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9800 Pro Question

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that really doesnt tell us anything. What is your cpu?, mobo?, ram?, what core is your r9800 pro?, what have you overclocked it to? have you flashed it to XT?
 
Specs

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ at 2.19Ghz (3200+ Barton)
MSI K7N2 Delta Series Nforce2 Motherboard
Crucia/Nanya (Combo) 1GB PC3200 memory
120GB 7200rpm Disk Drive
MSI Radeon 9800 Pro at 417/370Mhz (without bios flash = R350 core)
 
I can't speak for the other two games but in Far Cry at 1280x1024 I get 40.3 fps with a 9800 pro [350] flashed to xt running at 412/365 and 38.2 fps running at pro speed (378/338). Drivers and directx version can make a big difference, also, I am running a P4 chip at 3.1 GHz. You should check other benchmarks as well as a reference. See my sig for aquamark3 and 3DMark01, 03, 05 numbers.
 
Those framerates look O.K. to me, your UT2K4 is about right, although I can't comment on Wolfenstein, as I don't have it. Your FarCry framerate is a little low, although a faster processor clock will help that a lot.

Usually people use a synthetic benchmarking program like 3DMark to compare their system performance, and make sure everything is running as fast as it should be.
 
Yeah

I've used 3dMark01SE several times in the past, and got 16500 with this card.

So, how can I get this performance higher? The MSI RX9800 is a great overclocker, but this is as high as it'll go on stock cooling. I've been thinking of getting the Arctic Rev. 3 vga silencer, but is it risky? I don't want to damage a £140 video card.

Also, I am using the latest ATI Omega drivers: they increased my 3dMark01 score by about 500 points.
 
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3dmark 2001 score is being held back by your CPU.

I have the same card (Medion Green PCB) and with an A64 setup, i score about 20000 on stock 9800 Pro speeds. At 9800XT speeds, i get over 21000.

Unless you play lots of DX8 games, don't worry about your 3dmark 2001 score.

VGA Silencer 3 would work fine. I put an ATI Silencer 1 on instead and it fit fine.
 
Okay

So what is it about dx 8 games then? Are they very processor-intensive?

I ask this because I have C&C Generals (dx 8.1) and - even with a 9800 Pro - it is a struggle for it to reach 40fps, or 35fps with 2xAA. At 4xAA it is totally unplayable, yet UT2004 (dx 9b) runs fine at 4xAA. Why is that?

Also, if I increased the processor's FSB by several mhz, thereby pushing up the processor's total speed from 2.19Ghz to 2.25Ghz, would that make a significant difference in 3dMark01? I am trying to reach 20,000.
 
So...

Would upping the fsb (and thereby getting a small processor speed-boost) help my 3dMark01SE score much?

Any help would be appreciated :)
 
Yeah, it would. If you have the cooling to do it, then definitely up your fsb. I went from 18600 in 3DMark01 at a 215 fsb to 20160 at a 255 fsb and my vidcard at 420/370. Although, if you don't have the cooling, the 3 fps gain isn't worth killing your system.
 
Thanks

Thanks for all your help :)

Only problem is: I've got the cooling, but my computer has a locked Barton 2800+ It can be safely volt-modded, but, even with volt-modding, it'll only go another 5Mhz of FSB. Will that make much difference?

Do you have any suggestions?
 
5 fsb? No, it won't make that much of a difference, and if you have to use a load of voltage to get those 5 fsb, then it definitely isn't worth it. I usually only use high voltages when I get a gain of around 10-15 fsb out of it, because that will make a difference. Granted only in bench marks and not gameplay, but still. If you have to volt mod your cpu to actually get 5 fsb, then skip it. It's not worth it.
 
Okay

But what else would you suggest? (My pc's processor raises from 166Mhz default to 175Mhz without v-modding, but needs more volts to stay stable at 180Mhz)

It's just I really, really want to reach the 20,000 mark barrier
 
The problem that you're going to have is that you have a very high multiplier, and so you won't be able to reach a high fsb. I have a mobile 2600+ with one of the best steppings, and I can only hit 215*12 at 1.9V, and my stock vcore is much lower than yours. I honestly wish I could say otherwise, but I don't think that you'll be able to hit that with a locked desktop. What vcore are you at right now btw?
 
I'm betting that your temps are holding your overclock back by a huge amount. That hs should work well, given that it is copper, just make sure to use a nice TIM like AS5 or AS Ceramique. They will both drop your temps by a nice amount.

Edit: have you considered a cheaper Thermalright hs or a Vantec Aeroflow TMD? I understand that you probably have to pay a huge amount of money for that stuff, but it may be worth it if you're going to be using that cpu for a while.
 
I HIGHLY recommend that you go thermalright, and i'm sure i'm not the only one. You would get much better temps, which in turn would give you a better OC. I'd say sumthin like a slk900a or an sp97 will suit sufficiently ;-)
 
Yeah, I edited my post, but you have to understand that the SP-97 is 50 bucks in the US, it must be incredibly expensive overseas. Even a cheaper Thermalright will outperform most hs's, so they are worth a look.
 
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