Ati Overclocking

Thanks Chaz.
I set the memory refresh bus back to 39 as I only saw an 8 point increase in score in ATT(which would be counted as an error margin).

 

Hey everyone,

I've lurked (unregistered) about this forum for the better part of the past six months, gaining most valuable knowledge and insight about various hardware and the best notebook for my budget. I am now the proud owner of the Sager NP5320.

Anyway, my question is for Chaz...since I have the same notebook as you, I was wondering if perhaps you could post a summary of what you've done to OC your card to this point. This is an enormous thread, and since there have been many tweaks and re-tweaks, I was hoping you might summarize. I've never OC'ed any graphics card before (including desktops), and I fear the worst if I just try to follow along with the thread. Thank you!

 

Ala,

Welcome to the forums. Chaz will be able to help you out, just have to wait for him to get on. Congrats on the new laptop.

 

it might sound like a shameless plug, but as abaxter is pretty cool with the site - i think it's ok to post this; ikovac and me have researched nearly everything you can do to tweak your laptop GPU. we have written everything down into nice articles including diagramms and all. as a host system we used a generic ati x700, the highest we got was 6700 3dmark03 points with it - ofcourse we're talking about an x700 that's running stable. all articles from how to overclock, how to push the limits, how is it going to heat up my laptop etc. can be found in the ati section of thegamebooks.com forum.

 

Actually I think that higher memory refresh rate means less refreshing. I see it like "refresh memory every 255th time/clock" for example. If the number is in miliseconds then it would read "refresh memory every 255 miliseconds". Every refresh takes time, so if you do it less often, the card is faster. There is a limit though (as you found out) around 90-120 in my case I get almost identical values, still higher than on 35. ATT gives no explanation for it, but from other sources I got this feeling that higher number in fact means LESS refreshes. Scores also go in favor to this idea.

Again, I am not an expert in memory architecture, or ATT numbers scaling, so forgive me if I'm wrong.

And there were no heat differences observed while setting latencies.

Chaz did you measure speeds when you pull memory refresh to smaller numbers?

Cheers,

 

actually a 128MB X600 with no overclocking beats that ^_^

my N6210 X600 Managed 1660 in 3dmark05 with no overclocking whatsoever, with the 5.11 drivers and CCC installed

something that was interesting however, 3dmark05 tells me i have 256mb of video memory, so i'm wondering if the latest ati driver allows me to use hypermemory or something? I now have the 5.13 driver and have not run 3dmark05 again, i might have to and see if it manages a better score without OCing.

hey hpzd8000 guy, does your x600 have 256mb of physical memory or does it use hypermemory?

 

The latest Catalyst drivers enable HyperMemory by default on all 64MB and 128MB PCI-e cards, so that is probably why it is reading 256MB.

As for the memory refresh bus...ikovac, I am not sure how to read the memory refresh rate, but your post makes sense. From what dutty said earlier in this thread, he posted that the memory refresh bus being set to a higher level does indeed produce more heat.

 

Hi Chaz,

Actually if you read my post to dutty, there I explain a similar thing as here, a few posts above. Maybe I misunderstood dutty's line, but I think he was trying to find the best GPU/MEM combo that would not produce too much heat. Nothing to do with latencies or memory refresh rate. I will check this mem refresh rate temp differences once.

Cheers,

 

yes.. about the hot gpu i think i was referring to the high clock rates of 415/435, but even that amount of heat can be controlled if you're using a coolingpad....
and what the hell - believe me it's worht it, your x700 will performance will then be as good as the an x1600 mobilty.
and i'm not bull****ting here, x1600 benchmarks and our x700 benchmarks
don't waste your money on a new MXM/AXIOM card or even a new notebook, get a cooling pad and do it like the pros

the quote from me in your post is actually quite old, we did alot of research on the topic latencies and the mem-refreshrate is actually not how often the mem is refreshed,no, it'll be refreshed every X'th time.
so a mem refresh of 255 is MUCH SAFER than one of 35 or even lower values. but if you set the clock higher you need to reduce the refreshrate so the slow memory can keep up with the fast clock.

yes - we do love overclocking

btw, i can really recommend setting your latencies values to the optimum, the card won't get any hotter but you'll gain about 300 to 500 3dmarks (3d mark is not really accurate) and i noticed much less hick-ups or lags during gameplay

 

Thanks for the explanation - I see what you mean now.

For my particular GDDR2 card, I found 99 to be the optimum memory refresh value. Game play is perfectly smooth in all my games, even at the higher resolutions. Quake 4 is spectacular as well. I'll have to give Half Life 2 Lost Coast a run through later, just to see how my OC'ing is working.

Thanks,
Chaz

 

i keep my x700 250/376. it makes no difference if gpu clock is 200 or 380.

x700 with gpu at 200mhz equals to x600 with gpu at 400mhz because of the pipelines, 4 vs. 8.

 

Hi dj_pirtu,

Do you measure scores in ATT Bench? That bench is really memory loving. GPU changes don't seem to bother it. But if you start 3dmark there should be some gain? Do you have same scores there too? If you do, that is really news to me.

Nice comparison you made there - that can be read that x700 is twice as fast on same clocks than x600, just because of pipelines? I presume both have same amounts of memory then? Maybe some people would object this.

Cheers,

 

exactly, we also thought memory would be the important factor when it comes to speed. but if you fire up games you'll see that you need the corespeed. i think the reason why the att/at bench is not really useful is if you want to test corespeed is simple, it's because it has the same number of vertexes each scene- 3dmark03 is the best at the moment because it's really killing it with the amount of polygons.

i thought of writing a benchmark application based on the quake3 engine, as the sources are available for free since a few months.

btw, i don't think an x700 is twice as fast as an x600 on the same clocks, it's not only the pixel pipelines it also has a much greater memory bandwith and more pixelshaders etc.

 

hey, if you have the Ati Tray Tools from the guruof3d site or whatever it is called you can go into options and uncheck the overclock limits box, with that unchecked it allows me to raise both clocks to 1ghz, which isn't going to happen,

I have found that just playing with the memory 398:290 clocks gave me an increase of over 200.

default - 398:243 - att score - 1818
mem oc - 398:290 - att score - 2157

not bad at all.

i will probably try more when i get some more games that i need to overclock more, Day of Defeat:Source and all the other source games run fine so i don't really worry about it.

 

I just got a question about the AtiTool. I found out that even if I just open the program and view the 3D view. then my CPU temp rises up to 70C. Is it normal that it does that?

 

Hi Aerozolic,

Yes! And that happens VERY QUICKLY. Especially if you have your GPU and CPU under the same heatsink. I did an article about it, and posted some of it on this forum. But it will be quicker if you check this:
http://www.thegamebooks.com/how-overclocking-your-gpu-heats-up-your-notebook-t15.html

Edit: Try checking other articles on that forum, I covered undervolting too, so in games you can lower the temp from 5-10 degrees!

Hope it helps,

 

Thanks for the answer ikovac. Will read the articles. BTW just did a 3dMark03 and got around 850 points. A lot of tests were like 1 FPS and something But isn't my core clock set up at a little bit too low - 250MHz? ATI announces on it's home page that it should be 350MHz. I wonder how high the CPU temp will then be if I OC my GPU 100MHz's?
PS. I have this funny button named Silent Mode. I first time tested it with Everest opened. When I activated the silent mode, the CPU temp went up to 96C. Going back to normal mode, the CPU is 48C.

 

I wouldn't activate silent mode - that turns off your fans most likely.

About the 3DMark tests - it's natural that they are very low, that is what the benchmark is designed to do, stress the comptuer.

Not sure about the overclocking. I would be hesitant to do so, considering that it is an integrated GPU.

 

The Silent mode button on my brother's notebook (also Uniwill barebone) changes the lowest multiplier form 6x to 4x and it runs so cool that it doesn't need fan! That is very good thing Chaz! It is still fast enough for windows and usual multimedia stuff. I wish I have this button! Battery lasts almost 1 hour longer!
Of course I wouldn't know why your S button makes the CPU to reach 96? Sounds crazy to me. As 96 is exactly 2x48, I think that Everst is lying. Is your notebook that hot?
As you have an integrated card, I wonder how can you overclock it in the first place. Does it behave like an ordinary card and you can see its GPU and MEM speeds? I mean GPU is in the chipset, and MEM is actually the main memory that cannot be changed just like that without affecting the whole computer.

Cheers,

 

Well, if it was in a program, then it might not be a dedicated option like on the notebook you mentioned Ivan, and do all the fancy underclocking . . that's why I am saying it might have just turned off the fans. That's not something I would do . .

I've used programs like that which have merely turned off the fans to make it 'silent'.

 

I can see the core and mem speed with ATI Tool. I can overclock the core speed only, but I haven't.
PS. I'm getting pissed with these "Blue Screens of Death" pretty often my laptop freezes, shows the blue screen and restarts. I had one after finishing 3dMark. I got the:
"The driver ati2dvag for the display device \Device\Video0 got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates." error.
I don't know why I get the blue screens so much. Sometimes I just a a blue screen without the infinite loop. I've tryed Fujitsu-Siemensäs own graphics drivers, ATI Catalyst 6.2 and 6.2 IGP and the latest Omega drivers and I still have the problem.

 

PS. The button is on my notebook - special feature.

 

Ah! I didn't know that. If it is anything how Ivan described, then I don't know why your notebook would be heating up. I would try a different program, see if it gets the same readings for temperatures.

 

suggest anything

 

Yeah, I think that Everest just reads the temp in a wrong way. I mean it is the hardware-BIOS thing and if it does that to your comp, I would immediately return it. But I guess it works OK.

You can overclock GPU? Well, try 5MHz and check if there is some speed gain. I don't have any experience in oveclocking integrated cards. And I would like ot overclock my Intel GMA 900! Just to see how it goes.

Cheers,

 

Take a loot at the 3dMark03 system specs. VGA memory clock is funny

 

Well, you're probably not getting a reading because your X200M has shared memory.

 

I as well have recently bought a sager np5320 and would like to see a summary of what chaz has done.
thanx

 

OK, here's how I overclock my X700 256MB.

Due to the fact it has DDR2 video memory and not the DDR that comes on most notebooks, it is more difficult to overclock - so far, I have only found two settings that I can change without getting a restart.

Under Timings 1 in ATI Tray (right click tray icon, Hardware, Overclocking settings, Timings tab), you can change the CAS Latency to 1 from the default 2 without problems. And also, under timings 3, you can change the memory bus to 99 without problems. I found that to be the best setting.

I don't recommend going over 400 on the memory, stay at 390 or less to be safe. *Do this at your own risk, I am not responsible for any damage done* Please remember that. Keep the memory and core speeds within 10-20MHz of each other. Don't take the memory clock higher than the core clock.

You can underclock the card too on battery to save power. All the way down to 100:100 is perfectly fine, I haven't gone any lower yet.

Cheers

 

chaz thanks for the info but i have one more question do you use catalyst or omega and what version

 

I'm using the latest Catalyst Mobility 6.2. They are very stable, I haven't had any issues.

 

100:100?! Do you notice a substantial amount of battery gain down there?

 

Hm . . well, I never did any official tests, but I think it adds 20min or so to the battery. Also keeps it a few degrees cooler.

Another one of our forum members, ikovac, underclocks his notebook on battery. Hey Ivan - if you stop by, let us know what kind of battery life you get underclocked.

 

Hi Chaz, Ala and others,

100/100 gets me very small difference. around 5-10 minutes on battery time and slower heating of the heatsing, so the fan goes on less often. It is not the powerplay of course.
Cheers,

 

Hi all.

I've been playing along a little with my ASUS 5024 laptop with a x700 128mb onboard while watching these pages. Let me first of all thank you for all the good advices that's been provided on these pages so far! You guys rock!

Now to my problem. I can overclock to 400/400 without any problem. (and i dont really wanna go higher than, say 385/400) so what am i moaning about then? my problem? YEs, it is this: I can't lower my CAS from 2 to 1 in the Ati Tray Tools!

Might this be because of my computer having crap memory or is there any setting I can change to allow the CAS to be lowered to 1?

Oh, and the system info in ATT tells me that i have GDDR3, that's not entirely right either is it? Anyways i hope that i can be fixed, not that i dont like this computer anyways =)

Take care! Dont burn anything up (At least nothing too expensive)
/Cebed

 

Hi cebed and welcome to the forum!
x700 128MB should have DDR1 memory. CAS is not always possible to set. I guess every card has its own best settings.

Cheers,

 

I also have a X700 128mb but was never able to set the CAS to 1. So far I've only seen Chaz to be able to do it with his 256mb DDR2 X700.

 

Hi Caze,
I can set CAS to 1 on my x700 128 MB DDR. I have a MXM card though.

Cheers,

 

There is different memory on some cards as noted - most X700's in notebooks have DDR1, none have GDDR3. It's just a matter of figuring out what works for your card.

Cebed, I would keep your memory timings a bit under your core clock speed. And definitely don't go over 400 on the memory, that's as far as I recommend going for DDR. I don't take my card that high. I go to maybe 390 maximum. The core doesn't matter a whole lot, just keep it within 10-20MHz of the memory.

Overclocking does produce more heat, I recommend purchasing a cooling pad. Just a precaution.

 

My X700 256mb has GDDR3 memory according to Ati Tray Tools. It is clocked to 360/300. I could overclock it to 365/400. GPU can't be overclocked more, don't know why...

Regards, VidKo

 

It's not GDDR3 - that's what it reports for me, and almost everybody. ATT is not very accurate.

 

Hi vidko,
Did you try setting the timings? Although it happens that my card cannot go over 410 without setting the latencies, maybe yours is affected on some lower freq. And you have 256mb, maybe that is the reason.
Cheers,

 

I kinda suspected that there was nothing to do about the CAS latency, but thanks for the responses!
It would be fun to know what kind of expirience ASUS AS 5024 or 5022 owners have had with their latencies, so if anyone knows, pls feel free to drop a line

Greets!
/Cebed

 

BUMP, old thread.

Hey ikovac and Chazman get in here or go to the Asus forum and check out my thread there, it should be near the top.

I don't wanna cross post so yeah.

I got my notebook back recently from a major overhaul in the shop, jeez yes again, but now everything was replaced, motherboard, body, so, so far so good.

I just wanted to discuss the differences I found in the x700 I got back with different core/mem clocks and interestingly a different bios too, with a CAS timing of 1 default.

Come on over to the Asus forum and discuss this with moi

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=49346

 

I want to set up latency's but I am so afraid...anyone that can guide me?

Charlie-Peru

 

The links in Ivan's signature are very useful:
http://www.thegamebooks.com/latencies---how-to-push-the-limits-of-overclocking!-t55.html

Chaz

 

Hey Chaz, Mike,

I must be stupid or something, but I missed the whole Asus thread - sorry Mike.

Chaz - yes that latencies thread is still on, but I haven't played with it for a long time. The last thing with overclocking Ati x700 was the 6.4 - ATT incompatibility issue.

I actually lowered a bit my settings because I was playing some games without a cooler - I must say everything went well. System hit the max at 74 degrees. Undervolted Pentium M of course.

Cheers,

Ivan