ATI Overdrive = Best OC tool ever ?

[mrk]

I love it, it tests both core and mem overclocking automatically and sets the safest max OC. It tests in 5MHz increments for both one by one and on my HIS 4870 the temp never exceeded 85'C.

Needless to say the safe detected overclock was set to:

It tested to 1.1GHz and 790 for core but then dropped a few MHz then tested again to verify safe max OC.

Is this a good OC for stock cooling? How does one calculate the bandwidth based on this ?

Edit* GPU-Z to the rescue

OC / Stock

/

2GB/sec off the GTX280 !

 

[The_Abyss]

You can normally clock higher on 3rd party tools - Rivatuner for example.

Overdrive is a decent basic effort though.

 

[mrk]

I'm quite happy with the basic OC hehe, GTX280 edge is fine by me!

 

[RavenXXX2]

Overdrive is great for hassle free overclocking but do not use the built in clock tester as an indication of your cards stability, best thing for that are GFX intensive games like crysis.

 

[mrk]

Ah right thanks! I will keep it on stock clocks for now then until I have had a weekend free to replace the thermal grease with AS5 to get lower temps, 86 degrees is quite high for intense gaming, can't be doing with lockups if they occur!

 

[RavenXXX2]

You should increase the fan speed, 35% for me gives 55c idle and 70c load with GPU 795 MEM 1100.

 

[mrk]

How do I increase fanspeed?

 

[RavenXXX2]

Instructions below, i suggest 35% to see a dramatic drop in idle and load temps, go to 30% if you don't like the extra noise the fan makes, i dont mind it at 35%.

Make a profile in the CCC after turning on Overdrive and make sure clock and memory settings are correct.

For Vista

Then go to the following location and open the following file for editing "C:\Users\Your Windows ID\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Your CCC Profile.XML. The xml file will have the same name as the Catalyst Profile you saved. right click and hit edit.

For XP - Thanks Spartan for the path...

Then go to the following location and open the following file for editing "C:\Documents and Settings\Your Windows ID\Local Settings\Application Data\ATI\ACE\Your CCC Profile.XML. The xml file will have the same name as the Catalyst Profile you saved. right click and hit edit.


Now go down the page until you see the following lines in the XML file ...

<Feature name="FanSpeedAlgorithm_0">
<Property name="FanSpeedAlgorithm" value="Automatic" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedRPMTarget_0">
<Property name="Want" value="0" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedPercentTarget_0">
<Property name="Want" value="23" />

Change the "Property name="FanSpeedAlgorithm" value=" from "Automatic" to "Manual"

Then change "Property name="Want" value=" from "23" to your desired fan speed.

Save the file, then reload the Profile you just edited in the CCC. Done.

Edit 1:

After experimenting with my HIS HD4870 I found a fan-speed of 37% works best for me. My temps went from 79C at idle to 48C.

Edit 2:

Contrary to instrcutions posted on Guru3D by Bretware, most people are able to set their fan speed to "Automatic" rather than "Manual". Having it set to "Automatic" should allow the fan speed to ramp-up if needed beyond the fan-speed you entered. This doesn't work for me however and I must use "Manual".

 

[mrk]

Thanks!

 

[mrk]

Ok over 25 is too loud for me, 25 is still audible but it's the same audible-ness as my 120mm case fans so I will keep it there methinks

Nicer than 80 idle, 80 under load!

 

[AWPC]

I love it, it tests both core and mem overclocking automatically and sets the safest max OC. It tests in 5MHz increments for both one by one and on my HIS 4870 the temp never exceeded 85'C.

Needless to say the safe detected overclock was set to:

It tested to 1.1GHz and 790 for core but then dropped a few MHz then tested again to verify safe max OC.

Is this a good OC for stock cooling? How does one calculate the bandwidth based on this ?

Edit* GPU-Z to the rescue

OC / Stock

/

2GB/sec off the GTX280 !

790/1100 should be safe as almost every 4870 will safely hit this (the DDR5 goes to 4.4Ghz easily) ATI just back down the default OC a notch in case of poor case temps!!

 

[Broken Hope]

Ah right thanks! I will keep it on stock clocks for now then until I have had a weekend free to replace the thermal grease with AS5 to get lower temps, 86 degrees is quite high for intense gaming, can't be doing with lockups if they occur!

86 degrees won't cause lock ups, you're fine till around 105 degrees, once it reaches that temp it will spin the fan up to 100% till it goes below that.

 

[The_Abyss]

In fairness to the 4870 fan, it can cool the GPU and RAM very quickly, but it is just bl00dy loud when going about its business.

Personally I do find that anything over 30% is noticably too loud for me unless I'm gaming with lots of sound on. My current case is nice and quiet though - I have had cases in the past (several 80mm fans) where I wouldn't have noticed.

 

[Greebo]

790/1100 should be safe as almost every 4870 will safely hit this (the DDR5 goes to 4.4Ghz easily) ATI just back down the default OC a notch in case of poor case temps!!

I agree except that 1100 is the limit of some 4870's. In my case, it is unstable as soon as I go 1Mhz over 1100 on the memory (not a heat issue either as I am watercooled)

And the ATI overdrive is too optimistic with it's overclocks. I have flashed the bios on my 4870 and when I let ATI overdive loose it reckons the max stable clocks is 875/1120.

I can tell you now that ATI tool at those settings crashes within 30 seconds and with GRID you can't even finish a lap of a race before bombing.

I can just do a suicide run of 3dmark06 and vantage at 875/1100 and thats it.

24/7 stable usuage is 839/1090 which is way lower than the max stable settings overdrive thinks.

 

[Talrinys]

In fairness to the 4870 fan, it can cool the GPU and RAM very quickly, but it is just bl00dy loud when going about its business.

Personally I do find that anything over 30% is noticably too loud for me unless I'm gaming with lots of sound on. My current case is nice and quiet though - I have had cases in the past (several 80mm fans) where I wouldn't have noticed.

Yeah i really wish that they had made it a bit bigger, would be able to push a lot more air that way - this just reminds me of the terrible 8800GT launch fans.