Overclocking the Gainward Geforce 3 Ti 200...

[ChrisADuffy]

I find that using the latest Nvidia drivers and "cool bits" the sliders are limited to: 220mhz Core and 500mhz Memory Max. My card attains these no problem but I want to go further.

Is anyone else limited like this?

Or are you using another tweak utility outside of Nvidia's?

Which overclocking utility do you use?

 

[Lars]

I use NVmax to overclock my new Gainward card.
The software would let you go up to 275 MHz core and 640 MHz memory.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

Downloading in progress. Thanks. Any other utilities? Anybody?

 

[dshodson]

i currently use powerstrip
it will let u go as far as u want
it of course takes up a minor amount of memory

D

 

[ChrisADuffy]

dErnEuegOtt, Thanks again. I just hit 8021 marks with 3dmark2001. core @ 220mhz and memory @ 549mhz. The Gainward card is fantastic. Totally stable with a 1600+ Xp processor @ 1554mhz(10.5x148fsb).

:Q

 

[Seyba]

I just installed my Gainward, same as yours. 5500 marks with a bit of overclocking (200/500, it just locked up on me with 220/500).

Athlon 1.333
Win98se
512 ram

A bit low, isn't it?

 

[ChrisADuffy]

I do not know if it makes a big diff but I am using Win XP Pro, Epox 8kha+(kt266a chipset), 512mb Crucial DDR, Athlon XP 1600+ overclocked. These may be the reason for the score, I would upgrade the operating system. Do you use the latest Nvidia drivers?

 

[LuDaCriS66]

I have a very similar system to yours and my Gainward GF3 Ti200 is a POS. It doesn't work properly on my system. I guess I just got a bad card.

 

[Seyba]

Ok, you asked for it

Latest DirectX, Nvidia drivers, NVmax
Win98se
Athlon 1.33
ASUS A7A266 motherboard Bios revision 1002B
512mb DDR SDRAM

I have no idea how to find out my chipset or cpu.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

You can probably attribute the difference in scores to the following:

1. The ASUS A7A266 is a Socket A DDR motherboard based on the ALi® M1647 chipset versus Epox 8kha+ kt266a based chipset

2. Win 98se versus Win XP

3. 1.33 T-bird versus 1600+ @1554mhz

Other than those differences I cn not imagine what would hold you back, I do not believe it is your Gainward card.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

LuDaCriS66, It may not be the card. There are numerous variables involved. Check the Geforce FAQ to investigate/resolve problems.

 

[Seyba]

<< You can probably attribute the difference in scores to the following:

1. The ASUS A7A266 is a Socket A DDR motherboard based on the ALi® M1647 chipset versus Epox 8kha+ kt266a based chipset

2. Win 98se versus Win XP

3. 1.33 T-bird versus 1600+ @1554mhz

Other than those differences I cn not imagine what would hold you back, I do not believe it is your Gainward card. >>



Yeah, most likely. Although when I use online resultbrowser on 3dmark2k1 and match my exact speed with others, there are people with 7800.

I don't get it. Do you think reformatting and starting from a clean slate would help? Should I not bother unless I get XP? Or is there something else I can do that you can think offhand?

Edited to add: When I overclocked my memory from 480 to 520, 3d mark only raised about 50 points. ::goes bald from frustration::

 

[ChrisADuffy]

Aside from installing Win XP, try bumping up your processor speed. I believe your chip is multiplier unlocked, at least my 1.33 T-bird is(in my secondary system). I was running the same T-bird at around 1.5 Ghz.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

Anyone use anything else besides cool bits, NVmax, and power strip?

 

[Mike99C5]

I too had the same problem while using NVmax and Powerstrip. I switched to RivaTuner and now the slider bars go up to 265core/600mem. I'm running the Gainward Ti200 GS at 225core/530mem. I tested higher but the 3Dmark2001 score didn't go up much so I left it at these settings to be safe.

 

[gogoman]

I am using the expertool software that came with the card with the latest driver (21.xx) from www.gainward.com. I set it to 235/475 and that ran 3Dmark2001 benchmark loop overnight without crashing. Expertool allows you to set it max 250/550. My benchmark loop run fails at 250/500 setting though.

 

[Mike99C5]

Gogoman - have you tried lowering the core speed and rasing the mem speed? I believe you'll get better performance by doing this. Try 220 or 225core and 530 mem.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

I agree - lower that core it seems a little high. Most benefits come from Memory increases, Core provides benefits but it is limited.

 

[RobsTV]

I disagree.
With these cards, core does much more to increase performance than memory.
For each 5 MHz you increase core, 3mk2k1 goes up by 50 marks.
It takes 50 MHz increase in memory to get that same 50 mark increase.
Tested 3 Golden Samples, and all showed same results.

One thing that may help increase your scores is AGP aperature size in bios.
Mine was originally set to 64 meg (384meg system ram) with 32 meg GF2.
Left it alone after upgrading to GF3 Ti200, and 3dmarks were low.
Raised it to 128, and gained about 900 3dmarks!
Current best stable setting with stock cooling: 262 core and 561 memory
Scores 7349 with Epox 8kta3 Pro (kta133a) and 1Ghz T-Bird at 1.4Ghz (148x9.5).

Using GTU3 for overclocking clock only.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

Rob, Thanks for the input.

 

[Mike99C5]

Interesting stuff. I do find it odd that he can't get his mem speed any higher though. Especially with a Gainward. I was thinking the core speed was causing it to crash. If he lowers that perhaps he can bump the memory up.

 

[gogoman]

Well guys, I 'd lowered my core to 220 and set mem speed to 480 and it ran overnight fine. The 220/500 setting crashed on me last night. Weird, most people can jack up thier mem speed past 500 with the Gainward card...but not mine?? I am using NVMAX to tweak my speed. I realized that Expertool does not really change the speed , only reporting it correctly. Can anybody verify whether the board is supposed to have two power inductance(or whatever they call it) near the connector.

 

[jepritchett]

I have a Gainward GF3 Ti200 Golden Sample from newegg also that I got for christmas. My card is automatically clocked at 200/450 (with any detonator drivers, didn't install the ones that came with it) and by default my coolbits sliders go upto 250/565. I'm running it currently at 250/560 with zero lockups or artifacts on a 1.333ghz tbird @ 1.5 (10x150), iwill kk266 (kt133a) and getting 7848 3dmark2001 score with default settings (1024x768).

-Justin

 

[Powervr]

"but I want to go further."

man what is the use to enter the more than 200 fps if your monitor only can display 100 hz (100 fps) at the most...

 

[bevo]

<< by default my coolbits sliders go upto 250/565 >>

That's strange since coolbits only goes up to 500MHz memory...