Overclocking 5950 Problem

[Pleiades]

Hi,

I have a strange problem with an Nvidia 5900 that I flashed to 5950Ultra couple of years back. It now will not play any 3D games and I think I've found out why: in Nvidia Control panel the default memory is set at 1.90GHz! I'm pretty sure an Ultra is 475 core 950 mem. However, whenever I try to set the speed lower, the GPU test says it's no good and reverts to 1.90GHz again!

I imagine that every time a 3D title fires up, the GPU tries to clock the memory way over its limit. Is there any utility available that can set and lock the core/mem settings permanently?

Cheers for any help

[Biscuit]

have you tried completely uninstalling the drivers and reinstalling hte most recent ones?

[Pleiades]

Yep, several times with several different versions, same result.

Also used Driver Cleaner to make sure no bits were left lying around after de-installation and use System Mechanic to repair any leftover Registry entries and shortcuts, etc. But to no avail.

Seems that the driver is reading the 950MHz Mem should be running at, and then doubling it (instead of doubling the 475MHz it should be). But no idea why...

[Flewis]

The same things happens with my friends 6800GT, He had overclocked his memory speed but when he installed the latest drivers it was reporting 2.1GHz! Im sure it isnt running at that speed and its just a bug in the drivers, there is no way the memory could run that fast anyway so you shouldnt have any worrys about damaging it.

[scrandman]

The current drivers add a x2 factor as this is how current cards are sold (e.g. 1600) which would have been reported as 800 with the older drivers. It doesn't actually do anything to the speed though.

[kalniel]

Have you tried reinstalling AGP chipset drivers?

[s_kinton]

.

[kalniel]

They just changed the way the speed is displayed. DDR means double data rate, so the memory will be running at 950 x 2 = 1.90Ghz. Its always ran at that speed, its just displaying the other figure in the newer drivers.

It should be 475x2= 950.

I initially jumped to the same conclusion, then common sense prevailed and I remembered you weren't going to get a 5950 running at 950mhz/1900 effective

[Pleiades]

Hi All,

Yes tried everything, it must be motherboard or PSU then... had problems with a Gainward Bliss 7800GS too so I guess it's not the graphics card. Both cards had worked in the system (Asus KT-600) for some time previously tho...

Problem is, it's not really worth upgrading the PSU for this system unless I went the whole hog and changed mobos... I gather this particular board has a less than stellar reputation btw.