Joint Operations (and only in Joint ops online gaming):
http://people.freenet.de/mustrum/greendots.JPG

It looks like the RAm is hitting it's limit at around 520 to 530 in this special game. Funny that it goes up to 575 in Doom 3 and 3dmark03. The RAM is cooled by the silencer 4 and i applied enough AS5 so the chips make contact.
Any ideas how to fix that? Right now i run at 1.4v vgpu at 500/500 wich is ok but i am curious if i could get this problem fixed.
If not i'll wait until someone uploads the 500/500 bios of those now connect3d x800 XT NON PEs that are available now.

[Urlyin]

Mustrum,

What BIOS did you flash with ?

[mustrum]

Mustrum,

What BIOS did you flash with ?
This happenes with my original powercolor PRO VIVO bios and with the actual ATI x800 XT 520/560 bios. Only happenes with memory above 520mhz.
And only with ONE game. Strange isn't it?

[Urlyin]

Raising the voltage on the GPU isn't going to help with the memory. NRP was having some of the same issues. I'd stay with the voltage where it's at now or drop back down to 1.47. The board does have an over voltage and will kick in to shut down the card .Mine is a little memory handicapped as well. Sapphire VIVO but I can reach the XT speed np... Since you have done the vmod for the GPU there is a vmod for the memory as well but haven't seen anyone have to do that yet. Have you tried to turn off fastwrite when you play that game. I thought that turning off fast write forces the card to use it's memory on board and not system memory. It could be the Cat drivers and the game not the card... since it works fine everywhere else. Did you reinstall ATI drivers ? Is it a VIA chipset? IF so when was the last time you upgraded the VIA 4 in 1 drivers? just a thought...

[mustrum]

I undid the vmod allready since it's useless. I use a nforce 2 system with a barton 2500+ @2.3ghz. I didn't do a memory vmod since i only know one pencil mod and people report itS' not working at all. I have fastwrites off. I only tried 4.7 and 49 beta yet so maybe 4.8 fixes it (i doubt it though).
Thanks for your replys i apreciate it.
Edit: I clocked down the CPU and took away a lotz of load on PSU as well without any luck. MY 5 Volt rail is going down as low as 4.6v sometimes though. Could it be my PSU? It's a 431 Watts enermax wich should be good but that 5v rail makes me think. :eek:

[sersalpha]

An 8% fluctuation on your 5v rail is quite a bit - I suggest that you look into getting a PSU with a 0.5%-1% voltage output fluctuation and/or adjustable pots. It will probably allow for higher overclocks.

[mustrum]

An 8% fluctuation on your 5v rail is quite a bit - I suggest that you look into getting a PSU with a 0.5%-1% voltage output fluctuation and/or adjustable pots. It will probably allow for higher overclocks.
Yeah it sucks. When i go to 2.4ghz with my Athlon XP then i get a low of 4.46!!!!
I'm a student and used my last money on my x800 though. No cash for a new PSU just yet.
I'll play at 500/500 and look into a new PSU later.
(The green texture artefacts, can they also be related to this problem?)

[mustrum]

I found the problem. It's my memory. That's why the vgpu mod did not help at all. My memory gives me artifacts in Ruby Techdemo when i go above 510 mhz. Joint Ops works until 530mhz.
Doom 3 and 3dmark go up to 575 without a hitch though!! Strange but true.
The memory is all 1.6ns and cooled by ATI silencer 4 + AS5. (making contact)
I know there is a vmvm voltmod but i read replys that it does NOT work. Can anyone confirm this?
I'd hate to unassemble my ATI silencer for a not working mod.
Thansk for any comments in advance.

[Urlyin]

...tried the mem vmod but checking the resistance didn't change... wasn't going to tempt fate so I wiped it with a q-tip and alcohol... Have seen a lot of people not being able to reach XT speeds... some do some don't...If I find a mem vmod that works I'll let you know or visa versa... Good luck

[mustrum]

...tried the mem vmod but checking the resistance didn't change... wasn't going to tempt fate so I wiped it with a q-tip and alcohol... Have seen a lot of people not being able to reach XT speeds... some do some don't...If I find a mem vmod that works I'll let you know or visa versa... Good luck
Ok thank you. I'll keep an eye open as well.

[mustrum]

Sold the sucker and bought a new VIVO. We'll see if Nr. 2 is abetter OCer. :D

[Urlyin]

HEHE... that'll fix it :D

[Urlyin]

Sold the sucker and bought a new VIVO. We'll see if Nr. 2 is abetter OCer. :D
How's the new card? Is it the same brand?

[mustrum]

How's the new card? Is it the same brand?
The new card is a Connect3d PRO VIVO.
It's great!!
Again the memory is the weak spot but this time it's 100% stable up to 555mhz. Now the good news (to me): The core is at default 1.38volts stable up to 555 as well.
A 555/555 (funny clocks :p ) XT for 400 euros.
I'm happy. :D
Getting 5969 3dmarks with this card! 6k will be broken next week when i get my water set. Should be able to up the CPU to 2.4 maybe 2.5ghz. :)
I modified a x800 XT non PE bios with Rabit so it's at safe 540/540 for everyday use now.
Thanks to the silencer 4 it's silent and cool as well.
Will switch ver to water next week maybe. Not sure on that yet. If i can hear the silencer after i applied my water setup to the system then it gets replaced. :D

I tested out my PSU with a multimeter. Motherboard monitor is useless! The rails are extremely stable. My 5v rail is at 5.04volts idle and 5.06 volts under load!

[Urlyin]

I found the correct resistor to pencil for the Vdd (vmem) and Vddq ... up'd my mem to 610mhz and a little bump for my GPU to 540. Still have my vmod at 1.45 volts ... want it to last for a little while :D

[Quazi]

Which resitor is it. And what numbers do you need to reach? I am really interested in doing this,

[NukeleaR]

Which resitor is it. And what numbers do you need to reach? I am really interested in doing this,

Same here, I run 540/540 no problem but would like to kick it up to 560 if possible.

[Urlyin]

Same here, I run 540/540 no problem but would like to kick it up to 560 if possible.

You can find it here (http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=3632#post3632) in the article near the bottom.

[Quazi]

Thank you very much. I didn't even think about the articles forum. Geesh! Anyway, I definately am going to give this a shot. I've already done the volt mod and am running a 1.55v. I noticed some folks here are stopping around 1.48v. I believe the XT PE cards run at 1.55v. That is why I took it that far. The card seems to run fine and as of now, I can oc to 548/593. Just looking to get all I can, safely of course. Volt mods I am comfortable doing. This Vmem mod, eh, I am definately going to have to take it slow. One thing about it though, I've already got a Zalman ZM80D-HP and fan installed. Might get in the way of getting the voltage measurements I need. But at least I already have something other than the factory heat sink. Thanks again!