9700pro - artefacts?

[chisholm]

im decided to have a go at overclocking my radeon9700pro...ever since my ti4600 died for no apparent reason last year I have been very scared of overlocking my 9700pro:(

I loop 3dmark2001 for 3-4 hrs to test stabilty...

with my core @360 it is rock stable...except in the DOT3 bumpmaping test in 3dmark2001 i notice tiny dots flashing...it is only noticeable if u look at it very closely. Apart from this, i have not seen any other atefacts. A few questions:

1.Is it safe to run my core at 360? are these minor artefacts mean im risking frying my 9700pro? I dont want history to repeat itself.

2. Would replacing the TIM with artic silver make much differnce? Note i am too scared to deshim my radeon...The death of my almost brand new 4600 haunts me to this day:scream:

Any ideas/suggestions recommended

[swinger]

let some 3d application run for a while then pop yur case open and feel the heatsink on the GPU. If she is hot then it is probably making a good transfer but if the HS is cool then you should probly check out the TIM.

[zeradul]

WB Chisholm!

What brand was your 4600? How long did it last? How high had you overclocked it? Was it out of warrantee?

What brand is your current 9700 Pro?

[chisholm]

hehe thx zeradul i finally had to come crawling back for help:afro:

well my ti4600 was a leadtek and i think i had it for 4-5 months..although my memory has faded so i couldnt be sure.

For this period it was o/c at 320/740 from memory...i took off the heatsink and replaced teh white goo with AS3...no diiffernce...so i eventually got a TT copper cooler...of course still made jack all difference. I think after this i ran it @ 320/740(no artefacts that i could see) for about a month..and one day i booted up and it refused to load windows. In safe mode there where vertical bars of white and the colouring was all washed out. I tried to warranty it but i coulndt find the invoice...a while earlier my mum had cleaned out all my "rubbish". Well there u have it..to this day the ti4600 sits in my drawer...as useless as ever

btw, i noticed that if i put my agp voltage to 1.6 the artefacts become much less visible..in fact almost invisible..wat u think about this?

[PersianImmortal]

The artifacting is from your Video RAM and not the core. Decrease the RAM overclock, or find some way of cooling the RAM better. Upping the voltage supplies the RAM with more volts, but also heats them up more, so in the short term your artifacting is reduced but in the long term you get quicker heat buildup.

Overclocking for long periods without adequate cooling on the RAM can permanently damage the RAM. All the steps you've taken indicate that you're cooling the core only.

[chisholm]

well the atefacting happens with my memory at stock voltage:(
with core @360 and mem @stock i get the artefacts.

with both at stock speed no atefacts...with memory at 660 and core @stock..no artefgacts

and the fact that i only get artefacts in one particualr test perhaps suggets that its a software glitch?

[chisholm]

another thing...i have 2 120m panaflows in the side of my case...and one blows directly on the radeon...so i dnt think heat for my ram is much of an issue at low overclocks.

Thanks to everyone for trying help out. While i havnt received any useful information yet im very appreciative of the fact that ppl are trying to help so cheers to u all.

:cheers:

[PersianImmortal]

and the fact that i only get artefacts in one particualr test perhaps suggets that its a software glitch?

No, it could also suggest that only that particular test pushes your card enough to get artifacting.

The most stressful DX9.0 demo I've seen to test this sort of thing is RTHDRIBL. Basically with a 9800 Pro, and setting this thing to full screen 1600x1200x32 I get 2fps, and the beauty of it is it only stresses your graphics card. Doesn't touch the CPU at all.

This will quickly determine whether your cooling is enough, and indeed whether there's a problem with the card. It's also a nice-looking demo :)

[chisholm]

ok ill try that.althout if it its 1-2fps isnt it a bit hard to tell if its artefacting?:cheers:

[chisholm]

well i tried running rthdribl...first time i ran it it ran for about 5 seconds then hung....now wen i try to run it i get this error:

generic application error.Enable debug output for detailed information.This sample will exit now.

im using catalyists 3.6 with my radeon @ stock speed...y wont it run anymore? for the 5 seconds i saw i was drueling

[chisholm]

I re-extracted it and ran it again...it lasted about 20 seconds this time..then the same thing happened. What's going on? how can i not be able to run it stably @ stock speed with lots of airflow and ambien of about 15 degrees celcius?? my cpu is rock stable @ 11.5x210....with prime 95 running for several days. Maybe my nothbridge is being overstressed? Tomorow i will retest..too tired now gonna go to bed.

[PersianImmortal]

RTHDRIBL is extremely gruelling on any system, but it really mainly stresses your graphics card. If you hang it's likely a graphics card issue. It won't be a driver conflict as far as I know, because using 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6 Cats I can run it.

It hangs because it's stressing the card and heat buildup eventually locks up your display. If you press your caps lock or num lock key a few times you'll see the light on your keyboard turn on/off, meaning the rest of your system is still working, but the graphics card has frozen.

[chisholm]

as a matter of fact, it hangs...the caps lock key does not repsond...i guess it it must be an issue with my high fsb or something...i reall yhad better get to sleep.

[PersianImmortal]

Well what do you know, it just might be the high FSB after all. Keep experimenting. But what'd I tell you, RTHDRIBL really brings a system to its knees. If you're not artifacting though then it might be safe to assume your card isn't overheating.

[chisholm]

yea well as soon as i finish my work ill get to it. The persianimmortal u've been a great help. And thanks to everyone else for their suggestions:cheers: