Re:XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 PRO, and tweaked BIOS update? - 2007/12/04 01:11Okay Siggi, I tested the 1.30V BIOS. The card was stable it worked the same way as with other BIOS's but I got some artifacts during testing under Gears of War. I reflashed the card with the 1.27V BIOS. So 1.30V is too much for this card. I am going to run some more testing to find a stable clock speed. Is it possible to edit the BIOS so overclocking is available true Catalyst driver? When you edit the entries in the BIOS file how do you know what to change? That part is a mistery for me. I can't see any data in Control Panel. All I see is version of the BIOS and that's all. Thank you...
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
eDaniel
User Junior Boarder
Posts: 16
Karma: 1
Re:XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 PRO, and tweaked BIOS update? - 2007/12/04 08:30Ostoja wrote: I use ATI Tray Tools and display driver only, so I don't think that's a Catalyst issue. It has to be hardware level issue, some sort of security mechanism. I need to ask something but first let me explain what I intend to do. I want to change all the clocks directly in BIOS, so that there's no need for Windows overclocking tools. This is also verified. I have no problem to change the clocks to the maximum level in BIOS and thus no any overclocking program is needed. I also change voltage to 1.30V from 1.25V to ensure that the card will be stable. Here is the point where I want to mention that still I'm not sure if raising the voltage changes anything. I mean I still don't see any effects but I do this just for sure.
Finally I set 850MHz core and 1920MHz memory and 1.30V core voltage. All PowerPlay modes are set and everything is working properly and safe and there are no any problems. I'm still hesitating for trying to hardware modify the card. I mean to solder capacitors to raise GPU and memory voltage directly. I read BIOS to file using ATITool v27b3 and put it back with ATIWinFlash v2.0.0.2.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
eDaniel
User Junior Boarder
Posts: 16
Karma: 1
Re:XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 PRO, and tweaked BIOS update? - 2007/12/04 08:37amihov wrote: Okay Siggi, I tested the 1.30V BIOS. The card was stable it worked the same way as with other BIOS's but I got some artifacts during testing under Gears of War. I reflashed the card with the 1.27V BIOS. So 1.30V is too much for this card. I am going to run some more testing to find a stable clock speed. Edit BIOS using some HEX editor like WinHEX. Secondly, I don't know exactly what did you mean by overclocking via driver, but if I understood you properly you must try Omega drivers.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
amihov
User Junior Boarder
Posts: 17
Karma: 0
Re:XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 PRO, and tweaked BIOS update? - 2007/12/05 04:24I mean that I want to use the Overdrive option from Catalyst control. Now I am restricted to 660MHz if I use Overdrive option. When I use ATITool I can go up but if the cart freezes then there is no auto restore. With ATI driver there is auto restore.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
eDaniel
User Junior Boarder
Posts: 16
Karma: 1
Re:XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 PRO, and tweaked BIOS update? - 2007/12/05 08:38No restoration man. If I go to 860MHz or higher the screen just blacks out. Nothing can change that, neither Catalyst Control Center nor ATITool nor RivaTuner. You can still do something if you get artifacts while overclocking the memory, but not the core. I mean not in my case.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
nvfan
User Fresh Boarder
Posts: 8
Karma: 0
Re:XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 PRO, and tweaked BIOS update? - 2007/12/05 10:09Here's some info, maybe someone with more knowledge will understand what it means. I raised GPU voltage on the Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR3 with pencil mod, and started rasing the clocks. It went up to 860MHz stable, and then just black screen up to 890MHz. On 900MHz it started working, 910MHz, 920MHz, 930MHz, all working, but then I notice the RivaTuner is reading 20MHz clock at GPU 910MHz? The temperature also drasticly dropped at that point. So the card actually starts from 0MHz, when oveclocked over 880-890MHz. I read the some Russian guys have raised the clocks to 1020/1700MHz on this card, but how?
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Mavke
Admin Admin
Posts: 13602
Karma: 342
Re:XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 PRO, and tweaked BIOS update? - 2007/12/05 10:47nvfan wrote: Here's some info, maybe someone with more knowledge will understand what it means. I raised GPU voltage on the Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR3 with pencil mod, and started rasing the clocks. It went up to 860MHz stable, and then just black screen up to 890MHz. I read the some Russian guys have raised the clocks to 1020/1700MHz on this card, but how? Well what I can see and understand they are using water cooling to keep the GPU cool and they increased the GPU voltage to 1.53V. So if you have done the same thing, then your GPU is just not as good as the on on their Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card...
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
nvfan
User Fresh Boarder
Posts: 8
Karma: 0
Re:XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 PRO, and tweaked BIOS update? - 2007/12/05 14:50Well, if the GPU is not good, then it should start making errors, of stop working, not revert to 0MHz? When it reaches 900MHz overclock in RivaTuner, real clock is maybe 20MHz, and if I keep rasing the RivaTuner slider to 950MHz, real clock goes up. I changed the cooling on my card so its not overheating.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
eDaniel
User Junior Boarder
Posts: 16
Karma: 1
Re:XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 PRO, and tweaked BIOS update? - 2007/12/05 18:32I know what you're talking about, but I don't know why exactly. When I get 855MHz core there is still no problem, but in range 860-870MHz the black screen does show. If I jump directly to 900MHz it seems everything is okay. But is not, I believe your card goes into safe mode and not only you don't overclock your card, but also you downclock it. I think the core itself goes into safe mode. If you don't believe me just run 3DMark or just start making some fast things, like minimize/maximize some windows as fast as you can. This is not overclock. Not for me. For pencil modding, I think you cannot be sure if you achieve the proper resistance.
If it was so easy no one will solder on its own card loosing the warranty just for fun. If you don't want to fry your card while using pencil drawing and /or capacitor soldering you must ensure at least cooling of power elements on your card! Also I recommend good air stream through the case as example two 120mm fans. One for getting some fresh air and one for getting the hot air outside the case. One fan behind the front of the case and one on the rear. Maybe you must try side panel mounted fan, but I don't like them cause I think they mess up with my proper airflow.
As you can see I achieve 2100MHz stable memory clock without any modifications. This is where Mavke is right I think. Not every chip is same as the others. The Russian guys get lower results for memory than mine. If you have so much interested in that I can translate the guide to English...
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
nvfan
User Fresh Boarder
Posts: 8
Karma: 0
Re:XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 PRO, and tweaked BIOS update? - 2007/12/05 19:39Thanks for the offer, but I just found out what is the problem with clocking above 860MHz. RivaTuner is making an error when it reaches 870-880MHz and it starts from 0MHz, ATITool also. Now when using AMDGPUClock it does not make the same mistake, it keeps going, so I managed to clock mine up to 960MHz with maybe 1.3V. The bad thing is that AMDGPUClock doesn't do anything itself, all has to be manual. Just not usable for every day. So im back to 860/1640MHz, and that's it.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
XFX 9600GSO PCIe 384MB - Rev 01
