(A bit) disappointed with 9800Pro overclock

[Neil]

I installed a VGA Silencer because the heat from
my 9800Pro being dumped into my case was causing
me problems. It has worked a treat in keeping the
case temperatures down and I thought maybe I'd see
if I could get much extra out of it. My original
3DMark score was about 5k5 with the card at the
standard frequencies. I noticed from the
Futuremark ORB that there are plenty of people
getting 420MHz from their 9800Pro cores, so I was
a bit disappointed to find myself stuck at 400MHz.
That gets me up to 5k7 3DMark points.

I'm using ATITool to check my maximum frequencies
and asking for 6000 defect-free seconds. [Do you
reckon that's too demanding? I thought it was
probably sensible to set that to some time similar
to the amount of time I might spend in a game].
When I fitted the VGA Silencer I didn't remove the
shim; I checked, and the top of the core appeared
level with the top of the shim. If I had a
problem related to the shim would I have found it
at lower frequencies?

Could it be down to my case temperature? During
the test the mainboard reports a case temperature
of 42°C (that's with the room probably at about
27°C) though I don't know where on the board the
sensor is. I have intake and exhaust fans in the
case, as well as the VGA Silencer, but I think the
case is just too small and too full to be cooled
well.

I have

XP2100 (1733MHz @ 13x162 = 2110MHz)
512MB PC2100 Kingston Value RAM (Runs at 162MHz
2-2-2-5)
MSI KT3 Ultra 2R
ATi ATi 9800Pro 128MB
Tagan 480W PSU


Should I expect more? or am I just being greedy?

Neil

I noticed, when I fitted the VGA Silencer, that I
have the R360 core. I know people have reflashed
the video BIOS on such cards and turned them into
9800XT's. Is there any point? If the chips will
go at certain clock speeds, isn't that all the
performance there is? Running with XT BIOS can't
make any difference can it?

 

[Ben Pope]

I installed a VGA Silencer because the heat from
my 9800Pro being dumped into my case was causing
me problems. It has worked a treat in keeping the
case temperatures down and I thought maybe I'd see
if I could get much extra out of it. My original
3DMark score was about 5k5 with the card at the
standard frequencies. I noticed from the
Futuremark ORB that there are plenty of people
getting 420MHz from their 9800Pro cores, so I was
a bit disappointed to find myself stuck at 400MHz.
That gets me up to 5k7 3DMark points.

I'm using ATITool to check my maximum frequencies
and asking for 6000 defect-free seconds. [Do you
reckon that's too demanding?

It's possible to clock the card higher and not "see" any defects, so some
people might not actually have a defect free system. ATITool is very good
at determining "stable". Your system should be able to run "forever",
stable so 100mins shouldn't be "too demanding".

I thought it was
probably sensible to set that to some time similar
to the amount of time I might spend in a game].
When I fitted the VGA Silencer I didn't remove the
shim; I checked, and the top of the core appeared
level with the top of the shim. If I had a
problem related to the shim would I have found it
at lower frequencies?

Debateable. It depends how much paste you put on there.

Could it be down to my case temperature? During
the test the mainboard reports a case temperature
of 42°C (that's with the room probably at about
27°C) though I don't know where on the board the
sensor is. I have intake and exhaust fans in the
case, as well as the VGA Silencer, but I think the
case is just too small and too full to be cooled
well.

Well 42°C is 15°C above your room, you should be able to strip 5°-10° off of
that.

I noticed, when I fitted the VGA Silencer, that I
have the R360 core. I know people have reflashed
the video BIOS on such cards and turned them into
9800XT's. Is there any point? If the chips will
go at certain clock speeds, isn't that all the
performance there is? Running with XT BIOS can't
make any difference can it?

If there is a programmable voltage controller, then yeah, a new BIOS could
up the voltage to increase the ability to overclock...

Ben

 

[First of One]

Roll back to 3DMark build 310 and try various older drivers (perhaps Cat
4.2?). I bet you'll get a couple hundred 3DMarks for "free".

 

[Ben Pope]

Roll back to 3DMark build 310 and try various older drivers (perhaps Cat
4.2?). I bet you'll get a couple hundred 3DMarks for "free".

If you're gonna benchmark... at least get the scores legitimately.

Ben

 

[First of One]

It's quite legitimate. In fact, Futuremark explicitly states that scores
between different patch versions are considered identical.

Besides, "legitimate" results this week may well be considered
"optimizations" the next week depending on which company pays more
membership fees to Futuremark's benchmark development program (BDP).

And getting the scores illegitimately would mean using a speed cheat to
accelerate your PC's sense of time. Originally meant for games like
C-Strike, it can be devastating to 3DMark worshippers, as revealed here:

http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/a_speed_cheat/

Note the "10 GHz CPU + Geforce 6 Ultra?" line. This article was actually
written a few years ago.

 

[Ben Pope]

It's quite legitimate. In fact, Futuremark explicitly states that scores
between different patch versions are considered identical.

I thought they stated that only the latest patch with the recognised
suitable driver version was valid. No matter, I have better things to do
than constantly benchmark my computer to get the last few 3DMark points and
then compare with others. Unless it's seriously down on another similar
machine, I couldn't care less.

I know it plays Far Cry nice, and I'm nearly done. Splinter Cell: Pandoras
Tomorrow might get some attention after that

Ben