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GA-P35-DQ6 -No possibility of ANY clocking as soon as GX2 is installed?

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JorisS

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2007
Location
Uppsala, Sweden
Hey all,

Hoping this is a good place to post this, here goes;

I've recently starting my overclocking career on the system as per signature, with the exception that at the time I had a Geforce 7600GT as graphics adapter.

I made my first wobbly steps and have actually managed a quite decent overclock which seemed stable-ish at 3.6Ghz with my X3230 ES.

Now the problem, and it's completely puzzling me; as soon as I install my new 7950GX2 the system will not even come past the BIOS screen (if it even comes that long) and it will reboot with BIOS automatically reset. I can't even merely change the BIOS setting for controlling FSB to manual and have it at 266 (x10, standard setting). So that's without even clocking or anything and it won't boot.

WHY?! :confused:

Got absolutely no clue what's going on. System is working smoothly as long as everything is on AUTO, i.e. per 'Optimized Defaults'. Tried both the PCI-E connectors, same result. The PSU is a 700W FSP as per signature, could that be a problem? Then again, what exactly does change when I alter the CPU Frequency from AUTO to MANUAL and set it for 266 x 10 (it runs in 266 x 10 in AUTO!!!).

I'm completely puzzled....
 
I'm not a super-expert but it's entirely possible that on auto it regulates itself to a lower multiplier/fsb so while it may show 266x10 it may not be running it all the time.
 
Judging by CPU-Z it's actually switching between 10x and 6x, that's due to those settings that the CPU runs on lower multiplier to save energy when it's not being used (a lot).

But it does show as 2667 MHz otherwise.
 
How many amps does your FSP 700W have on the 12V rail?

I thought it was this also, this particular PSU has 4 12v rails each at 15amps. Pretty hefty, shouldn't be a problem unless it's just going bad from time (again probably not it though).

There shouldn't be a change between auto and manual. Auto will be the default setting for your chip (266x10) and manual won't change that value unless you change, so really no difference.
 
are you running the latest bios? I know some of the 965 gigabyte boards had issues with that video card if I'm remembering correctly :shrug:
 
I flashed to latest BIOS yesterday, same problem persists.

As far as I can tell I'm not changing any settings really, only the way they are handled (from auto to manual).

The one thing I'm wondering and can think of is the PCI Express Frequency, which according to a post I read often can/should be set to 100MHz as it otherwise changes with FSB or so. Perhaps somehow the GX2 needs a special setting there?


Man I'm totally puzzled... the PSU has 18A per rail even if I recall correctly, by the way. And it's no more than a couple of months old. I can't even get past the BIOS screen! Sometimes not even that far, it reboots during the memory check for the GFX sometimes already :S
 
The only thing I can think of, you could up northbridge voltage and pci express, and set perfomrance mode to standard.
 
Stupid question, but you have the addtional power plugged into the card, yes? It's been forgotten before... :)

Yeah it's in :bday:


The thing is that as far as I'm aware I'm not doing any clocking or any change for that matter; in AUTO the stuff runs at 10x 266 i.e. 2.66Ghz. If i change it to manual I put 266 for FSB, meaning it's the same?

I don't touch anything else even.

So somehow when it's on AUTO apparently there's something else linked to it which goes by AUTO and which changes when I put it to manual. But what, and why?

Sure I can start raising voltages for northbridge or PCI-E, but why? I am leaving all that on AUTO. Is there some kind of flaw then, that those auto voltages are getting messed up when I put the FSB control to manual?


Haven't done a single MHz of clocking since I put the GX2 in....


The one thing I can think of which differentiates the GX2 from mostly any other card is the fact it's 2 cards in one. I.e. two GPU's, double memory set.... does it somehow require higher voltage or bandwith? Double it? So where it is recommended to put the PCI-E bus to 100MHz, should this one get 200MHz? Will I fry the cards by simply trying it?

*confused*

Perhaps should find myself a GX2 forum somewhere...
 
I thought it was this also, this particular PSU has 4 12v rails each at 15amps. Pretty hefty, shouldn't be a problem.

Here's a bunch of info you need to look at:

#1 : The 7950GX2 needs a single 12V current rating of 27A.

#2 Your FSP 700 has 4 separate RAILS @ 15 Amps each. Not enough. I've read that with high loads this FSP 700 has alot of ripple in its output.

#3 15A's on each RAIL is only 180 Watts, and thats maxed out. There is no way that 700W power supply can do 720 watts with all 4 RAILS cranking away... Take about 30% off of that number. (504 watts) So each RAIL can do 10.5 AMPS each continuously without failure.

#4 Get a better power supply with a single 12v rail before you damage your other components....
 
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Here's a bunch of info you need to look at:

#1 : The 7950GX2 needs a single 12V current rating of 27A.

#2 Your FSP 700 has 4 separate RAILS @ 15 Amps each. Not enough. I've read that with high loads this FSP 700 has alot of ripple in its output.

#3 15A's on each RAIL is only 180 Watts, and thats maxed out. There is no way that 700W power supply can do 720 watts with all 4 RAILS cranking away... Take about 30% off of that number. (504 watts) So each RAIL can do 10.5 AMPS each continuously without failure.

#4 Get a better power supply with a single 12v rail before you damage your other components....


Are you kidding me?

12V @ 27A = 324W

324 Watts for 1 gfx (not being the 8800 Ultra stuff).... sounds well high to me tbh.

I'll look into things and if it indeed turns out I need another PSU I'll try and get one. Quite rediculous imho though. That card is turning out to be a pain in the well-know part below the lower back.... :bang head

still it doesn't explain in any way why the system functions fine until I change a minor setting in BIOS.... or does it?


*edit*
Jeeez...

I'm sorry for being doubtful, just did a quick search on google and came up with this review....

I've already spent quite some money on fixing watercooling for this GFX, now if I have to buy an expensive new PSU just for it to run properly I tend to give it a kick in the *** and sell it right away again. I mean, it's taken the fun off of it pretty much by now....


That said, any suggestions of PSU's which would succesfully run the system as per my sig, and the 7950GX2 with it? (i.e. at least one high ampere rail)

I have 2 PCI-E contacts, would it be possible to merge them (parrallel I guess) into one and feed that into the GFX?
 
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Are you kidding me?

12V @ 27A = 324W

324 Watts for 1 gfx (not being the 8800 Ultra stuff).... sounds well high to me tbh.

I'll look into things and if it indeed turns out I need another PSU I'll try and get one. Quite rediculous imho though. That card is turning out to be a pain in the well-know part below the lower back.... :bang head

still it doesn't explain in any way why the system functions fine until I change a minor setting in BIOS.... or does it?


*edit*
Jeeez...

I'm sorry for being doubtful, just did a quick search on google and came up with this review....

I've already spent quite some money on fixing watercooling for this GFX, now if I have to buy an expensive new PSU just for it to run properly I tend to give it a kick in the *** and sell it right away again. I mean, it's taken the fun off of it pretty much by now....


That said, any suggestions of PSU's which would succesfully run the system as per my sig, and the 7950GX2 with it? (i.e. at least one high ampere rail)

I have 2 PCI-E contacts, would it be possible to merge them (parrallel I guess) into one and feed that into the GFX?



27A rail for the entire system plus video card. So if you had a PS with a 33A rail, you're set. As it may be silly to you, a simple PS replacement can fix your problems, and if you overlook it, you're never going to get it to work...

Hey just offering my knowledge to you, if you don't choose to try, then good luck with it...

EDIT: The review you just pointed me to shows this: XFX's GeForce 7950GX2 XXX Edition - 154W

and the 600W power supply he used was way under powered, and had a single 20A 12v RAIL...
 
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I'm not at all throwing your advice to the wind! Hence my edit. It seemed absurd to me initially, yes, but the review (and some other stuff I read) made me realise my folly.

But like I said, it seems I'm spending nearly $500 in swapping from a X1900XT to a 7950GX2, which isn't even _that_ much better in performance for many games.... I'm kinda regretting I sold teh X1900XT, that's all. I just bought the PSU a couple of months ago as my 580W Hiper was underpowered, thought the 700W would carry me a long way.

I could perhaps look into one of those 5.25" power supplies which power the GFX only?

Or, like I wrote, any suggestions of PSU's with single high Ampere rails are welcome! I don't know how to search for them really... they normally are listed per total wattage.
 
I'm not at all throwing your advice to the wind! Hence my edit. It seemed absurd to me initially, yes, but the review (and some other stuff I read) made me realise my folly.

But like I said, it seems I'm spending nearly $500 in swapping from a X1900XT to a 7950GX2, which isn't even _that_ much better in performance for many games.... I'm kinda regretting I sold teh X1900XT, that's all. I just bought the PSU a couple of months ago as my 580W Hiper was underpowered, thought the 700W would carry me a long way.

I could perhaps look into one of those 5.25" power supplies which power the GFX only?

Or, like I wrote, any suggestions of PSU's with single high Ampere rails are welcome! I don't know how to search for them really... they normally are listed per total wattage.

Thats ok. On Newegg.com you can search single rails only...

Click here to see them. ;) I listed them from highest price..

Popular names with a >80% efficient rating would be a great power supply
 
Nope, it was the "solution" for SLI on single-slot PCIe mobos....although not much of a solution imho....
 
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