9800 XT ... Perfomance drop ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frank Lenaerts
  • Start date Start date
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Frank Lenaerts

Hey again,

Problem #2. A couple of days ago I bought myself a new system.
System specifications:

- Intel P4 3.0Ghz
- 2x Apacer 512Mb DDR400
- Asus P4C800 Deluxe
- Hercules Radeon 9800 XT
- SB Audigy
- Maxtor 120Gb SATA 8Mb

My Hercules videocard made a lot of noise. When gaming you could a heavy
metal ticking noise from the videocard's cooling. Since my store has a "not
happy, money back" policy for about 8 days after the purchase, I returned
the card. I've read the Asus would have a better cooling, so I replaced my
card with the Asus Radeon 9800 XT/TVD.

The card is more silent, but not THAT silent. Now I have another problem. I
had a feeling my videocard became slower when I played Need for Speed:
Underground for a couple of hours. So I did the following test ....

First boot of the day - 3D Mark 2003 -> about 6280 marks.
Played couple of hours NFS: U until I noticed a sluggish gameplay.
Quit NFS and did another 3D Mark 2003 test -> about 5180 marks.
Opened the case, gamed, and did another 3D Mark -> about 5180 marks.
Rebooted -> about 5180 marks

I have a Maxi Chieftec case ... only standard cooling ... cpu, gpu,
videocard. Could it be the temperature ? I'm not sure. When I play a game
with my case closed, the videocard cooling gets very loud. Louder then my
cd-rom. When I play a game with my case open, the cooling stays pretty
silent.

I'm starting to get a bit desperate ... you "invest" a lot of money into a
videocard, and you keep having problems with it .... I really don't know
what to do now ... I could change my card back to a Hercules. Ask the store
to make my case "cool" (casefans, zalman solution on the videocard, ...) ..
but I don't know if it would help .... :(

I'm not even sure if it is my videocard :(

Frank
 
Frank said:
The card is more silent, but not THAT silent. Now I have another problem.
I had a feeling my videocard became slower when I played Need for Speed:
Underground for a couple of hours. So I did the following test ....

First boot of the day - 3D Mark 2003 -> about 6280 marks.
Played couple of hours NFS: U until I noticed a sluggish gameplay.
Quit NFS and did another 3D Mark 2003 test -> about 5180 marks.
Opened the case, gamed, and did another 3D Mark -> about 5180 marks.
Rebooted -> about 5180 marks
Click to expand...

Sounds like the dynamic overclocking to me. After a while it's heated up
and so slows down.

What are your case temps?

Ben
 
Ben Pope said:
What are your case temps?
Click to expand...

I don't know. It feels very warm. That's why I've opened my case, the
videocard cooling system was more silent, so I thaught the temperature was
OK. I didn't have any increase in 3D Mark.

To give an idea of the other temperatures:
- CPU
idle: 31° - 33°C
stressed: something above 40°C

9800XT GPU
idle: 58°C - 59°C
stressed: 65°C - 69°C
case open idle: +/- 54°C
case open stressed: +/- 60°C

Don't think my card uses dynamic overclocking as the Asus drivers don't
support it. Smartdoctor keeps telling me, I'm always running at 412Mhz,
even if I have the low 3D Mark-results.

Regards,

Frankl
 
Frank said:
I don't know. It feels very warm. That's why I've opened my case, the
videocard cooling system was more silent, so I thaught the temperature was
OK. I didn't have any increase in 3D Mark.
Click to expand...

I'd have said that that would indicate a warm case when the side is on.
To give an idea of the other temperatures:
- CPU
idle: 31° - 33°C
stressed: something above 40°C
Click to expand...

Thats pretty low - probably socket rather than cpu diode temp.
9800XT GPU
idle: 58°C - 59°C
stressed: 65°C - 69°C
case open idle: +/- 54°C
case open stressed: +/- 60°C

Don't think my card uses dynamic overclocking as the Asus drivers don't
support it. Smartdoctor keeps telling me, I'm always running at 412Mhz,
even if I have the low 3D Mark-results.
Click to expand...

Oh... then you have old drivers and that throws out my idea! Nothing
stopping you from installing ATI newer ones... generally more about specific
game bug fixes than performance, a recent test showed very little difference
in performance between all the drivers from 3.5 - 3.9

Ben
 
Frank Lenaerts said:
I don't know. It feels very warm. That's why I've opened my case, the
videocard cooling system was more silent, so I thaught the temperature was
OK. I didn't have any increase in 3D Mark.

To give an idea of the other temperatures:
- CPU
idle: 31° - 33°C
stressed: something above 40°C

9800XT GPU
idle: 58°C - 59°C
stressed: 65°C - 69°C
case open idle: +/- 54°C
case open stressed: +/- 60°C

Don't think my card uses dynamic overclocking as the Asus drivers don't
support it. Smartdoctor keeps telling me, I'm always running at 412Mhz,
even if I have the low 3D Mark-results.

Regards,

Frankl
Click to expand...

You know that Casecooling doesn't works if your case is Open! ... ya
know, keep the lid on the case, the case has a lid for a reason and
install a few extra 80x80 mm casefans for a NORMAL casecooling!

I got about 5 casefans in a MIDI tower of chieftec and I can tell one
thing.. NOTHING overheats here! ...
 
I'm not exactly clear why, with that level of investment and heat producing
parts, you didn't invest in several case fans? Not much money really ...
 
You know that Casecooling doesn't works if your case is Open! ... ya
know, keep the lid on the case, the case has a lid for a reason and
install a few extra 80x80 mm casefans for a NORMAL casecooling!

I got about 5 casefans in a MIDI tower of chieftec and I can tell one
thing.. NOTHING overheats here! ...
Click to expand...

Went to the store again. Told them about my problem but they didn't know
what the problem was. I could get a new one ... but I asked which brand
would be the best to buy. To be honest I wasn't fond anymore of the Asus
since you can't use the original catalyst drivers properly. The store told
me Hercules had a better reputation of building videocards, so I got myself
a Hercules again. I also bought 4 papst 80mm low noise fans. Created an
airflow, where my videocard is in the middle of it. I must say the
videocard's cooling stays "quietly", even on full load.

Did some small testing yesterdag ... first I started NFS: U and drove a lap.
Did a 3D Mark 03 -> 6363
I did another -> 6364
I let the computer idle for an half hour -> 6367

I *hope* my problems are gone now ...

F.
 
DaveW said:
I'm not exactly clear why, with that level of investment and heat producing
parts, you didn't invest in several case fans? Not much money really ...
Click to expand...

Hard drive fans too. Having a lot of fans and running them at lower
speeds can solve the noise problem and the cooling problem.

Check svc.com for cooling solutions.

I think my next machine will have a total of 24 fans, but I'll run
them at 7 volts.
 
I had a machine with 24 fans once.... sounded like a boat motor, which
was the point. Some people like quiet, I prefer loud and overdone.
 
Frank Lenaerts said:
Went to the store again. Told them about my problem but they didn't know
what the problem was. I could get a new one ... but I asked which brand
would be the best to buy. To be honest I wasn't fond anymore of the Asus
since you can't use the original catalyst drivers properly. The store told
me Hercules had a better reputation of building videocards, so I got myself
a Hercules again. I also bought 4 papst 80mm low noise fans. Created an
airflow, where my videocard is in the middle of it. I must say the
videocard's cooling stays "quietly", even on full load.

Did some small testing yesterdag ... first I started NFS: U and drove a lap.
Did a 3D Mark 03 -> 6363
I did another -> 6364
I let the computer idle for an half hour -> 6367

I *hope* my problems are gone now ...

F.
Click to expand...

Yup, it's all about the casefans...without a nice slow wind within
your case. Things overheat faster!

And with Papste 19db or 12db fans you surely got a quiet case :-)
 
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