Forum Wars (Winter Warz 2008)

[El<(')>Maxi]

This quad FSB wall has taken me a few weeks now to fine tune it to be bench stable. 478x8 is now totally stable except for OCCT-RAM tests. Still testing on ambient water for now.

Well don't just drop in and tease us like that, show us (give us) the goods!

 

[Brolloks]

Well, I'm certainly glad I made the decision to switch from my Q6600 to the E3110 for the warz, seems like this 780i board of mine is building a very good relationship with my E3110,

4.4 GHz stable on Prime95 at 1.45 volts (bios), 1.448 actual, this is after the pencil v-droop mod which is a must on this board

My temps under load ary pretty cool considering

 

[Shiggity]

Brolloks are you still going to try the 9800GX2 x2 setup when its available?

Also when are we making the official teams and everything?

 

[Deanzo]

Also when are we making the official teams and everything?

This week I'll work out what sub teams (teams of 4) everyone will be on. Though I'm almost done with that.


So the other forums can't see it, I wont be posting the list in the open till after next weekend.
Around mid week I'll PM/Post in the Lounge and let everyone know what sub team they are on and who their sub team mates are.

I've almost got everything worked out in my head and I can tell you this, Everyone has a key role in this and we must play it as a team, no one or five members can win this for us, if everyone plays their part we will take the top 3 spots.
:OverAll
:A Crown
:Best Score
And as many number 1's in each of the sub teams as we can.

March 22nd thru April 19th We Go To War!!

 

[Shiggity]

This week I'll work out what sub teams (teams of 4) everyone will be on. Though I'm almost done with that.


So the other forums can't see it, I wont be posting the list in the open till after next weekend.
Around mid week I'll PM/Post in the Lounge and let everyone know what sub team they are on and who their sub team mates are.

I've almost got everything worked out in my head and I can tell you this, Everyone has a key role in this and we must play it as a team, no one of five members can win this for us, if everyone plays their part we will take the top 3 spots.
:OverAll
:A Crown
:Best Score
And as many number 1's in each of the sub teams as we can.

March 22nd thru April 19th We Go To War!!

Ty sir, timely and informative and always

 

[satandole666]

I got the cards installed today. Looks like I "might" be able to help out this go around. Stock scores were 98xx in 3d06 so I have some kinks to work out but I'll be in this soon enough.

Damn I'm excited.

 

[Deanzo]

I got the cards installed today. Looks like I "might" be able to help out this go around. Stock scores were 98xx in 3d06 so I have some kinks to work out but I'll be in this soon enough.

Damn I'm excited.

Great stuff,

Over the next day or two, could you run 01, 03 and 06 at your best cpu speed, and the best overclock you can do on the cards for now and PM me the scores.
I don't need links or anything like that, I just need an idea how they go on the P5B-Deluxe, does that board run them at X16/X4 ?

 

[Brolloks]

Note bad for one GTS or what?

3DMARK06 = 16,013

 

[Deanzo]

Note bad for one GTS or what?

3DMARK06 = 16,013

Very nice, and not even using a quad.

 

[wuzy]

Note bad for one GTS or what?

3DMARK06 = 16,013

Ah crap, I probably can't hold onto the top single-GPU in '06 then in the non-UE group.
If I can get a quad capable of 4-4.1G while getting this R600 to run 1Ghz which I know it's perfectly capable of then I might had a chance.

 

[satandole666]

Great stuff,

Over the next day or two, could you run 01, 03 and 06 at your best cpu speed, and the best overclock you can do on the cards for now and PM me the scores.
I don't need links or anything like that, I just need an idea how they go on the P5B-Deluxe, does that board run them at X16/X4 ?

I don't know how soon I can get the scores for you. I ran 3d06 with Crossfire disabled and got 109xx. I enabled it and the score went down about 200 points. In addition to that I had screen tearing the entire time 3d06 ran. This was at stock CPU speed.

It almost seems like the cards are overclocked too much. It does the same kind of tearing I saw when I did it before. Problem is they are running much lower than they could.

As soon as I can get this fixed I can get the scores within an hour or two. I'm thinking an OS reinstall might be needed.

And yeah...the P5B-D is 16/4...not two full slots. I might need a mobo upgrade sooner rather than later now.

 

[spiritedandy]

Cheers Deanzo cant wait now have more time on my hands as single again
wish it was now weather changed its freezing now !

 

[Charr]

I don't know how soon I can get the scores for you. I ran 3d06 with Crossfire disabled and got 109xx. I enabled it and the score went down about 200 points. In addition to that I had screen tearing the entire time 3d06 ran. This was at stock CPU speed.

It almost seems like the cards are overclocked too much. It does the same kind of tearing I saw when I did it before. Problem is they are running much lower than they could.

As soon as I can get this fixed I can get the scores within an hour or two. I'm thinking an OS reinstall might be needed.

And yeah...the P5B-D is 16/4...not two full slots. I might need a mobo upgrade sooner rather than later now.

I had the same situation with my P5K Premium. With 2900XT in CF my score went up overall to 11k from 10k, but CPU was down 33%. These cards take a lot of CPU power to unlock their full potential.

 

[satandole666]

Alright, I got a day off of work to get this setup. In addition to the fact that I can't get CF to work properly (screen tearing and drop in points) I recently discovered a leak in my WCing setup. Looks like I have a long day ahead of me...

Anyway, what is the proper way to setup Crossfire? Before I reinstall the OS today I plan on testing each card and making sure they are 100% working. However, I do plan on doing a fresh install.

So...

Do I install both cards, with dongle, when I install Windows and go from there?

Or do I install one card and add the second when everything is done?

I have no clue how to go about this. I tried installing both with the dongle on an old Windows XP setup (old being about 3 months) and I've had no luck with it. I've gone through a dozen driver cleaning/installs and I can't get it to work on this installation.

Although, if you guys want to save me the trouble of reinstalling it would be pretty simple. Using the 8.3 Cats, when I enable CF in CCC, the GPU-Z .17 utility still shows CF as disabled. It makes sense too because my score actually drops about 200-300 points. I can tell it is trying to do something because I am getting screen tearing and the like.

So...I'll go ahead and work on my WCing loop for now. If I can't get this thing to work tonight I'll just do a fresh OS install...but I'd still like to know the best way to do that with a CF setup.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Deanzo]

@ satandole666, don't use the 8.3 drivers, they seem to work well with Vista but suck for XP.
PM Maxi as he was doing alot of work with the drivers and his two 2900's, so he'll give you the heads up on which ones to use.

Now I know I'm going to get shot on this forum saying the Corsair HX620 won't power something, but.
Gigabit sent the two 2900pros back to Charr as his Corsair HX620 couldn't do it.

Gigabit returned these cards because he had problems powering them. With a Q6600, X38 and these on an HX620, the burden was too strong for the PSU. These cards consume 200W (PRO), 250W (XT), so it is recommended to have ~550W for one, and ~750W for two
http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=5483821&postcount=1

 

[Gautam]

Not even a Zippy 700W is enough for two 2900XT's...something 850W grade at a minimum is necessary. Each 2900XT takes more power than a Kentsfield apiece once you start ramping clocks up.

 

[Dak9767]

Quick question about my 8400 for FW, if I pump up my Vcore over 1.45v on water to get better scores might it damage the cpu if the temps go over 60c? I know the temp threshold is somrthing like 70c. But I'm not sure if the higher volts might hurt it.

 

[Deanzo]

Quick question about my 8400 for FW, if I pump up my Vcore over 1.45v on water to get better scores might it damage the cpu if the temps go over 60c? I know the temp threshold is somrthing like 70c. But I'm not sure if the higher volts might hurt it.

For a short bench you should be fine, just keep it under 70c and 1.6v

 

[satandole666]

@ satandole666, don't use the 8.3 drivers, they seem to work well with Vista but suck for XP.
PM Maxi as he was doing alot of work with the drivers and his two 2900's, so he'll give you the heads up on which ones to use.

Now I know I'm going to get shot on this forum saying the Corsair HX620 won't power something, but.
Gigabit sent the two 2900pros back to Charr as his Corsair HX620 couldn't do it.

I'll get a wall meter and see how much my system pulls. I really think I should be alright since I am literally running a near barebones setup. If I need to upgrade PSUs I might have a problem unless I can snag a good one used or on the cheap. Once I confirm that the system works at stock I'll make sure I'm not pushing it too hard.

I really think the problem was how well my bottom card was seated in the PCI-E slot. It seemed to have too much play in it when I took it apart. A few times when I booted the card wasn't initialized by the system (red light stayed on and the fans spun at 100%). I wiggled it a bit and it worked great. I'll reroute some wires and make sure to set that card first as it is the hardest one to set first of the two.

For now I have to leak test over night. Ideally I'll have some scores for you by Friday night but who knows what kind of problems I'm going to run into next.

I'll look into the drivers some more. If anyone wants to PM me some advice I'm more than open to it, otherwise I'll send Maxi a PM to ask him and read up on the subject.

EDIT: I checked around for a few reviews on the 2900XT's power draw. According to Tom's Hardware here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05..._hardware_from_ati/page26.html#final_thoughts

Their entire system (CF 2900XTs) pulled a max of 549w under 3d06. In addition to that, they use an X6800 and a Raptor. My E8400 and 7200rpm drive should pull a little less than those. I know I might be in for it when I start overclocking, but I'm relying on claims that the hx620 can actually push closer to 750w reliably. And hey...if Thideras can do it I can do it.

I feel comfortable enough to go ahead with this as is. I will get a wall mount and make sure I'm not going to fry my system. I'll make sure to post more if I have any problems.

 

[satandole666]

Quick question about my 8400 for FW, if I pump up my Vcore over 1.45v on water to get better scores might it damage the cpu if the temps go over 60c? I know the temp threshold is somrthing like 70c. But I'm not sure if the higher volts might hurt it.

I'm not an expert by far so I'll just share my experience with my E8400.

I've pushed my E8400 up to 4.6ghz and 1.6v. I've seen loaded temps at 80c with Prime95 (not for long). I have no degradation in my chips overclocking abilities. Just last week, after running [email protected] for a few weeks I did a max oc test on 1.4v loaded. I was surprised that I got 4180mhz 24hours prime CPU test stable with temperatures in the high 60s.

So...at least on my end...I've had no degradation from my short benching runs at high OC/voltages. If anything it is getting slowly better (that or my knowledge has gotten better).

Hope this helps.