Looking for recommendations for Radeon 9500 Pro overclock rates

Shinjikun · Sep 22, 2004, 05:45 PM

I've searched around a few forums in the past looking at what other 9500 Pro users have overclocked their cards to and I'd like to ask the DH forum members what they have achived with their 9500 Pros or just recommendations in general.

The stock speeds are 276MHz on the core and 270MHz for the memory. I've gotten the core to 330MHz and the memory to 310MHz but I feel that might be a bit too 'laid back' (at least with the core), especially since I have a Vantec Spectrum PCI slot fan right next to the video card. I have not tried to push this video card yet to see how high I can go and I've never encountered one artifact as of yet.

I'd like some input from other forum members on what they think, or what they have overclocked to with their own 9500 Pros.

mkk · Sep 22, 2004, 05:51 PM

Focus on the memory clock since the 9500pro's have their only real weakness there with the 128bit memory bus. I could never get mine over 290 without artifacts but yours seem to fare better.

Shinjikun · Sep 22, 2004, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkk

Focus on the memory clock since the 9500pro's have their only real weakness there with the 128bit memory bus. I could never get mine over 290 without artifacts but yours seem to fare better.

Before I was using the Vantec PCI slot fan I think I had my rates at 310\303 and with the fan I pushed it up to 330\310. I haven't seen anyone clock the memory higher than 315MHz so I think the memory might be done so to speak, I might try 317 if I feel daring. I'm looking to push the core more now.

Shinjikun · Sep 23, 2004, 06:40 PM

Hey Shinjikun, here's my opinion!

I went from 330 to 351 on the core and from 310 to 317 on the memory last night. Everything went fine, I think I'm going to push for 324 MHz on the memory and be done with it.

davidnsibs · Sep 24, 2004, 12:29 AM

Nah, you can do better than that, I've got a Sapphire 9500pro which I added coolermaster ramsinks to, I have reasonable but not a huge amount of air cooling as I like to keep it all quiet (only 2 case fans, and hdd cooler fan along with psu, cpu and gpu fans), but I can get 380 on core and 330 on mem, stable running 3d mark 03 continuously @ 375 / 325. 4635 3D Marks - 380/330 on my XP2600 Barton @ 11.5*180. I know I was lucky and got some of the quicker memory on my board, so you may not reach that on mem, but your core can go higher with some persuasion im sure, but be careful

EDIT: The memory is infineon 3.0ns

Shinjikun · Sep 24, 2004, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidnsibs

Nah, you can do better than that, I've got a Sapphire 9500pro which I added coolermaster ramsinks to, I have reasonable but not a huge amount of air cooling as I like to keep it all quiet (only 2 case fans, and hdd cooler fan along with psu, cpu and gpu fans), but I can get 380 on core and 330 on mem, stable running 3d mark 03 continuously @ 375 / 325. 4635 3D Marks - 380/330 on my XP2600 Barton @ 11.5*180. I know I was lucky and got some of the quicker memory on my board, so you may not reach that on mem, but your core can go higher with some persuasion im sure, but be careful

EDIT: The memory is infineon 3.0ns

Very cool, thanks for the info. I've seen the Sapphire cards go further than the 'Built by ATi' cards so I am being a bit conservative, but I want to put some ramsinks on (something I forgot about before you brought it back to my attention) and try to push the memory a bit further. I'm satisfied overall so if I can't break 351 MHz on the core without problems then I don't be dissapointed. It's running at 317 MHz on the memory w/no real issues (yet) and no ramsinks so I think that might be the next step. Thanks again.

davidnsibs · Sep 24, 2004, 05:10 PM

No probs, its good fun messing around with o/c and modding etc isnt it! Built my PC about 1 and a half years ago, first one that was mine (parents had a P1 333), after about a month of playing games (my housemate got me into it) id been reading how to get every 10 3dmarks out of my machine, most frightening was the warp3 bios flash to unlock it, but since then ive grown in confidence and love messing around.

Shinjikun · Sep 24, 2004, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidnsibs

No probs, its good fun messing around with o/c and modding etc isnt it! Built my PC about 1 and a half years ago, first one that was mine (parents had a P1 333), after about a month of playing games (my housemate got me into it) id been reading how to get every 10 3dmarks out of my machine, most frightening was the warp3 bios flash to unlock it, but since then ive grown in confidence and love messing around.

Yep, that's one of the great things about being a PC enthusiast.

I was a bit fearful to flash to the warp3 bios but it was down hill for me after that too.

I'm going to look for some nice ramsinks now.

Shinjikun · Sep 25, 2004, 04:49 PM

Unfortunately I dropped back to 330\310. While playing yesterday I noticed some texture flashing in CoD and in UT2004 everything finally went to hell.

I think it's the memory overclock but in either case I dropped back to my previous OC'ed values and until I get the ramsinks applied I'll stick to 330\310.

I had to change my memory timings too as 11 was too 'loose' and I had some minor stuttering in some games. 2-2-3-5 works fine.

davidnsibs · Sep 25, 2004, 06:04 PM

yeah, sounds sensible if you see artifacts. i only overclock my card from default when i play games that need it (farcry, nfs underground, ut2004), rest of the time (browsing internet/playing older games like max payne or ut2003) i leave it at 275/270 or whatever the stock settings are. i have my ram @ 2.5-3-3-11 but its only cheap stuff, works fine for me though, but im sure that having the ras @ 11 was found out to be optimal for nforce2 boards so am surprised lowering it helped, cant remember the sites that said that, but there were quite a few, nforcershq has good forums with a7n8x related stuff

Shinjikun · Sep 25, 2004, 06:19 PM

Yep I'll wait for the ramsinks before starting over again but for the time being everything is ok as it is.

As for the timing of 11 a lot of websites and individuals have stated 11 is the way to go for the nForce2 boards but it caused a slight issue for me so I went from 2-3-3-6, to 2-2-3-11, and now to 2-2-3-5 and everything is a-ok.

Sep 22, 2004, 05:45 PM	#1
Shinjikun 第3 子供 Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Nerv HQ Posts: 1,319 Rep Power: 0	Looking for recommendations for Radeon 9500 Pro overclock rates I've searched around a few forums in the past looking at what other 9500 Pro users have overclocked their cards to and I'd like to ask the DH forum members what they have achived with their 9500 Pros or just recommendations in general. The stock speeds are 276MHz on the core and 270MHz for the memory. I've gotten the core to 330MHz and the memory to 310MHz but I feel that might be a bit too 'laid back' (at least with the core), especially since I have a Vantec Spectrum PCI slot fan right next to the video card. I have not tried to push this video card yet to see how high I can go and I've never encountered one artifact as of yet. I'd like some input from other forum members on what they think, or what they have overclocked to with their own 9500 Pros. __________________ Xfire: [Shinji1225 \ Status] A7N8X-E Deluxe Athlon XP 2500+ (@ 2.2 GHz 11x200 MHz FSB) Corsair TwinX XMS 1GB PC3200 Dual Channel (2-2-3-5) [color=red]ATi [/color][color=white]Radeon 9500 Pro (@ 330\310) \ [/color][color=white]Omega Catalyst Drivers v2.5.90[/color] [color=white]Ultra X-Connect 500W PSU[/color]

Sep 23, 2004, 06:40 PM	Thread Starter #4
Shinjikun 第3 子供 Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Nerv HQ Posts: 1,319 Rep Power: 0	Hey Shinjikun, here's my opinion! I went from 330 to 351 on the core and from 310 to 317 on the memory last night. Everything went fine, I think I'm going to push for 324 MHz on the memory and be done with it. __________________ Xfire: [Shinji1225 \ Status] A7N8X-E Deluxe Athlon XP 2500+ (@ 2.2 GHz 11x200 MHz FSB) Corsair TwinX XMS 1GB PC3200 Dual Channel (2-2-3-5) [color=red]ATi [/color][color=white]Radeon 9500 Pro (@ 330\310) \ [/color][color=white]Omega Catalyst Drivers v2.5.90[/color] [color=white]Ultra X-Connect 500W PSU[/color]

Sep 24, 2004, 12:29 AM	#5
davidnsibs 9500pro Forever Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Bath, UK Posts: 273 Rep Power: 0	Nah, you can do better than that, I've got a Sapphire 9500pro which I added coolermaster ramsinks to, I have reasonable but not a huge amount of air cooling as I like to keep it all quiet (only 2 case fans, and hdd cooler fan along with psu, cpu and gpu fans), but I can get 380 on core and 330 on mem, stable running 3d mark 03 continuously @ 375 / 325. 4635 3D Marks - 380/330 on my XP2600 Barton @ 11.5180. I know I was lucky and got some of the quicker memory on my board, so you may not reach that on mem, but your core can go higher with some persuasion im sure, but be careful EDIT: The memory is infineon 3.0ns __________________ Goodbye 9500pro, you've been a faithful servant through Half life, Deus Ex, Unreal 2, Max Payne 1+2, Nolf 1+2, CoD, Far Cry, Civ IV, F.E.A.R and many more Last edited by davidnsibs; Sep 24, 2004 at 12:35 AM.*

Sep 24, 2004, 05:10 PM	#7
davidnsibs 9500pro Forever Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Bath, UK Posts: 273 Rep Power: 0	No probs, its good fun messing around with o/c and modding etc isnt it! Built my PC about 1 and a half years ago, first one that was mine (parents had a P1 333), after about a month of playing games (my housemate got me into it) id been reading how to get every 10 3dmarks out of my machine, most frightening was the warp3 bios flash to unlock it, but since then ive grown in confidence and love messing around. __________________ Goodbye 9500pro, you've been a faithful servant through Half life, Deus Ex, Unreal 2, Max Payne 1+2, Nolf 1+2, CoD, Far Cry, Civ IV, F.E.A.R and many more

Sep 25, 2004, 04:49 PM	Thread Starter #9
Shinjikun 第3 子供 Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Nerv HQ Posts: 1,319 Rep Power: 0	Unfortunately I dropped back to 330\310. While playing yesterday I noticed some texture flashing in CoD and in UT2004 everything finally went to hell. I think it's the memory overclock but in either case I dropped back to my previous OC'ed values and until I get the ramsinks applied I'll stick to 330\310. I had to change my memory timings too as 11 was too 'loose' and I had some minor stuttering in some games. 2-2-3-5 works fine. __________________ Xfire: [Shinji1225 \ Status] A7N8X-E Deluxe Athlon XP 2500+ (@ 2.2 GHz 11x200 MHz FSB) Corsair TwinX XMS 1GB PC3200 Dual Channel (2-2-3-5) [color=red]ATi [/color][color=white]Radeon 9500 Pro (@ 330\310) \ [/color][color=white]Omega Catalyst Drivers v2.5.90[/color] [color=white]Ultra X-Connect 500W PSU[/color]

Sep 22, 2004, 05:51 PM	#2
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,481 Rep Power: 132 System Specs	Focus on the memory clock since the 9500pro's have their only real weakness there with the 128bit memory bus. I could never get mine over 290 without artifacts but yours seem to fare better.

Sep 25, 2004, 06:04 PM	#10
davidnsibs 9500pro Forever Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Bath, UK Posts: 273 Rep Power: 0	yeah, sounds sensible if you see artifacts. i only overclock my card from default when i play games that need it (farcry, nfs underground, ut2004), rest of the time (browsing internet/playing older games like max payne or ut2003) i leave it at 275/270 or whatever the stock settings are. i have my ram @ 2.5-3-3-11 but its only cheap stuff, works fine for me though, but im sure that having the ras @ 11 was found out to be optimal for nforce2 boards so am surprised lowering it helped, cant remember the sites that said that, but there were quite a few, nforcershq has good forums with a7n8x related stuff __________________ Goodbye 9500pro, you've been a faithful servant through Half life, Deus Ex, Unreal 2, Max Payne 1+2, Nolf 1+2, CoD, Far Cry, Civ IV, F.E.A.R and many more

Sep 25, 2004, 06:19 PM	Thread Starter #11
Shinjikun 第3 子供 Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Nerv HQ Posts: 1,319 Rep Power: 0	Yep I'll wait for the ramsinks before starting over again but for the time being everything is ok as it is. As for the timing of 11 a lot of websites and individuals have stated 11 is the way to go for the nForce2 boards but it caused a slight issue for me so I went from 2-3-3-6, to 2-2-3-11, and now to 2-2-3-5 and everything is a-ok. __________________ Xfire: [Shinji1225 \ Status] A7N8X-E Deluxe Athlon XP 2500+ (@ 2.2 GHz 11x200 MHz FSB) Corsair TwinX XMS 1GB PC3200 Dual Channel (2-2-3-5) [color=red]ATi [/color][color=white]Radeon 9500 Pro (@ 330\310) \ [/color][color=white]Omega Catalyst Drivers v2.5.90[/color] [color=white]Ultra X-Connect 500W PSU[/color]