Gecube Radeon HD 3870 OC version and PowerPlay, question? - 2008/01/06 16:53Hi there, has anybody tried to flash the Gecube Radeon HD 3870 regular BIOS version on a Radeon HD 3870 Turbo III OC card? I would like to enable ATI's PowerPlay on my GeCube Radeon HD 3870 Turbo III and to clock down to 300MHz at 2D applications. Please let me know if anybody still tested the normal Rev.02 BIOS on a OC version.
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Mavke
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Re:Gecube Radeon HD 3870 OC version and PowerPlay, question? - 2008/01/07 13:04Well, if it is the Turbo III version or not that doesn't matter at all, as the only change is really the clock speed settings and of course the cooling solution. But for the remainder it is completely the same card, with no changes. And I don't anyone will use the normal BIOS on their Turbo III OC version, as it just doesn't make much sense. Secondly, as far as I know all Radeon HD 3800 series card have PowerPlay enabled...
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Psst
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Re:Gecube Radeon HD 3870 OC version and PowerPlay, question? - 2008/01/08 08:25The Gecube Turbo versions don't support ATI's PowerPlay they run all time at full core speed 810MHz. They don't clock down at 2D applications. Only the fan slows down. I need my card cool and quite. The only reason I bought the Gecube Turbo III OC version is about the bigger heatpipe cooler on the card.
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Mavke
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Re:Gecube Radeon HD 3870 OC version and PowerPlay, question? - 2008/01/08 09:22Well still it has the PowerPlay feature in the BIOS but set at different values. So your statement of GeCube Turbo version don't support PowerPlay is not correct as they support it but the BIOS is set differently for this Turbo III version then on the reference cards with the reference BIOS. And at this moment the only for you to change that is via a HEX editor...
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zibi
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Re:Gecube Radeon HD 3870 OC version and PowerPlay, question? - 2008/01/08 09:48I have Gecube Radeon HD 3850 512MB Turbo III and it has the PowerPlay states. So it means in 2D mode it reduces voltage only, not the frequency. I was worried about it too, but then I saw these power consumption tests. In idle mode this card consumes much less power even if its clocks remain unchanged. Currently I'm using a modified BIOS Rev.02 with 2D clock set at 300MHz, but I didn't notice any difference in core temperatures, maybe it draws few watts less but I'm not sure if it is worth of messing with BIOS's.
GeCube Radeon HD 3870 Turbo III PowerPlay... - Clock State 0 ---> Core Clk : 669.00MHz ---> Memory Clk : 829.00MHz ---> Voltage : 1.214V ---> Flags : Boot - Clock State 1 ---> Core Clk : 725.00MHz ---> Memory Clk : 900.00MHz ---> Voltage : 1.014V ---> Flags : Overdrive - Clock State 2 ---> Core Clk : 725.00MHz ---> Memory Clk : 900.00MHz ---> Voltage : 1.014V ---> Flags : --- - Clock State 3 ---> Core Clk : 725.00MHz ---> Memory Clk : 900.00MHz ---> Voltage : 1.214V ---> Flags : ---
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malik22
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Re:Gecube Radeon HD 3870 OC version and PowerPlay, question? - 2008/01/21 23:15Mmm interesting. Just wondering, has this BIOS been tested on the reference model of the Radeon HD 3870? Cause the GeCube is not a reference card I believe...
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Mavke
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Re:Gecube Radeon HD 3870 OC version and PowerPlay, question? - 2008/01/22 14:25malik22 wrote: Mmm interesting. Just wondering, has this BIOS been tested on the reference model of the Radeon HD 3870? Cause the GeCube is not a reference card I believe... Well actually the GeCube is a reference card but comes with a better, more silent cooler. So really it doesn't matter of this BIOS is tested or not on the reference Radeon HD 3870, cause the GeCube is reference just a different cooling solution, which has as only impact that it will run a bit cooler and more silent.
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Jakus
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Re:Gecube Radeon HD 3870 OC version and PowerPlay, question? - 2008/01/22 20:00I have two of these Radeon HD 3850 Turbo cards and comfirm they have PowerPlay. Okay the 2D clocks are the same as 3D but obviously the voltage is being changed result is very low power in the desktop and the fans seem to work. These cards in CrossFire still seem to have the fluctuating frame rates like other Radeon HD 3800's but maybe not quite so bad. ATI has a problem with PowerPlay, I have raised a support ticket. Let's hope there are some firmware fixes. I have two Radeon HD 3850's and two Radeon HD 3870's, all have problems which have taken me a while to figure the PowerPlay is faulty!
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Mavke
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Re:Gecube Radeon HD 3870 OC version and PowerPlay, question? - 2008/01/23 22:24Jakus wrote: ATI has a problem with PowerPlay, I have raised a support ticket. Let's hope there are some firmware fixes. I have two Radeon HD 3850's and two Radeon HD 3870's, all have problems which have taken me a while to figure the PowerPlay is faulty! Thanks for the update mate, greatly appreciated. Any chance you could also share the BIOS's of your cards? Cause well we do keep an archive of BIOS's on this site, so it would be nice if you could share your BIOS's of your cards. And yes, let us hope ATI is soon ready with a firmware or somehow driver fix related to the PowerPlay.
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Jakus
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Re:Gecube Radeon HD 3870 OC version and PowerPlay, question? - 2008/01/25 02:34Hi, attached is the Gecube Radoen HD 3850 Turbo, so hopefully this is correct. I already upped the HIS Radeon HD 3870. Just for the record having the same clocks for the three power stages 100% helps 3D slowdowns when the cards are not thinking the load requires full performance. This I found with the Radeon HD 3870 in CrossFire but I did not understand the problem at the time.
Another point, the fans seem to work on the Gecube Turbo but the wiring is different on the fan header, from what I can find out there is a standard for fan headers, I have to resolve this as I want to fit the Turbo coolers to my Radeon HD 3870 as they are silent and better. Hope you can get the RaBiT editor updated soon...
NiBiTor v4.5a
