Some Off The Wall Video Questions(X1600 Pro)

[Zuzzz]

I recently upgraded My stuff to a newer socket 775 system with PCI Express. I had the rig in my sig for a few years and it ended up as a hand me down. Using an X1600 Pro I ran 3dMark03 for some benchies and got something like 7750. Is this normal for this card and setup? (details to follow) Secondly, I see the temps on the video card going above 70c using ATITool. Is this ok? I considered overclocking it a little but with those temps Im guessing this is not an option. I reinstalled the HSF using AS5 in an attenmpt to improve this but Im not seeing much improvement. Lastly, can this card be modded to open up more 'pipes'? I have the r530 Pro core. Im running a P4 640/3.2@3.85 a Gig of RAM on a 915 775 Mo Board. Also, how does this board compare to a 9800 PRO? The 9800 Pro seems to do some things better but falls well short of the X1600 in 3dMark, again IS this normal? Yes Im a bit scrambled in my thoughts here but please bare with me. THX

Z

EDIT:::On another note :::Why does the GPU downclock to 400mHz?? Is this some kind of throttling? Anyway to disable it??

[Frumpco_]

It lowers the clock since you are just doing 2D stuff it will go back up to normal speeds when you do something in 3D. as for temps that is fine it would be nice if they were lower, as for 3dmakrs the X1600 will be better off then the 9800 pro... as well the 9800pro is agp and hte X1600 is PCI-E

[Zuzzz]

Yes Well since last night I did a little tweaking. I squeezed out an 8251 out of her. That almost 2k higher than the 9800 PRo. I play a game called Ricochet Lost Worlds. For some reason it looks smoother on the 9800PRo. I do think part of that is the fact I dont have the same number of 'pipes' as a 9800. What I really dont like is the card downclocking itself and I cant control it. I did change the settings to overclock the card only in 3-D mode to help the card be a bit cooler. Overall its not too bad of a card but at 70+C degrees that thing is a small oven for sure. Are all the newer cards running that hot?? I cant imagine what a X1900XT runs. I do think I will seriouslyt invest in a better cooling solution for this card. The TIM they use is really weird. Not to mention its like peanut butter it gets EVERYwhere. Took me over 30 min to get a card cleaned up proper in order to apply AS5

Z