9800 XT ... Perfomance drop ?

[Frank Lenaerts]

Hey again,

Problem #2. A couple of days ago I bought myself a new system.
System specifications:

- Intel P4 3.0Ghz
- 2x Apacer 512Mb DDR400
- Asus P4C800 Deluxe
- Hercules Radeon 9800 XT
- SB Audigy
- Maxtor 120Gb SATA 8Mb

My Hercules videocard made a lot of noise. When gaming you could a heavy
metal ticking noise from the videocard's cooling. Since my store has a "not
happy, money back" policy for about 8 days after the purchase, I returned
the card. I've read the Asus would have a better cooling, so I replaced my
card with the Asus Radeon 9800 XT/TVD.

The card is more silent, but not THAT silent. Now I have another problem. I
had a feeling my videocard became slower when I played Need for Speed:
Underground for a couple of hours. So I did the following test ....

First boot of the day - 3D Mark 2003 -> about 6280 marks.
Played couple of hours NFS: U until I noticed a sluggish gameplay.
Quit NFS and did another 3D Mark 2003 test -> about 5180 marks.
Opened the case, gamed, and did another 3D Mark -> about 5180 marks.
Rebooted -> about 5180 marks

I have a Maxi Chieftec case ... only standard cooling ... cpu, gpu,
videocard. Could it be the temperature ? I'm not sure. When I play a game
with my case closed, the videocard cooling gets very loud. Louder then my
cd-rom. When I play a game with my case open, the cooling stays pretty
silent.

I'm starting to get a bit desperate ... you "invest" a lot of money into a
videocard, and you keep having problems with it .... I really don't know
what to do now ... I could change my card back to a Hercules. Ask the store
to make my case "cool" (casefans, zalman solution on the videocard, ...) ..
but I don't know if it would help ....

I'm not even sure if it is my videocard

Frank

 

[Ben Pope]

The card is more silent, but not THAT silent. Now I have another problem.
I had a feeling my videocard became slower when I played Need for Speed:
Underground for a couple of hours. So I did the following test ....

First boot of the day - 3D Mark 2003 -> about 6280 marks.
Played couple of hours NFS: U until I noticed a sluggish gameplay.
Quit NFS and did another 3D Mark 2003 test -> about 5180 marks.
Opened the case, gamed, and did another 3D Mark -> about 5180 marks.
Rebooted -> about 5180 marks

Sounds like the dynamic overclocking to me. After a while it's heated up
and so slows down.

What are your case temps?

Ben

 

[Frank Lenaerts]

What are your case temps?

I don't know. It feels very warm. That's why I've opened my case, the
videocard cooling system was more silent, so I thaught the temperature was
OK. I didn't have any increase in 3D Mark.

To give an idea of the other temperatures:
- CPU
idle: 31° - 33°C
stressed: something above 40°C

9800XT GPU
idle: 58°C - 59°C
stressed: 65°C - 69°C
case open idle: +/- 54°C
case open stressed: +/- 60°C

Don't think my card uses dynamic overclocking as the Asus drivers don't
support it. Smartdoctor keeps telling me, I'm always running at 412Mhz,
even if I have the low 3D Mark-results.

Regards,

Frankl

 

[Ben Pope]

I don't know. It feels very warm. That's why I've opened my case, the
videocard cooling system was more silent, so I thaught the temperature was
OK. I didn't have any increase in 3D Mark.

I'd have said that that would indicate a warm case when the side is on.

To give an idea of the other temperatures:
- CPU
idle: 31° - 33°C
stressed: something above 40°C

Thats pretty low - probably socket rather than cpu diode temp.

9800XT GPU
idle: 58°C - 59°C
stressed: 65°C - 69°C
case open idle: +/- 54°C
case open stressed: +/- 60°C

Don't think my card uses dynamic overclocking as the Asus drivers don't
support it. Smartdoctor keeps telling me, I'm always running at 412Mhz,
even if I have the low 3D Mark-results.

Oh... then you have old drivers and that throws out my idea! Nothing
stopping you from installing ATI newer ones... generally more about specific
game bug fixes than performance, a recent test showed very little difference
in performance between all the drivers from 3.5 - 3.9

Ben

 

[Dark Avenger]

I don't know. It feels very warm. That's why I've opened my case, the
videocard cooling system was more silent, so I thaught the temperature was
OK. I didn't have any increase in 3D Mark.

To give an idea of the other temperatures:
- CPU
idle: 31° - 33°C
stressed: something above 40°C

9800XT GPU
idle: 58°C - 59°C
stressed: 65°C - 69°C
case open idle: +/- 54°C
case open stressed: +/- 60°C

Don't think my card uses dynamic overclocking as the Asus drivers don't
support it. Smartdoctor keeps telling me, I'm always running at 412Mhz,
even if I have the low 3D Mark-results.

Regards,

Frankl

You know that Casecooling doesn't works if your case is Open! ... ya
know, keep the lid on the case, the case has a lid for a reason and
install a few extra 80x80 mm casefans for a NORMAL casecooling!

I got about 5 casefans in a MIDI tower of chieftec and I can tell one
thing.. NOTHING overheats here! ...

 

[DaveW]

I'm not exactly clear why, with that level of investment and heat producing
parts, you didn't invest in several case fans? Not much money really ...

 

[Frank Lenaerts]

You know that Casecooling doesn't works if your case is Open! ... ya
know, keep the lid on the case, the case has a lid for a reason and
install a few extra 80x80 mm casefans for a NORMAL casecooling!

I got about 5 casefans in a MIDI tower of chieftec and I can tell one
thing.. NOTHING overheats here! ...

Went to the store again. Told them about my problem but they didn't know
what the problem was. I could get a new one ... but I asked which brand
would be the best to buy. To be honest I wasn't fond anymore of the Asus
since you can't use the original catalyst drivers properly. The store told
me Hercules had a better reputation of building videocards, so I got myself
a Hercules again. I also bought 4 papst 80mm low noise fans. Created an
airflow, where my videocard is in the middle of it. I must say the
videocard's cooling stays "quietly", even on full load.

Did some small testing yesterdag ... first I started NFS: U and drove a lap.
Did a 3D Mark 03 -> 6363
I did another -> 6364
I let the computer idle for an half hour -> 6367

I *hope* my problems are gone now ...

F.

 

[Steven Scharf]

I'm not exactly clear why, with that level of investment and heat producing
parts, you didn't invest in several case fans? Not much money really ...

Hard drive fans too. Having a lot of fans and running them at lower
speeds can solve the noise problem and the cooling problem.

Check svc.com for cooling solutions.

I think my next machine will have a total of 24 fans, but I'll run
them at 7 volts.

 

[bob cox]

I had a machine with 24 fans once.... sounded like a boat motor, which
was the point. Some people like quiet, I prefer loud and overdone.

 

[Dark Avenger]

Went to the store again. Told them about my problem but they didn't know
what the problem was. I could get a new one ... but I asked which brand
would be the best to buy. To be honest I wasn't fond anymore of the Asus
since you can't use the original catalyst drivers properly. The store told
me Hercules had a better reputation of building videocards, so I got myself
a Hercules again. I also bought 4 papst 80mm low noise fans. Created an
airflow, where my videocard is in the middle of it. I must say the
videocard's cooling stays "quietly", even on full load.

Did some small testing yesterdag ... first I started NFS: U and drove a lap.
Did a 3D Mark 03 -> 6363
I did another -> 6364
I let the computer idle for an half hour -> 6367

I *hope* my problems are gone now ...

F.

Yup, it's all about the casefans...without a nice slow wind within
your case. Things overheat faster!

And with Papste 19db or 12db fans you surely got a quiet case