Graphic Cards XFX 8800GT 721/1802/2044 OC Evaluation

[m0h1t]

Hi

Since i had lot of free time at hand, i decided to OC my card
I am new at this, so i tried to do all the research before hand and provide as much info as i though was sufficient. If i left something out or doing something wrong please point it out.

XFX 8800GT 512mb Zalman DualSlot Fan, Stock Specs ->

System Specs:
Intel E7200 2.53 GHz (Stock)
2 x 1GB Kingston DDR2 800Mhz CL6
Applications I used->
RivaTuner 2.09
GPU-Z 0.2.3
FRAPS

Using the guide here Vaguetech - Rivatuner v2.07-09 Guide I OC'ed my card to the following

Game Testing

No AirConditioning
No AF - Turned off from Nvidia Control Panel
Idle Temp -52-53*C

GOW 1680x1050 NoAA NoAF Everything on Max NoVsync
@721/1802/2044 -> Avg: 55 - Min: 9 - Max: 63
@600/1500/1800 -> Avg: 52 - Min: 4 - Max: 63
GRID 1680x1050 Multisampling-4XMSAA NoAF Everything on Max NoVsync
@721/1802/2044 -> Avg: 55 - Min: 45 - Max: 64 MaxCoreTemp-76*C MaxCPUCore0/Core1Temp - 65/63*C
@600/1500/1800 -> Avg: 52 - Min: 42 - Max: 61 MaxCoreTemp-73*C MaxCPUCore0/Core1Temp - 64/61*C

3DMarks Score

@600/1500/1800 -> MaxCoreTemp-72*C MaxCPUCore0/Core1Temp - 66/64*C

@721/1802/2044 -> I got scared after seeing Max CpuCore Temp of 66*C, so i turned on the AC temp's dropped by 15*C

Questions/Doubts/Problems
1.Why such a very minimal difference?
2. Encountered 2 BSOD's - once at flipping resolutions & once ingame Alt+F4
3.The difference between my CPU Temp and Core0/Core1 Temp is always ~7-8*C, Is that normal for a E7200?
4.I have set Fan Duty Speed@50%@IdleTemp of 52*C, will this reduce Fan life?
5.Is there any maximum number of overclock's i can do to my card? because I keep changing clock/memory/shader clock to measure change in performance?
6.Am i Oc'ing it correctly?, Driver Settings->System Settings->Enable DriverLevel H/w Overclocking->DetectNow->Setting Clock rates->Apply.

Is'nt a 120Mhz jump on CoreClock enough to give better performance? and should'nt my card be burning at such clock's?

Could my stock CPU/RAM creating a bottleneck for the GPU?

 

[Ab_nVaG]

Hi

Since i had lot of free time at hand, i decided to OC my card
I am new at this, so i tried to do all the research before hand and provide as much info as i though was sufficient. If i left something out or doing something wrong please point it out.

woww! man u have done quite impressive overclocking with ur dog.. good luck man..
yaa it seem that ur CPU score is not showing progress...

keep it in mind that ur overall system must be bumped up to show visible results, u must tune ur whole system for better results..
try it with CPU,GPU,Ram overlock not only GPU... but within limits man don't try to burn things up

 

[thebanik]

Questions/Doubts/Problems
1.Why such a very minimal difference?
2. Encountered 2 BSOD's - once at flipping resolutions & once ingame Alt+F4
3.The difference between my CPU Temp and Core0/Core1 Temp is always ~7-8*C, Is that normal for a E7200?
4.I have set Fan Duty Speed@50%@IdleTemp of 52*C, will this reduce Fan life?
5.Is there any maximum number of overclock's i can do to my card? because I keep changing clock/memory/shader clock to measure change in performance?
6.Am i Oc'ing it correctly?, Driver Settings->System Settings->Enable DriverLevel H/w Overclocking->DetectNow->Setting Clock rates->Apply.

Is'nt a 120Mhz jump on CoreClock enough to give better performance? and should'nt my card be burning at such clock's?

Could my stock CPU/RAM creating a bottleneck for the GPU?

1) Already answered by ab_nvag.
2) Either temp. was high, or overclock was unstable.
3) Thats perfectly normal for any core 2 duo's out there.
4) No it will not, infact you can even increase the fan speed further, if you are ok with the noise.
5) Frequent changes doesnt make any difference. But ofcourse running long at unstable settings may have other consequences.
6) Yes you are doing it correctly, you can always increase the fan speed, and OC a bit more as well....

The 3d mark ss that you have posted, i can see a jump of 8fps in certain test, thats inline to what you can expect out of GC overclock.

Ofcourse overclocking the CPU/RAM wud give you further jump in FPS.

 

[abbY]

3D mark score depends on CPU too, so OC'ng ur CPU will give you a higher score.

Overall good effort with the GPU, try placing a good 120mm fan below the card to blow cool air on the card, this should keep the temps even lower.

 

[Nitari]

to check if the card clocks are stable or not and are artifact free use ATi Tool

ATi Tool 0.27 b2 download from Guru3D.com

run scan for artifacts , if you see any artifacts ( yellow lines and dots ) notch down the clocks and bring them down by 15-20 mhz , run the tool again until you get stable clocks without artifacts

Edit :- this is the best i can go with my current setup ...

Question :- OP , do you play without AF and AA? beacuse i have forced 16x AF and 4x AF in nvidia control panel ..9600gt can handle it easily so your 8800gt should do it to

 

[_pappu_]

^^as you can see from the 1st post, the average framerates are quite high and af doesnt give as much of a performance hit.....so u can turn it on without problems
the biggest hit to performance is AA

overclocking the cpu wight now will give a HUGE benifit
then u will probably see a difference of 7-8 fps for sure

 

[m0h1t]

@Ab_nVaG - Roger that, will OC my CPU soon. And Ill try nt to burn stuff thnx

@thebanik/all - Thnx 4 d pointers.
My current Fan Profile is as follows:
44*C - 55*C -> 40% Duty Speed
56*C - 65*C -> 65% Duty Speed
66*C - 72*C -> 75% Duty Speed
73*C - 80*C -> 90% Duty Speed
80*C + -> 100% Duty Speed
Shutdown Threshold Limit -> 85*C
GPU Idle Temp (No AC/AC) - > 52-53*C/47-48*C

Are these fan profiles ok?

@abhisheksahas -Already have a 6 120mm Fans[Front-Intake/Bottom-Intake/Side-Intake/Rear-Exhaust/2x Top-Exhaust] in my CM 690

@Nitari - i think im going to stick with RivaTuner and Game Testing to monitor artificats. Thanks though.
I play on 16xAF and 8xQAA.

@_pappu_ Aight. 16xAF and 8xQAA it is then .. thnx
My E7200 Load temp of 65-66*C@Stock cooler on 3DMark06 is high right?
If yes what good cooler to buy keeping in mind that ill be OC'ing it.
Budget->2k

BTW what is this?

Ill do some game testing on 16xAF+8xQAA and revert back..

L8r

 

[_pappu_]

just ignore those wild temperatures....they usually mean that there is no sensor or that its just reading something wrong....
on my comp in speedfan i get 1 sensor saying 127degrees all the time....i have no clue what that is

for the cooler, you can look at the sunbeamtech core-contact freezer or the xigmatek HDT-S1283 cooler that funky reviewed...both via the kmd route

both in budget and excellent performers (equivalent to TRUE)

 

[Nitari]

@Nitari - i think im going to stick with RivaTuner and Game Testing to monitor artificats. Thanks though.
I play on 16xAF and 8xQAA

As you wish , at 750/1875/990 i get artifacts in ATi tool but i dont see any artifacts in games :rofl:

may be ATi tool is useless? :S:

 

[m0h1t]

As you wish , at 750/1875/990 i get artifacts in ATi tool but i dont see any artifacts in games :rofl:

may be ATi tool is useless? :S:

nothing personal mate, jus bored of benchmarking n measuring fps.

 

[i_max2k2]

ATI tool will help u go a long way in avoiding bsod's and freezes, I never go beyond a point where I can see artifacts even without ATI tool detecting it, And if you can run ATI tool for about 5mins without artifacts you should do fine with that overclock, though if you do get artifacts you should revert back, whenever u see artifacts in games that is permanent damage to your cards memory.

Overclocking your cpu would give you much better results in comparison to your gpu overclock coz of cpu bottleneck.