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overclockers.com 9700 pro overclock record!

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will_maltby

Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2001
Location
UK
Yeah, just had a look at the stickied database on this page and I reckon that my recent overclock puts me at the number one spot for a radeon 9700 pro! :)

Core: 452
Mem: 405

VGPU: 1.875
VMEM: 3.6

Not the highest core clock, but the highest mem. The card is absolutely 100% stable and shows zero artifacts in ALL apps and games. So this isn't just a one off lucky attempt on a cold day. AndI really mean that, absolutely NO artifacts at all. This is with a crucial 9700pro, which may have something to do with it (though it has samsung mem on it). My cooling isn't exactly extreme either. Well, the watercooling element is, but that's not what helped me overclock so high.


I'd post pics 'cept I don't have a camera so I'll try to describe the cooling;


For the core I've just got an innovatek gpu block on it linked in to my water loop. In that is a volvo 22" x 17" car radiator which sits along side my pc case. However, the fans on it blow really low and are set to be really quiet, so the rad's not being used to it's full potential.

The bit that helped me the most is the following;

I've 3 60mm fans placed along the edge of the card so that they blow air both over the top and bottom of the card. I've also added ramsinks. There is a hole in the case right infront of these fans and so they are blowing cool fresh air straight onto the card. This is the only air intake in the case. The air is then spat out the back on the case thru a psu fan and a 92mm case fan just below that.

It was only when I added that extra 92mm fan that I could achieve such high mem clocks. Before then it'd be ok for a short time and then rapidly start showing artifacts in games. It seems that extra fan boosted the air throughput enough to cross over the cooling threshold and mean the card never gets too hot.

I also noticed that that I could completely elimate crashes from high gpu overclocks by adding the 60mm fan at the front edge of the card. At this position it's only blowing air over that metal plate thing and the capacitors on the other side of the card. But it seems that this REALLY helps with overclocking. Almost ALL the fans in my case are at 5 volts as well meaning the pc is dead quiet. The only fan that isn't is the 92mm fan which is old and low powered and runs at the same noise levels as the others. At 5 volts it barely turns.


So my advice to others is to add extra fans that don't just cool the mem but all areas of the card. And also ensure that you have enough fans extacting the hot air fromt he card out of your case.


Anyay, yeah, please update the database thing whoever it is who runs that sticky, much appreciated! :)



*edit*

One last thing, I found my card overclocks alot more reliably if I simply flash the bios with the desired core and mem speeds. If I don't and use a windows based overclocking utility, sometimes the mem will get completely screwed and I'll have to reset. With a bios flash this NEVER happens.
 
will_maltby said:
One last thing, I found my card overclocks alot more reliably if I simply flash the bios with the desired core and mem speeds. If I don't and use a windows based overclocking utility, sometimes the mem will get completely screwed and I'll have to reset. With a bios flash this NEVER happens.

Maybe you can help me obtain similar results with my card ;)

HERE

(my thread asking how on earth I go about extracting the BIOS, altering the BIOS, and reflashing the BIOS)

Wicked overclock on the card too! :beer:
 
Very nice OC but from my experience I'll bet that card burns out in 5 months or so. I'm so done with OC'ing video cards, I've lost too many. Then again you do have alot of cooling so it might hang in there.
 
Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep you posted!


btw, this is my 2nd r9700pro. The first one developed some weird video overlay hardware problem and I had to rma it, though I didn't overvolt it or clock it too highly...
 
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