FX 5900XT Owners

[jaqkar]

Hi Everyone

I just recently got a Leadtek FX 5900XT to replace my trusty GeForce3. After doing some reading and comparisons it was between the 5900XT and the ATI 9600XT but all the tests and reviews pointed to the 5900XT as the better buy for the price range.

As you all know there is alot of information regarding oc, tweaks etc. and I thought maybe starting a thread here for the 5900XT owners especially new ones like myself could be usefull for sharing information, comparisons, tips etc. I did a search and it seems there is not a thread like this already, please let me know if there is.

The one thing about the Leadtek that interested me was that some reviews, forums mentioned Hynix 2.2ns Memory which could get higher speeds when oc'd. My card has Hynix chips but i could not determine what exactly the spec was, anyone any idea of a tool to do this?

Also the Leadtek had no memory cooling so I got an Iceberq4 kit, this kit only has 4 heatsinks for memory so I had to share between chips, which I still think will work better than nothing at all. I did some testing between the stock unit GPU cooler and the Iceberq and found about 4-5C improvement with the idle temp running 39C-40C.

Using the WinFox Software that came with the card I checked the temp histogram after running 3dMark03 and found the temp to peak at about 65-68C through the tests. I think this can still be bettered using a better quality thermal paste than that supplied with the Iceberq kit.

Here is a pic of the kit installed. You will see how I had to share the heatsinks.



Here is a pic of the card installed with the Iceberq.



Can fellow owners of 5900XT's please post some temperatures to compare?

I have not done real overclocking tests yet so I will post as soon as I have results.

Please also post any other information or stuff that you think might be usefull.

[ragejg]

Welcome to nvnews, jaqkar.

Your card looks pretty nice with the custom cooling you added... I'd expect at least 450/750 out of it, though if you dig into this forum you'll probably find a better bios or something to help you attain even higher speeds.... and re: temps, AFAIK most 5900XT's don't have a thermal readout diode, so temps on a 5900XT are kinda hard to come by.

[Daneel Olivaw]

Congrats on your purchase, I'm a proud 5900xt owner since early january myself.

I hit 470-770 reasonably easy with my MSI card. I stick to 470-700 since the 5900xt doesn't really need more bandwidth at 10x7 (my main res) but rather more horsepower.

BTW 5900xt have tighter timings and better performance on the memory for every Mhz on the memory than other 5900. If you flash the bios, you might get higher clockspeed with little difference in performance. But you'll get bragging rights of course.

[mezkal]

Originally Posted by jaqkar

Hi Everyone

I just recently got a Leadtek FX 5900XT......

Can fellow owners of 5900XT's please post some temperatures to compare?

I have not done real overclocking tests yet so I will post as soon as I have results.

Please also post any other information or stuff that you think might be usefull.

Hey jaqkar. Congrats on the purchase. I bought the exact same card. I currently have mine OC'd (via a modded bios by the one and only Jimmor - thanks bro!) to the following:-

G2D : 300Mhz *standard speed
THR : 450Mhz
G3D : 450Mhz *60mhz increase
RAM : 900Mhz *200mhz increase!

Legend : G2D - GPU speed @ 2D, G3D - GPU speed @ 3D, THR - Throttling Speed - basically when the GPU hits an arbitrary "failure point" ie high temp, low voltage and losing data it throttles back down to a set speed generally the 2D Speed - Jimmor tweaked the THR = G3D - which essentially stops the throttling from engaging.

My temps never peak higher than 73degrees C and right now its idling @ 40C. If I open the window and leave the case open it can idle as low as 30C and peak at 63C. I rarely bother tho.

I also purchased the Giant 3 cooler and tried it out. OUCH. Loud and a complete waste of time. Basically from what I can work out not one of the reviewers actually tried it on a 5900XT based card. Marley @ Guru3D did and he has been happy. I wasn't. The Thermal Grease they supplied did 100% dick to transfer the heat between the thermal block and the GPU. Followed by the fact that it never seemed to sit right on the card at all. I gave up and warranteed my card and my replacement is not going to be customised at all.

Bear in mind the 2.2 ns RAM doesn't require any cooling at all. I can touch it with a bear finger and feel NO HEAT at all. I also think the thermal adhesive that is supplied as standard that attaches the supplied HSF with the card's GPU is great quality and does a great job as is. Infact the whole card is well built. Be thankful you didn't get the LX version - http://www.leadtek.com/3d_graphic/wi..._tdh_lx_1.html . That baby comes with 2.8ns and an appropriate cooler.

Leadtek have a fantastic relationship with NVIDIA as can be seen by the quality of their cards. My previous Ti4200 is STILL running as good as the day I purchased it and recently I had to use it in place of my RMA'd FX5900XT (the one I experimented with the woeful Giant3 - Thermaltake won't be getting any more money from me). I forgot that I had disconnected the fan (in order to steal the plastic clips off the ti4200's HSF to put on my warranteed FX 5900 XT so the dealer wouldn't ask about my attempted mod :P) and I ran that baby overclocked for almost three weeks straight using only the Heatsink to draw heat from the GPU. No Fan at all and the card never skipped a beat. Not once. Well built hardware.

I hope that helps you some. I also hope you can forgive me the last paragraph of unrelated gush. :P

Cheers

[jaqkar]

Hi All

Thanks for all the replies, it really helps to get some insight into the diff stuff that one needs to know. Tomorrow I am picking up some better thermal paste and might remove the heat dist cap from the cpu, I think I might have lifted it slightly when I removed the original heatsink as it was quite stuck and had to be removed with some force.

After that I want to get into the Bios mod stuff, really looks interesting all together. Mezkal would you mind sharing the Bios info with me and also maybe the files etc. needed to do the job, it will save me from looking at all the different ones out there and fasttrack the whole thing. I also want to know how I can identify if I have the 2.2 ram, does it mean that if its Leadtek and has Hynix ram its will be 2.2?

Cheers
J

[mezkal]

Originally Posted by jaqkar

Hi All

Thanks for all the replies, it really helps to get some insight into the diff stuff that one needs to know. Tomorrow I am picking up some better thermal paste and might remove the heat dist cap from the cpu, I think I might have lifted it slightly when I removed the original heatsink as it was quite stuck and had to be removed with some force.

After that I want to get into the Bios mod stuff, really looks interesting all together. Mezkal would you mind sharing the Bios info with me and also maybe the files etc. needed to do the job, it will save me from looking at all the different ones out there and fasttrack the whole thing. I also want to know how I can identify if I have the 2.2 ram, does it mean that if its Leadtek and has Hynix ram its will be 2.2?

Cheers
J

No probs at all on supplying the BIOS files for you. I just need to clarify that your card is the same model as mine. It's not the LX model I mentioned in my previous post is it? If not I'll happily send you all the files necessary

[Kamel]

don't suggest it to anyone less crazy than me... but if i had that thing, i know exactly what i'd be doing to it (making it cry).

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...t-modding.html

oh yes... that video card would not live a week with me. maybe it's a good thing i don't have it, that's an expensive habit, lol.

[jaqkar]

Hi Mezkal

This is the exact model I have: http://www.leadtek.com/3d_graphic/wi...0xt_tdh_1.html

What about the memory and if its 2.2ns like yours?

Cheers
J

PS. I am on MSN jaqkar@hotmail.com

[zoomy942]

congrats on yoyur purchase. i had a 5900 se for a long time, and you can ask rage, i beat the heck out of it. i will say that, the iceberq cooling kiit is so awesome. i just bought one for my 6800. i didnt have a thermal diode in mine, , so i dont have any temps for you, but if it helps.. i overclocked her to 444/835.

[avatar:0:0:]

hi,
great card indeed. i've got fx5900xt from gigabyte and o/c'ed it to 450/790.
mem is 2.8ns. my 3dmark2003 score is 5569.

in general, the easiest way to obtain mem info is to write down labels from memory chips and put it in google.

[lcap]

Hey there:
I'm strongly considering getting this card (Leadtek FX 5900XT). Maybe this friday. My question is, where can I get the bios files to flash it to be recognized as a 5950FX? I will probably need some instructions on how to do it... I've never OC'd before, but hey it can't be too hard if all these people are doing it. Anyone care to help me out? =)

[Daneel Olivaw]

I don't want to blow your bubble but starting your first overclocks in life by flashing a fx5900xt to 5950U is not a bright idea... It's a quick and fast way to a blank screen for a noob. Please read the following thread carefully and take your time. Your card is unlikely to support 5950U speeds. Especially your video ram.

read the first post of "Basic FX59xxx bios changes". I just bumped it.