OCing using CCC

[bumblebee13]

Just wanted to check i'm not buggering up my PC by using the CCC 'automated clock configuration utility'

Roughly when i start it up it begins to raise the core speeds first (as you will know if you've used it) and as it does this i seem to start getting weird pixel colour alterations, first 10, then 20, then 30 etc as it raises the core - they kind of look as if you've got dead sub-pixels, so you get bright blue, green and red.

I just wanted to check this is normal as it seemed rather worrying, as if it's not i don't want to be trying to use the program to OC the card

 

[nigelf]

dont use ccc for overclocking, use ATi tool and the integrated artifact scanner. much better

 

[bumblebee13]

My problem with ATI tool is it simply worries me - roughly i have a X1900XT and as you will know it has 2D and 3D timings, so it tells you to disable something to enable 3D timings (so that you can OC, apparantly you can't if you don't do this).

Yet on the main menu my core and mem speeds are still at the 2D timings, am i meant to raise them up to 3D timings or what? It confuses me i prefer riva tuner - looks far simpler.

Plus it always confuses me as to how i will know that my GFX card will use the OC in ATITool for example rather than the speeds specified in CCC

 

[bumblebee13]

Thanks for the tips guys - so just to check, are you saying that i can OC as far as i want in CCC and the card should be absolutly fine? If so i'll just do that for now it does make you wonder why on earth they don't do that by defualt then, and i though OCing wasn't covered in warranties :?

As for ATITool, it does sound far better, but i do wonder whether or not having my card constantly running at 3D speeds is good for it? Surely it's going to damage it in the long run?

 

[bumblebee13]

Thanks, well tbh i'm not actually overclocking these cards for performance - i agree with you, so far i've not had any slow down on max settings in any game so i see no reason to OC them.

The reason i'm OCing them is because in 2 games i play and in the canyon test in 3DMark06 i'm getting artifacting - i know OCing to see if it solves the problem sounds crazy but i'm just trying everything atm to try and get an idea of what the problem is.

 

[bumblebee13]

Nope - it's when just after the first shots ahve been fired and the big thing flys over you i begin to get black dots then after that everyhting begins to look altered as if everything is splintered and jagged - as if you've just smashed a wooden object to pieces...

And unfortunatly after OCing my card from 621 to 641 and 720 to 747, i still have exactly the same problem - interestingly though the problem doesn't occur any earlier, and isn't any bigger or more powerful even with this OC... hmm maybe it's a driver issue - not really sure at the moment

 

[bumblebee13]

I'm ashamed to say i haven't tried anything apart from the latest 6.8 drivers - i'm incredibly lazily waiting for the 6.9 drivers, when i should just get off my arse and install 6.7 ones.

As for fraps etc, nope haven't ever used them

 

[bumblebee13]

Seems i've brought a whole load of problems upon me - just tried to uninstall the drivers and everything using the ATI uninstall tool - it prompted me to restart my computer (which i clicked yes on) and now everything seems to have buggered up with me being unable to shut down or restart the computer using XP

It seems i'll simply have to hold the power button down to shut it down, but i'm rather against doing that seeing as i'm worrying a bit that things might have really gone wrong when i start my comp up again

 

[bumblebee13]

Solved the problem - just did a system restore, now i'm back with all the old drivers - this time i'm going to follow the instructions on the ATI website

 

[bumblebee13]

Erm... well, erm... i did

Everything seems fine though, deleted the 6.8 drivers, downloaded 6.7 ones and installed them fine - as far as i can see, everything seems to be fine.

 

[bumblebee13]

Yep - just run it and still got exactly the same artifacting, personally i think it's a technical problem with the GFX card, maybe to do with the memory modules as someone has suggested to me before.

I've allready tried to return the card to the people i bought it from but they just gave it back to me saying there was no fault :roll: guess i'll have to return it to ATI now, but i probably wont do that too soon seeing as the only games that i actually have problems on atm are WoW which i no longer play and AOEIII, which i also no longer play.

What will be interesting is when i get Oblivion in about a week - will be very interesting to see what happens there with regards to the card.

 

[bumblebee13]

All nice ideas, but unfortunatly:

1) Don't have any techie friends, all their comps are fairly old and i'm pretty sure will be running off AGP.

2) My old cards are all AGP again, guess i could buy a really cheap PCI-E card though, wonder what the cheapest one possible that runs 3DMark06 is...

3) Guess i could do that, bit of a pain though.

Well thanks for all the help even though i'm still stuck with my present problem it's nice to have someone being so helpful

 

[clue69less]

I've allready tried to return the card to the people i bought it from but they just gave it back to me saying there was no fault :roll:

Take your intact box to them and show them the artifacting. If they want $ to show you that it is something else, fight that. Talk to the owner/manager. If it is a memory module, chances are it will get worse over time and not stay the same.

 

[bumblebee13]

Unfortunatly it's an online store - overclockers.co.uk (equivlant of newegg or something like that) so unless i want to travel half-way up the country to their phisical store that unfortunatly isn't really an option