Legit Reviews

So I feel it is only right before finishing my thread on overclocking ati radeon cards, to go for one more round with my newest addition to my ati card collection. The x1800xt. the 9600 was a big upgrade to my 8500, the x800xt another big jump from the 9600, and then now this x1800xt to defeat that. So I got a zalman Fatality FC-ZV9 (alot like the vf900) Dual heatpipe copper red led fan. I took off that gigantic x1800xt cooler. Also I put on some zalman thermal grease that came with my cnps9700 because I didn't like the look of the stuff that came with the zalman vga cooler. I should have used the rest of my as5 like I had on my x800, but I wanted to keep it for later.

So after looking at a bunch of different forums who have done overclocking of the x1800xt I see there are a range of numbers to be had, usually depending on how extreme of cooling you are using and whether or not you use voltage changes while overclocking. I was wondering why now ati tray tools has choices of "low level" overclocking and "driver level" overclocking. I wanted hardware level overclocking and just to do it to it. I guess driver level is the way to go.

Ken Mind straightening me out on which one to use for sure? Also Mind filling me in on how to get some extra voltage to the core?

The results I saw seemed to range from 665-740mhz on the core up from a stock of 625mhz. And the ram was 840-920mhz up from 700mhz. So I'm expecting decent results from an already good card.

for tips extra check out my adventures at http://i4memory.com/showthread.php?t=1842 and http://i4memory.com/showthread.php?t=2016 and http://i4memory.com/showthread.php?t=2053

HTH

those are nice to see actually as I was surprised the zalman wasn't any better than the stock heatsink. However I notice less noise and same temps on my zalman as with stock heatsink at 100% fan. I loved how my arctic cooling silencer worked, but I read the zalman was better, and a the least looked cooler ;).

well without playing with voltages or playin around much and just selecting driver level overclocking on the x1800xt. I got the core to 662 up from the bios which was actually 600 instead of 625 like most. and the ram up to 819 from 700. Those are decent results but lower than most reviews I saw on x1800xt's. So I will probably try some settings changes and slight voltage changes. my load temps are below 60C even overclocked, but I get artifacting when higher.

Well it's not as impressive an overclock as I've had with past cards, but once the voltage came in the card performs well. I have it running I think stably overclocked to 716mhz (600 bios)/828(700 bios) 1656 mhz effective. that's about 15% on each maybe a touch more. I set a temperature under load limit on myself of 75C and I haven't hit it yet but i've been about 74 so I figure some long gaming will put me at or slightly over so that is where I end it. Maybe with a different air cooler even you could do more. I do like the idea of how my silencer blew air out the back before, the zalman doesn't. It has a cool look to it, but the idea of getting that hot air out of your case and keeping a lower ambient temperature seems to be a better means of doing it in my opinion. Any ideas? or comments or anything.

Damn nice overclock on that beasty!! Give her some water!!

I wish, but though I might have the money if I would actually save up some stuff, I don't have the time or trust myself with water cooling. Thanks though. It'd be fun to try though. I saw eva2000's results on water and with other coolers were better than mine though so makes me tempted.

dgood wrote:
Ken Mind straightening me out on which one to use for sure? Also Mind filling me in on how to get some extra voltage to the core?

The results I saw seemed to range from 665-740mhz on the core up from a stock of 625mhz. And the ram was 840-920mhz up from 700mhz. So I'm expecting decent results from an already good card.

Low level is better to use, just make sure you select yes when your asked to disable the ATI 2D / 3D clock switching.

There should be an option in ati tray tools for voltages, under the overclcoking tab. If not, I'd switch to ATI Tool.

Sweet OC btw! Eva has a nice guide on his site linked above --> Thankfully Eva makes his posts nice and comprehensive

anyone mind enlightening me on the difference? so I can add it to my ati overclocking thread?