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Graphics X2900XTX

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by ijakings, 7 Mar 2007.

  1. ijakings

    ijakings What's a Dremel?

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    Ah yeh but I only want the one R600... I only have 1 hdd, one optical, and all the other crap i said above. Another PCI-e mobo in the house is 939 on my little brothers PC. If I Were to swap over the mobos and get say a AMD64Bit 4000+ 2.4ghz (Single core) and then my R600 will i be able to keep my Hiper modular (I love the way it looks and its modular connectors and they dont make one over 580w) Its just a better bigger PSU isnt something I have the budget for.
     
  2. Mother-Goose

    Mother-Goose 5 o'clock somewhere

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    mmmm id say 580watts would not be enough imo.
     
  3. Prophet

    Prophet Minimodder

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    Just thought id add some input since to some degree i have dome a similar upgrade.

    At christmas i added to my Athlon 64 3200+ an X1950XT. I had 2gb of pc3200 ram going with it. This was an upgrade from an x800xt and well, I was a little underwhelmed. Yes it was faster, but nowhere near what i had expected. I play wow mainly, and in the busy shattrath portal centre i was able to run max settings with lower levels of AF and multisampling and a medium view distance. This gave me 50-60fps inside, 35-40 outside and 15-20 in the really busy centre, i got the same fps with the x800 with only slightly lower graphics settings.

    I have just recently slapped an e6300 and 2gb of pc6400 in it, and yep, low and behold, i upped AF to max, multisampling max, draw distance maxed everything else maxed and get better performace than i did with the a64, and this is on a stock e6300 (1.86Ghz). Start upping the speeds and u just see more and more performance. These processors are well.. at almost twice the speed as stock when overclocked.. a masterpiece.

    Is that a good example of the bottlenecking? I guess so.. In essence with the a64 my x1950xt felt not that dissimilar to the older x800xt, which for a near 200quid upgrade is well.. just wrong. It was only lucky i had planned on going ahead with the core2 upgrade and so wasnt stuck with that for long. I now feel ive got a far better system all round due to the 6300 and the ram, and im getting pretty much everything my graphics card has to offer.

    Perhaps you would be better looking at a c2d processor, some 6400 ram and an 8800 series graphics card. This hardware is still gonna give you a fairly good lifespan, But from my PoV, putting the x2900 into an athlon 64 is a bad decision and ull regret spending so much money and seeing a performance gain perhaps 1/4 what u were expecting.

    Prophet.
     
  4. ijakings

    ijakings What's a Dremel?

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    C2D and 6400 is out of my price range at the moment. It would be the way id go had I got the money, but to be honest I really dont.

    Say im working on a 939 as my current Max. What do you reccomend as the best for that chipset for the least money? Im also going to have to wait for the X2900XTX (I have my heart set on this part, you can call me a fanboy if you want, but I just prefer ATI) to see what the power usage will be and then make decision on power needs based on that.
     
  5. Austin

    Austin Minimodder

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    ;) Just to cover an earlier point, the C2D are very efficient, low power CPUs as well as being speed demons. However A64 are not in any way bad, they're still fast, well priced and are themselves efficient and low power (just all not quite up there with C2D). If you're on a strict budget A64 are still very worthy choices, esp if you already have a mobo and DDR1. If you're going single-core 754 is all you need, 939's dual-channel gains are small with the main draw being dual-core.

    :D So there's no need to switch the mobos over unless you're desperate to eek out every percent of perf, unless you can't o/c a 754 CPU (or find a cheap, default fast clocked one). 939 single-core CPUs are very cheap now, 64_4000+ is a solid performer but it's well worth checking if you can o/c, hitting 2.7ghz+ is still ideal even if you start off with an A64_3000+. Doing something like this will enable you to get good perf out of a high-end gfx card, just not as ideal as having a fast C2D. You can always save up and look to move to DDR3 and new C2D/A64 later this year or early next to maximise your gfx card's potential.
     
  6. ijakings

    ijakings What's a Dremel?

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    The mobo I have is an Epox one. I dont remember the exact Model number right now and im not at home. Ill look into OCing. Ive never been a huge fan of O/C ing myself and have never been bothered to attempt it. Will i need a new cooler? At the moment im running just a stock. Id of thought so, but they are only about £20 anyway.

    Does anyone have any experience O/Cing on an Epox. I just looked on their website and its an EP-8NPAJ. Not the most high end of Motherboards I know.

    Edit: I can possibly get a 3400+ running at 2.4 ghz for relatively cheap. Would this help me at all?
     
    Last edited: 14 Mar 2007
  7. Austin

    Austin Minimodder

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    :thumb: It seems the Epox EP-8NPAJ uses the nForce4 chipset which is a very good chipset. The SLI version of your mobo is reviewed HERE and judging from that there's no shortage of o/c'ing options. It's ideal to have better cooling but you should find your 64_3200+ can hit 2.4ghz+ without the need for better cooling, even 2.7ghz with a little extra voltage! I'd say give it a go and see what you can achieve (check o/c'ing threads). Biggest things are to set your RAM speed low (eg DDR266-PC2100) and LDT (HTT multiplier) to 3x so you can find the limit of your CPU at each voltage setting. You can optimise the RAM afterwards. I'd say doing 30min of a Prime95 torture stress test is adequate for you to step up to the next setting, you'd want at least 24 hours to be certain a given setting is stable before committing to it long term.
     
  8. ijakings

    ijakings What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks for the info man, youve been great. Ill start at the weekend and let you know how it goes.
     
  9. ijakings

    ijakings What's a Dremel?

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    Is there a thread that explains what you said above? Im new to overclocking and most of it went woosh. I had a quick search but couldnt find anything specific.

    Ill try to narrow down whats confusing me.

    Firstly what setting do i need to change to increase my speed.
    What do I need to change to give it more voltage and how much should i be giving it?
    What do you mean "Finding the limit of your CPU at each voltage setting"? How do I find the limit and how will i know it when ive found it.

    Might seem like silly questions and im sure theres a post somewhere really obvious ive missed but its just a little confusing.
     
  10. ijakings

    ijakings What's a Dremel?

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    Ok. An update on my post. The post above still applies i still dont know the answers to the questions but i havent really been looking, was just wondering if anyone knew of a topic offhand.

    Anyway the update, with the leaked info that the R600 will be on 65nm process not 80nm and will consume 1/3 less power do you think I will need a new PSU now? I dont think so but you guys might have other ideas
     
  11. keef247

    keef247 Modder

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    classic
     
  12. Austin

    Austin Minimodder

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    :blush: Sorry, I'm really busy so can't check back very often. Essentially you have a Skt754 Athlon64_3200+ which runs at either 10x200=2.0ghz 1MB cache, or 11x200=2.2ghz 512KB cache. Use WinCPUID to find out, it can also tell you voltage the type of core it uses (eg Clawhammer, Newcastle, Venice etc). All adjustments can be made via your BIOS but there are Windows tools which can make it easier too. The best tools are ClockGen and A64tweaker but you can also try tools from nVidia and your mobo maker's website/CD (good for monitoring temps).

    :thumb: By default your LDT 'bus' speed is 4x200=800mhz and your RAM speed is equal to 200mhz (with DDR RAM this means DDR400-PC3200). To overclock you want to drop the bus multiplier down to 3x200=600mhz and the RAM speed down to 133mhz DDR266-PC2100 (3:2), optionally set higher latences (eg CL3). The RAM speed will increase with bus speed so at 240mhz with the DDR400 setting it would be DDR480, the DDR333 setting would be DDR400 while the DDR266 setting would be DDR320. Using 3x and DDR266 should allow your bus speed to reach 300mhz (+50%) before these become limiting factors, most modern mobos can handle this. The bus speed simply needs to be between 500mhz and 1000mhz (there's no perf diff). The RAM can be set optimally once we know the limits of your CPU and mobo at each voltage setting. Where possible ensure PCI, PCIe and AGP are locked at default speed (usually automatic) and that any Spread Spectrum type settings are set to DISABLED. You may also want to check the Auto Restart on error is disabled in Windows (System Properties -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery).

    :grr: A word of warning; overclocking voids your warranty and can damage hardware, although this is VERY unlikely if you are careful (small steps, test throughly, careful with voltage). Some mobos don't lock all SATA ports (ie their speed rises with the bus instead of staying locked at default) and this can lead to corruption of the files on your hard disk (usually around 10% over stock). To be completely thorough check this first, ideally with your specific mobo otherwise the mobo family or even chipset. Backing up any important data is definitely wise.

    :D With 3x LDT and DDR266 set you can begin to raise the bus speed from 200mhz, going up in 10mhz increments should be fine. Hence 10x210=2.1ghz (1MB) or 11x210=2.31ghz (512K), then 10x220=2.2ghz or 11x220=2.42ghz etc. You should stress test at each setting to make sure it is truly stable, loading Windows or sitting at the desktop is NOT stable. I recommend running 10-20min of Prime95's torture test at each step and then a final test of around 24 hours for your final overclock. If your PC crashes, freezes or restarts you need to step back a little and retest (or up the voltage if you are certain heat isn't the reason for instability). Upping the voltage significantly adds to both heat and stress but should allow higher clock speeds, generally +5% voltage is pretty gentle while +10% or more is pretty extreme. Keep a note of what speed you could hit stably at each voltage setting so you can weigh up the pros and cons. Avoid leaving things right at the edge of stability, eg if your max is 2.47ghz keep it to 2.40-2.45ghz instead. Once you decide on your final overclock you can work out which multiplier and bus combination is best for your RAM.

    ;) Put simply set your LDT to 3x (3x200) and your RAM speed to DDR266. Then up the bus speed in 10mhz steps testing each time with Prime95's Torture Test. When it becomes unstable jot down the last stable speed and try adding a little more voltage and seeing if you can get higher using the same process. Once there decide which voltage is best, set your multiplier and bus speed to allow your RAM to run as close to normal as possible and then do a final intensive stress test HTH!
     
  13. ijakings

    ijakings What's a Dremel?

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    Wow, thats great man. Thanks for all your help, cant belive I went from a topic about Hiper power connectors to you taking the time to explain how to overclock my CPU using the bios. But thanks alot.
     
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