Gecube x1950xt AGP - PC shuts down when set to default clock

[Thanatos421]

Got this card last night as a last attempt at salvaging my 939 board. Installed it fine and played BF2142 for 4 hours without a hitch.

I brought up the ATI Catalyst Control Center shortly afterwards and noticed that the card was only running at 500mhz core/600mhz mem. Wanting to check out my temps, I tried to get to the Overdrive tab on the CCC. It was disabled.

Factory spec is 648/702. So.... I downloaded ATI Tool and opened it. I set the clocks to default (which was a massive increase) and opened 3dview. The numbers for core temp and fan speed didn't budge visually, but I could hear the fans ramping up on the card. Suddenly, PC shut down with a thud. Rebooted fine.


Now suddenly, I could access the ATI overdrive utility. Which was now showing unlocked even though I didn't unlock it.

Here are my main questions. What most likely shut the computer down? Why did overdrive unlock my card w/o me agreeing to the warning message I was supposed to get? >>> Now does this mean everytime I start a 3d app, the card will clock to default and drop my system??

It was running beautifully at 500/600 but that's not the card that I paid for.

PSU is a 560w Thermaltake Silent Truepower with 22A on 12v+ http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/product/Power/PurePower/w0023/w0023.asp . I thought it would be sufficient, but if that's the culprit, I'll need suggestions for a new beefy PSU to handle this beast. All the good PSUs I'm seeing now are EPS with the 24 pin mobo connex. I have the 20 pin and 4 pin cpu power. I would also need one or more PCI-e 6 pin power connectors.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[blade85]

well, the x1950 pro requires around 28-30 amps on the +12v rail, so the x1950XT may require even more??

also whats the rest of your system like???

 

[Thanatos421]

the xt "recommends" 30A. Should that be a requirement?

Asus A8V
Opteron 185 @ Stock
2G Corsair XMS DDR400
Gecube x1950xt AGP
2x 36G WD Raptors in RAID 0
1 Sony Dual Layer DVD writer

Oh yea... Thermaltake Tsunami Case

 

[Thanatos421]

OK, new PSU time then. But, which one? Every brand that I've always thought reliable (Silverstone, PCPnC, Thermaltake) all have little nit picky details that keep me from using them, such as one will only have 24 pin mobo connector, or one is oversized and will not fit my case. Or the reviews are just horrible on Newegg.

Money will not be an object for a new PSU as I figure I'll need a nice beefy one for future builds.

What I guess I need then is:

SLI Capable, nice amperage, future proof, but also backwards compatible for my ATX 12v standard.

 

[JamieMole]

i myself purchased a 7800gs quite a while ago now not realising my power supply was utter crap. Had to replace it the next week I ended up buying a Silverstone ST60F, extremely reliable and looks nice to, and modular.

Oh i think ur clock speeds are only going down because they change outside of 2d intensive and 3d intensive programs. So dont worry bout it. If u really wanna make sure your clocks are going to the correct setting, download RivaTuner. Find the monitoring utility in it, play a game, quit, see if ur clock speed and ram speed has changed.

 

[wimcle]

I brought up the ATI Catalyst Control Center shortly afterwards and noticed that the card was only running at 500mhz core/600mhz mem. Wanting to check out my temps, I tried to get to the Overdrive tab on the CCC. It was disabled.

thats the correct speed for 2D, it jumps up to the higher speed in 3D, thats what CCC shows

 

[Thanatos421]

So, if it jumps to higher speeds in 3d games, then why did BF2142 not crash my system like the small pink cube in ATI Tool did? Do you think that ATI Tool may have seriously overclocked the card instead of clocking it to default? I only ask this because ATI Tool .26 couldn't even detect the cards core temp and fan speed. Only when I installed .27 beta did it even show the values, but they never updated.

When I opened ATI Tool, it showed the correct current clock speeds of 500/600. So, I picked the default profile, which had the correct default clock speeds of 648/702 and applied. I then opened the 3dview with the fruity furry pink cube. That's when the fans started humming like I was stress testing, and poof.

Anyway, just to be safe, I ordered...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341002

I figure that should handle (easily) my system now and most likely, my next build.

 

[Arrowyx]

The card probably didn't have the voltage set correctly. If the VPU core isn't running at 1.45v then you will have all sorts of issues if you try to go much past the 2D clock speeds (VPU voltage in 2D clocks is 1.2v). CCC will properly up the voltage when it detects a fullscreen 3D application so BF2142 wouldn't have crashed it in that instance.

 

[Thanatos421]

Ahh... Good to know.

 

[Dr_asik]

There is a chance of the video card overheating also, especially if there is not a good airflow in the case. Removing the side panel can solve the problem (cheap solution), or changing the fan (not cheap solution). You can monitor temperatures using ATI Tray Tools, in the "overclocking" tab.

 

[blade85]

So, if it jumps to higher speeds in 3d games, then why did BF2142 not crash my system like the small pink cube in ATI Tool did?

Is that the same small box with a plane type fighter thing twirling around??

if it is, youd be surprised by just how much it stresses your card when looking for artifacts. I used to get higher temps on my card using that than i did playing oblivion on max.

 

[Thanatos421]

My case has great airflow. With my old x850 xl and a 3700+ my ambient case temps were near 20c at full load.

I had already planned to replace the stock cooler on this card. I bought the Fatal1ty Zalman GPU cooler with the RAM sinks. No doubt that this card runs hot, but I believe it was still within acceptable levels during that ATI Tool 3dview. It simply didn't have time to heat up that much with the amount of cooling I have employed.

I do believe that my PSU, coupled with the fact that, as the above poster said, I was trying to run the card at default clock with only 1.2v feeding the GPU, caused the crash. Either way, once I get this PSU in and working, I won't be toying with ATI Tool anymore Card is plenty fast enough for me.