how do i overclock a Radeon8500LE

[SLInger]

i think i got a bad one guys,.....it's memory clock starts at 200,and it''s engine is at 250,but i don't know how to adjust it...i need to know how to overclock this thing soon.i've only got 14 days to return it...i was hoping this thing would hold at least 250/250...i was hoping for 275/275 at least....thanks alot...

[GB_Cobber]

Send it back right away

At 250/200 it will almost alwasy use 5ns ram which is at its 200Mhz spec already. Its unlikely to clock past 230Mhz in the best case but ussually wont even do that.

Very common in 3rd party built 128MB 8500le's to cut costs as ram is one of the most expensive components. Tho the 128 will never make up for the loss of clockspeed so its merely a marketting stratagy at this stage. Somewhat like 64MB's on an MX200.

Its obviously a Powered by ATI card and not a Built by ATI as the only 200mhz mem 8500 ATI make is thier older 8500DV.
Gotta be real carefull with those 3rd party jobs.

[SLInger]

i figured out how to overclock the Radeon8500 via Powerstrip.. max enigne clock is 332?...and the memory clocl max is 166Mhz?....surely it goes higher than that i thought the memory would goto 275+.....perhaps someone knows of a program that will let me go higher.....thank alot....

[GB_Cobber]

Im not familiar with ATI utiliteies and dont use powerstrip but 166Mhz cant be right. Perhaps PS isnt picking it up properly. might have to do a test or something.

You should be able to read the rams ns rating straight off the chip to give you some idea of how far it will go.

Most TSOP modules have it stamped on their surface.
Look for some digits at the end on a long number. Usually: -4 or -t4 etc.
-4 = 4ns 250Mhz, -5 = 5ns 200MHz etc.
Brand is important too.
ATI cards dont seem to have as much headroom as Nvidia cards with the same ram. perhaps due to their memory architecture,who knows. One thing is almost certain tho, 5ns ram of the best quality in an ATI 8500 will never make 250Mhz.

Hercules went a step further and tried to speed up their boards with faster memory timming only to have to clock their 4ns sumsung boards down to 238Mhz for stability reasons. Tho it still performs as well as an ATI built 250/250 8500le.

Not alot of headroom on these cards unless they have over rated ram. Like the ATI built No dual CRT one at newegg with 3.3ns(303MHz) at 250/275 which will often make 275/300.
The 128MB ATI built le has 3.6ns(278MHz) BGA ram and does about the same as the 3.3ns TSOP.

Retail 8500's at 275/275 use at least 3.3ns or faster BGA memory .

[Farmer_BOB]

Originally posted by SLInger
i figured out how to overclock the Radeon8500 via Powerstrip.. max enigne clock is 332?...and the memory clocl max is 166Mhz?....surely it goes higher than that i thought the memory would goto 275+.....perhaps someone knows of a program that will let me go higher.....thank alot....

That's a pretty strange reading. Since you're using DDR memory, the 166Mhz gets muliplied by two. That makes it 332/332. That's pretty high. If you really did manage to push it that far, I suggest you clock it down right away. BTW, where did you get the card? And, what brand is it?

[GB_Cobber]

Originally posted by Farmer_BOB


That's a pretty strange reading. Since you're using DDR memory, the 166Mhz gets muliplied by two. That makes it 332/332. That's pretty high. If you really did manage to push it that far, I suggest you clock it down right away. BTW, where did you get the card? And, what brand is it?

I think he means 332 is the most the core clock slider goes to.
it wont be set at 332MHz.

The 166Mhz mem sounds off tho. The memory should be clock to at least 183Mhz(366DDR) 200mhz(400DDR) 230(460) or 250Mhz(500).
never heard of one with 166MHz but its possible. There are 7500's with 5.5ns SDR ram at 183MHz. A long shot from the 230MHz 4ns DDR(460MHz reletive)or the retail 7500

Unless the 332 is the mem clock,the 166 is the core clock,and that card's really a radeon 32

[Farmer_BOB]

Originally posted by GB_Cobber
Unless the 332 is the mem clock,the 166 is the core clock,and that card's really a radeon 32

Hey, that's right. That's what my friend's radeon 32 retail is clocked at 166/166.