OC AIW 9700, is it worth it?

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 1:17 pm

Before he can decide about a GTO which I totally recommend the C3D one cuz it does on lock and oc well, if he's looking at a 9700 AIW, is he looking at it because he needs agp?

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 1:18 pm

he already has this card dgood, thus the whole "free performance" deal, lol

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 1:19 pm

Read his first post and sig!!!

He has a 9700AIW card, his G/F got him a sexy new monitor....all he wants to do is try OC the card to see if he can bring some more life into it......

ANY GTO2 with the additional power connector should mod to a x850.......

:edit:

Your darn quick killswitch.... LOL

bigblockmatt · Post by **bigblockmatt** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:15 pm

Ya, i was going for the free thing... Ken, you said it perfect. I dont need the AIW. I went with it in the first place because i wanted to do the TV thing on the computer cause i didnt have a tv. I have never actually used the tuner on it cause i was given a free tv right after i built this comp (about 2 years ago) my mobo is agp so pci-e is out of the question. Its been a good card but i think it is time to get something new her ein the near future.

Back on topic*

When i find the max core, should i use the max mem that a found or use the default mem value?

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:43 pm

I'd stick with the max core, even drop it by ~5MHz to be sure...

Then mem is only OC by 40MHz? Then drop it by 10MHz to be sure...
Then in ATItool you can save it as a profile....
You can also make ATItool use different profiles for 2D and 3D....

You should test realworld differences though, 3DMark is nothing.....

OC'in a GFX card doesn't normally give much benefits unless you can OC by a good margin .

bigblockmatt · Post by **bigblockmatt** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 1:16 pm

what would you consider a "good margin"

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:05 pm

bigblockmatt wrote:what would you consider a "good margin"

It all depends on the type of chip and what the starting MHz was......

In your case I'd guess you'll need ~50MHz for both core and Ram.....

The only way to know if in real world....Do you have UT2004?
There is very easy benchmark tools for this game, set it to run @1600x1200 @ stock then retest when OC'd....Unless the framerate increases by more than ~10FPS it's going to be worth it IMO

Sorry If this isn't clearer, I'm just out of bed, It's 10pm here, I've being in bed since last night with a darn chest infection

Happy New Year BTW

bigblockmatt · Post by **bigblockmatt** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:52 pm

No, i dont have UT 2004. I got ut 2003...I could pretty much test it with any game though right? just play with default settings then with the OCed settings and compare the difference in fps?

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:56 pm

2003 will do fine, google UT2003 benchmark....or goto the prog files folder for the game, there is already a batch file in there for a simple benchmark

Or you can get "FRAPS" and install it.... then play a bit, with and without OC'd

FRAPS will show you your FPS....works with nearly all 3D programs

bigblockmatt · Post by **bigblockmatt** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:53 pm

well, i am not getting the perfermance that i would like from the OCing. so, i guess that means i get to buy a new card. In looking at all the options, i have no idea what are good cards. I am willing to spend about $200-250 on a card. I looked and dont really know which is more important, more ram, ddr vs gddr3, pipeline things, core speed, mem speed, all that other junk. so, suggest away. I do not want an AIW. Thanks for all the help Ken. by the way, when OCing, durring gaming, it would do some weird lagging, and weird graphical stuff flickerings.

also, i am not partial to ATI. i dont really know what all the differences in all the different brands like ati, bfg, saphire...etc. Thanks for the help guys.

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:03 pm

ATI will be releasing details about their NEXT cards towards the end of the month....Prob available in Feb....IF your willing to wait?

This will mean all cards will come down in $$...I know you said you'd prefer not to get ATI but.......

bigblockmatt · Post by **bigblockmatt** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:59 pm

you must have read wrong. I have no problem at all with ATI. I dont want a AIW. i just need a regular, AGP, card. i guess i could wait... didnt they just come out with all there new stuff?

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:17 pm

ATI was very late releasing the current cards...(X1800)
They already have the new card done....So now this year they will be first and NV second releasing the even newer cards...

Since your AGP, you see the prices drop...but I think you will have to go with the x800 series or the Gforce 6 series...

XFX Geforce 6800GS -> great overclocker aswell as very fast....
$229
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150126

That's all I could fine for now.....

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:00 pm

hmmm......interesting:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102660

this X800GTO has a pretty nice core (R423 core, which can be unlocked to 16 pp) and more than likely 980 on the memory......pretty good buy that's right in your range. Not to mention the 2-slot cooler, which you can always replace with an aftermarket cooler from AC if you wanted better temps. Just a thought

sbohdan · Post by **sbohdan** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:13 pm

paul. he has AGP and you just offered him a PCI-E card

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:18 pm

ohhhh man.....damn I miss my brain cells

well, here's the correct interface, but not sure how this one will perform:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102002

sorry bout that.....ok, now I know I should never drink again, lol

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:27 am

killswitch83 wrote:ohhhh man.....damn I miss my brain cells

well, here's the correct interface, but not sure how this one will perform:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102002

sorry bout that.....ok, now I know I should never drink again, lol

This also is a nice card, but alas it cannot be modded to a 16pipline X850....Oonly the GTO2 can take the mod!

Still a good card though

bigblockmatt · Post by **bigblockmatt** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:50 am

thanks for all the recomendations. sorry about the delayed post, was sick like a dog yesterday....only got out of bed was to go to the bathroom

What is the deal with the pipline stuff?

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 12:12 pm

not sure about the AGP version of the GTO2, but on the PCI-E version you can unlock the standard 12 pixel pipes to 16, and flash the BIOS to the XT PE version, and combine that with a great over clock (been hearing around the neighborhood of 590 on the core, and I think 1300 on the mem [might have been 1100, can't remember]), and you have one heck of a card for much cheaper than you could buy the X850XT PE for (and I'm not even sure if they released that card in an AGP version or not).......but yeah, more pixel pipes means you'll be able to render game graphics better, and of course you know what comes with OCing, lol. I think you use ATItool to do this if I can remember right, or check to see if you have a card that can be unlocked (I forget which)......Ken knows what software to use, ask him, lol

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 12:59 pm

bigblockmatt wrote:thanks for all the recomendations. sorry about the delayed post, was sick like a dog yesterday....only got out of bed was to go to the bathroom What is the deal with the pipline stuff?

GFX are divided into mainly pixels
The 7800GTX has 24 pixel pipelines, the X1800 series has 16 pipelines

The GTX runs @ 430MHz while ATI's runs @ 650MHz....But because of NV's more pipelines, they can compete with ATI when clocked 220MHz slower.....

Pipelines is to do with how data is processed inside the GFX chip....
In general, the more the better.....
Lower-end cards are just high-end ones with piplines disabled, either because faulty part of the chip or they had a big demand for that card....

The ATI GTO2 card has 12 pipelines open, but is made from the same chip as the X850 chip...All you need to do with these cards is flash them with an X850 Bios....then your GTO2 all of a sudden has 16 pipes open and clocked @ X850 speeds.....Even windows and the ATI drivers just see it as a X850 (which it is, same cooling, PCB etc.)
This mod will only work with a GTO2 card which has an additional power connector on it....IF you can get one, you can use ATITool to see what core type the card is using r420/r423 or something....
I got an X800pro and modded it to an X800XTPE by flashing the bios...I spent ~300 for the card....2days later it was a ~600euro card!

I don't think the GTO2 is available for AGP.....but the standard GTO is a damn nice card......

Legit Reviews

OC AIW 9700, is it worth it?

AGP or PCI E?