I recently overclocked my ATI Radeon 9600 PRO, from stock speeds of 400MHz Core and 300MHz Memory, to 480MHz Core and 330MHz Memory, using ATI Tray Tools.

The problem is, I do not see any performance increase in any tests, example 3DMark2001SE and 3DMark2003.

I initially thought that the card was clock-locked, so I tried using the Softmod drivers, which allows me to overclock the card. Still, nothing changed. Finally, I flashed my video card BIOS to set it to the overclocked speed by default, but there is still no performance changes or whatsoever.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem? Thanks!

that's weird...
mayb u 4got 2 click the "apply" button?
unless u set the atitray 2 find max speed 4 ur vga, u'll need 2 apply the speed urself once u've change the clock speed..i mean set the clock according 2 u, then click "apply"...shud work

Yeah, I've done that, but I already set the the overclocked speed to be the default speed in the BIOS, and there's still no change...

hoh?how?when u set ur oc speed...it'll b shown in current speed instead of bios speed

No extra marks after u unlocked it, flash it with another bios ? Weird, but i think u should use the 9600 unlocking method by using this application at --> http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=680

I edited the BIOS to immediately start at overclocked speeds, that's what I meant.

LOL
i think radeon 9600 locked against OC
it will revert to normal speed

use ati TOOLS
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=725
go to setting
misc
then tick at remove radeon 9200/9600 OC clock lock
ok
gud luck

Haha, thanks for the tip! But another problem is I can't find other BIOSes similar to mine...

I tried that, but it still doesn't work.

Try to use this one.

what driver?

One of the tests that I had done earlier using ATI Tray Tools:

I'm using the Catalyst 6.4 Softmod version.

shud b no prob then
at least 4 atitool since only until catalyst 5.3 is locked against oc
guess hv 2 wait 4 pros 2 help ya

I just checked the specifications for the memory on the video card. It's rated DDR400, which means it runs at 200MHz.

I'm already overclocking it at 330MHz non-DDR speed, isn't something suspicious going on with the card? The RAM should definitely fail at this speed...

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 4 2006, 01:45 AM

scan 4 artifacts lor
that's the way 2 c wether u've over-oc o not
400 ramdac?what brand?

I did perform artifact scanning to determine the highest speed my card can go... what I'm just not getting is any performance increase.

I think it's Gecube. There's no brand label on it, since I got it second-hand, I don't have the box. But the BIOS says that it's Gecube, according to one of the IDs.

ic...then i dun think i can help ya out
sorry bro
p/s:what's ur score in 3dmark'03? at what clock speed?

Have you tried Omega drivers? AFAIK they do enable unlocking by default

About 2450 at overclocked speed, excluding CPU tests and Sound tests.

Not yet, but it should be the same thing as the softmod drivers.

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 4 2006, 02:39 AM

woohooo....so not like 9600
mine is stock 400/400(ya...chapalang 9600 )...dun do anything oso hit 2.85k...256mb ddr266 ram summore...AFAIC, 3dmark'03 does affected by other pc specs besides vga

dun b so sure
used default driver from xp SP2(9600 family sth lidat)...got 2.6k only...after updated 2 omega, increement of 250 points

Wow, 2.85k. That's really sweet. At least, for me. Your 9600 RAM speed above is already doubled or not?

Mine started with 200MHz... so basically, my 9600 has a 9600 PRO core spec, but my video card RAMs are the specs of a 9600.

Edit: My 3DMark03 scores are based without the CPU test and Sound test...

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 4 2006, 02:40 AM

doubled liao
at least ur core is 500...izzit?

how 2 set that?mine kenot set...free version kenot set?

edited: opps...didn't c...so urs oso 400/400...

This post has been edited by Hiwatari: May 4 2006, 03:00 AM

Now the words on my screen get blurry... It's not the drivers, monitor, or connection... anyone can help? I already defaulted the speeds, and it's still on.

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 4 2006, 02:08 PM

wah radeom 9600 edi so chun overclock must be geng la

I just recently found out that the memory clock for my video card is partly locked. When I downclocked it, there was a drop in 3DMark03 points.

The performance drops end at 200MHz, which is the default clock setting. After 200MHz, there won't be anymore performance gain although it is clocked higher.

Any ideas on this?

After long hours of testing, benchmarking and flashing, I finally found the answer to the problem. It seems that the BIOS locked the memory clock and was unoptimised crap, giving me such low marks that I hated to see.

It took me quite long just to find the right BIOS that that had the same configuration with my card, and after I flashed it and ran 3DMark03, I immediately knew there was a difference. With just a BIOS flash, I got a 500 mark boost on 3DMark03 to my score!

After overclocking the card even more and a bunch of tweaks to the RAM's timings, the card sped up a lot. My new scores here:









I'm still having the fuzzy problem, though... Thanks to everyone who helped me in the process.

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 5 2006, 12:34 AM

chiezzz ...higher than mine
izzit core speed is more important than mem speed?
i oc mine 2 438/235 oso only got 3.2k

WOWWWW
really keng ahhh
mine got 2.9 k onli

Sorry, wrong thread. XD

This post has been edited by StrOmGaLD: May 5 2006, 01:02 PM

Haha, yours is gonna top mine soon, I just found a few artifacts...

I think both are important, unless the video card is bandwidth limited (like the 9600SE)

I think after extensive testing later, it's definitely gonna drop below 3K in 3DMark03.

artifacts after oc 4 how long?
after oc mine...i think it's gonna die soon
monitor is kinda go 'bright-dimm-bright'
dunno wether it's power input or vga

Retuned the clock speeds. Now I can only score 3K in 3DMark03 and 10100 points in 3DMark2001SE.

Cleartype on ? IIRC cleartype is used on lcd screens oni, i think maybe u enabled them somewhere.

Core speed is more important than memory speed. Try to clock the core to the highest with the mem speed set to default. Then u reset the core speed so that u can find the highest mem speed. That way u can find the highest speed for both. Then put the core speed to the maximum and slowly up the mem speed. Compare the marks.

i can get 3.3k in 3d mark2003...
Radeon 9600 pro 456.30/218.70..

My Cleartype is set to off by default. I still see flickers, like those types when you put your camera too close to a tube light...

Good for ya, dude.

Colin, any updates from your 9600 ?

If add arctic cooling dunno get can higher or not... RM1xx..
better change graphic card than OC...
heard a lot of people said 9600 pro is the worst card for OC'er.. lol..

No changes, just found out that sometimes it hangs in games. Heard it was a too low voltage supplied to the GPU. Trying to find a mod for it now



Well, I heard that the 9600 cores can go up real high... but mine isn't performing up to the hype.

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 12 2006, 04:24 PM

Not enough cooling i supposed. U can try Ati Silencer and see how it performs. My 9800XT is performing damn well when paired with Ati Silencer 1. Max oc 450mhz Core/ 412mhz Mem(824mhz effective).

I don't think my problem lies in cooling. I used Arctic Silver, lapped the heatsink and it doesn't get hot to the touch.

Need a voltmod.

Doesnt get hot ? Maybe the cooling device not tounching the core nicely ?

I'm sure it's mounted nicely. As said, I need a voltmod. Anyone knows a pencil mod for it? The one at Adrian's Rojakpot doesn't seem to fit mine.

Just tweaked more of the timings and got an increase of 200 marks in 3DMark2001SE.

Which timing? Ram or the GC ? My D43 have a higher bandwidth at 3-4-4-10. Cas 2.5 wont give any improvement also. I think im hitting the wall already.

Haha, it's my GC timings, I forgot to mention that

As for my computer RAMs, I shoved 3.3v thru my D43s and only could get 2.5-4-3-11 at 240 MHz.

Before:



After:

dun dare to touch much on the timings lar.. scare burns...

Owh, lower Mem clock speeds with loose timing eh ? Nice, but its a bit tricky to do this also. If something happens, you need a pci card to help u.

Amedion : Changing the memory timings wont burn the card in any possible way.

Yeah, when I loosened the timings, I didn't get any overclocking headroom. So decreasing the timings was the only way.

I found a voltmod for my card's GPU, according to Adrian's Rojakpot guide. The voltage regulator in the guide is 1575 PXCR, where as mine is 1575 PYFL. Should have the same specifications, will try out in 5 minutes.

I don't know where to measure the voltage, so I'm just going have to blindly try and see if I get anymore overclocking gains.

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 13 2006, 08:54 PM

Voltmod was a success. Running my core at 541MHz now, and testing for higher as we speak.

During the first time, I didn't know how much I was supposed to pencil, so I just scribbled lines at the voltage controller package and legs. When I switched on my PC, garbage started lining up on my monitor. I switched off my computer, removed the graphite and made only two lines... that did the trick.

I benchmarked the card at 530MHz Core and 175 Mem, (my Core used to be 486MHz, Mem the same) and I only got improvements in 3DMark03 by 70 points. Seems that my video card is bandwidth limited.

Doing the voltmod also increased overclocking headroom for my memory. Initially from 168 MHz it went up to 183 MHz. Perhaps a chance to test for loosened memory timings?

Still conducting tests, full results will be out later.

I think if u loosened it too much it would decrease the marks too. 9600 is a bit tricky to overclock but once u did it, its a relieve.

Got any success with AtiTool ? They got built in feature that disable the 9600 protection stuff.

I didn't use AtiTool's anti-overclocking feature. The BIOS that I flashed to my video card is already overclocking-friendly.

After all the tests, I could only squeeze in another 150 marks to 3DMark03.

I need a voltmod for the memory chips.

Owh, Anti Protection removed. Nice one, ensure u have a proper cooling before cranking the voltages.

no experience at all.. dunno wat u both toking about.. i oni know how to use atitool to oc.. haha

Haha, you can ask me and uzairi if you have any overclocking problems. Of course, uzairi is much more experienced.

Still searching for a TSOP voltmod.

Edit: Anyone knows what's a multiplexer/demultiplexer?

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 17 2006, 12:25 AM

I try to help you guys whenever i can. Make sure u have the proper cooling before attempting any voltage mods tho. Get some ramsink for your TSOP rams yah colin ? You wouldnt want it to fry do you ?

OOT : multiplexer/demultiplexer ? Learned that but forget already.

I don't think any voltage controlling is related to the multiplexer/demultiplexer. I can't seem to find the IC that controls the voltage distribution to the memory chips.

Google-ed already ? I think you can find it there. Here i attached some of it.

For Ati Reference Card
http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=114&pgno=0

For Gecube, Gigabyte Card
http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=116&pgno=0

Yeah, I got my voltmods from that. The Gecube GPU voltmod works with my card, but I can't find any IC that's related to controlling the Vmem.

use omega driver guyz.. u'll get a better result..
here my 96pro result last 2years..

Wow, that's a great score. Is that RAM at your overclocking program at DDR speed or at normal speed?

normal.. 648 DDR effective..

most Gecube cards use voltage dividers to determine the ram voltages...click my siggy....

btw...i got 48XX pts in 3dmark03 with my Gecube 9550GT 600/290 with ultra tight timing. i drop most of the timing to the lowest settings that rabit allowed....

here's my timing:



This post has been edited by Shah81: May 21 2006, 09:08 PM

my last 2 years benchie...the highest i can get...then after few months receive artifacts...aaaii... i use coolviva cooling....n dna driver...


until now still using r96pro...maybe after final exam...will try push again....

This post has been edited by paan: May 21 2006, 09:15 PM

Wow... that's real sweet. I got mine cheap, but I found out it only runs at DDR400 effective.

Is your video card using BGAs or TSOPs? Based on your speed and timings, most probably it must be BGA.

What's the AGP Booster mod for? Any differences after the mod? I'll check out your guide and see if it's compatible with my card. The big problem is, my card doesn't use the reference design, nor it uses the higher-end Gecube design which everyone commonly uses. Example, my card only has one voltage controller for the memory and GPU.
Hmm... everyone seems to use the unofficial DNA drivers. I thought they were only good for benchmarking. Might want to try that later.

Shah81,

You said that you tried different BIOSes for your 9550GT card. Doesn't the memory brand have to match with the BIOS together? Just a question.

My video card pics:

my ram is TSOP and with that timing at 290MHz i need to pump 2.75V to the ram to keep the tight timing. with slower timing, 290MHz can be achived at 2.6V.

this mod is done to give more current to your AGP slot for graphic cards that dont have their own dedicated power connectors like the 9600XT does. my GPU is running at 1.6V to get to 600MHz. before the mods, anything above 1.5V will not be stable....the 3.3V reading on my AGP slot will droop alot. now my AGP voltage is 0.01V lower than my PSU 3.3V rails and i can use 1.6V on my GPU.


give me a high res picture of your card both front and back and i'll try to help you with the mods.

oh ok...so you upload your pic already...

the circle 1 & 2 are the possible location for your Vmem. one of them will be your Vddq. so what i need you to do is that a close-up picture of those circles. make sure you use a good camera...i need to see the connections and if possible the markings on those components. (use hig res...3mp and up and oh, use thumbnail.. )





This post has been edited by Shah81: May 21 2006, 10:36 PM

Got the pictures. Hope it's clear enough.

ok before i start anything.....do you have a multimeter?? because if you dont have one i wont help..sorry

Unfortunately, I don't have one right now... I could get it from my friend, but I can't do it by tonight... only by next week.

Thanks loads Shah81, it's seriously very helpful of you. I only want a temporary mod, because I'm not very good in soldering, and I can't find the necessary components (eg. pots).

Once again, thanks.

so you wanna do the mod or not??.... i thought you're good with soldering. your siggy looks impressive with VDD Mod + Vdimm Mod + Vcore Fluctuation Fix.

btw....the multimeter will be used later. not tonight

This post has been edited by Shah81: May 21 2006, 11:24 PM

I'm all for it. Only the problem is, finding the right parts for the mod might be quite hard for me, and I'm also afraid that I have to trouble you.

About the soldering part, let's just say that my soldering skills are not as good as yours.

no problem for me...this mod is simple. i figured it out already. now only need a multimeter and pot to make it work

the parts you can buy from any electronics shop. nothing fancy....normal pot should work just fine.

oh...btw...have you find the point where to measure your Vgpu. if not i can show you where it is

By all means, please show me.

I recently did the GPU pencil vmod based on Adrian's Rojakpot website, and it worked. The only problem is now that I don't know how much voltage is going to my core (I just penciled the IC according to the guide).

One thing I realised, when I penciled more on the voltage controller, it seemed that my memory overclocking went slightly higher. Any ideas on this? Perhaps it's linked together?

Pardon me if there's any noobish questions. I'm not very familiar with electronics...

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 21 2006, 11:39 PM

ok in the box no.2, there will be two soldering point. you can measure the voltage at any of these point. if you're on stock cooling, i suggest you stay below 1.5V.



this is normal....it got nothing to do with gpu voltage but more related to your gpu speed. sometime higher gpu will result in a lower mem speed and vice versa. u just have to find the best combo of gpu vs mem speed.
for 9600, i suggest you max out your mem speed first and then work your gpu.

Okay, I'll check it once I get a multimeter.

I'm not really running on stock cooling, more like modified stock cooling. Used Arctic Silver, lapped the heatsink to 2000grit and replaced the stock fan with a better Sunon 40mmx40mm fan.

Will be getting a few heatsinks for the TSOPs by this week too, if possible.

Is it required to sink the MOSFETs too? The only four I see is the three at the front and the single one at the back.

Double posted.

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 22 2006, 12:18 AM

heatsink for the TSOP..yes and a must when voltmodding.
heatsink for the MOSFET...optional. they dont really get hot on my card even after voltmod.

you can cut up a large heatsink to be used on your rams. report here once you got a multimeter. i'll give instructions on how to voltmod your vmem. hopefully i can come up with a pencil mod.

cheap copper ram sink HERE

This post has been edited by Shah81: May 22 2006, 12:18 AM

Alright, I got it. Anything else I need to get besides the multimeter?

As for the heatsinks, I don't have any professional tools, and all the heatsinks have a seriously thick base, so I don't think my cheapskate tools would do the job.

I'll get the heatsinks from uglyvamp soon.

What he mean was, when he penciled the gpu voltage controller the mem speed can go higher. Not that that increasing the gpu core would result in lower mem clock.

This is normal when u give more voltage to the gpu, slightly higher mem speed can be achieved.

That is weird... the GPU voltage shouldn't affect the memory voltage.

By the way, I'm getting the multimeter by tonight, Shah81.

Just got the multimeter.

This post has been edited by colinwong89: May 23 2006, 10:29 PM

What i mean was, the memory can go higher but limitation from the gpu core itself. So adding more voltage to the gpu core would give the mem some headroom to increase the speed in a limited margin.

got your multimeter....good

here's what you gotta do:
first measure your Vgpu....dont let it fry

next look at the pictures below





in the first picture i marked the shunt regulator(labeled as 1) and 2 resistor. although the shunt regulator looks like it have 6 leg, actuall it only have 3. the second picture is how the circuit actually look like.resistor A & B correspond to resistor 2 & 3 but i dunno if resistor A = resistor 2 or 3 in the first picture...so you have to find out yourself (use continuity test) and tell me the result.
next find the resistance at point F and the resistance of resistor A.

thats it for now....give me the result and i'll tell you how to mod it.

The first picture link is broken Shah81...

works ok for me

Okay, I got the picture now. Dumb Streamyx, had to disconnect and reconnect just to view it.

I have a few questions... how do I find the resistance of the resistors? Do I just point the multimeter heads at both of the resistor's connects? This can be done while the PC is off, right?

Any tips on how to get the resistance of Point F? I can't see which point of the resistor that corresponds to the shunt regulator.

By the way... before I go further, I think my multimeter is screwed. After setting the voltmeter range to 20v, I get awkward readings like around 270 on my multimeter when I test it on a 1.5v battery.

Again, please excuse me for the noob questions.

measure the resistance with the card out of your pc. point the multimeter to both ends of the resistor to measure resistance.

i cannot show you where point F is because the picture that you gave me is not clear. try taking a close-up picture with macro mode turn on and at highest quality and make sure your hand is not shaking.

you can find it yourself using continuity test with the multimeter. on the shunt regulator, find the leg that is connected to both of the resistor (2 & 3). that leg is Point F. the point where the resistor is connected to the shunt regulator leg is also point F.

for voltmod, u can try to lightly pencil on top of Resistor A (its either resistor 2 or 3, i dunno you have to tell me) or solder a pot from Point F to ground. but i need the resistance value to determine the value of the pot.

Alright, I'll do that. I'll try it soon as I get another multimeter. It read 2.1 volts on a 1.5v battery, and 1.9v on my core voltage. Obviously, the multimeter must be screwed.

Thanks for the help.