Gainward 5900?

[davemar14]

I am looking at the Gainward 5900 (1200 XP). Anyone know how it overclocks? The card looks wicked with that giant heatsink and two fans.

 

[scottchen]

It's not too bad of a card, i wouldn't keep hopes for 500mhz on the GPU though, it's just an aluminum heatsink, changing heatsink will help. Also flashing bios to 5950ultra also helps, it increases VGPU by .08, you could just flash bios, an stay at 475mhz/950mhz. I'm sure stock cool could handle it. Right now i'm running mine at insane frequencies.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.276G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 4x256 4000EL memory @ 252mhz 2.5-3-4-6 -XFX 5900 128meg 570/1040 -SB audigy -2x120G Seagate 7200.7 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU

 

[scottchen]

Oh yeah reminder, before you flash the bios, try overclocking your card to 475/950, if it's stable, then flash bios. The bios flashing utility is almost foolproof.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.276G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 4x256 4000EL memory @ 252mhz 2.5-3-4-6 -XFX 5900 128meg 570/1040 -SB audigy -2x120G Seagate 7200.7 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU

 

[rumcooler]

I have that card and I flashed it to a 5950 ultra. It is running 510/1040 stable does not get above 62 degrees.

 

[scottchen]

If you're using stock cool, then you can trust me that under load it's near 100C, if not over.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.276G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 4x256 4000EL memory @ 252mhz 2.5-3-4-6 -XFX 5900 128meg 570/1040 -SB audigy -2x120G Seagate 7200.7 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU

 

[scottchen]

Are you sure you want to leave it that high? I mean the ram's rated for 900mhz, you're running at 1040, I only benchmark at the speeds i post, normally i only run at 490/975.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.276G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 4x256 4000EL memory @ 252mhz 2.5-3-4-6 -XFX 5900 128meg 570/1040 -SB audigy -2x120G Seagate 7200.7 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU

 

[rumcooler]

I dont leave it that high all the time either. I usually keep it at 489/978. I bump it up for benchmarks also. To be completely honest I have not had my temps go 100 degrees or more. The gainward card that I have has stock cooling, the dual fan aluminum heatsink, plus 5 case fans. My computer stays very cool. You are right about your overclock it is insane. I keep thinking "I'm not worthy".

 

[scottchen]

The next thing i'm going to do is to get water for this card, then volt mod, or see if there's a software volt mod. A lot of people have been mentioning about it, saying it's possible but i haven't seen it yet.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.276G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 4x256 4000EL memory @ 252mhz 2.5-3-4-6 -XFX 5900 128meg 570/1040 -SB audigy -2x120G Seagate 7200.7 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU

 

[rumcooler]

Where will you go for water cooling. I think dangerden is good for that. I have not heard about a volt mod yet. I look at the forum on nvnews.net, but have not seen anyone talk about it. My btother-in law wants me to watercool, but I am scared to have water running in my system. I mean what if it were to leak. So you've owned a 9800 pro and a 5900nu Which is better? I thought about getting ATI when I built my computer, but my brother-in law said nvidia is more stable.

 

[scottchen]

9800pro is better, especially when i cranked it up to 490/790. I sold it for REALLY REALLY high price, modified with ZM80C-HP. Now i'm simply using an AMD stock cooler on my FX5900, with some chopped up processor heatsink for ramsink. Next thing i'm gonna get the Swiftech Peltier GPU block with adaptor kit of course, sometimes during spring break. Then I'm aiming for 600mhz GPU, I may require to do hard volt mod to it. ATI makes stable drivers now, their sh*tty drivers are history. The reason i got this thing instead of another 9800pro was because when i got it, it was a great deal, for half the price of a 9800pro 128meg. I plan to save for R420 or NV40.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.276G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 4x256 4000EL memory @ 252mhz 2.5-3-4-6 -XFX 5900 128meg 570/1040 -SB audigy -2x120G Seagate 7200.7 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU

 

[rumcooler]

Yeah I figured ati was better, When I saw the benchmarks before nvidia came out with the better drivers nvidia was looking horrible,but now with the drivers they have out it's not that bad. I can remeber my old computer has a mx420 i tried playing unreal II. would not even plat. When I built this computer it played like a charm. I dont even have problems in Halo like everyone else has talked about. Anyway, let me know about those volt mods maybe you can help me do mine!

 

[scottchen]

Give <A HREF="http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/extreme_5.html" target="_new">this</A> a read, i'm planning to do this, when I get my watercooling kit.

-Intel PIV 2.6C @ 3.276G -Asus P4P800 -OCZ Copper 4x256 4000EL memory @ 252mhz 2.5-3-4-6 -XFX 5900 128meg 570/1040 -SB audigy -2x120G Seagate 7200.7 S-ATA150 hdd -450 Enermax PSU