Overclocking of Radeon 32MB DDR

[Big Sando]

I have recently o-c'd my first computer, and I am very happy with the results. Now it is time for the next step. Man...this o-cing thing is addictive.

I have a Radeon 32MB DDR vid card, and I want to see what I can do with o-cing it. I have d-loaded both Radeon Tweaker and the most recent version of PowerStrip. I also have both 3DMark2001 and SiSoft Sandra for benchmarking.

What is the best way to proceed? Which utility would you recommend using? Is it best to keep the engine and memory speeds synchronized? Outside of increasing the speeds, are there any particular functions that can be enabled / disabled to help my cause?

[Cisco Kid]

You can use either utility , I prefer Powerstrip cause it works with XP I do not believe radeon Tweaker does.

Your card likes to have the clk.mem speed kept synchronized. Just up each of them run 3D Mark2001. If you notice artifacting or tearing ( figures and images do not look correct ) or you get black bars appearing during the test it means the setting you have chosen is too high, back off and try again.

Ramsinks added with some ASII and a better heatsink and fan will allow you to overclock higher generally.

What is the default setting of your 32 DDR card?? 166/166 or 183/183?

166/166 should be able to get to 191/191 possibly. You will get more responses and help I am sure.

Have fun

Cisco Kid
heat is the overclockers enemy!!!
:burn:

[Big Sando]

I believe the default speed is 164 / 164.

Keeping the the card cool should not be too difficult. As you may know, the Radeon GPU already has its own fan and heatsink. In addition to that I have a 120mm (another 120mm is available if necessary but not currently in use) fan mounted on the side blowing directly at the CPU / graphics card area. It is a little loud, but it greatly helps keep things cool.

So...increasing the speed is the only thing that you would do?

Are there any BIOS options that might limit or help the OC-ing cause?

Thank you for your response.

[dreadlord79]

Go here for a Crystal Orb, memory heat sinks and AS II epoxy:
http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/
These guys have great prices (I've checked everywhere), amazing CS and a truely great site!

Remember that your card came with a heat sink and fan that was made to get rid of the heat created under normal or full load for spec., not oc'ed. If you want to get all that you can from your card, you have to get it cooler!

See the last lines of Cisco Kid's post!!!

[Big Sando]

Thanks for the suggestion and the homework / research that you have already done.

Update..I was able ot get to 180 / 180 with the latency setting of Fast. My 3DMark2001 score went from 2998 to 3228. When I select the Fast setting for the memory, it totally wigs out immediately!

I think there is still some room to go though. I finally decided to go to bed after benchmarking and testing stability, etc.

I will definitely check out the Heatsink Factory.

Thanks again for your responses.

Cheers!
:beer:

[Big Sando]

Okay, I have oc'd the Radeon to 191 / 191 with Fast Latency. I looped the Benchmark all last night with out any problems.

I started playing with different resolutions in 3DMark2001 when benchmarking. The default is at 1024 x 768 x 32. My score did not seem where it should be compared to numerous other scores that I have seen posted. I then changed it to 640 x 480 x 32, and wallaa!! I was up to around 4700.

I have a question. When people generally compare their scores what resolution setting is being used? Obviously, you are not comparing apples to apples if the resolutions differ. A lower resolution will produce a higher score...right?

[dreadlord79]

Some just go with what ever makes the best scores, while I've seen quite a few tests where the person did their tests in all of the resolutions. You're right about apples to apples though, it seem like that is always a problem in this kind of area because people are more interested in their "raw" numbers some times!

[funnyperson1]

most people expect your score to be at 1024x768x32.....

[Oni]

I personally use RadeonTweaker. It supports a lot of cool stuff that ATI disables in drivers etc. I've had my card (see sig) to about 210/210, but it get major artifacting. stock is 164/164, so its a pretty good overclock.

Also, depending on your OS, you'll wanna look into different drivers, particularily beta drivers. You can find a whole bunch on Pinky's FTP here (ftp://speshalk.dyndns.org/_shared%20files/). Right now I'm running the 3281 drivers for Windows 2000, and they are the best I've used so far. Much better than the ones released by ATI officially.

You'll also get best results by setting your clock/memory timings synchronous. So if you're running your clock at 190, its best to run the memory at 190 as well. They can go asynchronous, but Radeon's won't like it much.

Good luck! :beer:

[Big Sando]

Update...I am at 195 / 195 on the Radeon without any artifacting, lockups, etc. I have looped the benchmark all night and immediately played Q3A after that. Still no problems. In fact I opened the case after looping the benchmark, and the graphics memory was barely warm to the touch. I do not think that I need additional cooling (RAMsinks) yet. The 120mm fan must be doing a fairly good job of keeping things cool. I will keep pushing the envelope until I begin experiencing problems. Then I will back things down a notch or two.

To ONI:

You mentioned that you are using beta drivers from Pinkys. What kind of differences do you notice experience with these vs. ATI drivers? Also, have you played with any of the other features / options in Radeon Tweaker? If so, which ones and what did they do?

To everyone:

Thanks for all of your help and input.:beer: