Posted by SuperCobra on Sun Jun 26th at 11:20pm 2005
Posted by Orpheus on Sun Jun 26th at 11:37pm 2005
I recommend ATI's "Powerstrip" after using the ATI tool to determine your cards maximum safe setting.
If you are truly desperate you can try this link: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1633&page=1
be warned however, Flashing can ruin a good card..
[edit] I have powerstrip 3.57
I dunno if any newer versions are better/worse.
[edit2] this is my default setting.. I do not overclock much, but I can when I need to..

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Posted by omegaslayer on Mon Jun 27th at 7:06am 2005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186115
[edit] now that I look at what 9800 it uses its a 256mb 9800 pro, so dont use it because you have a 128 mb one (and yes the amount of ram does matter, its because of contact points), but once again its just something along those lines
[/edit]
It fits to a 9800 pro, just buy some thermal paste along with it. Then you can over clock/falsh the BIOS (installing it is a sinch).
I have a X800 XT PE card, and got the heavy duty fan for it. Normal clocking speeds range from 450-500Mhz with out the extra heatsinc. But with it on I can over clock to around 520 and have it maintain a temperature of 40C (safe range). Still I rarely do it, because I get 60 frames at 1600x1200 on HL2 (medium settings)
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Posted by ReNo on Mon Jun 27th at 4:00pm 2005
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Posted by habboi on Mon Jun 27th at 4:10pm 2005
I use a Radeon 9800 and my friend overclocked it also in his computer.
He was dumb though because it caught on fire nearly...
Overcloking is dangerous imo and I think i'll stick to how the guys who put it together left it as.
Posted by satchmo on Mon Jun 27th at 4:34pm 2005
How much of a performance boost do you really get from overclocking your graphics card? I mean realistically, can you really notice a difference when it's already a high-end graphics card like the 9800 Pro?
Maybe I am just easily satisfied. But I am happy with 100 FPS for HL2. I have a 9800 Pro too.
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Posted by SuperCobra on Mon Jun 27th at 5:09pm 2005
Posted by ReNo on Mon Jun 27th at 6:17pm 2005
Supercobra - the 6800GT is generally seen as the better of the two, if only for its support of SM3.0. Both are good cards and its unlikely you'll be complaining with either of them, but in general the Nvidia cards are the ones to go for out of that generation.
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Posted by satchmo on Mon Jun 27th at 6:18pm 2005
I run HL2 on relatively high settings, but at 1024x768 res. With the exception of AA, I run everything on high.
I have an Athlon 3200+ XP on ASUS A7N8X-E mobo with 1 GB of Corsair low-cas on dual-channel mode.
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Posted by Crono on Mon Jun 27th at 8:19pm 2005
It'd give more information if you just said what chipset you had with the graphics card and the speeds.
Having a Gig of ram doesn't say much without a speed. I'd assume 333 or 400Mhz.
I'm not picking on you or anything, it's just, what you said doesn't mean much if you're trying to show power. It's like saying, "My car went 40 miles (64 kilometers) in 15 minutes because I have a 12 gallon (45 Liter) tank."
Posted by omegaslayer on Tue Jun 28th at 1:30am 2005
Always 6800 GT (I hope I can say this with out making this thread a Nvidia VS ATI thread). Generally the 6800 has a better heat sinc, and higher clock speeds. I only get ATI becuase I get a 30% discount on all ATI merchandice (only for me mind everyone
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Posted by habboi on Tue Jun 28th at 3:46pm 2005
What is the best graphics card these days? And the best RAM?
I don't know these things...I might see if I can purchse them for Christmas or something.
Posted by fraggard on Tue Jun 28th at 5:36pm 2005
I don't know these things...I might see if I can purchse them for Christmas or something.
There's no straight answer to that one TBH. It depends a lot on what you want and how much you're willing to spend.
Try this guide from Ars Technica for a good selection of high, mid and low PC parts. The high end 4GB of RAM sounds very interesting
Of course, a June 2005 guide will be obsolete 10 times over by December :/
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Posted by Crono on Tue Jun 28th at 8:46pm 2005
I'd suggest OEM ram, to be honest. Some people call it "No Name" ram, but they fail to realize the chips are still made by kingston and the likes, they're just not wired and put together by them. This makes the ram much cheaper. Not entirly sure why the ram put together by them is "faster", could be the actual circuitry.
In other words, ram is ram is ram. As long as it works you wont notice s**t.
Video card is completly up to you. I tend to like a lot of the stuff nVidia makes, but, ATI has quality stuff too. It really isn't a "war" of sorts anymore because both makers offer the same thing. The only differences now comes into price and speed, in which case, currently, nvidia is more for your money (Of the current generation of course)
Posted by satchmo on Tue Jun 28th at 8:59pm 2005
I used to think so, until some Kingston PC3200 units crippled my new computer for two full months before I figured out it's a RAM issue. After I gave up those Kingstons and switched to Corsair, I've never had stability problems again.
When I called Kingston, they readily admit that their RAM were unstable with my model of motherboard. I've never had RAM compatibility issue until now.
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Posted by ReNo on Tue Jun 28th at 9:04pm 2005
That is one of the things a lot of people concern themselves with though when splashing out on branded RAM. I've seen a couple of sticks of RAM fail on my flatmates, and that was unbranded stuff. Quite possibly coincidence, but it seems that a lot of hardware sites recommend big named RAM for stability and reliability purposes. But maybe thats just because they are normally run by "hardware snobs" who want only the best, and so only recommend the best
As for performance, I'm sure the difference between unbranded RAM and the big manufacturers standard offerings are insignificant/non-existant, but I don't think the same can be said of all the pricey speciality models like corsair's XMS or crucial's ballistix. Even then I doubt the difference is going to be noticeable to most people and the huge price associated with them isn't worth the benefits, but reviews always seem to show there is some margin of performance improvement over generic sticks.
Personally I go for corsair value select stuff normally - reasonably priced, and if you always stick with the same stuff you can be sure it will work dual channel.
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Posted by Crono on Tue Jun 28th at 9:27pm 2005
Satch, you have to understand that some boards do not work with all brands of ram when it comes to PC3200.
However, don't think I'm saying, "Never buy [insert brand] ram". If it's decently priced, go for it. If the price difference is very small ($5-10) go ahead. It's the people who buy the brand new ram from whomever, just because that company says they're the best. The entire heat sync craze on ram is another pet peave.
Reno, I'd say so. Most hardware review sites are very biased to personal taste.
What would it matter if the ram was faster then the bus it's connected to? Which is always the case (I'm speaking internally).
Posted by satchmo on Tue Jun 28th at 9:36pm 2005
That's what I have in my machine right now. I'll always buy Corsair from now on. I just trust them more.
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