OCing an X1400

Main question: How do i go about doing this?
Can i do it myself?
If not, how much does it cost?
What are the benefits of over clocking?
What percentage will my FPS increase by?
Any damage in the long run?

 

You can overclock the X1400 yourself.

Refer to www.overclock.net for more info.

 

I don't know the answers to all your questions but i can answer some

Yes you can do it yourself. You have to do a boot cd or something. haven't ever OCed so i'm not quite sure.

Faster framerates in games and such. I don't think people OC so they can turn up game details. Also it's used for getting Higher 3dMark scores. etc.

The increase in FPS will depend on how OCed it is and it'll depend what game.

It probably will shorten your laptops life expectancy. that's just what i've heard.


I'm not expert but hopefully some of this will help.

 

just download ati tray tools. go into the overclocking section and hit 'find max core' and 'find max memory'. when the max is found lower each by 5-15mhz respectively. monitor temperatures to make sure everything is fine.

 

How do i go about doing this? Download ATI Tray tools as stated above, install it, load it up and look for the Overclocking sections and you can slowly adjust the core and memory frequencies to overclock the card.

Can i do it myself? Yes and its free.

What are the benefits of over clocking? Higher frame rate, better graphic options but nothing to significant because you can only go so far.

What percentage will my FPS increase by? Probably an average of 5-15fps if you do a decent OC. ex. 432/396 ====> 500/435

Any damage in the long run? If you don't push it too far and cause constant artifacting I don't see any significant damage being done.

 

I also am about to attempt overclocking the x1400 tonight. I've been overclocking video cards for a long time and have a very good idea of what I am doing. Does anyone recommend drivers for ATI-Tool to optimize WoW and CS:S for overclocking? Should I use cats 7.2 or go with Omega's? I've never overclocked such a low range card before.

-Josh

 

I had no problems OCing the x1400 under Xp pro with ati tray tools but I cant seem to get ati tools to work under Vista 32 bit. When i start it it shows some crazy ass clock numbers and wont allow me to adjust anything. Anyone else having this problem in Vista?

 

Do you have ati tool 27 beta version?

 

Ellandry, I'm pretty sure ATI-Tools doesn't work with Vista just yet. But, then again, not much does.

I'm currently trying to overclock with ATI-Tools 0.25-14, and it's the only up to date version that works in showing the clock speeds of my X1400, however, it locks up every time I start the GPU max text. I'm using Cats 7.2, is this the issue? Should I roll back to 7.1 or earlier? I've heard the Omega's aren't good with the X1000 series of mobile cards. Thanks.

-Josh

 

The only overclocking tool I have found that works with ATI video cards on Windows Vista is PowerStrip:
http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm
It's a free download and it works great. A simple but effective tool.

I tried the ATI Tray Tools .27 Beta, and while it works right after the install, it refuses to run otherwise because Vista will not give it kernel-level access. I have to uninstall/reinstall every time I want to use it. PowerStrip just works.

I should note I am using the Catalyst 7.2 drivers from ATI's site.

 

So what should i set my rates to? I want it to be safe, and still more fps.

 

A safe overclock would be something around 485 core / 415 memory. It will give you somewhat noticeable framerate improvement and it isn't to overboard.

 

All right, thanks

 

dunno if this is helpful

but when i first got my vista basic dell 6400, it came with some kind of ATI catalyst

it had an OC feature in it, like a control bar you can drag left and right to increase or decrs. your clock speed

but i didnt care about OC back then, so i upgraded to 7.2 newest driver

now that little sniffy tool is gone.

Bahh

 

Should i OC my thinkpad ?it has an x1400
Its default clock is 390 and memory as 350...
seems a bit low to me

 

The max I can get mine to is 529/445.

I hear people with dells can go really high on the core (i've heard 580 not sure if i believe it) and get around the same as mine (445) max on the memory.

 

My advice would be to overclock the memory as far as possible first, then go with the GPU second. The GPU is far faster than the memory supplied with the X1400 and thus is less of a bottlekneck. Crank the memory up because it generates less heat, then go for GPU. I'll try tonight and post my numbers.

-Josh

 

Well, after a weekend of minor tweaking with powerstrip (Thanks Chaz), I'm incredibly happy. I can't believe the difference the overclock made to such a low-end card (X1400). I mostly play WoW and CS:S on the lappy, and all other games stay on the 360, so I didn't test anything else besides those two.

CS:S - Kept all settings the same, most of the details are pretty maxed except for HDR which is turned off. I run 1280x800 and gained an additional 11-12 FPS on each stress test I ran, I ran it about 5 times. Gameplay also seems much smoother, and I can get anywhere from 35-102 FPS depending on the map, and the areas of the map. This FPS testing was used in the console typing "cl_showfps 2". This will allow you to see the maximum you've achieved as well as the minimum when frames get rough.

WoW - I normally get anywhere from 28-50 FPS in the game with settings on a little over medium. After this overclock I gained an in-game FPS of about 5-10 FPS, which I thought to be insignificant. I then decided to try some quality settings. Every single option for WoW is at maximum except anisotropic filtering (draw distance) and v-sync is turned off. With these settings turned up, I still maintained the 5-10 FPS gain, and gained a whole world of visual quality. Definately worth it, and still at the 1280x800 resolution.

Overall, very pleased, no artifacts, no overheating, and not one crash with the card at the following settings:

528 GPU
445 MEM
Catalyst 7.2

SWEET! Thanks for all the recommendations people.

-Josh

 

Cool, nice job. Just out of curiosity did you accomplish this in Vista?

 

Help guys...I tried to OC my T60 w/ x1400

And if i try to OC the memory to 355 or over I get Artifacts(stock is 350..)

 

Might mean you can't do BIOS level overclocking XIII, try overclocking but just hitting ok instead of 'set clocks'. That will still overclock it but won't save results (just means that you would have to manually move the bars before starting a game).

 

But when i click find max memory and when it hits 355 artifacts automaticly appears..So bascily once the number changes to 355 it gives me artifact..I didnt even click ok or anything because i couldnt(Using omega drivers ATI tool)

 

ati tool or ati tray tool? try it with ati tray tool. If it does still give you artifacts after that it means it can't go higher.

 

No, this was in XP Pro. I bagged Vista Business Edition about 2 weeks ago, hopefully they'll work out the bugs later on. For now, Vista is the furthest thing from gaming possible, stay away from it LOL.

-Josh

 

Try Catalyst 7.2 with ati tray tools or PowerStrip. PowerStrip just gave me fantastic results. Definately worth it. FYI, Omega drivers are not supposed to work that well with the X1000 series Mobility Cards. This may be your problem.

-Josh

 

If i switch to catalyst 7.2 will it raise my fps ingame???

also I cant seems to download catalyst 7.2 from official site...any DLing to it would be appriciated

 

I'm not sure whether 7.2 will increase your FPS, but it should help you overclock more when using ati tray tools and PowerStrip. As far as the drivers... it's on this page on the forum.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64910

-Josh

 

Just wondering but...how do u measure the temp of ur graphic card? I mean, how do u know if it is overheating or not other the your computer crashing?

 

You could just be like me... a wreckless drunk who doesn't monitor his lappy temps, if it frys, I'll buy another LOL!

-Josh

 

LoL, i can never be that reckless...

 

how high are you getting your systems up to
i bought a cooling fan and i have my e1505 at 530/445

 

I'm OCing my x1400 to 450/400

 

I have OC my x1400 to 550/450 with Omega Drivers and Power Strip
When i put bigger core rate laptop have crash. I can put bigger video ram rate because i use the biggest rate in Power Strip and it might run faster than 450
I think its good score
Testing on AquaMark 33,543 points

 

damn
do you have a cooling fan

 

No i havent any external fan but i put back of laptop a little highter for better cooling

 

I HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM!!!!! I underclocked my graphics card all the way, just because my computer was getting really hot. Then i updated my drivers, and when i try to make my clock setting normal my computer CRASHES!!!!! no matter what i do. So now im stuck with these sucky settings. Does anyone know how to get around this???

 

My recommendation would be:

Uninstall Power-Strip...
Uninstall ATI drivers...
Reinstall ATI drivers...
Reinstall Power-Strip.

Maybe this reinstallation will reset the clocks of the GPU and GPU memory. Should work.

-Josh

 

that didn't work at ALL!!!!!

 

o well buy a new computer

 

Try resetting the BIOS and/or getting a new one and flashing it.

Also check your PowerPlay settings. I have found that if PowerPlay is working then you may get a crash when trying to change the clocks.

 

hahaha you just made me look at this at a better way. But i un-installed my Catalyst 7-3 driver, and installed the 7-2 driver (i found the install file) i have them set back to normal now. Thank you.

 

I just overclock my x1400 @ 550MHz-GPU & 490MHz for the memory. I ran ATITool scanning for artifacts for 10 minutes with no errors. I also keep an eye on my temps too. GPU temp idles at 52C and maxes out at 60 playing games. I'm using I8KGui with the fans at full speed to keep my temps down.

My old 3DMark06 score was 990. My new score is a 1241. I Vista Windows Experience Index went from a 3.7 to a 4.0. Not too bad!

 

Dude your memory can't be at 490 unless its gdrr3 and i dont think it is. Everyone is hitting problems at 440-445.

 

Last I checked there was not even an OCing tool that worked with Vista drivers...at least I tried it and it did not work.

 

powerstrip works very well.

 

I thought it was weird I was able to go so high myself. What other testing can I do to make sure there no artifacts and such?

 

ive got a funny thing going on with my system... Sorry to bring up an old thread..
I can overclock my memmory to well in excess of 550 mhz and my core at 500 mhz on my x1400 with no artifacts , i dont dare to go any higher.. but im sure it can reach 600 mhz on the memory...
Is this really bad , how is it possible a guy just said you can reach 490 mhz without gddr3.. i seem to be able to

I dont think you guys will belive me so i uploaded a pic of it
http://img116.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ocfl2.jpg

(PS) supposedly ive got he dell oem version of the card with only a 64 bit bus , does this affect it???

so is this bad for my laptop , i can run at temps after heavy heavy gaming of a constant 58c and under no load 41c

 

Did you try hitting the apply button after getting that high?

 

yer , look at the screenshot , i kept increasing it by 15 mhz untill i stopped cas it got worryingly high , i tried another hdd with xp mce loaded on it (my backup) same results... it hits over 220fps on the little window thats next to it...

 

ok , ill run 3d mark 03 ( the only one ive got ) and post back my clocks and scores... do remember without the overclocking i was getting in the 2500 range because ive got the 64 bit version of the card which is supposedly crappy...

edit: with overclocks scored 4476 , without overclocks scored 3217