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HD2900XT OC Results and Questions

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So I've spent the past couple of days looking up all kinds of info on the 2900XT and OC'ing it with ATiTool. And here are my results (The 1.40% in the second table should be .14%). By the way, I consider stock as 752.63 Core and 837 @ 1674 (3DMark06 SM3.0 score = 3020) because ATiTool originally had them both under stock, figured a bit higher was better than a bit lower. Also, all results are running at the stock voltage and all the GPU temps ranged from 66-70.5C with the fan at 44% while the PCB hovered around 49-53C.
All of this was done using Catalyst 7.7
Results:





Oddities:

I don't know if this is really odd for the 2900XT or any card for that matter (I didn't do much substantial testing with my old X800XT when I OC'ed it) but increasing the speed has a smaller impact on performance than I would think when compared to increasing the core speed. Even with an increase of 324Mhz for the memory at stock core speeds only netted 156 Marks (About 137 when the core and mem were OC'ed vs. OC'ed core and stock mem).

I also found that going over 874 core would lock up or cause my computer to automatically reboot. 887 Core was stable for about a minute before locking the computer up. a 21% OC on the core instantly rebooted. I read somewhere else that other people couldn't get above a 875 core. What I'm wondering is is the card limited in it's BIOS to 875 or is an issue with the card not getting enough power. Does anybody think upping the voltage would allow for an 875+ core clock? Does only having 2x6 PCI-E factor into it vs. 1x6, 1x8 PCI-E factor into the problem at all? I've seen people get well over 1,000Mhz mem clock but I haven't tried yet, would upping the mem allow for a higher core clock, I'm thinking no. And I highly doubt heat plays into this at all yet.

I don't know how well memory plays into real games and whether clocking the mem would give much a performance boost when it didn't do a whole lot in 3DMark06. I don't have any games with built in benchmarks so I can't test it reliably.

Any thoughts or ideas?
 
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cdawall

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X1950s couldnt go over ~634mhz core stock vgpu maybe its th same thing with these 2900XT? honestly it sounds like ATi is limiting its flagship cards which is beyound stupid or i could be like the old opty 144s you couldnt break certain speeds cause the core simply could not handle the speed due to design flaws etc
 
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That would be lame, it's like spending the money for a QX6800 and have the multiplier locked at 9x. Personally if I'm going to spend my money on a companies most expensive product I should be able to do as much to it as the hardware can handle (heat wise). Although it seems weird that it wouldn't be able to do more simply because it can't handle it based on it's architecture. Hopefully it's just not enough power, I'll try upping the voltage a notch later and trying 887Mhz Core again and see if it stays stable longer.
 

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you know it may have to do with the PSU quad core and HD2900 may be to much for 550watts
 
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I've thought about that. At first I did when I couldn't get numbers that THG was getting for the card but then I realized that AA smoothing or whatever it is was on in CCC, after turning that off they got closer. I just got a new job so once I pay off this computer I'll probably jump up to a 700W PSU and then we'll see whether it's a power issue or just the card itself.
 
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THe people OCing over 1000MHz are increasing the VCOre. I can run 3dmark06 at 860, but my card will lockup after gaming for about 20 minutes at these speeds....we need more VGPU!
 
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Ok I now have empirical evidence that OCing the memory DOESN'T matter at all! (well in gaming)
This may also show that Overdrive relaxes the timings when you OC the memory...
Lost Coast stress maxed (well 4X AA forced with 16X af, HQ adaptive, rest maxed in game)
stock GPU, stock memory


stock GPU, OCed memory to 1040
 

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Have you run the same tests but with the 7.8's - I'm hoping they'll bring better results. Feedback has been very positive so far for the 2K series for the 7.8's.
 
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Yea I'm running the 7.8s right now. They are AWESOME. With my OC of 843 GPU, I can now run
16x AF forced in CCC
2x narrow tent (4x)
quality adaptive AA
BF2142 maxed
1920*1080
and I get an average of 60-80 FPS. :D
THe image quality is pretty amazing as well. BTW, I am unstable at 848, so 843 seems to be my limit without more voltage. I have the same load temps with more OC, but at 848 my screen would freeze up after about 20 minutes of playing BF2142.....bleh.


BTW, that Lost Coast bench was run at 1920*1080...I cropped the image so I could load it without using imageshack. I only ran that bench to show the difference in memory OCing.
 

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Yea I'm running the 7.8s right now. They are AWESOME. With my OC of 843 GPU, I can now run
16x AF forced in CCC
2x narrow tent (4x)
quality adaptive AA
BF2142 maxed
1920*1080
and I get an average of 60-80 FPS. :D
THe image quality is pretty amazing as well. BTW, I am unstable at 848, so 843 seems to be my limit without more voltage. I have the same load temps with more OC, but at 848 my screen would freeze up after about 20 minutes of playing BF2142.....bleh.


BTW, that Lost Coast bench was run at 1920*1080...I cropped the image so I could load it without using imageshack. I only ran that bench to show the difference in memory OCing.
In all fairness, HL2 isn't the most demanding game in terms of gfx memory. I'd like to see if mem overclocking makes a difference in DX10 at high resolutions. That should hit the frame buffer pretty hard.
 
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As soon as I get Vista (close to Crysis most likely) I'll test that as well.
The thing is, no matter how hard it hits the buffer, the GPU will most likely be loaded just as hard....and it's the weakest link.
 
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put the hd 2900 at stock and increase your cpu to 3.2GHZ, then run the bench again, I think you'll like the results.
 
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I haven't really messed with the CPU past 3 GHz, as I doubt I'll see much in games ATM. Maybe in the future, but I don't care to dedicate more time to OCing it further....I would also most likely require more VCore. I'm stuck with a nasty stepping....I know another guy with mine that can't get past 3 GHz either.
 
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Ok I now have empirical evidence that OCing the memory DOESN'T matter at all! (well in gaming)
This may also show that Overdrive relaxes the timings when you OC the memory...

Well if you look at the stats for memory bandwidth, the 2900 has way more then is needed even at stock speeds. 52GB/s is whats listed in the GPU database. Also from what i've read; once you pass 999Mhz on the memory the timings get relaxed.

I just ran lost coast with all setting maxed at 1920x1080

with stock core speed
stock memory: 133.12
999Mhz mem: 134.22
1017Mhz mem: 134.00

147.91 with 874core and 999mhz mem

So yea memory doesnt really boost fps much but still every little bit helps ;)
 
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Once I'm done moving in the next several days and settled I'll run the same tests I had before with the 7.8's and see how much they improve if noticeably. I dunno if it's just the 7.7's but in Lost Coast when I disable VSync a lot of the textures gain a purple tint, at least the reflections become purple, but with it on the game looks perfect. :laugh: What's up with that, might just need a restart.
 

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I wish my friend (who recently installed a 512MB 2900XT) would do some benchmarking. Silly bugger thinks he knows a lot when infact he knows very little. He recently asked me to introduce him into OC'ing and then forgot! The r:tard!
 
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Well hopefully in a couple of weeks I can get myself a 700W PSU, think I'm makin' my poor little 550W work too hard, sell it to my cousin for some money, haha. You should just "borrow" his card and test it out. Maybe give him 10$ for the use of it.
 

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I can't, I have AGP, he's PCIe. :( I'll show him the way though.
 
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Lame, my X800XT is AGP, hooooya. It's also a way for you to test run it to see if it's worth buying for you. Once I get my computer shit unpacked and hooked up (As long as his pregnant wife doesn't get all 'OMG IT MESSES WITH THE PLACE' which shoulda got over BEFORE I moved in, lol) my cousin will think my computer is crazy. Though I guess he just bought 4 7600GT's or something for 125$ from somebody.
 

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Lopez0101 said:
Though I guess he just bought 4 7600GT's or something for 125$ from somebody.

Crazy stuff! Will he do Quad SLi, or is he just going to sell?
 
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Probably just put them in comps that have shit GFX cards or put them in comps he sells and builds on occassion. I'm using his computer right now and it has a 7600GS, it was all unplugged when I got here so he might have just bought 7600GS's. He doens't play enough games on the comp to spend the money on a mobo that could do Quad SLI, plus I don't know if they're AGP or PCI-E cards.
 

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Arrh yes, good point!

Fair play though. 4 7600GT for $125 - bargin! ^^
 
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