Best way to Overclock 9800Pro

J

jhtevans

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 14, 2002
Messages
374
Hey guys - I'd appreciate your help on this one....
I've never done any overclocking on my video card, at least not on my ATi. I used Coolbits on my Ti4600, but to my knowledge, there isn't a registry patch that has the same effect for ATi cards.

What's the best way to overclock the 9800 Pro? I have a VGA silencer and Ramsinks on it, so I'd like to get 'er up to XT speeds, though I'm hesitant because mine is a very card and tends to run pretty hot as it is....
1.) Software? What software and how?
2.) Registry hack?
3.) Bios flash?
4.) Modified Driver?
5.) Other?? Please explain

Obviously, don't limit yourselves to simply choosing a number... please try to be as specific as possible. As always, linkage is appreciated.
 
Google ATI Tool

Download and Install

Set all speeds to default and run max core o/c. Just let it run until all of a sudden the time at the bottom starts over. (I.E no errors for "xx:xx") Then, let that run for 1 more heat-up phase. Then, drop it by 5mhz and write it down. Then, set the core to stock and do the same for memory. Then, get as close as possible to the max -5 that you wrote down (you probably won't be able to get it exact, but within 1 mhz), hit Set Clock, and save a new profile in the top. Name it something easy to recognize and save it. Then, in the drop down boxes on the left (2D and 3D profiles), choose the profile you just saved. Run 3d view for 1:30, and if you don't get any errors, you should be good. You might see some errors/snow/artifacting in game, but if you do you can just drop the values by 5 again and save the modified profile under the same name.
 
there's bios flashing which is an option if you OC and it remains stable. it just enables it to be a little bit better.

there's software which just ups the frequency.

disclaimer: not every product is the exact same and some don't overclock as well as another.
 
There is Rad Linker in the video control panel that is identical to coolbits, or theres ATI tool which is a program deticated to overclocking the card, it makes it easy to test for artifacts and problems, although it still doesent catch a lot of them. the water in the 3dmark03 nature showed artifacts the best for me.

the bios flash only works if you have a r360 core i believe, otherwise it can cause problems.
 
Here's the rundown:

I used ATI Tool to check to see how high my card would go, then I downloaded RivaTuner to make the settings stick after a reboot. According to the tool, my card was stable way past XT speeds... but I chose to overclock to exactly XT speeds just to be safe since my overclock will always be on.... Not sure what my temps are... My core is cooled with a VGA silencer Rev. 3 and my RAM is cooled with TweakMonster BGA sinks... the sinks get incredibly hot (more than say 2 sec touch would inflict some pain), but they did that at normal Pro speeds.... I have yet to do any major gaming now that I'm running faster, but the little far cry that I played seemed MUCH smoother -- WOOHOO!
 
I find the max my card will oc, then flash the bios with a custom one. I usually set the speeds 10mhz below max to keep the card from dieing an early death. Works great, and it allows me to have an overclocked card running in linux. The best way for most is to just use radlinker/rivatuner/etc.
 
I prefer rad linker and ATI Tool.
The ATI tool tells me my max overclock, then I use rad linker to create radlinks to each of my games set to my overclock speed.
This way, my card only runs overclocked when I am playing a game.

D.
 
I never quite trust ATI tool to actually load the 3D profile when a game starts so mine is always overclocked. I've never noticed any issue with leaving overclocked settings on in 2D mode...it uses so little of the card's power that it isn't an issue.

Any actual advantage of BIOS-flashing to an XT core? Can it even be done with an R350 core?
 
Just used Radedit to change the speeds of my 9800Pro BIOS to XT stock speeds -- Now I don't need any software in Windows to change the speed.... working well so far...
 
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