Are Radeon 9600np's not Overclockable??

[govtcheez75]

I bought a VisionTek Xtasy 9600 last week, at the CompUSA sale....and was surprised to see that it came bundled with "Power Strip" tweaking/overclocking software.
I don't know what the capabilities of this card is, so I decided to experiment a little bit, and tried some minor overclocking. I knew that the GPU was capable of more than the 325 mhz it's running at, and the "Hynix" memory could probably do better than the 202 mhz....so I decided to crank it up slightly.
I turned the memory up to 205....and ick! I got these weird unsighly lines, like a ghosting affect. I cranked it back down and it was still there. I got scared that I messed up something, but restarted, and everything was back to default, and normal. I tried it several more times with the core and memory speeds with the same results.
I then figured that it might have been the Power Strip, so I uninstalled it, and got "RadClocker" instead, but got similar results. This time...the screen flickered, and became a big blob, until I restarted the computer, and it all went back to default, and came back to normal.
I'm now too scared to try anything...
...so my questions are:
1) is this normal?
2) is there something I need to do before I can overclock this card?
3) am I using the wrong software?
4) if it is overclockable....how far should I/can I go without doing any damage to the card?
...please keep in mind that this card came with a passive heatsink.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[modedepe]

Look on your ram chips and see what they are rated at. I know a lot of 9600nps have crappy ram, but I'm surprised yours artifacts after a 3mhz boost.

 

[govtcheez75]

Originally posted by: modedepe
Look on your ram chips and see what they are rated at. I know a lot of 9600nps have crappy ram, but I'm surprised yours artifacts after a 3mhz boost.

They are Hynix Rams:
HY5DV281622DT-4

...can't get it to come up on the Hynix website. It does have a generic diagram of what they are all supposed to mean, but doesn't tell you the rating.

 

[Corporate Thug]

that memory is usually used on the 9200. it is 4 ns ie rated to 250 mhz

 

[govtcheez75]

Originally posted by: shady06
that memory is usually used on the 9200. it is 4 ns ie rated to 250 mhz

damn piece o crap!
...oh well. But does that mean that I can't overclock even a few mhz? Should I be able to take it up near 250 mhz?
The default is 324/202. I thought I'd be able to do at least 370/250, even with the passive cooling.
Is there a Bios flash that needs to be done before I can overclock this card? I just don't see how I'm getting artifacts from a few mhz.

 

[modedepe]

You should be able to hit 250 mhz no problem really, and even a little past that.

 

[govtcheez75]

Originally posted by: modedepe
You should be able to hit 250 mhz no problem really, and even a little past that.

that's what I thought....now can someone tell me how to do it?
...or maybe direct me to a place that shows you how to do it? My old GF4Ti4200 was so easy to overclock, just using powerstrip.

 

[govtcheez75]

oh well...I guess there is no solution?

 

[rowcroft]

I'd like to know as well, I've got an ATI 9600NP. Thanks!

Rowcroft

 

[govtcheez75]

Originally posted by: rowcroft
I'd like to know as well, I've got an ATI 9600NP. Thanks!

Rowcroft

are you having the same problems?

 

[RamIt]

Thats weird. I have the same memory on my 9200 and it loves being at 245. I cant try higher because the card requires that I raise the core equal amounts to the memory and the core does not like going higher than 295.

 

[vss1980]

Try downloading the Rage3D tweaker at Rage3D. I believe ATI like to make it difficult to overclock the non-pro products.

 

[govtcheez75]

Originally posted by: vss1980
Try downloading the Rage3D tweaker at Rage3D. I believe ATI like to make it difficult to overclock the non-pro products.

Nope. That doesn't work either. The sliders won't stay in the overclocked position. It resets itself to default settings by itself. Is there a possibility that VisionTek put in some bios that won't let me overclock? Also...I've read something about a "probe" that needs to be set up? How do I know if this is set up or not?

 

[Defc0n6]

I am planning on purchasing a 9600 NP too, and also have a few questions:
1) Can I OC at all using the stock hs with no fan or anything added (stock card)?
2) Is it simply using a program and pushing two slider up and down until I see no artifacts (not sure where I would see them, but I hear a lot about them).
Thanks!

 

[vss1980]

I recommend you go to the Rage3D forums and do a search or ask a question if you find nothing as most of those guys know more about sorting these problems out than those around here.

 

[Defc0n6]

Originally posted by: Defc0n6
I am planning on purchasing a 9600 NP too, and also have a few questions:
1) Can I OC at all using the stock hs with no fan or anything added (stock card)?
2) Is it simply using a program and pushing two slider up and down until I see no artifacts (not sure where I would see them, but I hear a lot about them).
Thanks!

bump

 

[govtcheez75]

Originally posted by: vss1980
I recommend you go to the Rage3D forums and do a search or ask a question if you find nothing as most of those guys know more about sorting these problems out than those around here.

Thanks. I took your advice, and searched around the Rage3D forums, and found out some interesting things about the 9600np. The only way you can overclock this card is to go back to Catalyst 3.4 drivers (I was currently using 3.7), and use the Rage3D tweaker.

...well. I did so, with good results. I am overclocking this card from 325/202 to 351/252 without any signs of strain. I would go higher, but I think this is a good start (especially considering that this card has a passive heatsink. My 3DMark03 scores went up from 2389 non overclocked to 2825 overclocked, and it's now recognizing my card as a 9600 Pro. I am doing some comparisons, and it seems that I'm getting similar (slightly lower) scores to that of a 9600 pro, so I am very happy with my $100 investment now.

 

[hanybanoub]

govtcheez75, could you give us an update please?

How is the card doing today? Have you pushed it further?

Anything new to add or advise?

MANY thanks for your post I learned quite a lot from it

CHEERS

 

[Blastman]

Thanks. I took your advice, and searched around the Rage3D forums, and found out some interesting things about the 9600np. The only way you can overclock this card is to go back to Catalyst 3.4 drivers (I was currently using 3.7), and use the Rage3D tweaker.

That?s very interesting info. Thanks.

As far as overclocking the GPU, I would probably want to mount a small fan on the heatsink or get some air blowing over the heatsink. Without a fan those GPU?s run somewhat warm and probably don?t have very much room for ovcerclocking.

 

[hanybanoub]

Blastman, I thought the R 9600 are designed to run cool and didn't need more cooling, even w/ OCs.

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: hanybanoub
Blastman, I thought the R 9600 are designed to run cool and didn't need more cooling, even w/ OCs.

Radeon 9600's do run fairly cool, compared to say a 9500. But, they do still generate a fair amount of heat. And when you overclock any card, it's going to generate even more, raising the need for additional cooling.

 

[Blastman]

The 9600 core is a cool running core comparatively to the other ATI cores out there because it is manufactured on 0.13 fab compared to the other cores which are 0.15 fab. But the clock rates on the 9600 are generally higher too (compared to say the 9000, 9500).

I have found that having even a small amount of air moving across a heatsink with a low speed fan makes a huge difference in temperatures. I tried taking off the fan on my ATI 7500 and the small heatsink gets almost too hot to touch. Even with a very low speed 40mm fan it barely gets warm under heavy usage.

While at 325Mhz the stock heatsink is adequate for the 9600 cooling it?s not ideal in the sense that it?s running much hotter than a heatsink-fan setup would. A plain heatsink runs much hotter than a heatsink-fan setup. With just a heatsink, if you overclock you are going to be hitting/pushing close to the thermal limit very quickly --- because as pointed out, without a fan the GPU is going to be running much hotter to begin with.

EDIT: The long version of modedepe?s answer. Which I just read after posting. LOL.

 

[hanybanoub]

anyone else?

 

[hanybanoub]

anyone w/ anything else to add?

 

[InlineFive]

Well I overclocked my 9600 Pro by 92Mhz on the core and 32Mhz on the memory, I know it doesn't apply to your situation, sorry.