New ATi user convert/complaints

[Vampiregabe]

Ok. Big time UT2004 player.

Lagging with my 5700 ultra 128. So I upgraded to the 9800 pro after much research. So far the frames are great.

1. WTF with the ATi utilities? Were these designed by the lighthouse for the blind?

2. Where is the temp meter?

3. Why are there 3 different versions of the drivers? Yea I understand the difference, but why?

4. Why does the fan run 24/7? Why does the fan never shut off? (my 5700 fan shut off when not in use)

5. Why does the fan not shut off when underclocked?? WTF?!?

6. Why do the under/overclocking tools suck? Underclocking gives artifacts? Isn't underclocking better?!?!


:eh?:
The 100+ fps in onslaught is nice though. :cool:


*edit for spelling*

[craig588]

2. there is a only a temp probe built into the r360 chip

1. use rad linker

3. I only know of 2, the omegas and the ATIs. The omegas have better image quality and performance.

5. the fan is not controlled

4. It has a 50,000 hour life span, it wont die on you anytime soon.

6. See #1.

[Yuriman]

Which ati utilities? I like radclocker and rivatuner, and the drivers have everything you need.

The XT's implemented the first temp sensors. You dont need it though.

Ati makes drivers for it, omegacorner makes drivers(like them the best) and maybe someone else? Anyway at and omegacorner work together sometimes.

The 9800 makes more heat that a 5700, so the fan need to be on all the time with the puny heatsink that comes on it. Even with it the core can reach 70c+ at times because it uses .15m processes, which mean larger parts and more heat per mhz(usualy). They make up for it with less but more effective mhz.

You dont underclock. Period.

Radclocker is great. Its simple and effective. Atitool is also good.

Btw why are you complaining? Do these things realy bother you lol?

[Vampiregabe]

Thank for the replies.

As for the drivers, I was unaware of the omegas. I was talking about the offical drivers for ATI. I will check them out. :D

As for the life span of the fan...:rolleyes:

I don't want it running, or if it has to run, then quietly. This this is the loudest thing in my pc (see sig). The thought of spending anywhere of 29$ - 50$ to quiet this this is not making me happy.

The temp thing does frustrate me because I was able to have the temp of my gpu on my desktop before. Now I have no idea what it is.

Yes I understand the .15 process. I also understand why the .09 process is giving Intel trouble.

Radclocker locked up the cpu. Atitool has been the best so far.

[Mr.Radar]

The .09 process itself should DECREASE the heat, however Intel seems to have gone wayyy overboard on the power consumption causing the heat output to actually RISE.

But anyways, onto the problem at hand - Silencing the 9800 Pro & temp monitering.

To silence the 9800, get the VGA Silencer by Arctic Cooling. It's the absolute best VGA cooler (reguardless of noise) and is very quiet. I don't have one myself, but many people lover theirs (and get great OC's with it).

To enable temp monitoring: if your card will work with no artifacts at XT speeds (412 core, 365 mem) then you can try flashing it to the XT BIOS (see the 9800 np/Pro softmod thread). If the card is really just a 9800 XT clocked at Pro speeds, then you will most likely have full temp monitering.

[kct2]

3. Why are there 3 different versions of the drivers? Yea I understand the difference, but why?

What different offical drivers are you talking about? Right now there is ONE offical driver. Catalyst 4.4.

There are other unsupported drivers, like Omega and DNA...

6. Why do the under/overclocking tools suck? Underclocking gives artifacts? Isn't underclocking better?!?!

Why underclock...good God why!? What tool are you using?

BTW - check the forums at www.rage3d.com for a ton of ATI specific information.


If the card is really just a 9800 XT clocked at Pro speeds, then you will most likely have full temp monitering.

Is this true? I haven't seen anyone mention gaining temperature monitoring after flashing to a XT bios.

[JigPu]

Originally posted by Vampiregabe
3. Why are there 3 different versions of the drivers? Yea I understand the difference, but why?
Are you talking about the three drivers on their download page (as shown below)?

http://pokemonrepository.no-ip.com/ocforums/atidrivers.jpg

The first driver is part of an entire package. It includes the actual display drivers, an "enhanced" version of the control panel (though I don't understand why it's THAT big...), and the WDM drivers (which are only installed if you need them AFAIK).

The second driver is just the display driver. It's all you need to make your card work in windows.

The third driver is the WDM driver. This driver is used by the AIW (all-in-wonder) ATI cards that have video capture capability. This driver is for the video capture portion of the cards. You shouldn't need it unless you have an AIW.

JigPu

[Agent_Mull]

I believe the omegas are supported to some extent by ATI. Only the xts have temp monitoring. The fan shouldnt be that loud as to annoy you that much.

[kct2]

Originally posted by Agent_Mull
I believe the omegas are supported to some extent by ATI.

IMPORTANT: Don't bother ATI about this drivers as they are unsupported by them!
from: http://www.omegacorner.com/index_ati.html

The maker of Omega drivers is a Cat. beta tester and he apparently is in contact with ATI, but you are using them at your own risk.

[Vampiregabe]

Yes, I was trying to underclock to get this thing to run cooler/silenter. Well I now see that that is not an option. Even in an underclocked status the fan still works. Even when the heat sink is cold, the fan still works.:rolleyes:

I could run my mobile oc'ed a bit with the stock hsf and it would be quieter than this one fan. Sheesh.

Agent, sorry to disappoint but this thing is the loudest thing in my system. I am in a almost silent room, the noise this thing generates is bearable for about 30 min then I have to turn on music to over power it.

Ok.

1. I want to silence it. I don't want to loose my UT fps. How?

2. The ramsinks are un-sinked. Benifits for/against?

3. Benifits of water over air cooling?

4. Overall added heat to current sys temp adding gpu? In C?

5. Worthwhile to run complete secondary loop (I have parts w/sink & pump & rad)?

6. The sink the cools the front & back, better? Or use current sinks and air cooled ram sinks?


P.S Sorry for taking so long to get back. The holidays and the 12 hour work days suxz. :(

[PottaCoola]

i think you have dodgy fan cuz my one run fine its not load at all.

[james.miller]

yes. seriously they are not that loud. No louder than the stock northbridge cooler on my nf7-s.

[d]g[ts]

2. The ramsinks are un-sinked. Benifits for/against?
Sinks MAY give a couple more MHZ in OC no biggie if no sinks are installed
3. Benifits of water over air cooling?
a lot quieter than your fan (from what you say) lets ya OC from 20 -50 MHz more over stock (YMMV)
4. Overall added heat to current sys temp adding gpu? In C?
If you mean temp increase to water loop. adding the GPU to my loop added 2-4C to the temps not much
5. Worthwhile to run complete secondary loop (I have parts w/sink & pump & rad)?
IMHO no you seem to want silent and adding another pump and fan for rad just give ya more noize.

The other 2 ?'s I have no answers for.

Just my .02¢

[Daegon]

Originally posted by Vampiregabe

.

1. I want to silence it. I don't want to loose my UT fps. How?

2. The ramsinks are un-sinked. Benifits for/against?

3. Benifits of water over air cooling?

4. Overall added heat to current sys temp adding gpu? In C?

5. Worthwhile to run complete secondary loop (I have parts w/sink & pump & rad)?

6. The sink the cools the front & back, better? Or use current sinks and air cooled ram sinks?



1. If you want a quieter way of cooling the card, change coolers, simple as that. Passive may be the way to go for you, if you truly want silence.
2. if you have an old Socket 7 heatsink, chop it up and epoxy on sinks. can't possibly hurt. won't add any noise, acitvely cooled ram is overkill
3. water cooling can be quieter, depends on your setup. water also drops temperatures.
4. what does your temperature raise by when you have the card in? out?
5. no need to run a whole second system, just put it inline.
6. Can you rephrase that, i really don't get it. (see 2)

[Yuriman]

Grab a vga silencer lol. Much more quiet.

[mfjonny]

I second a vga silencer and bga ramsinks for improved cooling/less noise... It really sounds like you got a bunk fan - there is very little noise on my stock BBA cooling.

[craig588]

Originally posted by james.miller
yes. seriously they are not that loud. No louder than the stock northbridge cooler on my nf7-s.

The stock NF7-S NB cooler is incredibly loud. I can hear it over my tornados.

[Sentential]

The stock NF7-S NB cooler is incredibly loud. I can hear it over my tornados.
:eek:....my god...ur right

Anyhoo, my complaint with ATi is their driver support...however the recent releases have since quashed that complaint:beer:

All-in-all, I really like ATi. Its no Nvidia....its just different, but in a good way

[Vampiregabe]

Thanks again for the replies.

My computer is located in my bedroom and is always on. With the way I have my cooling setup, the side door is always off. With the door always off the gpu fan is the loudest item. Listening to that whine in a totally silent room at night is annoying, even the hds are not that bad. :D

Daegon, sorry I was talking about the pro-cooling water sink vs. the water sink I have now in conjunction with ram sinks.

Last question...


Is the VGA silencer really silent/effective?

[12am]

Well, honestly if you can't handle the stock coolers fan noise there is no way your going to be able to stand the vga silencer. For your needs I would reccomend either watercooling it or using the Zalman ZM80C-HP Cooler wich is a passive heatpipe cooler. With no fans on that cooler you will get no noise at all, granted you will not be able to overclock much with the passive h/s but it will allow you to run stable at default clocks and give you that silence you are looking for.

[YellowDart]

Yea, if noise is THAT big a deal, you want to go with the Zalman heat pipe, or the Thermaltake Giant cooler. Both are passive, and will be completely silent. However, if you want to oc the hell out of that card, I'd recommend the VGA Silencer or water cooling it.