Τρίτη 15 Φεβρουαρίου 2011

ATi Sapphire HD4830 512MB GDDR3 Overclocking And Benchmarking

Hello everyone it's been a long time since I made my last post. Hopefully my next posts will come more often.


I finally decided to post my overclock results for my main graphics card, ATi Sapphire HD4830 512MB GDDR3. I've been using it for more than 3 years now and I still don't feel the need to purchase a new card cause I still play most games at maxed details with no problems. It's really a beast of a Graphics Card.. Let's check the details:


Part Specifications:


Chipset: Ati Radeon HD 4830
Memory Size: 512MB
Memory Type: GDDR3
Memory Interface: 256-bit
Core Clock: 575 MHz
Memory Clock: 2x 900 MHz
Connection Type: PCIEx16
Maximum Resolution: 2560x1600
DirectX Support: 10.1
Shader Model Support: 4.1
Output Ports: 2x DVI, 1x Display Port


My System Specifications:


CPU: AMD Athlon X2 5200+ Brisbane
(Overclocked from 2.7GHz to 3.2GHz)


RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2
(Overclocked from 667MHz to 948MHz)


For details on other parts please check my other post : My System Specifications


OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit


Driver Version
CCC2 Beta - 10.12


Overclocking Utility
GPU Tool CCT1 V.0.0.0


Applications:
3D Mark 2006 V.1.1.0
(using the SystemInfo Hotfix Feb08)
3D Mark Vantage


Overclocking Process:


The whole overclocking operation took place on my main desktop pc which is stable on high overclocking conditions. As you can see my CPU and RAM are highly overclocked, and to achive this I've used air cooling solutions such as a Xigmatek 963 CPU Cooler and Corsair Dominator Airflow and new heatsinks on Ram modules. Voltage was also raised properly on both of those, and still temperature stays below 45 degrees under high load conditions. The ATi Sapphire HD4830 512MB comes with a fine stock cooler. It's a huge round heatsink with a fan. I did not need to replace it as it does an excellent job keeping the VGA card cool. To be more specific the card operates with no load (on windows) at 40-43 degrees and at high load (3D Mark-Games) at 55-65 degrees. Fan speed was set to 100% during the overclocking and got a bit noisy but I could live with that.


So in order to find out the max core levels that the HD4830 can reach I used GPU Tool's "Find Max" functions. The core started getting raised a few MHz at each time and soon it got above 700MHz.. Then it kept raising and passing heatup phases until it reached 755 MHz which caused a few artifacts on the screen. So the maximum overclock for the core without artifacts was around 750MHz which means 225MHz overclock or ~40% raise on the default frequency (pretty nice ain't it?). Then the memory followed the same process and the limit the overclock reached before failing was 1255MHz which means 355MHz overclock or also ~40% raise on the default memory clock. Now keep in mind that the effective clock on the memory is double that value.. As we can see the result is that the ATi Sapphire HD4830 512MB can be overclocked using the stock cooler at about 40% higher clocks. In order to avoid failures I decided to set as a max value for the core clock the 740MHz and for the memory clock the 1240MHz. Now how about some benchmarking?


3D Mark 2006
Default Settings


(Default Clocks)
Core Clock : 575MHz
Memory Clock : 900MHz (Effective 1800MHz)


3DMark Score : 10072
SM2.0 Score : 4325
HDR/SM3.0 Score : 4960
CPU Score : 2303


(High Overclock)
Core Clock : 700MHz
Memory Clock : 1200MHz (Effective 2400MHz)


3DMark Score : 10968
SM2.0 Score : 4843
HDR/SM3.0 Score : 5581
CPU Score : 2313


(Maximum Overclock)
Core Clock : 740MHz
Memory Clock : 1240MHz (Effective 2480MHz)


3DMark Score : 11367
SM2.0 Score : 5040
HDR/SM3.0 Score : 5835
CPU Score : 2358


3DMark Vantage
Default Settings


(Default Clocks)
Core Clock : 575MHz
Memory Clock : 900MHz (Effective 1800MHz)


3DMark Score : P5468
GPU Score : 5767
CPU Score : 4734


Details:
GPU Test 1 : 16.46 FPS
GPU Test 2 : 17.34 FPS
CPU Test 1 : 594.35 Plans/s
CPU Test 2 : 7.80 Steps/s
Feat. Test 1 : 481.04 GTexels/s
Feat. Test 2 : 3.09 GPixels/s
Feat. Test 3 : 15.99 FPS
Feat. Test 4 : 16.51 FPS
Feat. Test 5 : 27.99 FPS
Feat. Test 6 : 32.59 FPS


(High Overclock)
Core Clock : 700MHz
Memory Clock : 1200MHz (Effective 2400MHz)


3DMark Score : P6460
GPU Score : 7306
CPU Score : 4795


Details:
GPU Test 1 : 20.80 FPS
GPU Test 2 : 22.02 FPS
CPU Test 1 : 597.19 Plans/s
CPU Test 2 : 8.02 Steps/s
Feat. Test 1 : 584.85 GTexels/s
Feat. Test 2 : 4.15 GPixels/s
Feat. Test 3 : 19.44 FPS
Feat. Test 4 : 20.20 FPS
Feat. Test 5 : 32.13 FPS
Feat. Test 6 : 39.63 FPS


(Maximum Overclock)
Core Clock : 740MHz
Memory Clock : 1240MHz (Effective 2480MHz)


3DMark Score : P6651
GPU Score : 7637
CPU Score : 4796


Details:
GPU Test 1 : 21.99 FPS
GPU Test 2 : 22.76 FPS
CPU Test 1 : 595.90 Plans/s
CPU Test 2 : 8.06 Steps/s
Feat. Test 1 : 618.77 GTexels/s
Feat. Test 2 : 4.30 GPixels/s
Feat. Test 3 : 20.64 FPS
Feat. Test 4 : 21.26 FPS
Feat. Test 5 : 36.71 FPS
Feat. Test 6 : 41.88 FPS


Conclusion:
The performance difference between stock and overclocked clocks is highly noticable. Remember this is only a benchmark comparison. When it comes to everyday gaming the performance gain is even higher.


As you can see the ATi Sapphire HD4830 512MB is still a high end card plus after considering that it overclocks around 40% higher than its default clock values, using only its stock cooler the overclock makes it last even longer without the need of an upgrade. It performs well even when playing the today's market games at maxed details.


Some of the games I can run at maxed details right are Mass Effect 2, Alien VS Predators, Colin McRae DiRT 2, Batman Arkham Asylum, Tom Clansy's Splinter Cell Double Agent, James Cameron's Avatar, Mount & Blade Warband, Prototype, Fallout 3, Wolfenstein plus many many more.. So I guess I can stick to my ATi Sapphire HD4830 512MB for a while longer before upgrading.


That's all! I hope you enjoyed reading my article. Come back soon for more overclocking & benchmarking content!