x800pro vivo ram question

[cujo]

i posted this over at xtremesys. i'd really like some help on it.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=44908

i even update my sig to reflect my brief success. this problem is so bizarre.

[veryhumid]

well to put it simple the reason you can't get xt pe clocks is because it is not an xt pe. It's a pro, and that means when the chip was being tested/burned in it couldn't run at xt or xt pe speeds. I'd take what you can get. Also ati tool isn't the best thing for clocking. I'd just pick some clocks and run becnhmarks to determine whether it runs at that speed without artifacts.

[cujo]

i'm not talking about the chip though. i'm talking about the ram. and why would it work perfectly fine one minute and then 20 mins later not work at exact same settings. i changed nothing else. i browsed some sites and talked on msn is all i did. then i turned the oc back up and artifacts.

[Vrykyl]

Do you have cooling on your ram? Maybe its a heat issue? as the ram heats up its max oc will decrease...

[cujo]

i have ram sinks. heat wouldn't explain a 60mhz difference... we're talking totally stable at 590 then not stable at all 20 mins later at anything above 530. room environment remained the same. i can't think of anything else. except i ran 2k5 at 510/510 right before i tried jumping higher. i don't think i went back to stock inbetween going from 510 to 590. i'm fairly certain it's a driver issue. still using same install as with old 9800pro though i uninstalled drivers every time i made changes.

[cujo]

*update*

fresh windows install and still same problem. used cat 4.10s. it happens with ati tool and 3d mark 2k1. wtf. i wasn't imagining things when i had it at 590 i swear. everything was fine. ati tool went for 5 mins solid. now immediately above 530 it artifacts. the only thing i'm thinking (which sounds stupid) is that i have to warm it up first. when i got it working is right after i did a 2k5 run at 510/510. maybe i should try that again and see if i can duplicate my results. i'll be back in a bit with results.

[Styyn]

If ATITool can go for 5 hours without artifacting you might consider it stable, but 5 minutes is definately not enough time. 5+ hours of 3DMark not artifacting would be a better test yet. It could just be you've got some non-PE rated ram, though. The ram on my X800XT non-PE would only do 558 stable at stock volts with ramsinks and a fan. Even after a vdd and vddq bump it only hits 570 *stable*, so more than likely you've just got lower-binned chips.

[veryhumid]

are your 12V and 5V power supply values looking healthy?

[cujo]

they appear fine. totally stable in speedfan. i just tried 2k5 at 510/510 and then upping ram oc like i did last time and no go. also tried putting agp to 1.6v. frig man. i know it was at 590 cause i tried 600 and got artifacts. rage3d even saw it off the charts in it's oc thing cause it only goes to 580 or so. what the hell is going on!!!!????

also, my 2k5 score is only 4400 at 510/510. another guy in database with exact same clocks only with a64 at 2.3 (vs mine at 2.54 shouldn't be much difference) get's 5800ish.

what is wrong with my card? ati tool identifies the 16pipes.

[cujo]

sorry styyn, didn't see your post. it's the 1.6ns ram which is rated for 600mhz. ati tool for 5 mins at 590 vs 0 mins at anything above 530 is a big difference. the 530 problem is so consistant that it seems to be a definate limit of some kind. what i want to do is figure out how i tricked it (unknowingly) into doing 590.

sadly i didn't have time to test it for 5 hours cause i can't duplicate my success. i would have never turned it back to defaults except that i usually only oc for benches and demanding games. i was too excited to bench it at the time and when i went back to do it my same old 530 limit came back. i didn't reboot, i didn't do anything except set defaults in ati tool. close ati tool. talk to a couple ppl excitedly on msn and post in the forum. then i opened ati tool back up. cranked the clocks and ran 2k1. immediate artifacts.

*note* i can do 590 in windows just fine with no artifacts. only happens when something 3d is on the screen. though like i said i was able to do ati tool stress test for 5 mins.

[()nslaught]

Well i know one thing that can help your scores for 510/510. Dont use 4.10, from what ive read there is a bug with memory allocation, and it is not fixed in these drivers. Use the new Omegas, and you will see an increase in score. I used the 4.10 at defualt clocks, and i only got around a 3700, so i got the omegas, OC'ed the card a tiny bit, and i jumped up into the 5000's. That should help out your situation with the 3DMark scores, and as for the Mem, i dont know, i suppose sometimes you win sometimes you lose?

[cujo]

thanks for the driver tip. i supposed new ati will be out soon enough anyway now.

as for the ram. it's not so much a case of win some, lose some i don't think. what would cause such a large performance leap temporarily? maybe it's 4.10 drivers. i think i've only ever tried ocing with them.