overclocking locked on asus AH3650 AGP?

petrossa · Sep 16, 2008, 03:15 AM

I've got some trouble with my new ASUS AH3650 (512 mb DDR2) AGP video card. It's my last attempt to put some last muscle in my old PC. Everything works just fine(i've read about the tons of issues with the HD3000 AGP series) and every game works. I bought the card because I wanted to play bioshock and some other games. So far so good. But now comes the annoying part. Asus provides the AH3650 with some bundled software. The program that I was interested in was smartdoctor witch gives the user the posibility to overclock, but somehow it stays locked on 725mhz for the GPU and 1000mhz for the memory. The slidebars stay locked and i cannot change the values. I tried ATI tray tools overclocking but that program also stays locked. In the end i tried CCC (catalyst control centre) and that also did not work and the values for overclocking stays locked. As I said, besides the overclocking issue the card works fine. My question: Is the 3650 AGP locked?
If that's the case, than i will return it and buy the faster 3850 AGP.

sammorris · Sep 16, 2008, 02:05 PM

Catalyst Overdrive should be able to overclock the card, but even if it can you won't get much of a gain, the 3850 will be faster.

Auric · Oct 5, 2008, 01:54 AM

I used ATI Overdrive to raise the clocks 20% from 725/500 (1000 effective) to 870/600 for a significant performance gain. The massive heat sink is great and I may just try a fan for giggles to see what this sucka can really do

If any more gain is possible I would only switch the fan on for games. Another user reported achieving a significant reduction in temperatures by replacing the thermal interface pads with paste so that is another possibility although I do not see the need except to push for an extreme overclock as it seems to run sufficiently cool already.

Another user reports 875/600 on Asus' forum.

To get yours working I can only suggest using the latest Catalyst AGP Hotfix. The only useful part of the Asus package (ati8452_xp32) is the HDMI audio driver as those from AMD and Realtek do not work.

Sep 16, 2008, 03:15 AM	#1
petrossa DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	overclocking locked on asus AH3650 AGP? I've got some trouble with my new ASUS AH3650 (512 mb DDR2) AGP video card. It's my last attempt to put some last muscle in my old PC. Everything works just fine(i've read about the tons of issues with the HD3000 AGP series) and every game works. I bought the card because I wanted to play bioshock and some other games. So far so good. But now comes the annoying part. Asus provides the AH3650 with some bundled software. The program that I was interested in was smartdoctor witch gives the user the posibility to overclock, but somehow it stays locked on 725mhz for the GPU and 1000mhz for the memory. The slidebars stay locked and i cannot change the values. I tried ATI tray tools overclocking but that program also stays locked. In the end i tried CCC (catalyst control centre) and that also did not work and the values for overclocking stays locked. As I said, besides the overclocking issue the card works fine. My question: Is the 3650 AGP locked? If that's the case, than i will return it and buy the faster 3850 AGP.

Sep 16, 2008, 02:05 PM	#2
sammorris HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Brentwood or York, UK Posts: 178 Rep Power: 26 System Specs	Catalyst Overdrive should be able to overclock the card, but even if it can you won't get much of a gain, the 3850 will be faster. __________________ Speakers: Logitech Z-2300 & Philips MC-70 [homebrew surround via ATEN CS1782 KVAM] for HTPC. Logitech Z-5500 for gaming PC. I/O: Razer Diamondback Magma, MS Intellimouse Optical, MS Sidewinder X6, Saitek Eclipse II, Pertelian X2040 USB Display DVD: As little as Possible (LG GH20NS15) Networking: Netgear GS105, GS605, GS608, WRN2000, Linksys WRT54GL [Tomato], DrayTek Vigor 120, yards of CAT6

Oct 5, 2008, 01:54 AM	#3
Auric DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	Re: overclocking locked on asus AH3650 AGP? I used ATI Overdrive to raise the clocks 20% from 725/500 (1000 effective) to 870/600 for a significant performance gain. The massive heat sink is great and I may just try a fan for giggles to see what this sucka can really do If any more gain is possible I would only switch the fan on for games. Another user reported achieving a significant reduction in temperatures by replacing the thermal interface pads with paste so that is another possibility although I do not see the need except to push for an extreme overclock as it seems to run sufficiently cool already. Another user reports 875/600 on Asus' forum. To get yours working I can only suggest using the latest Catalyst AGP Hotfix. The only useful part of the Asus package (ati8452_xp32) is the HDMI audio driver as those from AMD and Realtek do not work.