[HOWTO] ATI Radeon overclocking

Message

BetterUnborn · Post by **BetterUnborn** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:35 am

n Powerstate 2 i get

Core: 418.50 MHz, Mem: 364.50 MHz

Same for me here, got an X600 Mobility.

aticonfig --list-powerstates
    core/mem      [flags]
-----------------
* 1: 105/122 MHz  [low voltage]
  2: 209/182 MHz  [low voltage]
  3: 392/250 MHz  [overdrive, default state]

Changing the frequencies with rovlock in powerstates 1 or 2 doesn't seem to have any effect on power consumption at all. No matter what I do, I always get the same ~1220 mA current drawn from my battery (state 1). Only if I go to low with the frequency, I get a system hang. Maybe it's insignificant then, in undervolted state frequency doesn't matter too much.

ATI's PowerPlay not only undervolts and underclocks, if you have PCI express, it also disables PCI-lanes (at least windows drivers do so). I've read that the 16 lanes PCIexpress in normal state provides consume something around 6-7W (!). 6 W@12V -> 200mA extra current ... and somehow this number was familiar to me. I've noticed a strange fluctuation in power consumption, sometimes the current my notebook needs switches down to ~1000mA ... compared to the number above, this could just be my PCIexpress. I never noticed any change in system performance this fluctuation was related to, nor did I switch off any components, nor was it related to harddisk or fan activity. The only noticeable thing was some extra heat.
Could it be that switching off PCI lanes is somehow "unstable"? And something tries to re-enable them? Where can I find system information about my PCI express?

richard77 · Post by **richard77** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:12 pm

It works well also with my R9200:

stock frequency: 250/200 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 1365

underclock: 100/150 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 776

underclock: 200/150 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 1000
Some artifact due maybe to GPU to much clocked vs memory

overclock: 250/250 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 1620

overclock: 280/280 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 1830

overclock: 280/300 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 1910

overclock: 290/300 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 1940

aiming for 2000:
overclock: 280/330 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 2020
a lot of artifacts

Just to have more data for charts:

underclock: 190/200 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 1260

Let's see how much low we can go:

underclock: 50/120 (GPU/mem)
a lot of artifacts, no glxgears. Same artifacts with 100/120

underclock: 50/150 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 450, artifacts only with glxgears

underclock: 80/150 (GPU/mem)
glxgears: 675. No artifacts.

140 for memory is to low (artifacts)

I think that i will leave it underclock (hey, its 32°C now, at 8pm, and no conditioning in my house).

Thanks for your programming skill proof

federico

zietbukuel · Post by **zietbukuel** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:27 am

Anyone knows how to make this permanent?

synss · Post by **synss** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:12 pm

zietbukuel wrote:Anyone knows how to make this permanent?

To make it permanent, just write an initscript or put the command into /etc/conf.d/local.start

zietbukuel · Post by **zietbukuel** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:52 pm

Thank you.

JuMPeRfLy · Post by **JuMPeRfLy** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:48 pm

I have the command in my local.start which works until I start X, then the default clocks are loaded. Anyone know why this would happen?

zietbukuel · Post by **zietbukuel** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 9:05 pm

JuMPeRfLy wrote:I have the command in my local.start which works until I start X, then the default clocks are loaded. Anyone know why this would happen?

I have done this:

Created an executable file in /etc/init.d named rovclock with the contents:

[HOWTO] ATI Radeon overclocking

overclocking integrated graphics

Radeon Mobility M6 Overclocking

Re: Radeon Mobility M6 Overclocking

Safe temperatures for Radeon Mobility M6

multi gpu card?