Problem in ATI catalyst control settings

January 17, 2011 11:37:15 AM

Hey guys ,as i am new to gaming ,i am not able to figure out some of the things in my ATI catalyst control system. There are few things which i want to clear out. First of all ,here are my system specs(MSI GX660): core i5-460M, ATI mobility radeon HD5870/1GB DDR5, DDR3 4GB(2GB*2), 15.6 HD 1366*768, 500GB @7200 rpm.
1)In my ATI overdrive settings,there is a key shown on top and while moving the cursor on it it says locked and when i clicked on it, it shows a warning of opening the overclocking settings at your own risk and if during the overclocking procedure system can suffer damages(including processor damage,or lead to other problems,data loss,reduction in system performance,and in extreme cases total system failure)an if anything happens ATI will not be responsible and warranty would be voided. now i don't know what to do next,should i activate the key or should i let the system run on default settings???
2) Secondly,can someone tell me exactly where does my graphic card stands when it shows current GPU clock @100 mhz and memory clock @150 mhz,while the GPU clock settings are being locked @700 mhz out of 860 mhz and memory clock settings are being locked @1000 mhz out of 1200 mhz. Also,activity always remain locked at 0% while the fan speed is locked at 30%. what exactly do all these things mean?
3) Thirdly,as i know that i haven't activated the overclocking settings(which in mention in 1 point),so if i note some lagging or decrease in performance in my system while running games,then what"s the use of pressing turbo key,will my system maximize its performance or will i have to activate the key in overdrive settings first and only then it will maximize performance?
4) Lastly, please advice me of some software which are safe to use and by which i can able to see FPS and GPU temp on the screen and where does i can see the the CPU temp within my system?

More about : problem ati catalyst control settings

| E-mail me updates
| Report abuse

cmi86

January 17, 2011 10:00:50 PM

The big "WARNING" list is just ATI's legal backdoor out of fixing your parts if you fry them with their overclocking tool

The 100Mhz GPU speed is the GPU scaled down while idling. It is used to save battery and generate less heat

2 things, It really is bad practice to OC anything on a laptop. They are specifically designed to deal with the exact ammount of heat and voltage generated by stock configurations, anything more will cause problems either now or down the road(thats where ATI's big scary legal disclaimer comes into play) They WONT replace it it you OC . 2nd I believe your AMD-OD is locked because you have a laptop, these automated utilities like AMD overdrive dont really do enough to make the risk worth wile anyways.

Quality OC'ing should be done from the BIOS and takes a full understanding of "overclocking theory" before it should ever be attempted.

Though on that same not im sure your lappy has a locked BIOS anyways( for a reason) With that i recommend you leave your machine at stock settings.

For future referrence a good program for FPS is called Fraps, GPU temp can be done with GPU-Z

| Report abuse

HOkay

February 15, 2011 8:38:52 PM

@CMI86

I have the MSI GX660R as the original poster does and I have had absolutely no problems with temperature, blue screens, flicker or anything at all and my laptops GPU is overclocked to 825Mhz & 1050Mhz. Normally, laptops are right on the edge with things like heat generation and you can't overclock at all but I just wanted to make sure the OP knows that this laptop IS made for it :sol:

I've also stuck an i5-560m in the place of my 460m which was the easiest upgrade every, way easier than my desktop PC! The 560m does generate more heat but the temperatures are still not a worry.

Put short, this laptop is frigging amazing and I'm very happy with my purchase right now!

P.S. I think we have the same model arpit, but a slightly different revision since my screen is full 1080p, I have 2x500GB hardys and 6GB RAM..

| Report abuse

HOkay

February 16, 2011 6:10:13 AM

arpit_rathore7 said:

2) Secondly,can someone tell me exactly where does my graphic card stands when it shows current GPU clock @100 mhz and memory clock @150 mhz,while the GPU clock settings are being locked @700 mhz out of 860 mhz and memory clock settings are being locked @1000 mhz out of 1200 mhz. Also,activity always remain locked at 0% while the fan speed is locked at 30%. what exactly do all these things mean?
3) Thirdly,as i know that i haven't activated the overclocking settings(which in mention in 1 point),so if i note some lagging or decrease in performance in my system while running games,then what"s the use of pressing turbo key,will my system maximize its performance or will i have to activate the key in overdrive settings first and only then it will maximize performance?
4) Lastly, please advice me of some software which are safe to use and by which i can able to see FPS and GPU temp on the screen and where does i can see the the CPU temp within my system?

Was in a rush lastnight & didn't answer the rest of your questions.
2) You are probably seeing the settings when the GPU is in 2D mode, i.e. basically resting. I'll cover point 4) here as well, get Core Temp to see your CPU temperatures and GPU-Z to see your graphics card temperatures and clock settings. You can create log files in both programs if you wish to try a game and see what maximum temps/clock settings you get. Just be sure to enable the "update GPU-Z whilst in the background" otherwise I'm not sure if it logs or not..
Finally, point 3), the turbo mode just overclocks your cpu by a tiny tiny amount, I think it was 0.13ghz. It essentially makes no difference but doesn't hurt if you need just a tiny bit more performance. Turbo mode does not do anything to your GPU, however.

| Report abuse