Video Card Thread (Mostly Gecube x1950xt)

Hyperthreading isn't totally useless, it does protect from the total system slowdown single cores are vulnerable to, but overall performance-wise, it's not that great.

 

Well I did overclock it a bit, 3 extra Ghz, which I guess is pretty good. I just hope I wont have problems with crysis, since I dont have to worry about my Gecube anymore. (I hope)

Damn Sammorris:

EDIT: You can see that only 7 posts arent from sam. Thats crazy.

 

I can't keep quite on this anymore... to much misinformation going around...

1. XP is capable of handling 4gig of memory.. BUT it has a maximum of 2gig assignable to 1 proccess. Meaning that you could have 1gig being used for misc crap. and 2gig being used for MEGA GAME. Then another 512 But the TOTAL use of memory cannot exceed 4gig.
Thats where people get mixed up and the 2gig vs 4gig battle starts.

2. Going back to a post awhile ago.. AGP Apature setting found in the BIOS.... This value 32,64,182,256 does not specify how much memory your card can use. It specifies how much System memory is Assigned your card for exclusive access. You should set this either 1/2 of your video card memory or equal to your video card memory..
What is does is keeps recently used textures in this exclusive area for quicker access incase your VIDEO CARD memory needs it later on.
This value should NOT be more than 1/4 of your total system memory either as the amount you specify here CANNOT be used for any other purpose but video card cache..

SO if you have 1gig of system memory, and you set the AGP APATURE to 256meg... you just added 256mb of cache for your video card... but reduced the amount of memory your system can use to 768megs

Also on that note, you will not find this option on PCI-E motherboards because this is handled through the PCI-E on the fly... which is a more efficient way to do it.

3. The way the peltier is setup on this GPU should work great.. just make sure the connection is solid.

There are 2 metal plates.. each connect to 2 heat pipes.
The first plate should have direct contact with the GPU, then between it and the second plate should be the peltier cooler. IF YOU TAKE YOUR COOLER OFF MAKKE SURE TO PUT IT BACK ON IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
on the oposite side of the peltier is the 2nd plate.
This is because once the temp of the GPU reaches a certain temp the peltier kicks on and starts to cool the gpu. which in turn makes the other side of it really hot.. hence the double fans.. 1 fan cools the heat pipes directly touching the gpu.. the other cools the hot side of the peltier...
The system works flawlessly IF you have good contacts on all parts..

The Problem is you need good thermal paste between the GPU and the first plate, then paste between the peltier and its plate...
Most common problem on the cards are the CHEAP thermal paste and the loosness of the cooler..

 

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1185896&highlight=gecube+x1950xt

 

I DO NOT recommend electrical tape.

There is a reason why that backplate is copper. It helps dissipate the heat. Electrical tape is not a good conductor of heat. If you need more pressure get some thermal padding or Thermal Tape and put it there... This will ensure that heat exchange is taking place properly.

You want something that will pass the heat on, but not electricity..
Electrical tape does the later but not the prior.

Quick search on google and I found....
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/chtht4.html

Fold something like this stuff a couple times and your golden.

 

the copper is the part that holds the TEC fan on the other side of the card, so it is not needed to be thermal conductive. There isnt anything on the other side of the card where the copper plate touches that gets hot, except for a chip all the way to the end of the card, and the tape hasnothing to do with it. It just adds more pressure between the nipple on the copper and the card so you can tighten the screws more and increase the pressure between the GPU and the TEC cooler.

 

Grab the copper plate after you've been playing some games for a while.. If it wasn't there to help disapate the heat GECUBE would not have used those grey thermal pads on it originally. Notice how they are placed at points where the board heats up the most.. Also, they would have used a different material for the backplate other than copper as copper is very heavy and costly. Aluminum would have been better choice for the backplate if it wasn't meant to dissipate heat.

Better yet, here is a quote from the last newegg.com review of the card "This card gets extremely hot. The copper on the back started melting cables."

Think... There is a reason those plates are copper! Or why the board temp (not gpu) temp rises when using an aftermarket cooler (ie not back copper plate).

Don't believe me, its not my card your toying with. I just hate to see bad advise passed along to the less informed.

 

I dont use the cheasy TEC cooler anymore though, I've got a Tide water, so it keeps the temps nicely and I dont need th copper plate anymore either,

 

DO you use ATI tool? If so what is the current GPU temp and Board environment temp?

ATI tool should list both. I'd bet that the board temp is quite high. While the GPU temp is rather low.

Did you put heat sinks on the memory, or the VRMs?

 

took a look at your cooler, I see that it does come with heatsinks.
Actually looks really nice

im guessing it sits above the card? How high have you gotten the memory on it to overclock?

 

I'v posted some recent pics of the cooler and my card in this thread (http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/553935#3357896) It shouws pics of the Tidewater attached to the card, in the case, etc.

I've got thermaltake copper ramsinks on the Vram that i got from newegg, even though the TW came with heatsinks. The TW came with heatsinks that were about 1/3 the size of the ones I got on there now, and their not copper.

According to RivaTuner right now, the card's ambiant temp is 39C and the core is at 41.88C with the TW on its lowest setting.

I have it overclocked to 702Mhz core and 855Mhz (1710Mhz ddr2) mem from the defaults of 648 core and 702 mem. Those are about as high as I cna go with the card before I get artifacts.

 

Hey Kardson. I just had to reply to your sterling defence of the stock pelt cooler. I had the stock cooler and found the pressure on from the backplate was not enough because the rubber washers they used were not thick enough. They could solve all the peel problems by putting thicker ones which is a design flaw on Gecube/MACS (the co that make the cooler) part. The second flaw is using a pelt in the first place. You have something that gets hot, so you want to cool it down and you use something else that uses extra power and makes extra heat!? That’s just plain stupid.
I have the Themalright HR-03 now and I'd like to give you a few numbers. With the pelt on (after fixing it so enough pressure actually held it to the card) my GPU temps at 675 mhz full load would be 75-80c. The PCB would be 55-56c.
With the HR-03 my full load temps at 695/800 are 63c and 44c. That is without the heat spreader on the back. Another point to note is that my cpu and m/b temps are down due to the fact that TEC isn't frying them with extra heat and also my power drain is down from 265w at stock clocks to 200w overclocked.
All in all the pelt is a RUSSISH cooler and I stick by my advice, to anyone at any level, get it off there ASAP!

 

Kardson

You seem to know what you're talking about!

Any idea how to get my Gecube working in Vista with my motherboard as queried upthread?

It's driving me potty - to the point that i gave up!

 

What are you having trouble with? Installing the card? The drivers? We need more info.

 

My system is:
Motherboard: Gigagyte K8 Triton GA-K8NSC-939
Processor: AMD 64 Dual Core 4200
RAM: 4GB
PSU 1200W
System: VISTA

I was getting the BSOD on startup and it transpires that it is caused because my motherboard is not on the Microsoft's Vista Hardware Compatibility List.

I can't work out whether drivers will or will not become available and from where. I've searched the web to no avail. I'm starting to assume that they will never become available.

The exact problem was listed here but it seems to have been removed:

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=19933

 

Quick and simple answer - Forget Vista - Do you really need it?

 

I bought VISTA ultimate because i was sick of having a dodgy copy of XP and being excluded from updates.

Then I bought the Raedeon and life went tits up!!

 

Take it back and get a legit XP?
Surely if it worked before it's not your mobo? You say you had Vista going then you put the x1950xt in and it went tits up? G/c driver problem then?

 

This is the exact problem as detailed on the AMD site - but with no solution other than get a MOBO on the list!

737-26591: Blue Screen error (BSoD) referencing ATIKMDAG.SYS in Microsoft Windows Vista



The information in this article applies to the following configuration(s):
Catalyst Display Driver 7.2
Radeon™ X1950 series
Radeon™ X1900 series
Radeon™ X1800 series
Radeon™ X1650 series
Radeon™ X1600 series
Radeon™ X1550 series
Radeon™ X1300 series
Radeon™ X1050 series
Radeon™ X850 series
Radeon™ X800 series
Radeon™ X700 series
Radeon™ X600 series
Radeon™ X550 series
Radeon™ X300 series
Radeon™ 9800 series
Radeon™ 9700 series
Radeon™ 9650 series
Radeon™ 9600 series
Radeon™ 9550 series
Radeon™ 9500 series
Windows Vista 32-bit Edition
Windows Vista 64-bit Edition
Symptoms:
After installing the Catalyst display drivers and rebooting, the system will give a blue screen (BSoD) error referencing ATIKMDAG.SYS

Cause:
This issue is caused by using a motherboard with a chipset that is unsupported in Windows Vista.

Solution:
Please make sure that the motherboard you are using is listed on Microsoft's Vista Hardware Compatibility List at the following location.

https://winqual.microsoft.com/hcl/ (requires Internet Explorer 6 or higher)

Officially supported motherboards can be found by setting the first dropdown menu to "systems" and then the second drop down menu to "motherboards" or by clicking on "motherboards" under "systems" on the left hand side menu. Only those motherboards that are on the official Microsoft Windows Vista HCL are supported by AMD.

 

Kardson you make some interesting points, most of which are true.
However, a peltier cooler is still unsuitable for PCs, since the heat removal system is so inefficient. The extra power draw (and consequently extra heat production) is huge, so there is no way I'd recommend one for a graphics card cooler. Mini-fridges is about the limit of their capability usually. Does it not seem obvious to you why nobody has used a Peltier cooler on a GPU before? Graphics card manufacturers aren't silly, they know what'll work best.
With regard to the BSOD, all I can assume is that the graphics driver involves linking to the chipset, and if the chipset is unsupported, the graphics driver crashes. I am unable to install vista due to hardware incompatibility so I know how it feels. However, I'd still say sticking with XP is better, you don't need a legit copy to get updates, just go here:
http://www.softwarepatch.com