View Full Version : Interesting info about the R520 found!
I (google)D the words "ATI X1800XL" and saw this interesting piece of info:
The two-metal layer bug that prevented higher clock speeds (developers
got boards running at 490 MHz for the core) will be present in the
"available now" model, also known as the Radeon X1800XL. It isn't known
how many old R520 chips were made, but do expect that it could take
some time for old R520 chips to disappear from R520XL PCBs (printed
circuit boards).
And this is for chips they just made recently, not what they provided
earlier in the year *cough*R500*cough* ...
Early adopters are going to get crappy overclockers!! :mad: Most likely a rumor but you never know.. :wtf:
Riptide
10-07-05, 06:22 PM
They only guarantee the advertised clocks in the first place. O/C is always a luck thing. You either have the luck... or you don't.
angshuman
10-07-05, 06:56 PM
That sounds about right. Also explains the *huge* clock speed difference between the XT and the XL, and in turn the slightly underwhelming performance of the XL.
They only guarantee the advertised clocks in the first place. O/C is always a luck thing. You either have the luck... or you don't.
But basically now you know that you wont have any luck overclocking your video card, would you still buy one if you knew this? Not me.
Treason
10-07-05, 10:23 PM
Hey cool, another item to add to the upcoming nVidia PR's pdf presentation! :)
Richteralan
10-08-05, 01:32 AM
ATI put a huge order for the R520 chip before they discovered the problem.
So expect there are a lot of "things" to sell as X1800XL ;)
yeah, but they should drop the price to $299 to make it worthwhile
nutball
10-08-05, 05:03 AM
But basically now you know that you wont have any luck overclocking your video card, would you still buy one if you knew this? Not me.
Yes because I don't overclock! (Some people don't you know, sorry if the concept makes your head explode).
bkswaney
10-08-05, 05:24 AM
yeah, but they should drop the price to $299 to make it worthwhile
They will have to soon. U can get a 7800GT from dell now for 313. ;)
...and they should get an AGP version out soon :p
(Not going to happen, just kidding myself :( )
Riptide
10-08-05, 11:09 AM
But basically now you know that you wont have any luck overclocking your video card, would you still buy one if you knew this? Not me.Absolutely. O/C can harm components. I've seen it happen firsthand. I had a video card that overclocked fine for six months and then started locking up hard out of the blue. Back to stock it was fine. The O/C, which seemed safe at first, over time damaged the card in some way.
If you have good luck... then go for it. I don't unfortunately.
I have found that OC'ing will tend to degrade the heatsink compound. When I used to OC like a madman, I would change the heatsink compund on a fairly regular basis. It was always surprising to se hiow brittle the standard silicon pastes would get.
I used the control panel applet to OC my 7800GT, but that is the only OC'ing I have done in a while, heh.
Riptide
10-08-05, 11:38 AM
That wasn't the problem. The GPU still reported temps at 63c, well under stock cooling results. I had a Zalman ZM80D-HP on there w/Enermax 80mm fan. We used arctic silver 5.
Over time, the card just went south and it wasn't heat related. Call it luck related if you want, I don't have a problem with that. But there was nothing incorrect done regarding the procedures used to install the HSF or figure out the max. safe overclock. The card just blew up after a while, pure and simple.
Vagrant Zero
10-08-05, 03:23 PM
Yes because I don't overclock! (Some people don't you know, sorry if the concept makes your head explode).
I heard there's people out there that don't have sex. I think they're called nuns or something. How freaky is that?
:p
Soylent
10-16-05, 12:15 PM
That wasn't the problem. The GPU still reported temps at 63c, well under stock cooling results. I had a Zalman ZM80D-HP on there w/Enermax 80mm fan. We used arctic silver 5.
Over time, the card just went south and it wasn't heat related. Call it luck related if you want, I don't have a problem with that. But there was nothing incorrect done regarding the procedures used to install the HSF or figure out the max. safe overclock. The card just blew up after a while, pure and simple.
I've seen similar things and learnt to be very modest in what is "safe" and not. A lot of people just go with a few MHz below crashing, artifacts and VPU recovers and consider that "safe".
deimos47ca
10-19-05, 04:35 PM
I (google)D the words "ATI X1800XL" and saw this interesting piece of info:
Early adopters are going to get crappy overclockers!! :mad: Most likely a rumor but you never know.. :wtf:
if its true ATI put in a large order and there are MANY such cores lying around, it would certainly explain why X1800XL was eagerly launched first.. and not the higher end model first, followed by lower end (aka GTX than GT).
Sucks for folks really wanting to get an ATI card that overclocks well.. it just mean more waiting..
deimos47ca
10-31-05, 06:51 AM
I've seen similar things and learnt to be very modest in what is "safe" and not. A lot of people just go with a few MHz below crashing, artifacts and VPU recovers and consider that "safe".
And then they complain that game 'xyz' sucks because it keeps crashing, or that this or that driver sucks because they got artifacts. :rolleyes:
X1800XL has MUCH lower GPU voltage than the XT. This is why the XT consumes almost twice the power.... beware of hyped X1800XL overclocking threads or articles... some are using H20.. some dry ice ..., and almost all have considerably increased the GPU voltage (something that was virtually unheard-off because unnecessary for X800PRO-X800XTPE overclockers)
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