Gigabyte 9800gt

[Xenonvector927]

I know that 8800gt's have had problems when their vram was run over 1000mhz (they died), but they used Qimonda chips... my Gigabyte 9800gt 512MB which is factory overclocked to 700/1715/900 has Samsung/Hynix ram chips apparently, but I can't find if they are 1.0ns or 0.8ns.... anyone have a clue? PLEASE HELP!! I don't wanna fry my new card 😛

 

[r_manic]

Which Gigabyte 9800 GT 512MB? There are two variants AFAIK 😛

 

[spanner_razor]

I seem to remember some reviews of the zalman 8800 gt oc saying it was qimonda chips and as the 9800gt is almost the same card (same clock speeds too) the chips are more likely qimonda. They are only rated to run at 2000 to be fair so anything above that will probably cause issues. Try the Gamer Hud and boost the voltage to the card if you're not sure of the ram stability (this assumes your card has the voltage control circuit but mine which is the 8800 does so I would think yours does)

 

[avatar_raq]

No. There are at least 2 versions of Gigabyte 8800 GT, gigabyte calls them type A and B, they have 2 different coolers (though both are Zalman), and type A has Qimonda memory while B has samsung or hynix chips.
I suggest you read the code number written on the ram ICs and google for its data sheet. In the end, all that matters is your real experience while OCing them to determine their highest stable clock. And don't be afraid, they'll display visual artifacts or games' crashes long before any physical damage. I own the A variant which has qimonda chips rated for 1000 mhz, I could't make them reach 950 inspite of installing 3rd party heatsinks

 

[spanner_razor]

My comment still stands, I never said it was definitely the one type, just more likely. I actually have the type B but am too lazy to open the side to see what the chips are. The voltage increase would almost certainly help either way though.

 

[Xenonvector927]

My comment still stands, I never said it was definitely the one type, just more likely. I actually have the type B but am too lazy to open the side to see what the chips are. The voltage increase would almost certainly help either way though.

Hehe "Who wants to touch my nubbin?" yay "Friends"!!! Have all their seasons on DVD!

Back on track, the box which it came in is a new design, this one was produced in July 2008 (GPU-Z) and on the box it says "high quality Samsung/Hynix GDDR3 RAM"... it's not the Qimonda... but does it still have a max clock of 2000MHz effective? Also, somewhere else, someone said the real thing screwing up the 8800gt and 9800gt was the memory controller onboard, not the Qimonda chips themselves.
1. Is the max clock still 1000MHz?
2. Is the memory controller the issue here?

Thanks guys!

 

[spanner_razor]

I thought nubbin was from Red Vs Blue, that's where I heard it first anyways, laptop humour seems unlikely for friends but perhaps. Seems you're right though, Chandler's nubbin and such. In RVB it refers to the small button mice on some laptops.

Two reviews I looked at said that the Samsung ram was indeed still rated for 1000 mhz, one claims at 1.9v) though mine runs nowhere near that high a voltage so it could be 0.9). One reviewer managed 1050 on the memory, another 1062 and adding voltage raised it by another 10mhz, so you can probably take it past 1000 but obviously every card is different.

Looking at overclocked results an 8800/9800gt can beat a 4850 so I might do some overclocking. Temperature could be a worry for me however as mine seems to run hotter than others, 66 max I think and the card has apparently got a 67 artifact threshold. Saying that, the other day mine hit almost 100 before it artefacted in a game and after a good clean it was fine.

It's probably overheating not the memory controller that causes issues for the ram as the ram isn't cooled separately, there's no heatsinks on the memory at all, just passive cooling from the main fan and any case fans you have.

 

[Xenonvector927]

I thought nubbin was from Red Vs Blue, that's where I heard it first anyways, laptop humour seems unlikely for friends but perhaps. Seems you're right though, Chandler's nubbin and such. In RVB it refers to the small button mice on some laptops.

Two reviews I looked at said that the Samsung ram was indeed still rated for 1000 mhz, one claims at 1.9v) though mine runs nowhere near that high a voltage so it could be 0.9). One reviewer managed 1050 on the memory, another 1062 and adding voltage raised it by another 10mhz, so you can probably take it past 1000 but obviously every card is different.

Looking at overclocked results an 8800/9800gt can beat a 4850 so I might do some overclocking. Temperature could be a worry for me however as mine seems to run hotter than others, 66 max I think and the card has apparently got a 67 artifact threshold. Saying that, the other day mine hit almost 100 before it artefacted in a game and after a good clean it was fine.

It's probably overheating not the memory controller that causes issues for the ram as the ram isn't cooled separately, there's no heatsinks on the memory at all, just passive cooling from the main fan and any case fans you have.

Thanks for the reply. I'll play it safe, I've made a mental note to probably set the mem at a max clock speed of 990MHz. Yeah, go and OC!! I would love to be better than a 4850 and show those goddamn AMD fanboys I got my card to 91C the other day accidentally by setting an overambitious OC and running FurMark, and no artifacting. I was like "wow, better FPS than before! 😀 " looked at SpeedFan history was like WTF?! So I'm buying a case fan to spray cool air all over the GPU, as it worked well with my CPU and managed to OC it quite a lot on stock cooling . Good luck, and thanks for all the help!
PS. Friends rocks sorry if I mistundertood the source of the quote 😉

 

[spanner_razor]

Yeah a side fan is extremely beneficial for a standard clocked gaming card, if you overclock it's almost a necessity. I actually modded the side window of my Coolermaster Elite 330 to put on a spare 80mm fan, if you fancy that tactic then I'd get the Hiper 15mm thick fans as they intrude less into the case, are quiet and also pretty efficient. You'll need to put spacers between fan and case though to avoid vibration noise.

 

[Xenonvector927]

Yeah a side fan is extremely beneficial for a standard clocked gaming card, if you overclock it's almost a necessity. I actually modded the side window of my Coolermaster Elite 330 to put on a spare 80mm fan, if you fancy that tactic then I'd get the Hiper 15mm thick fans as they intrude less into the case, are quiet and also pretty efficient. You'll need to put spacers between fan and case though to avoid vibration noise.

Unfourtunately my local PC store has a small selection (www.austin.net.au) and the highest CFM case fan that I can buy is a TriCool 120mm. I already have 1xCoolerMaster 120mm case fan as intake (came with case) and 2xCoolerMaster high airflow low speed fans (one as exhaust, one as side fan - 48CFM 15dbA [sounds a lot louder tho ]).
And yeah, I can put my hand to the empty fan slot next to the GPU and I can feel hot air cycling around in there... I'll be going to get the TriCool tomorrow along with a wireless PCI card for my sister's computer (hoping to god that it'll work with Ubuntu as I have exams next week ).

Yeah anyway thanks for the help! 😀 😀 😀 Looking forward to OCing the hell outta this card thanks to the Zalman (yummy copper 😍 )

EDIT: BTW have CoolerMaster Elite 341 uATX case - goooo CoolerMaster 😉

 

[spanner_razor]

There's too many mid range cases that are very similar from Coolermaster lol, just have two and be done with it.

 

[Xenonvector927]

There's too many mid range cases that are very similar from Coolermaster lol, just have two and be done with it.

Yeah, gotta love those "CoolerMaster lol"s. They're a promising new company, I have to say. Obviously they already have a fair bit of market exposure 😛

 

[Xenonvector927]

Just installed the fan (90CFM). GPU temps are approx 19C less on load (Crysis and ATITool artifact test). And the blue LED is like the coolest thing ever! 😀
Edit: P95 CPU temps are about 12C lower. Alright! More headroom for OCing I guess. I'm gonna pack my case full of these badboys, probably replace the other case fans so that I'll have LEDs all over the place! :lol: This has been a good day, gentlemen. I've OCed my GPU further, no temp increases either. Yay yay yay.
Oh and the wireless card worked with Ubuntu - autodetected and everything. 😍

 

[spanner_razor]

Good to hear, what were your final speeds on the gpu?

 

[Xenonvector927]

Good to hear, what were your final speeds on the gpu?

Well the speeds in my sig were from about 2 hours ago, I've been busy studying for exams and stuff so I haven't really done a great deal. The Zalman cooler is really helping though. I'll keep overclocking over the course of tonight (8:15pm in Aus right now) and see how far I can go keeping temps under control. Will having a voltage too small for a particular clockspeed on the shaders, GPU or mem damage the card? I've been testing with ATITool and Crysis (better FPS) but I'm worried about screwing up my card if I feed it a voltage that is too small... any insight? I'll update you tomorrow, but I have a feeling that I won't reach it's maximum until exams are finished in two weeks. 🙁 Sorry. I'll update this thread when I've OCed as much as possible.

#1. Will having a voltage too small damage the card?
#2. Any particular tempature that I should aim to keep the card under?

 

[avatar_raq]

1. No. Low voltage can cause instability, high voltage can fry components!
2. Below 100 c or better 95 c..Although many might disagree, but 8800GT/9800GT is known to tolerate such temps..
3. Good luck with your exams!

 

[Xenonvector927]

1. Good
2. I'll keep them under 65C preferably.
3. Thanks man! 😀

And nice choice on your CPU cooler, that Zalman kicks ass. In fact, I am helping my friend to install one on his Q8200 in a couple weeks. Can't wait to see those temps! Zalman FTW!

Current clocks: 725 GPU/1740 shader/1840 mem. Temps are slightly higher than at stock.

 

[avatar_raq]

Nice clocks..
I really need to update my picture coz I switched to an Antec 902 few weeks ago..It's CNPS 9500 A, it's very nice-looking and it performs well....Alas 9700 wouldn't fit in my old case.. Just to warn you there are many versions of this cooler differentiated by the sockets it supports..The A variant includes clips for AMD and old intel sockets..After I bought mine I found The 9500 or 9700 vanilla supports only LGA 775 and is therefore cheaper. Be sure to pick what suits your friend best..

 

[Xenonvector927]

Update on the clocks: 735/1745/1840. Still rock solid stable. Thanks for the advice on the cooler BTW. No temp increases on previous OC. Still on stock voltage of 1.15V.

 

[avatar_raq]

Although this sounds odd, but when I overvolt my card it 'turns off' in old non-demanding games (no signal detected on the display) , after a hard reset I hear the beeps of 'No VGA Detected' ,another hard reset and everything is normal !!..THis does not happen in demanding 3D applications as crysis and furmark..So if you overvolt check if yuor card have the same issue.

 

[Xenonvector927]

I have put my card to 1.2V a couple times today to make sure I am not losing performance through a lower voltage, and then set it back to 1.15. GamerHUD lets you adjust everything in realtime, including voltage. You can set the voltage all the way up to 1.4V. With such a thorough OCing tool that they have developed, I'm sure I'll be fine
I reckon it sounds like your card might be overheating. Extra voltage increases temps a lot.

 

[avatar_raq]

I also used gamerHUD, my card is gigabyte 8800Gt which has the same PCB of youus exactly, but some cards have overzealous overcurrent protection as gigabyte support staff told me (a side note: once the voltage increases, the current does the same if the resistance is fixed according to Ohm's law), just make sure your card isn't one of these 'unlucky' cards..
And you do not lose performance because of low voltage, overcolckers always use the lowest possible voltage that grants stability to the system.

 

[Xenonvector927]

Good ol' V=IR. Had a Physics test on Friday on Electricity - believe me, there are about 50,000 electricity concepts drilled into my mind right now.
Interesting about the overcurrent protection.
Yeah, I know about what you said in the last line, obviously I am an overclocker, but my el cheapo motherboard won't let me change voltage and sets it to 1.4V!! ARGH! Pisses me off big time.
Now if I could only convince that friend of mine that lower voltages are OK... he is real paranoid about it because I told him I'd undervolt his Q8200 a little for him. But he cheaped out too... bet his voltage is auto too. GODDAMNIT!
Thanks for your help, I'll OC some more now .

 

[Xenonvector927]

Now at 745, 1755 and 1870. I find that the RAM boost smooths out dips in the frame rate and boosts the max frame rate. Temps in Crysis demo have increased 2C but ATITool temps are the same.

 

[Xenonvector927]

Now at 755, 1765 and 1880 RAM. Gonna hit the hay soon and probs won't get another chance to OC for the rest of the week. No artifacting when tested with ATITool. Will reboot my comp in a sec to make sure there are no problems applying the overclock upon startup. Thanks