Unlocked sucessfully the BFG AGP 6800GS

[Kage]

I got the BFG OC AGP 6800GS today in the post!
It was really cheap compared to other versions, and Overclockers.co.uk ha a deal going for this week on it, so decided to go for it.

I plugged it in, and powered up some games.

FRAMERATE:

My 9800PRO could run new games at Medium settings at around 800x600/1024x768.

This card has the same framerate, and even better sometimes at high settings at 1152x864/1280x1024 so its got quite a big improvement.

I noticed that turning on Smooth Shadows in FEAR still knocked too much FPS though

Moving from Pixel Shader 2 to 3 hasn't done anything I've noticed in the games I play though, but this will come more into play in the latest games, and at least I have that feature now compared with my old card.

UNLOCKING:

I then tested my luck, and I have sucessfully unlocked the 16 pipes out of the 12 the card came with unmasked!
They both work too, since theres no distortion or any type of artifact what so ever after applying it when I tested it with FEAR and Need For Speed MW

OVERCLOCKING:

I am now going to download 3D Mark 05, run a test on it just to properly make sure, and then try Overclocking.

Does anyone know of any quick guides for overclocking Nivida cards using Coolbits? And how to test as you go along with maybe a 3D image like you could with ATI Tool?

I just don't know what I'm doing by overclocking by just using sliders with no visual showing of how much damage I'm doing

Overall, I'm very happy

 

[_Niko]

Read the stickies

 

[Kage]

Oh yeah, thanks

I tend to chat on, sorry

As for using Coolbits, that detect optimum settings things seems to easy. I'll probably have to be more careful after unlocking though as the card has already been pushed slightly since its a BFG OC model...

How does that Detect Optimum Settings actually work? i.e, does it check temperatures, etc?

I've noticed idle, with the unlocking done, its at around 52 degrees C...

 

[_Niko]

I really dont know i have an ATI Card and i just unlocked it an oced the mem 10 mhz because i dont want to get artifacts while playing fear

 

[Gamingfreak]

it always gave me higher clocks for the optimal settings thing when it was cooler so i guess thats how it checks, thats great that u got it unlocked, as for overclocking do it manually as u can get a higher overclock or u might need a slighly lower one than the optimal settings suggests, good luck and let us know what u get in 3dmark05, u better not beat mine!

 

[Kage]

Hehe, I'll download and have a go. I've been suggested to try 3D Mark 05 before and after to test the marks.

But yes, I now have 16 perfect pipes instead of 12, and since its BFG, it already had an OC from 350 to 370 on the core, and from 1000 to 1050.

I wonder how much farther I can go without causing problems?

But yeah, I just click that find Optimum a few times to see what it gives me and restart I guess?

Any way if I go to far to bring it back if Windows or something doesn't load...?

 

[Gamingfreak]

windows will load, the graphics card wont be at its idle temp right after getting into windows anyways so u can change it then, u can also hold ctrl while loading windows and it overides the clocks and doesnt load them, u have to run 3dmark to really test if the clocks are ok or not, if u see artifacts then its to hot and u need to clock down

 

[Kage]

Hey thanks for the Ctrl trick That'll help alot I'm sure. I've heard you can't push these cards too far anyways if your careful with what your doing.

Right, downloading 3D Mark 05 as I type

Thanks for the help. I just seriously worry about this clocks thing, since I never know how much to go, but 5mhz increments, though small should be okay I guess... Just take a while to do, haha.

 

[Gamingfreak]

haha ya i used to be worried when i first started but now i just overclock away lol, im happy with the overclock i got on my card, used to be 350/1000 just look at it now

 

[Kage]

Wow, not bad. I know I won't be able to go that far. I'm only on AGP
BFG did some of the work for me, but I bet I can't go much further with pipes unlocked, etc...

Wish me luck, and we'll have a competition

And its not the actual overclocking I'm worrying about. Its the fact that theres no visual thing like you get with ATI Tool so you know straight away if you've gone too far

EDIT: WOW:

I just selected Detect Optiumum, and the clock has shot to 412 already, and the memory to 1.13Ghz