My memory wont let me raise the MHz

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lars Hansen
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L

Lars Hansen

Howdi

I have a gecube 9600XT which memory is clocked at 324MHz. The memory chips
are samsung 2,86ns chips, which accordring to Samsungs website should be
able to operate at 350MHz.
However, I cannot raise the MHz much before artifacts begin to appear,
actually, some might even appear at 324MHz.

I dont really understand this, Im thinking its not the memory chips fault
since they are operating well within specs - However, my PC has only a 250
watt power supply and Im running a Amd Thorton@2110MHz.. My 5 volt power is
around 4,8-4,9 and 12 volt is 12,13 typicly. 3,3 volt is 3,4 and the CPU is
at 1,6volt. Could that be the problem, or have I just be unlucky and gotten
a poor card ? Its an old Abit KT7A mainboard w/Kt133a chipset.

With regards.

lars
 
My 5 volt power is
around 4,8-4,9 and 12 volt is 12,13 typicly. 3,3 volt is 3,4 and the CPU is
at 1,6volt.
Click to expand...

What kind of amperage is the power supply producing?
 
Its a Chieftec 250 Watt unit - Im not at home now, but browsing the chieftec
site I could find only 2 250 Watt psu´s.
Both have similar specs.

+5V - 25A
+3,6V - 20A
+12V - 15A
-5V - 0,8A
-12V - 0,8A
+5Vsb -A

I guess, I could just try lowering the CPU speed - the cpu isnt multiplier
locked. In any case, I can see what it says on the PSU itself later when I
get home.
 
Lars,

You might try disabling fast writes in the bios if you haven't already. I
know ATI's SmartGart disables fast writes by default on VIA chipsets, but
disable it in the bios anyway. I used to run a 9700 Pro on a KT7A, and found
out that overclocking the fsb (which also overclocks the AGP slot on those
boards) was almost impossible with fast writes enabled, but disabled it
could go to 140+.

It's worth a try, as there is almost zero performance impact to fast writes.
If that doesn't help, the psu is the next most likely culprit. Chieftec is a
good brand, but 250 wats is pretty meager by today's standards and the
9600XT gets pretty thirsty all by itself.
 
Ive tried disabling fast writes now, didnt work either - I tried a whole
bunch of other stuff as well, among other things switching between AGP 2X
and 4X, vga Palette Snoop.

About the powersupply, I tried clocking the CPU at 1500MHz 1,5volts after
which my 5 volt power was at 4,99 - Still didnt help the problem. I tried to
make it all a lot worse by setting vcore on the CPU@1,85volts, however it
didnt have any effect on the artifacts.

According to my PCs powersupply, I have 145 watt on 5v and 3,3v - I read
that my CPU uses something like 62 watt and the radeon 9600 maybe 40watt...
I have no idea how much the 1024mb 124Mhz ram, Network + Sound card is
using....

Funny thing is, that the artifacts appear already around 328MHz and they
dont get much worse even though I up the MHz to as high as 386MHz.... At
400Mhz the deskstop starts looking very psychedelic and its immediately
apparent that there is a problem.

Im out of ideas, Ill try installing the card in a friends computer if I get
the chance, to see if the same thing happens.

Thanks anyways :-)

Lars
 
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