PDA

View Full Version : My initial experience with the 4870

aliquidparadigm
07-01-2008, 09:47 PM
There's plenty of info on the 4870 for performance, yet only the slightest mention of it's temperatures. Since I'm sure many folk here are considering purchasing one, I'll let'cha in on some information in regards to its heat/fan "problem."

Having had mine installed for what will surely be two hours by the time I'm done typing this out, I've already fixed the aforementioned problem... quite simply, actually. First thing upon firing it up, I notice the temperature is 77ºC idle. Now, I may not have the greatest airflow, but there's absolutely no way that it's this bad. So I start looking around to find out what's going on.
My first step is to check with my good ol' buddy GPU-Z to see what's going on. Well, apparently, the card BIOS is set to keep the fan at a nice 18-22% for a temperature as high as 77-78ºC--it kept going back and fourth in that area, as did the percentages. Given that I obviously don't want to leave this thing idling at such a high temperature, off I go to fix it.

I'm sure some here know how to edit an ATI overdrive file to adjust fan speed already; I didn't as I never needed to. It's painfully simple: create a profile (name it, say, Fan 30%), go to C:\documents and settings\(user name)\local settings\app data\ati\ace\ and edit Fan 30%.xml to have Manual control over the fan speed and that you "want" it to be 30%. You're done.
Instantly the temperature started to drop a little. So I create profiles for 40 and 50% as well, fire up the 50 (to expedite the process a bit) and watch the temperatures fall. It now idles at a much, much more modest 54ºC. However, what matters as well is how high the temps get under full load, and whether or not the fan speed needs to increase, as well as how loud the fan will be after said increase. Right about now is when I started to think, "I should probably take a few screen shots of this and share it somewhere on the interwebs, as there are surely people who could benefit from this," so I'll start posting pics as of here.

For testing, I'm going to run a windowed version of Titan Quest with 24xAA w/AAA set to high, 16xAF @ 1440x900--which does max out GPU usage.
After letting it run for about 10-15 minutes @ 99% GPU usage w/40% fan speed, the temps were still at a more than decent level, in fact, they were lower than stock idle temps, sitting at 63ºC.

http://afilmonrewind.home.comcast.net/tq.png

In an attempt to demonstrate the audibility of the fan, I made a little video... which is kind of hard to hear, but you can clearly notice the fan volume go up. This is in a moderately quiet room, though, and I assure you, I cannot hear the fan over gaming noise at 40%--haven't tried 50% yet as there is no need.

[Video. (http://afilmonrewind.home.comcast.net/931.avi)]

Anyway, I haven't actually gotten a chance to play anything... so I'm thinkin' it's about time to fix that. (c:
Sunny
07-01-2008, 10:17 PM
Thats kinda weird why does ATI have the card fan set that low? I always find it funny that reviews put this card at a pretty high temp even when its on a 55nm. I wonder if they leave the fan at Stock.

Hey Titan Quest now there is an awesome game I remember playing with my X1900XTX. Although my card got really loud.

It does appear that they do not seem to have any issues with AA this time around on the HD4 series which is awesome. ATI is back in the game which is good. Now for some price wars! Hurry up Intel! :p
aliquidparadigm
07-01-2008, 10:34 PM
Hey Titan Quest now there is an awesome game I remember playing with my X1900XTX. Although my card got really loud.<g> I went back to this game when my 3870's died and I had to drop in my old, long since retired x1950xt... good memories, man.

edit: I should clarify: Titan Quest won't run for shit at 24xAA... but it does at 12xAA.
Headfoot
07-07-2008, 06:10 PM
If you max the fan, what kind of overclock can you get?

When I read the reviews they leave the fan at stock and then complain about a low OC because they wont turn the fan on.
Radiator
07-07-2008, 08:06 PM
Well , CCC with the Catalyst 8.6 drivers wont let it go over 800 core and ( I think ) 1100 memory ( correct me , if I'm mistaken ) . As I recall , reviews were complaining about that , rather (again , I might be mistaken) .
hdantman
07-08-2008, 08:29 AM
You know, I'm really rather annoyed hearing that the 4870s release has not seen the advent of a user-friendly fix for the same problem that plagued the 3870 x2. I had to use powerstrip to fix it.

What is the logic, I wonder, behind this? Far be it from me to second guess the engineers at ATI, but I can't see why they set the stock fan speeds so low. The fan on the 3870 x2 was incredible--It blew out more air than a blow dryer at high speeds--but it was running so low be default profiles, that the card would artifact during stressful rendering.

TQ--now there is a game that was WAYYYY underrated. That sucker rocks. It did have some support issues, but in my view it was a Diablo killer. It looks GREAT, by any standards, and is incredibly fun.
aliquidparadigm
07-08-2008, 08:52 AM
CCC limits the OC to 790 for the core. I'm not going to bother with attempting to OC the shit out of it right now, though. I'm happy with it as is; I bumped it up ever so slightly to 775/1000. Considering that TPU's Diamond 4870 was able to reach 785/1150 with stock fan speeds, I'm sure I could push it to 800/1200, but, really, what's the need right now? I'll wait until some other jackass pushes it too far and use that as a reference before I start to push mine at all.
hdantman
07-08-2008, 08:57 AM
You know, it's really very hard to push a card TOO hard with OCing. As long as you're incremental, it'll artifact and fail on you with no damage.

And out of sheer curiosity, why are you running 2T at those timings when it seems your RAM could easily do 1T at tighter timings? Feel free to PM me, no use in cluttering up your thread with other topics...
aliquidparadigm
07-08-2008, 10:39 PM
It's some really, really weak RAM. It's quite literally at its threshold where it is. Realistically, what they're selling is PC 6400 that's been confirmed to go to 8500: I tried to clock it up towards 1100 from 1066, and it couldn't load windows without having all sorts of issues.
wyz135
07-09-2008, 12:51 PM
My Radeon HD3850 also get that temperature...
hdantman
07-11-2008, 08:21 AM
Hmm. That's too bad about the RAM. Couldn't you crank better performance out of it by perhaps loosening the timings slightly, like say, 6-6-6-18 1T?

I know we all hate latency, but 1T vs. 2T is worth the compromise.
Headfoot
07-19-2008, 12:28 AM
So in order to OC past 790, you would have to edit the GPU's BIOS, no?
aliquidparadigm
07-19-2008, 04:29 AM
Indeed, you would. Or use a third-party program which may or may not exist right now.

By exist I also mean work. Heh.
ultima
08-03-2008, 12:32 AM
can maybe try this

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Video-Tweak/ATI-Tray-Tools.shtml
Radiator
08-03-2008, 02:24 AM
So in order to OC past 790, you would have to edit the GPU's BIOS, no?

For now , yep . And flashing the BIOS is especially dangerous on the HD 4870 , because it's bios is 128 kb and not 64 kb , like on all the other cards , so if you use the wrong program , you'll brick your card .
Whenever the new version of rivatuner gets released , you should be abled to screw around with the fan settings and OC the living shit out of that card , though .
Headfoot
08-14-2008, 05:41 PM
Sounds like its definitely not worth the trouble.:eek:
Stangcharger
09-03-2008, 04:55 PM
Sounds like its definitely not worth the trouble.:eek:

that's what im starting to think. with my average system and the CCC OC to 790/1100 i did 40249 3dmark03 and 10695 3dmark06. not to bad for now. my CPU is mainly i think what is holding that score back. the graphics card is great.

and i did my fan fix to 50% and find it not to be that loud at all. cause i have my gaming headphones on all the time and can't hear it. keeps the card at 42-43c at idle.
Radiator
09-03-2008, 05:30 PM
They call 3dMark06 CPUmark , because CPUs give the main score , unlike common belief , that CPUs are simply holding the cards back .
If you are going to use synthetic 3D benchmarks , use vantage then .. gives a more accurate description of a card's performance .
Stangcharger
09-03-2008, 05:50 PM
They call 3dMark06 CPUmark , because CPUs give the main score , unlike common belief , that CPUs are simply holding the cards back .
If you are going to use synthetic 3D benchmarks , use vantage then .. gives a more accurate description of a card's performance .

can you only get vantage through a trial or is there a free version? cause the one i tried to downlaod threw up a trial thing.

and i have to agree with you especially in 3dmark 06 my 2.8 dual core lags to hell and never comes back. lol

this card though went up 23000 point in 3dmark03 switching from my 8600gts to my new 4870. so that is nice.

and thanks for info.
Radiator
09-03-2008, 07:49 PM
Indeed , vantage isn't free... the only real downside to it... but running 3Dmark06 is pretty useless when comparing graphics cards with different CPUs , because CPUs make a much larger difference in it , it seems .
Stangcharger
09-03-2008, 08:15 PM
Indeed , vantage isn't free... the only real downside to it... but running 3Dmark06 is pretty useless when comparing graphics cards with different CPUs , because CPUs make a much larger difference in it , it seems .

k thanks for the info. it was kinda something i had speculated about 3dmark06, i just never got a conformation on my theory.:)