OC:ing Sapphire 9700 np

Gardinen · Nov 24, 2003, 04:29 AM

Anyone here owning a Sapphire Radeon 9700 non-pro?
I was thinking of overclocking it, although there are only a fan on the GPU and no heatsinks on the RAMs. So I don't know if it's even worth overclocking.

tastyweat · Nov 24, 2003, 03:56 PM

Oh - it is certainly worth overclocking! - click on my sig to see what I have managed with mine. I'm thinking about getting some ramsinks and a new gpu HSF - I think I will be able to break 400MHz core no problem! and I don't think that 350MHz mem is too much to ask with ramsinks on this thing. Have a go - DEFINATELY worth it!!!

385MHz core with the stock HSF and 333MHz on the memory - that core has surpased a 9800pro!

nu2this · Dec 11, 2003, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gardinen
Anyone here owning a Sapphire Radeon 9700 non-pro?
I was thinking of overclocking it, although there are only a fan on the GPU and no heatsinks on the RAMs. So I don't know if it's even worth overclocking.

got same card, have it at 364/330......take it to 384/330 occasionally, to run tests. just have it o/c'ed with omega drivers.only have the stock fan on it myself.....lookin at those monster heat pipes for the whole card....seems like a good idea.... see some guys with the 9700 pro bios getting even higher clocks..........not brave enuf to go that route though, as card screams along now...just fine!!! if you have the one with the 2.8ns samsung memory, it'll o/c quite well.....give it a shot...... have fun with it!!!!!!!!!!!!

heat pipe link:http://thermaltake.com/coolers/chipset/a1655.htm.....(.not promoting this device....just using it as an example)

tastyweat · Dec 12, 2003, 04:53 AM

I recently broke 400MHz on it! But I am giving it up now - as there is a problem with one of the ram chips (not caused by ocing). And as they are not being made anymore I am either being upgraded to a 9700pro AIW or 9800pro 128MB - depends which one the company send to me. I'll let ya know

pikenzu · Jan 3, 2004, 07:27 PM

Hi
i do not know how you guys managed all this!?!?! I have a Sapphire 9700 np with infineon mem chips, and it seems to me that i can't go beyond 340 mhz for gpu and 300 for memory without seeing artifacts!! I also applied cheap additional Thermaltake metal coolers to mem chips (thin metal sheets that you apply directly to the chip). Just let me know, what can i do to improve my Overcloking ability!!
regards

nu2this · Jan 12, 2004, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pikenzu
Hi
i do not know how you guys managed all this!?!?! I have a Sapphire 9700 np with infineon mem chips, and it seems to me that i can't go beyond 340 mhz for gpu and 300 for memory without seeing artifacts!! I also applied cheap additional Thermaltake metal coolers to mem chips (thin metal sheets that you apply directly to the chip). Just let me know, what can i do to improve my Overcloking ability!!
regards

.....but from all the posts in here, it seems the cards with infineon ram o/c the least. you may want to try and find another bios,as i've read in here somewhere, that this will help your kind of card a bit....will try to find a link for you....

Bart1987 · Jan 16, 2004, 03:20 PM

I've got the same card, and I can't get it above 340/297, if I oc it above 340 it will show some white pixels in de trolls lair game in 3dmark03.

tastyweat · Jan 16, 2004, 04:10 PM

It's simply luck of the draw... every chip on the market is different

pikenzu · Jan 17, 2004, 03:44 AM

hi guys
Bart1987 for me is exactly the same, except i can reach 299 for memory frequency usally. I noticed also that if i set 310 for memory , with antialias and anisotropic strictly off, sometimes everything runs fine, but if i turn the options on, the card starts displaying artifact. I am thinking about flashing the bios, but i do not know what good could it do! It seems that everyone with our infineon memory has this problems. I found on a website i can't remember, a page with many bios, and one was an ati 9700 pro, with our Infineon memory and freq 325/310. I don't know if it is possible at this point. maybe it's a fake...

Bart1987 · Jan 17, 2004, 06:10 AM

How can you get higher results with OC'ing, what are you (tastyweat & nu2this) using to get it to the frequenties, you are running at, or is it stock cooling. What would you advice to buy for better OC'ing results?

DNAlchemist · Jan 20, 2004, 04:48 AM

hey,
ive got EXACTLY the same card, and the max OC i can get stable is <330/<300. The sapphire 9700np have the infineon ram rated at 3.3ns, which means the theoretical maximum frequency the memory can run at is 300MHz (1000/3.3). I dont know why i cant get the chipset to run faster though, as these are identical between brands. Ive got a Thermaltake chrome orb on the GPU so i dont think its gonna get any cooler unless i watercool it! Ive also got (homemade) heatsinks on the ram...................I suggest you try and be happy with the 330/300 OC's with this card....It still FLIES along (at least untill Half Life 2 that is

pikenzu · Jan 20, 2004, 06:21 AM

Hi, i did not do anything particular to make my sapphire 9700 np go at 340/300. I only have a good case (thermaltake xaser3 7 fans) and i applied little metal leaf coolers to the memory chips, but i noticed no improvement thanks to that hard job. I simply set with Radlinker the frequency and everything go smooth (even with a 1hr and 30 min of heavy 3dmark loop). Seems that we all reached the maximum performance that our little card can provide us with. Next step is a Radeon 9800XT!!! I think that next time i'll spend more money and buy a full brand like Hercules and Asus!! I think that Sapphire was the only brand that put these shitty memory chips on its cards.

~~Crash Override~~ · Jan 20, 2004, 06:28 AM

if you can find one of the sapphire non pros (mostly oem cards not retail boxed) with the 2.8 samsung memory on it it should go up to 350 on the mem at least

My Sapphire non pro flashed to ati pro bios runs at 351/351 without issues (well other than me figuring out that NAV is lowering my ability to oc so I have to shut it down and restart it once Ive done the overclocking and wash rinse repeat every reboot.)

Then again I also have my 2500+ overclocked to 2.09GHz (11x190) with the ram synced and its only corsair xms2700 so must be my case cooling (7 case fans 3 in front pulling air in to cool the HD and the rest of the system, 1 on the side to pull air in right at the CPU, 2 in back sucking the hot air away from the CPU, and 1 top fan to pull all the hot air out of the top)

I also have a non standard cooler on the card with some AS3 on it (although I would really recommend most people use Arctic Ceramique for the cooling as its non conductive and if you get any AS3 on the compenents its bye bye card.)

this is the cooling I use on my card

http://ocsystem.com/ocati90vidca.html

for the top ram you will have to use the supplied pads (without arctic ceramique) as it will not touch otherwise.

also my layer of as3 is slightly thick as I have chosed to leave my shim on (that could be why I cant get over 351 on this thing.)

for the back however the plate will make full contact with the ram chips with the ceramique applied

all in all not a bad cooling solution.

the only problem I have with it is that on a boot after the system has been shut down a while it can take time for the fan to get up to full speed, but once it does its smooth sailing

Gardinen · Jan 20, 2004, 01:39 PM

Well, I used radclock, which adds an extra tab in the ATI driver properties. The settings is now 337 on the core and 303 on the memories. The memories reads HY in the beginning, and them some numbers.
I just tried to push the card near 9700Pro speeds. And I gained about 2000 extra 3DMark01 scores. That's 16329 marks now.

Although I don't if I dare running the card much longer in this speed since I don't know how much of this the card will take. I've not done any moddings on it, so it's stock fan and no RAM sinks.

Please post an oppinion.

BetrayerX · Jan 20, 2004, 02:00 PM

I got a Power Color 9700np w/ 3.3 Infineon ram chips. Max O/C is 400/640 but unstable with current cooling. Stable O/C is 385/630. Got a Big sink that covers all, but I expect to do a cooper sink mod and add ramsinks...that might give mee the edge I need.

DNAlchemist · Jan 21, 2004, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gardinen
Well, I used radclock, which adds an extra tab in the ATI driver properties. The settings is now 337 on the core and 303 on the memories. The memories reads HY in the beginning, and them some numbers.
I just tried to push the card near 9700Pro speeds. And I gained about 2000 extra 3DMark01 scores. That's 16329 marks now.

Although I don't if I dare running the card much longer in this speed since I don't know how much of this the card will take. I've not done any moddings on it, so it's stock fan and no RAM sinks.

Please post an oppinion.

Nice 3DMark01 score, its about my max

Id be running 3DMark03 to test if the cards stable at those speeds.........its far more GPU reliant than 01 (which is fairly CPU reliant). Run a few loops of 3DMark03, and look for artifacting (esp on the troll lair) before you go any further....I have a feeling your ram is gonna be HOT, as i believe it is the same as mine (HYNIX 3.3ns).

P.S. i made my ram heatsinks with an old CPU heatsink (just hacksawed it into the appropriate sizes, u can use bolt cutters too.........but they tend to mangle things up a bit

. THen i attached with frag tape...not the prettiest solution...but it works

Gardinen · Jan 21, 2004, 03:34 AM

hmm okey. Well I supose the best sollution would to get som RAM sinks or that passive Zalman cooler. The bitchy thing is that I can't check the temps on this board. So I don't know if the card is to hot. I haven't run 3DMark03 yet but there weren't any problem runnin 3dmark 01 at all, and no artifacts were there either.

What do you think I should do?? Should I keep the board at Pro speeds with stock cooling?? And by the way...the RAMs are still Hynix RAMs.

DNAlchemist · Jan 21, 2004, 04:34 AM

I would run 3DMark03 before you decide to keep it at any speed (run it a few times, check for artifacts esp. on troll lair). 3DMark01 isnt gonna stress your card that much.

NOTE: Its getting hot over here in Australis and ive had to back my OC off, i got HUGE artifacting playing Splinter Cell @ 330/300..............

Gardinen · Jan 21, 2004, 05:25 AM

Ok...so correct me if I'm wrong; if the GFX card gets to hot, it starts to artifact??

~~Crash Override~~ · Jan 21, 2004, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gardinen
Ok...so correct me if I'm wrong; if the GFX card gets to hot, it starts to artifact??

it'll artifact or lock up the system

I had a radeon 8500 that wouldnt overclock for crap.

RAM o/cing over 285 would make it artifact

Core o/cing over 285 would cause a solid lock

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