The HD 3850 AGP User Experience

well, I just reset my latency back to 128.. seems Obliv doesnt like it at all. Keeps crashing much more than usual. So went back to 128.. played for 2hrs no problems. So, on this system. it didnt like it. As always your system may love it.

Terpfen, about the only other thing Ive done is used RivaTuner to up my fan to 85% at all times. Still cant hear the fan, and hope 85% is enough to cover when playing high end games. Have watched the temps and have noticed no problems. Other than that.. thats all Ive done... now, in games.. Ive turned them all up.. Most games Im running maxed out.
 
Overclock it. Up the voltage and make all 3D clock settings the same. Swap the stock cooler to something better.
 
Terpfen said:
Tweaks, not heart surgery.
Click to expand...
Not to get into anything here but please understand that those tweaks I've mentioned are extremely easy to do.

Setting both low and high 3D clock to the same speed will help prevent powerplay from hitching your system. I'm sure you know that the 38xx series of cards will clock itself down (aka low 3D speed) in 3D applications when the gpu workload goes below a certain percentage. Sometimes when an older game doesn't tax the gpu enough it will create problems where it's speed is not running at it standard 3D speed thusly you will unecessarily lose frames. So you might as well have both low 3D speed and high 3D speed at the same setting so regardless of gpu workload, as long as it's in a 3D game it will be in 3D mode, no high mode or low mode. This will prevent any strange fps fluxuations in your games.

Also the 3850 chip is the same as the 3870 chip, meaning they can both do the 3870's standard 3D voltage of 1.33V (3850 does 1.214v on standard bios). With a decent 3rd party cooler you can make your 3850 chip run as a 3870 on 1.33v with no issues. More voltage means more room for you to overclock the core further. It's a pretty simple tweak, definitely not heart surgery.
 
Replacing the cooler qualifies as heart surgery. Then again, I've always been a console-first guy, so I'm not as fanatical about it as some on this board.
 
Replacing the cooler is just as difficult as opening up your case, plugging in your videocard, and closing it again. Just remove a few screws, wipe off the old thermal paste with alcohol, put on new paste, apply the new HSF, screw it back on.

I thought it was easy anyway.. some people actually manage to FUBAR their cards replacing the HSF. :D
 
The question of tweaking may be moot, as I think I've goofed up by going AGP. I think I have other things to worry about besides a cooler replacement.
 
I received my HIS card and it won't boot again, I took another P4P800-E motherboard that I had stored for test purposes, put the HD 3850 with 1GB of RAM and a Pentium 4 EE, and the PC won't boot either, but I decided to swap the PSU and I put an Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W that I had for test purposes, and it booted, then I decided to put the HD 3850 back in my PC, took off the Coolmax CUG 700B, and put in the Antec PSU and the PC booted fine.

Is it possible that the HIS card is incompatible with my Coolmax PSU? Is weird because my X1950XT works fine with that PSU, but not with the HD 3850 which is more power friendly. And also it idles at 59c and goes to 70c on full load, my room temperature is about 89c.

Isn't the temperature a bit high for a HIS card? or the high temperatures of my room?
 
I tried my new Antec EarthWatts 650 PSU (22+22+25a 12v rails) with my nforce 3 rig + Vista 32 + HD 3850.. no go...

Changed everything over to an Asus A8V Deluxe (K8T800 Pro) and everything's fine...

Now if I could just get my bios flashed so I can run my X2 I could get more that 19k in '03 and 5XXX in '06, with this card, lol. I'm not gonna do any real world gaming with this rig while a paltry 3000+ stock is plugged in...

I'm using ATI Tool and am a little puzzled by it's "find max" feature... I mean it went all the way to 999 core and then froze on me... looks like I gotta find max clock myself while upping the clock and testing for artifacts incrementally?

I really like this ZeroTherm cooler. :D
 
You should try to investigate further, a nice X2 will give you a nice boost, I score 30,094 in 3DMark03 and 7,236 in 3Dmark06 using the Cat 8.4, forcing the installation, so no SmartGart, it works fine but If I change the AGP Aperture Size, the 3D driver simply becomes unusable, no 3D app won't work. but that's fine as far as you don't change anything. With an X2 you should score even higher, meanwhile you can overclock your CPU a bit.
 
... just got my BIOS flashed and am about to run some benchies... no probs thus far, I'm feeling like I've been smiled upon by the AGP 939 gods after the mess they originally put me in with my nforce3 board and RAID problems with Vista...

What's smartgart again? I don't recall having to install it. Currently FWIW my AGP aperture size is at 256mb just for shits and giggles.

I'll check back here and possibly at R3d once I do some benchies.

:)
 
SmartGart is an utility which tests the stability of the AGP bus and select the settings according to certain test that the display driver performs, usually when you install the drivers, it install itself.
 
Some preliminary synthetic results and scaling information:

I also added some comparative 7800 GS benchmark data in the 3dmark 2006 section.


3dmark 03:

Total Scores:

Athlon 64 512k @ 200x9 (1.8ghz): 19712
Athlon 64 X2 2x512k @ 250x10 (2.5ghz): 24006

3dMark 2003 Individual Test Results:

Wings of Fury:

1 core 1.8ghz: 198.54
2 core 2.5ghz: 354.71

Battle of Proxycon:

1 core 1.8ghz: 182.53
2 core 2.5ghz: 229.0

Troll's Lair:

1 core 1.8ghz: 148.69
2 core 2.5ghz: 175.45

Mother Nature:

1 core 1.8ghz: 116.48
2 core 2.5ghz: 120.98

CPU Test 1:

1 core 1.8ghz: 76.09
2 core 2.5ghz: 105.22

CPU Test 2:

1 core 1.8ghz: 13.79
2 core 2.5ghz: 19.65

Fill Rate (Single Texturing):

1 core 1.8ghz: 5091.53 MT
2 core 2.5ghz: 5295.69 MT

Fill Rate (Multi Texturing):

1 core 1.8ghz: 10030.09 MT
2 core 2.5ghz: 10607.79 MT

Vertex Shader:

1 core 1.8ghz: 53.83
2 core 2.5ghz: 123.82

Pixel Shader 2.0:

1 core 1.8ghz: 216.83
2 core 2.5ghz: 223.51

Ragtroll:

1 core 1.8ghz: 78.73
2 core 2.5ghz: 130.49


3dmark 06:

Total Scores:

BONUS!! Results of my 7800 GS are included... benchmark was run at same clockspeed... different chipset (nforce3 vs. k8t800 pro) but basically the same system...

Athlon 64 512k @ 200x9 (1.8ghz): 4391
Athlon 64 X2 2x512k @ 250x10 (2.5ghz): 7228

Athlon 64 X2 2x512k @ 250x10 (2.5ghz): 3689

SM2.0 Score:

1 core 1.8ghz: 2056
2 core 2.5ghz: 3201

7800GS 2 core 2.5ghz: 1452


SM3.0 Score:

1 core 1.8ghz: 2741
2 core 2.5ghz: 3275

7800GS 2 core 2.5ghz: 1411


CPU Score:
1 core 1.8ghz: 698
2 core 2.5ghz: 1799

7800GS 2 core 2.5ghz: 1784


3dMark 2006 Individual Test Results:

Return To Proxycon:

1 core 1.8ghz: 16.66
2 core 2.5ghz: 24.22

7800GS 2 core 2.5ghz: 11.51


Firefly Forest:

1 core 1.8ghz: 17.6
2 core 2.5ghz: 29.12

7800GS 2 core 2.5ghz: 12.69


CPU1 - Red Valley:

1 core 1.8ghz: 0.22
2 core 2.5ghz: 0.56

7800GS 2 core 2.5ghz: 0.57

CPU2 - Red Valley:

1 core 1.8ghz: 0.35
2 core 2.5ghz: 0.93

7800GS 2 core 2.5ghz: 0.9

Canyon Flight (SM 3.0):

1 core 1.8ghz: 31.15
2 core 2.5ghz: 32.49

7800GS 2 core 2.5ghz: 12.42


Deep Freeze (SM 3.0)

1 core 1.8ghz: 23.67
2 core 2.5ghz: 33.01

7800GS 2 core 2.5ghz: 15.81



...


FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH: I HAVE NOT YET INSTALLED THE AMD MULTIPLE CORE OPTIMIZATION.

...

So yeah, um, I'd say that:

#1 The card scales well with regards to clock speed and number of logical processors
#2 It appears that this card should really whomp the 7800 GS in real world gaming.

...

I'd imagine that HL2 with the Cinematic Mod should ply smooth as butter on this rig now, as well as UT3 and Quake 4.

...

Yay! (so far)
 
crap... Lost Planet DX10 is crashing on me... doesn't even get to the Capcom screen and all goes black. DX9 is running fine though.

:(
 
I noticed some people with this card with a cpu about the same as mine, so Iwas wondering if this card will do justice in a p4 3.2Ghz Prescott rather than saving up some money for a complete overhaul "no job right now, so long time for that to happen." :(
 
Im running a 3.0 prescott with this card and Im very happy with it. For me it runs much better with fewer issues than my 1950pro .... just make sure you have a beefy enough power supply... that 30amps on the 12volt line is a drag..
 
Vauhs said:
I noticed some people with this card with a cpu about the same as mine, so Iwas wondering if this card will do justice in a p4 3.2Ghz Prescott rather than saving up some money for a complete overhaul "no job right now, so long time for that to happen." :(
Click to expand...

I'm very happy with the HD 3850 AGP, running in the computer in my sig. Fortunately, Dell used good power supplies in their first gen XPS's, which is what my computer started as, so I've never had to replace the 460W PSU in it. The HD 3850 AGP has definitely increased the lifetime of my computer.
 
I have a 450w no-name in my computer, do you think it could pull a 3850 or do you think I should get a new PSU without risking it?
 
Vauhs, what is the wattage on the +12 line? this card needs 30amps..

right off top of my head a no name 450.. Id be shopping for a better PS.
 
Be warned about the new Catalyst 8.5 drivers, guys. They refuse to install on my XP SP3 machine. I don't know if we need to wait for a hotfix version or what.
 
Cracked the case opened to check, not enough juice for the card. =/ Think I'll just wait a few more months and do a complete overhaul when I get some more money. Doing a first build will be fun, I'll finally know what I'm getting.
 
Terpfen, did what Ive done with the last what? 2 3 sets...force fed the darn things. Im running them right now. Just did 2hrs of Oblivion with no issues. Cant report any great changes in IQ maybe Im just getting use to the card.

Vauhs, sorry to hear your power supply isnt beefy enough. Ive been doing some 'not serious' research on my next machine which will pcie or what ever .... at least you know what youre getting... I havent a clue where to even start.
 
I can't force-feed it. The installation simply will not continue. I can't even get to the driver warning screen.
 
I just replaced my Powercoler X1950 PRO with the HIS card in the title. Everything is OK except Call of Duty 4. It runs but kind of hangs for a second or so during single player. It does not seem to be related to resolution, behaves the same even at the highest resolution. I uninstalled all previous ATI software and drivers, and ran drivercleaner in safe mode for further cleaning. I installed the supplied software from the HIS disk, than applied the hotfix. I took a look at the clock settings in the card's BIOS as previously suggested and the HIS card is already at the same clock settings for 2D and 3D modes. Mobo is a DFI Ultra-D nForce 3, 2GB RAM in dual channel mode, AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+. Any suggestions on what to check? Thanks
 
I had problems with COD4 and looked around. Saw something about disabling the music somehow. Apparently older mobo's are having problems with the onboard sound for some reason. Causes stuttering and crashes. I turned off the music in the game setting in the game folder not in the game itself haven't had a problem since. Sorry I can't remember how I did it but it's a lead.
 
8.5 installed fine and is playing nice with my 1950xt agp. they might have fixed the agp problems this time around.
 
pimpdad82 said:
It looks like 8.5 is out. Anybody know where I can find the hotfix for it to work with AGP?
Click to expand...

Go to the 8.4 Hotfix page; ATI updated the links to the 8.5s, but didn't rename the links.

I'm running the 8.5 hotfix right now.
 
I installed the new ATI patch (agp-hotfix_xp32_63478.exe), did not fix my COD4 stuttering problem. Is it necessary to remove the old drivers before applying the patch?

I also updated my Realtek AC97 sound drivers with the latest from the Realtek site, it did not help.
 
Terpfen said:
Go to the 8.4 Hotfix page; ATI updated the links to the 8.5s, but didn't rename the links.

I'm running the 8.5 hotfix right now.
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks for the info! I'm currently using the 8.4 drivers. Is there really any reason to install the 8.5's?
 
gflash said:
I installed the new ATI patch (agp-hotfix_xp32_63478.exe), did not fix my COD4 stuttering problem. Is it necessary to remove the old drivers before applying the patch?
Click to expand...

Hotfix drivers are a complete driver set. They are not a patch. You must uninstall your current drivers before installing the hotfix drivers.

I don't have any stuttering in CoD4 whatsoever. Check to make sure your settings aren't too cranked up. (Letting the game determine the best settings is ideal, IMO.)

AndonSage said:
Ah, thanks for the info! I'm currently using the 8.4 drivers. Is there really any reason to install the 8.5's?
Click to expand...

It looks like Vista users have more reason to upgrade than XP users, but XP still gets a decent set of fixes. I'm using the 8.5s because I plan to output to a 1080p TV set soon. There are some pretty significant performance improvements, listed in the release notes or attested to by others. (Source Engine games got a nice boost, it seems.)

I see no reason not to upgrade. But then again, I have an "always upgrade when available" mentality.
 
I uninstalled the ATI drivers and reinstalled the latest hotfix. COD4 is better, but not great. I am using the default settings. All other games can maxed out and run fine.
 
I was told by HIS support that the 8.4 driver updates available from AMD/ATI will not work with the AGP version of the Radeon 3850, it works with PCI express only. Hopefully this will be remedied soon. This does not apply to the hotfix.
 
gflash said:
I was told by HIS support that the 8.4 driver updates available from AMD/ATI will not work with the AGP version of the Radeon 3850, it works with PCI express only. Hopefully this will be remedied soon. This does not apply to the hotfix.
Click to expand...

We know; this is why you'll only see reference to hotfix drivers in this thread. The "hotfix" is nothing more than AGP compatibility. ATI, for some idiotic reason, will not include AGP compatibility in the default driver. Companies like HIS and Sapphire base their drivers on either the hotfix version, or their own self-modded version.

Go into the CoD4 menus and specifically tick the option to have the game determine the best settings. Also, make sure your sound and motherboard drivers are all up to date--or as up to date as they can get.
 
Yes, I did upgrade the RealTek drivers to the latest. I will check to see if there is anything new for the DFI NF3 mobo.
 
Terpfen said:
It looks like Vista users have more reason to upgrade than XP users, but XP still gets a decent set of fixes. I'm using the 8.5s because I plan to output to a 1080p TV set soon. There are some pretty significant performance improvements, listed in the release notes or attested to by others. (Source Engine games got a nice boost, it seems.)
Click to expand...

Alrighty, thanks :) I'm getting a brand new top of the line computer in a few months, so I'll probably leave this computer with the 8.4 drivers unless a "fix" comes out for one of the games I currently play, and then upgrade to the latest drivers at the time the new computer gets here and this one gets moved over to the "secondary computer" position.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top