x800pro I'm concerned.....

[bigswede2]

If this is in the wrong thread I apoligise, I have just recieved my new Powercolor x 800pro and I have softmodded then to an xt pe no problems untill I played doom 3, during play my pc crashed (severly) after restart i noticed some artifacts so not taking any chances I flashed the bios back to x800pro now no problems at all in doom 3 but I still have 16 pipelines open is this ok or should I change it back to stock 12 pipes if this is possible. when i modded it to an xt it was @ 570/530 now its back to pro 475/450, is this commen for pro cards to have problems when softmodded to xt any comments are appreciated,


my sys.

athlon fx53
Asus A8X
powercolor x800pro
1024 mb corsair pc 4000

[Albuquerque]

The XTPE bios forces the speed to XT speeds with all pipes open; most Pro's can't do those speeds stabily with all pipes -- which explains the crashing and artifacting. So by going back to the original bios, you've put the clockspeeds back to Pro speeds but with all pipes still enabled. The pipes are fine, leave 'em be. Just don't try overclocking the card to full XT speeds.

[bigswede2]

thanks, which is better xt pe bios underclocked or pro bios overclocked ? i'm very nervos when it comes to overclocking i've fried 1 x800 pro card 2 weeks ago and I dont want to fry this 1 (my wife will kill me) I'm running it at pro stock speeds will the performance be better with the 16pipes open and at pro speed ? p.s my last card was also a powercolor but it was locked it died at 58c @530/510 with a arctic silencer

[Albuquerque]

I'd suggest running the Pro bios, and overclocking as-necessary. I also VERY strongly suggest you keep an eye on your temperatures. These new cards seem to be much more sensitive to thermal issues. If your core is exceeding 70c under load, then you're pushing it too hard.

16 pipes at stock speed is still ~25% faster than 12 pipes at stock speed. You do the math :)