PowerPlay works on 4850?

[will101]

Just bought an XFX HD 4850 XXX and reading through the specs & features while I'm at work waiting to go home and play with my purchase.

I have a few queries for other 4850 owners/knowledgeable people!

1) Does PowerPlay work?

2) Is PowerPlay motherboard independant? (i.e. handled wholely on the graphics card) I have a 'mature' Asus M2N32 SLI Deluxe mobo which probably has never heard of PowerPlay!

3) Does PowerPlay still have issues when it changes clock speed as several (old) threads here and elsewhere suggest? Do card partners BIOS disable the feature as default to avoid issues?

Cool n Quiet works very nicely with my CPU, it'd be nice if the GPU also idles when no demands are placded on it.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Only very few HD4830 and HD4850 graphics cards have PowerPlay properly implemented. You can implement custom 2D and 3D clocks like I do with my HD4830 using ATI Tray Tools. I have custom 2D clocks for my HD4830 and the 3D clocks are the maximum stable overclock I can achieve with the card. During 3D applications the 3D clocks will be enabled and when idling the 2D clocks will be enabled.

[kalniel]

Just bought an XFX HD 4850 XXX and reading through the specs & features while I'm at work waiting to go home and play with my purchase.

I have a few queries for other 4850 owners/knowledgeable people!

1) Does PowerPlay work?

Usually yes, unless the manfacturer has tinkers with things. Unfortunately XFX usually do tinker.

2) Is PowerPlay motherboard independant? (i.e. handled wholely on the graphics card) I have a 'mature' Asus M2N32 SLI Deluxe mobo which probably has never heard of PowerPlay!

If the motherboard correctly implements the PCI-E speficiations then it should be fine - it doesn't need to know what powerplay is.

3) Does PowerPlay still have issues when it changes clock speed as several (old) threads here and elsewhere suggest?

I've never had issues with my 4870 (and akward DDR5 memory), but again if the manufacturer has tinkered then maybe.

Do card partners BIOS disable the feature as default to avoid issues?

Most don't, but I wouldn't be surprised if XFX did.