Overclocking your video card?

[Chris F]

I don't really know much about overclocking, as I've never really had a need for, or the balls for doing it.

 

A few nights ago I came upon a program called ATITool, which looks for the maximum core and memory settings for ATI cards. It doesn't really come with that much documentation, so I don't really know what to do, other than (I think) finding my maximum core settings (~410 I think). I believe the program has the ability to overclock my card, but I have yet to figure out how to do it.

 

Is there anyone around who has experience overclocking ATI Radeon cards, and could give me a few pointers on how to squeeze some more performance out of my Radeon 9800 Pro (128 MB)? Maybe a recommendation on a program, or tweaks I can use, that are reliable and safe?

[Buck]

In the Omega drivers you use, look for the Radlink tab in your control panel

 

It's probably best to go in increments of 5MHz on the core and memory until you introduce artifacts, then back them down. Though, the 9800 Pro does have a lot of headroom to work with, it's still best to be safe

 

I'll try an overclock later and let you know my results.

[Chris F]

In the Omega drivers you use, look for the Radlink tab in your control panel

 

Bah. Went to the regular Cats last night to see if there was an increase/decrease in performance.

 

I believe they make Radlinker separate from the Omega stuff, so I'll try that. Aside from checking for artifacts in games, is there a way to determine max core and memory settings? I know ATITool does this, but I can't figure out how to use it, other than finding these max numbers.

 

You ever used ATITool Scott?

[Buck]

Originally posted by Ruffneck@Apr 5 2004, 01:06 PM

You ever used ATITool Scott?

Nope, I used to be a Nvidia whore

 

I've downloaded it, so I'll let you know what I find out.

[Chris F]

Any luck using ATITool yet Scott? I installed RadLinker last night, but I'm unsure how to find my maximum core and mem speeds, short of just jacking them up with no rhyme or reason.

[Buck]

Originally posted by Ruffneck@Apr 6 2004, 11:43 AM

Any luck using ATITool yet Scott? I installed RadLinker last night, but I'm unsure how to find my maximum core and mem speeds, short of just jacking them up with no rhyme or reason.

I let it run for about 30 minutes and then stopped it as I had other things to do. Pretty cool little program. Basically you ask it to find the fastest clock speeds that your core and memory support. It won't stop until there have been no errors for 1 hour (3600 seconds) and that will be the best/safest speeds to run at.

 

After your speeds are determined you must set the speeds with the sliders and then apply the changes. It also appears that you can set different profiles, though I haven't tried it yet.

 

As far as the speeds of your card, Chris, your defaults should be:

 

Core- 378MHz

Memory- 337.5 (675MHz DDR)

 

You should be able to easily get 400MHz on the core and 350MHz (700 DDR) on the memory. From there you can try raising them, but be careful not to raise them to much at one time, or Romier may not get a working 9800

 

I'll overclock mine later and let you how high I can get them.

[Chris F]

Yeah, after running ATITool overnight, I got to about 408 on the core. Going to try the memory tonight, and then see what happens from there.

 

From there you can try raising them, but be careful not to raise them to much at one time, or Romier may not get a working 9800

LOL. Why did I KNOW this was going to come up?