Extreme OC on R8500 - anyone else done this?

[Mobius]

OK, after 4 years I've finally buckled: The Extreme Overclocked Matrox G400 is finally being retired to the spare box, to be replaced with (full retail) ATI 8500 275/275 64MB 3.3ns.

Card is NZ$260 landed in NZ :D and should be here next week.

I plan on following the extreme 8500 OC guide at xbitlabs: http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/radeon8500-overclocking/ and I'm wondering if anyone has done the mod?

http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/radeon8500-overclocking/card-front.jpg

I'm thinking, Thermaltake copper/nickle VGA cooler, and pure copper passive RAM sinks, and possibly a stand-off 80mm case fan @ 7V to keep air moving...

I'd be verey interested in hearing stories from people - good or bad. Oh, and nice to find some overclockers in NZ! :)

Oh, system specs:

Athlon T-Bird 1.0 @ 1.54GHz (68C) 140X11
768 MC Micron PC133 Cas2.5
Asus A7V133 Mainbord
Matrox G400 Dualhead @235MHz
#1) Philips 201P 21" @1600x1200x32@100Hz,
#2) Viewsonic PF790 19" @ 1280x1024x32@100Hz
Turtle Beach, Santa Cruz 5.1 sound
Genius SW5.1 fronts, sub & Centre
B&W DM 510s on Rear channels

[paul rhee]

man.. how did you get a 8500 at that price? i'm planning to do vmod on my trusty ol' radeon 64 DDR when tojja imports some of that tiny clippers. (btw, my radeon is fastest radeon on madonion at the moment)

[Mobius]

newegg (http://www.newegg.com) Part no. N82E16814102227 -- US$116.00 :)

They don't ship overseas or accept VISA cards from outside USA - so you need PAYPAL and a friend to post it to you.

[AcurA]

U might want to try this (http://www.xcl-clan.com/articles.php3?id=29&p=1) 1st. The xbit lad one is like it says i guess - xtreme! :D

[Volodkovich]

hehe, that aint really extreme....look at this (http://www.tekforums.co.uk:81/posts.php?threadId=13471). Lardasre got his Radeon to 340 / 340. However, i know that Macci once got his R8500 core up to 380mhz....he got somewhere near 15k 3dmarks with that on a 3ghz p4....

[SecretSquirrel]

[off subject]

Mobius - "Athlon T-Bird 1.0 @ 1.54GHz (68C) 140X11"

Please tell me thats not 68 degrees!!?

Thats terrible...you need better cooling, sir. Nice OC however.

[KingJackal]

Originally posted by Volodkovich
hehe, that aint really extreme....look at this (http://www.tekforums.co.uk:81/posts.php?threadId=13471). Lardasre got his Radeon to 340 / 340. However, i know that Macci once got his R8500 core up to 380mhz....he got somewhere near 15k 3dmarks with that on a 3ghz p4....

Macci is an overclocking god. It's just not fair to compare somebody with him! I suggest we leave him out of the conversation, for relative to him we are all l4m3....

hehehehe :p :D

OMFG!!! I just checked MO, and macci's #2!!
:eek: :confused: :eek:

Who else reckon's that's gotta be a fake result - I mean, how could you beat out macci, OPPAINTER, DigitalJesus - d@mn, that so better be a fake.... :eek:
( BTW, macci's current score is 16130, and the first place score is 16133 )

[Wibber]

that is so a fake!
D0rk's:
game 1 HD 50
game 1 LD 144.7
game 2 HD 113.3
game 2 LD 197.8
game 3 HD 59.8
game 3 LD 131.9
game 4 64.6

MACCi
game 1 HD 91.3
game 1 LD 252.3
game 2 HD 152.8
game 2 LD 260.3
game 3 HD 105.6
game 3 LD 225.9
game 4 87.6


:rolleyes: lame!

[KingJackal]

Originally posted by Wibber
that is so a fake!
D0rk's:
game 1 HD 50
game 1 LD 144.7
game 2 HD 113.3
game 2 LD 197.8
game 3 HD 59.8
game 3 LD 131.9
game 4 64.6

MACCi
game 1 HD 91.3
game 1 LD 252.3
game 2 HD 152.8
game 2 LD 260.3
game 3 HD 105.6
game 3 LD 225.9
game 4 87.6


:rolleyes: lame!

Not to mention his apparently using a 16XXMHz Athlon XP on a 137MHz fsb. Even the '8XXMHz' RAM on the Ti4600 wouldn't make up for that. And macci's Ti4600 is probably clocked that high anyway......

I can't believe MO haven't removed it though!! It just LOOKS fake ( the name, the specs, the numbers, everything ).
*sighs*

Oh well, MO's cracked now - now you'll get all that CS crap with the 'You've got a better score - CHEAT!' :rolleyes:

[Mobius]

Yes, my T-bird "C" is rock-stable at 64C idle and 68C under extended heavy-load. I've had it as high as 72 under load, but it tends to crash occasionally at that temp. 1.54 seems about right - and the T-Bird is a throw-away CPU so no worries about burning it out. I'd add that's it's run at *AT LEAST* 1.5GHz since I got it, in April 2001 - so if it blows up tomorrow it doesn't owe me a cent.

I know it won't blow up though - T-Birdy is just about indestructible!

My CPU OC is nothing radical at all, but you should check the Extreme OC job on my Matrox G400. Now *that's* one hella effort. G400 stock typically fails a 15% OC about every 3rd boot, but mine is 35% OC @ 235 and the RAMDAC at 472MHz. :D Big voltage mod, extreme half-CPU HSFs used on RAM and a modified Globalwin FOP32 on the GPU.

The card has about half a kilo (or more!) of HSFs on it and I was worried the card would physically break with all the weight, so the HSFs are retained with plastic ties, and the card is retained with a braket I made. 11 fans in the case help keep it all cool!

Oh, it sounds like a 747 winding up too - but I never hear it now - especially not over Descent 3 online at 80Db. :)

[Mobius]

Oh and AcurA, after looking at the "pencil trick" R8500 mod, I'm thinking the xbitlabs mod is actually much safer. At least with the solder mod, you *KNOW* what voltage you are getting. I don't like the idea of playing it one stripe at a time, and possibly fumbling with the voltmeter and frying it while trying to figure out if you need to do another stripe.

As evidenced by at least one person who connected two wrong points and *KAZZAP*. :(

Think I trust the chinese geek more than the pencil freak! ;)

[asanthadenz]

http://users.starpower.net/btenen/vcard.jpg

http://users.starpower.net/btenen/vcard%20back.jpg

[AcurA]

Hey what ever u feel comfortable with :D
I did my pencil mark live... i.e. only with side cover off and all power on. Had the voltmeter in the right place and couple of strokes and i was up to 3.5Volts. Literally a 5 min job.
Also this way u prolly wouldn't void warranty - a solderered resistor is a bit more obvious that pretty much invisible marks.

Originally posted by Mobius
Oh and AcurA, after looking at the "pencil trick" R8500 mod, I'm thinking the xbitlabs mod is actually much safer. At least with the solder mod, you *KNOW* what voltage you are getting. I don't like the idea of playing it one stripe at a time, and possibly fumbling with the voltmeter and frying it while trying to figure out if you need to do another stripe.

As evidenced by at least one person who connected two wrong points and *KAZZAP*. :(

Think I trust the chinese geek more than the pencil freak! ;)

[Volodkovich]

heh, apparently the gigabyte radeons are actually better overclockers than the true ATi ones due to there higher spec ram...not to mention that beefy cooler.

[DiscoStu]

Originally posted by Volodkovich
heh, apparently the gigabyte radeons are actually better overclockers than the true ATi ones due to there higher spec ram...not to mention that beefy cooler.
apparently indeed ;)

[asanthadenz]

*wonders what those holes on the end of the PCB are for*

???????????:eek:

[DiscoStu]

Originally posted by asanthadenz
*wonders what those holes on the end of the PCB are for*

???????????:eek:
yeah - I looked at them for awhile trying to figure that out.

I'm guessing is just excess pcb which could possibly be broken off.....but I wasn't too keen to try :p

[Mobius]

Seeing as I'm going to epoxy the ramsinks in place, I think that by itself will screw the warranty , so a bit of H@><0r1n6 on the PCB won't a problem...

I was born lucky, and have never blewn a single component in 26 years of owning, and OCing computers. :D (touch wood)