ATi Tool

[basketcase]

I have a question about ATI tool. I just got a Sapphire x800GTO and i wanted to see if I could unlock more pipes. Thru Ati Tool, I saw that my core was a R430 and it said that there is 16 pixel pipelines. Does that mean that they are already unlocked, or does it mean that there is that many, but it isn't neccesarily using them?

The box said there is 12 pipelines, along with the info on NewEgg.
Maybe I lucked out and got a pre-unlocked one.

Thanks!!

 

[Guest]

I am definitely watching this topic for answers; I wonder the same thing...

 

[MCMONOPOLY]

Was it advertised as an "open box" item?
Because AtiTool will report actual working pipelines on your card, so if it says 16 pipes then you got 16 pipes running.

 

[basketcase]

Was it advertised as an "open box" item?
Because AtiTool will report actual working pipelines on your card, so if it says 16 pipes then you got 16 pipes running.

No this was new. But it was advertised on NewEgg as 12 pipes and the <Sealed> box said 12 pipes also.

So I guess it's my lucky day!!!

 

[MCMONOPOLY]

Well then my friend consider yourself lucky on that one. I would strongly recommend stress testing the card to make sure it works correctly even under full load, and if all is well then enjoy your freebie.

 

[basketcase]

Well then my friend consider yourself lucky on that one. I would strongly recommend stress testing the card to make sure it works correctly even under full load, and if all is well then enjoy your freebie.

So what would be the best way to "stress test" this card? I played Oblivion for about 4 hours straight, graphics all pumped up high.

 

[trinitron64]

Stuff like this happens all the time with new ATI cards!!

Muahaha

I havn't heard one Nvidia story yet!

 

[MCMONOPOLY]

4 hours of Oblivion should have been enough for it to show sign of failure (ie artifacting, sudden reboot, overheating etc.) So it looks like your golden.

And for future references, you can use any commonly available GFX benchmark in a loop to stress test a card.

 

[basketcase]

OK, now I have another question about this board. I was messing around with overclocking, just to see what it could get to with the standard cooling, and it maxed at about 420 mhz (400 is the default). Is that normal on a R430 core? That's what ATI Tool says it is.

 

[MCMONOPOLY]

Ok first off, is it the 128MB version or the 256MB one?

Also your base clock speeds should be 400/490 (980mhz effective) (core/mem) for the 256MB versions and 400/350 (700mhz effective) for the 128MB one.

As per this article, you should at least be able to get much higher clock speeds than that. But mind that if you have a single slot cooling solution, taking into account the fact that you have 4 extra pipelines working, maybe the stock HSF isn't enough to cope with the extra heat output. At what temps is your card running at @ idle and after a full load session of at least 10 minutes? Post these and well go from there.

Also please post your complete system information.

 

[basketcase]

It is the 256 meg card. 400/980
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102002


I am at work, so i can't check any temps, but I will try to later today.

 

[MCMONOPOLY]

Hey just to let you know, if you read the reviews on the link to the Newegg page you gave, you'll find out that your not the first one to get 16 pipes already unlocked on that card. Also another thing to make sure is that since it's powered from an external molex connector, make sure your PSU is adequate for powering your card. Also it's not always the best solution to just let AtiTool give you the "max Core" and "Max memory" clock speeds and assume that's the best your card can give you, IMO running it through several benchmarking appz with different core/mem speeds that you can manually set in Atitool is way better than just using Atitool. The thing to look for when OC'ing your card and running benchmarks, is if artifacts start to show up on screen (wrongly colored squares,mishapped objects, f**ked up bars etc) or if the system crashes or goes back to desktop in the middle of a bench run.. And after you go through all that, you can set up profiles within Ati tool or other OC'ing utilities so that when your doing simnple 2D stuff you can leave it at stock speeds and when your about to play games you can load up a profile with the appropriate settings.

 

[MCMONOPOLY]

Also just as a side note this Cooler can help cool down your card waaay better than what's on there right now, since the stock HSF doesn't cool down your RAM, which can limit your OC'ing potential, Also the Arctic Cooler solution exhausts the heated air outside your case instaead of recirculating it over and over inside the case.

 

[TurdBurglar]

I just glanced at that article but I did see the clock and memory speeds they reached. I'm guessing the card they used did not have an R430 core. In my experiences, R430s get to 450ish clock speeds max and 540ish memory speeds max. It sounds a little more like R420. Just my 2 pennies.

 

[basketcase]

I just glanced at that article but I did see the clock and memory speeds they reached. I'm guessing the card they used did not have an R430 core. In my experiences, R430s get to 450ish clock speeds max and 540ish memory speeds max. It sounds a little more like R420. Just my 2 pennies.

Well, now that I think about it, it was kinda warm in my office when I was trying to OC it. That might be why it didn't get too high before crapping out on me. I am not too concerned with OCing it anyways, the performance this card gives at standard speeds is amazing.

I will have to try that cooler that Mcmonopoly recommended. If anything, that will keep my card alive longer, even at default speeds. I just read those first few reviews on NewEgg and see what you are saying. It is like Sapphire changed the chipset on that model, but didn't change the packing yet.

Thanks all for the help.

 

[MCMONOPOLY]

I looked up the specs for the R420 cores as you mentionned, but the thing is, i agree that after reviewing the specs for it it could be so but after analyzing the data, if it's in fact a R420 core, then something as been done to it since if you take the specs for the different versions of the core as per this article, a R420 XT core would have 16 pipes running @ 525/575 and the Pro version would have 12 pipes @ 475/450... So even if it was the case, the reported 420 core clock maximum would still be quite low compared to those. Also he mentionned earlier that AtiTool reported a R430 core. But still, good point since lately ATI are having a really hard time getting their stuff straight core wise

 

[MCMONOPOLY]

It is like Sapphire changed the chipset on that model, but didn't change the packing yet.

Sometimes it's even simpler than putting in a different chipset, because like on the R480 cores, the only thing that as to be changed to switch from 12 to 16 or vice versa is 1 bit of data in the card's Bios, nothing hardware wise is different appart from the HSF in comes with and the fact that the chip are "bin selected" to make sure they can sustain the higher clock speeds/added pipelines.

Also when you get to switching you HSF, make sure to clean the chip carefully and remove ALL of the original thermal paste, reaplying quality Thermal paste (Artic silver 5 is pretty good IMO) and making sure that the new HSF is seated correctly on the GPU die.. And with the old thermal paste cleaned off you will be able to visually check the Core number that's written directly on it.

 

[TurdBurglar]

I don't think there is any doubt that he has an R430 core. It just has all 16 pipelines enabled. He essentially got an X800XL with a wimpier X800GTO cooler, likely to blame for the minimal overclocking headroom.

 

[Muso]

R430 cores don't overclock very well, that's a well known fact. Now, if you had purchased an X800 GTO2 with an R480 chipset, then you could essentially have an X850XT PE, even with the stock cooler.

In my experience, the GTO2 will overclock to the X850XT PE speeds with the stock cooler, but there is a likelyhood that some component will burn out. I had overclocked my last card to X850XT PE speeds only to have it fail. I sent it back, got another, and replaced the cooler with an Arctic Silencer 5 rev. 2 cooler. I've since overclocked it to X850XT speeds (520 core and 560 RAM) and under the artifact test in ATI Tool the maximum temperature it reaches is 65C (core) and 70C (RAM). While playing games, most notably the graphics card taxing Oblivion, the peak temperature seems to hover around 55C (core) and 60C (RAM). I think that I can squeeze the extra Mhz out of the core and RAM to get it to X850XT PE speeds safely.

Just my experience, your experience may vary.

 

[TurdBurglar]

R430 cores don't overclock very well, that's a well known fact.

Yes, that's true. I have two R430 cards running in separate machines. However, his overclock was even less than the average (but still small) overclock of R430s. I'm saying the GTO cooler is likely the culprit for the below average overclock. Unfortunately, the R480 beasts in the GTO^2 are not applicable to his situation.