Simviation Forum - GPU Overclock?

Jan 11^th, 2011 at 2:33pm

patchz Offline
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After I downloaded and installed AMD's 10.12 driver and new interface Catalyst Control Center I was not getting the performance I had been, but the graphics were much better, i.e. no jaggies. So, I decided to overclock

my 5970 a little. But I have no idea as to safe limits, other than watching the temp. Default settings were at 725MHz on the GPU clock, and 1000MHz on the Memory clock. I upped it to 800MHz on the GPU and 1200 on the

Memory and have not seen the temp above 79C. Activity has not gone over 90% and then only in a very congested area. On average, in the boonies, it runs around 65C and 55-65% activity. Fan speed has not exceeded

30% at any time. I still have the problem of a driver crash when I turn on ground shadow for the aircraft and/or scenery unless I pause, take the shot, and change it back. I was getting a small bit of stutter some of the time

and upped it to 850MHz on the GPU and 1250 on the Memory. The driver crashed, again, but shadows were off this time. Yet the temp never went above 79C. I put it back where I had it and had no more problem.

This was done while in game.

1. Are the settings of 800MHz GPU, 1200MHz Memory safe?

2. Any idea why the driver is crashing? I've had this problem with two other drivers besides this one.

3. Is there anything wrong with adjusting the settings while in the game?

Thanks.

If God intended aircraft engines to have horizontally opposed engines, Pratt and Whitney would have made them that way.

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Reply #1 - Jan 12^th, 2011 at 7:49pm

NNNG Ex Member

Quote:

1. Are the settings of 800MHz GPU, 1200MHz Memory safe?

I don't know. My rule of thumb is that if it's stable and not too hot, it's safe... I don't know how correct that is. My old 8800GT went for 2.5 years overclocked as far as it would go stable....... (then I sold it).

Quote:

2. Any idea why the driver is crashing? I've had this problem with two other drivers besides this one.

Might just be a bug AMD hasn't fixed yet.

Quote:

3. Is there anything wrong with adjusting the settings while in the game?

No.

________

Also if the graphics quality changed dramatically after changing driver, then it may be due to the driver settings changing. Go into CCC (Catalyst Control Center) and change anti-aliasing. Might help you regain some performance.......... also you can try disabling catalyst AI in CCC and see if that helps the crashes.

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Reply #2 - Jan 12^th, 2011 at 10:02pm

patchz Offline
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Thanks.

Yeah, AMD is not keen on fixing anything for FSX. Angry

If God intended aircraft engines to have horizontally opposed engines, Pratt and Whitney would have made them that way.

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Reply #3 - Jan 26^th, 2011 at 4:42pm

waspiflab Offline
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you used ati overdrive?

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Reply #4 - Jan 26^th, 2011 at 5:40pm

patchz Offline
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waspiflab wrote on Jan 26^th, 2011 at 4:42pm:

you used ati overdrive?

Yes, why?

If God intended aircraft engines to have horizontally opposed engines, Pratt and Whitney would have made them that way.

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Reply #5 - Jan 28^th, 2011 at 12:08pm

FuturePilot Offline
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Quote:

My old 8800GT went for 2.5 years overclocked as far as it would go stable....... (then I sold it).

That's dirty!! Grin

ASUS M4A89GTD, 16GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM, 160GB 10,000 RPM HDD + 1TB 7200 RPM HDD, AMD Phenom II x4 965BE 3.4 GHz OC @ 3.8 GHz, 1GB EVGA GeForce GDDR5 GPU

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Reply #6 - Jan 29^th, 2011 at 5:08am

NNNG Ex Member

FuturePilot wrote on Jan 28^th, 2011 at 12:08pm:

Quote:

My old 8800GT went for 2.5 years overclocked as far as it would go stable....... (then I sold it).

That's dirty!! Grin

Meh. I don't overclock hardware unless I think I can get a lot of time out of it, from what I understand it's safe at stock voltage as long as the temperatures are fine... which they were. And besides, I sold it on a forum known as Overclockers Australia so I think he presumed that I overclocked it.

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Reply #7 - Feb 3^rd, 2011 at 10:53am

Thai09 Offline
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patchz, have a look here:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/326038-ati-hd5970-holy-grail-for-fsx/

Good news, eh? Cheesy

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Reply #8 - Feb 4^th, 2011 at 4:59pm

patchz Offline
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Thai09 wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2011 at 10:53am:

patchz, have a look here:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/326038-ati-hd5970-holy-grail-for-fsx/

Good news, eh? Cheesy

Maybe, at least worth checking out. Thanks.

If God intended aircraft engines to have horizontally opposed engines, Pratt and Whitney would have made them that way.

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Reply #9 - Feb 16^th, 2011 at 10:52pm

NNNG Ex Member

Thai09 wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2011 at 10:53am:

patchz, have a look here:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/326038-ati-hd5970-holy-grail-for-fsx/

Good news, eh? Cheesy

He overclocked the GPU by 23% and the memory by 13% and claims a 100% increase in framerates. That's impossible. It is however possible that the card was not properly leaving idle clocks (which save power on the desktop) when launching FSX, and overclocking solved that (because it often disables power saving options etc)... so I guess it's worth a try. Overclocking by 1mhz on the GPU and memory might do the same thing, and I wonder what the effect of different drivers would have... I've heard before that ATi were having some issues with idle clocks.

Anyways, that's my guess. Could be wrong.

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Reply #10 - Feb 27^th, 2011 at 3:46am

patchz Offline
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I finally got around to trying it and I can't get MSI Afterburner to work. I can change the core voltage, but when I move to core clock, voltage reverts to default. If I try to save just the voltage to a profile, it appears to

save, but when I then change the clock, the voltage goes back to default. I can change both clocks in CCC but the voltage always goes back to default. Without the voltage change, the OC in CCC is unstable at 875/1125

and crashes the driver. I never went any higher because of the voltage issue. It might work for him, but I can't seem to get MSI to work. And I am not aware of anything on my system that would prevent the voltage

change to work.

Update:

Finally got MSI to work. It says you can type the numbers in the boxes or use the sliders, but typing the numbers in did not work for me. I used the sliders and once the slider was activated, fine tuned with the arrow keys.

Got a noticeable improvement at 825/1125 and really noticeable at 875/1190. Temp never went above 76C and I'm still using the fans on auto.

It did not solve my driver crash with shadows on though. I'm beginning to think it may be something in FSX.cfg but I have no idea where to start looking. In any event, OC with MSI seems to be stable and worth the effort.

Will see how it does over time.

« Last Edit: Feb 27^th, 2011 at 5:28am by patchz »

If God intended aircraft engines to have horizontally opposed engines, Pratt and Whitney would have made them that way.

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Reply #11 - Mar 1^st, 2011 at 7:45am

Thai09 Offline
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Why not use AMD Overdrive in Catalyst Control Center, or AMD GPU Clock tool?

http://www.guru3d.com/news/amd-gpu-clock-tool-v09260-for-hd-5870/

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Reply #12 - Mar 3^rd, 2011 at 5:02am

patchz Offline
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Thai09 wrote on Mar 1^st, 2011 at 7:45am:

Why not use AMD Overdrive in Catalyst Control Center, or AMD GPU Clock tool?

http://www.guru3d.com/news/amd-gpu-clock-tool-v09260-for-hd-5870/

1. Because I was told AMD GPU clock tool is no longer available.
2. Because what I am using is working fine now. And I don't have to open CCC, I do everything in MSI. Once the profiles were set, all I have to do now is open MSI and one click changes it from default to 875/1190. When I get through flying, one click takes it back to default.

I'm getting smooth low 20s fps, with no anomalies. It will go higher, into the 40s and 50s, but it is not as smooth, so I locked it at 25.

If God intended aircraft engines to have horizontally opposed engines, Pratt and Whitney would have made them that way.

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Reply #13 - Mar 12^th, 2011 at 6:08pm

patchz Offline
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Update: I have been using MSI set at 1.162mV with the core clock at 875MHz and memory clock at 1190 on a daily basis for two weeks now. I have never seen the temp above 78C and everything is stable, with fps around 25. I load the profile when I open the sim and put it back to default when I finish. It was worth the effort.

If God intended aircraft engines to have horizontally opposed engines, Pratt and Whitney would have made them that way.

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