5950 Ultra OCing

[Vapor]

Parents wanted to get me a present for something--who knows wha--in addition to a previously requested and agreed upon storage upgrade. Anyway, I have decided to ditch my Ti4400 and get a new graphics card. An important note about my system is that I have the 850e chipset, which is limited by AGP 4x. My parents and I have been trying to figure out what card I should upgrade to. Money should not be an issue (to a certain extent). I have boiled it down to four cards (do not recommend ANY others--I know R420 and NV40 are coming out, but much later--and this present is from what I can tell a temporary thing and I cant make any significant [e.g., motherboard or processor] upgrades for about 1.5 to 2 years). The four cards are (I know I'll get flamed for this) in ranking of desire (btw, i do a decent amount of CAD, maya, and the like [in addition to gaming]--so these may not be the best order for gamers): 4th: Ati 9800PRO 256MB; 3rd: eVGA 5900Ultra 256MB; 2nd: 9800XT; 1st: 5950Ultra (don't flame me). Since this card has to be competitive for 1.5+ years, I plan to significantly overclock, but not watercooling or compression cooling, straight aircooling.
First question: Is the leafblower on the 5950 removable? I would like to put a Zalman HP80C on it (and I need a new leafblower to get rid of all the leaves on the lawn, anyway). On that zalman, I would like to put an 80mm vantec tornado. Is this possible, or am I stuck with the stupid optional slimfan? If I am stuck with that dinky fan, what else would you recommend (other than a P4 heatsink or water/compression cooling)? What OCing levels could I potentially reach?
If the 5950's hs/hsf combo isn't readily removable, is the eVGA 5900Ultra a good candidate for overclocking (remember that eVGA's card is clocked at 500/450, not nVidia spec of 450/425 [i think])?
What could I expect in terms of OCing (with the best GPU hs/hsf combo) on a 9800PRO or XT?

I know these are a lot of questions that need some firsthand experience, but I would like to know before my parents make such a considerable investment.

Thanks for the help!

RDRAM = ENEMY

 

[addiarmadar]

Dont expect much for OCing for it burns hot enough as is.

F-DISK-Format-Reinstal DO DA!! DO DA!!

 

[Vapor]

Thanks for reading only the subject but not the post--i appreciate it. Anyway, I know I wont get a kickass OC (600,600, for example on the 59XX or say 550,450 on a 9800), but in the end, which out of those four cards based off of their original prices, will have the best performance?

RDRAM = ENEMY<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Vapor on 10/30/03 03:01 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[tombance]

Random Question: If RDRAM is the enemy, why are you using it? :lol:

<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6752830" target="_new">Yay, I Finally broke the 12k barrier!!</A>

 

[Vapor]

Because when I bought it I was a naive computer shopper. Since then I have hated it (which is why it is my enemy) and my parents dont want to switch to DDR because they think that any change of RAM (other than change in quantity), motherboard, or CPU is a 'complete upgrade.' And I won't be having a 'complete upgrade' for about another 2 years--leaving me stuck with 4xAGP, RDRAM that won't OC AT ALL, no upgradability, and expensive repairs should a RIMM fail (now that I am out of warranty). Anyway, I am only considering upgrading to the 9800XT or 5950Ultra (now I'm actaully leaning toward the 9800XT, only worried about Hydravision...) because I doubt that any next-gen (NV40, R42X, [R380--might work, but don't really want to wait for a maybe]) card will run much faster than the 9800XT or 5950U due to my 4xAGP bus.

RDRAM = ENEMY

 

[scottchen]

I recommend the 9800pro with ZM80C-HP and use a 80mm Smart Case Fan 2. That'll gurantee 430/400 overclock, you could probably get more. The extra 128megs of memory doesn't really do much, but if you really want the extra .5 frames then get it.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.575G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 2x256 4000EL memory @ 275mhz 3-4-4-8 -Sapphire 9800np @ 432/760 -SB audigy -120G Maxtor Diamond Plus9 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU

 

[Vapor]

Since I really don't care about noise...would I see any extra cooling with a 80mm vantec tornado? Also, isn't the XT capable of going north of 440core and 400RAM? Also, I really want the VIVO of the ASUS card--I use it for PS2 a lot and I'm not allowed to have a TV in my dormroom, so it is my only solution (I have a PCI TV Wonder VE, but it sucks and good drivers are non-existent).

Damn Rambus.

 

[scottchen]

Ok, then I guess the Asus 9800XT is the best for you and it's pretty much guranteed to reach 450mhz/410mhz.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.575G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 2x256 4000EL memory @ 275mhz 3-4-4-8 -Sapphire 9800np @ 432/760 -SB audigy -120G Maxtor Diamond Plus9 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU

 

[Vapor]

Alright, cool. Since this you know way more than me about this card...what do you think I can reach (i.e., not the guaranteed minimum that you listed)?

BTW, sell that card of yours for 425, it's a good deal. If you are waiting for the big kahuna's (i.e., R42X and NV40), go for the 9600PRO, you can probably find a good one for sub 200CDN (correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know the conversion rate). And from looking at other people's OC, you'll probably get better than the perforamnce of a 9700pro and 9800np.

Damn Rambus.

 

[scottchen]

I'm thinking about, I'm still in the hunt for a 9800np equipped with 2.86ns Samsung memory.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.575G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 2x256 4000EL memory @ 275mhz 3-4-4-8 -Sapphire 9800np @ 432/760 -SB audigy -120G Maxtor Diamond Plus9 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU

 

[scottchen]

If you have a LOT of airflow in your case, and your room temperature isn't 50C, then i suppose 490 is possible for the GPU. The memory is 2.2ns Hynix, so 400mhz is its theorical maximum, but you might get another 20mhz out of it if you're lucky.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.575G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 2x256 4000EL memory @ 275mhz 3-4-4-8 -Sapphire 9800np @ 432/760 -SB audigy -120G Maxtor Diamond Plus9 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU