Hey everyone. Just to make it simple: Why do ATI and/or NVIDIA put one memory/core clock speed on the box, and then when you install the vcard it always shows you a lower Mhz number? I've always wondered about this. It happened with my BBA Ati Radeon 9800 pro 128 DDR AGP, and its happening with a friend's Sapphire ATI Radeon x1650 pro 512 GDDR2 AGP. And it happens not ONLY on my PC, but on many other people I know too, lots of cases. For instance, the Radeon x1650 pro has "Core Clock 590mhz Memory Clock 1380mhz" written all over the box, and on every website and page advertising it (ati, newegg, sapphire, etc...). But when installed with latest 07.5 catalyst drivers, it shows "core clock 594mhz memory clock 396mhz". So the core clock is great, but the mem clock which is supposedly of 1380, works at 396¿???? This has happened in a number of different PCs, all with windows xp SP2 with latest drivers in everything, and still the same result. So... why is it that the memory clock speed is lower than the one advertised and written on the box? Anyone knows?
This occurs for two reasons: 1. The memory speed on the box considers DDR (Double data rate), so the memory bus speed will be 690mhz for the X1650 Pro, the memory speed itself will be 1380mhz. 2. Graphics cards run in two modes. In 3D Mode (playing games, rendering apps and so on), the Core speeds are set to their maximum level. To use less power and run cooler, in 2D mode such as on the desktop, they reduce the clock speeds as the extra performance is unnecessary.
How can I measure/display the various vcards' maximum memory clock speed?? With what program/s? I've tried 3dmark 06 with no success.
Run ATiTool and go 'show 3d view' then start the overclocking test. You can always cancel it shortly after. That puts it to 3dmode, then keeps upping it continuously above and beyond the norm.
