8800GTX RAM problems

[young]

Hey everyone,

I have an 8800GTX with a HR-03 + 120mm fan on it, and I've managed to get the core overclocked to a tasty 676, the shader up to 1563, but have had to underclock the memory to 892 because it artifacts at anything above that.

I used to have it at stock, but after moving to the latest Beta Nvidia drivers, I noticed it needed to be underclocked. Anyway, is my RAM overheating? should I try reseating the RAMsinks that came with the HR-03? or is my card faulty? I know I've only had to underclock it SLIGHTLY, but surely it should be able to run at stock speeds?

 

[lord filbuster]

probably it just can't handle the ram speeds with the core that high try knocking a mhz or 2 off the core clock and see if that works, i have an overclocked gts with the same cooler, and a couple of my ramsinks have fallen off. im currently waiting for some epoxy, but the ram isnt that hot and i don't get artifacts. might be worth a shot though, the thermal pads on the ramsinks are crappy arent they? probably more important is the voltage regulators, and the hsi heatsink (the largest heatsink near the dvi ports) EDIT: i just noticed, try going back to the older drivers, its probably just the beta drivers arent stable enough.

 

[young]

Well since I got the 8800GTX I haven't been able to overclock the RAM at all, the most I managed was about 908 from the 900 stock. I'm just not sure if its the RAM overheating or if the card just generally wont go above 900.

PS, I have tried overclocking the RAM whilst the core and shader are at stock, and it still wont let me!

I'm guessing that the thermal pad together with too much thermal compound on the HSI heatsink might be causing it, I'll try reseating the HSI first, but I dont really want to permanently epoxy the ramsinks on!

 

[Leebone]

Which drivers are causing these probs mate?

 

[young]

the newest betas; 169.28

The drivers I was using before were the 169.09 betas.

But as far as I can remember, no matter what driver I use, the RAM won't overclock even slightly. If anything, the newer the driver the lower my RAM has to be set to.

 

[young]

so what does everyone think? worth taking apart the cooler from the card and the ram sinks?

 

[young]

I've just reseated my RAM sinks and HMI sink, but my RAM still artifacts at 900, I have a 120mm fan blowing on my HR-03 at full speed under gaming. Is there anything I can do? would buying a new RAM cooler help, or is my RAM just not very good, its an EVGA card, so I assumed it would at least overclock a bit, let alone have to be underclocked!