The Maxxing Out The GeForce Fx Go5200 Guide!

[Adrian Wong]

Hello canismagnus,

Your Go5200's memory clock speed was only 200MHz (400MHz DDR)?? That's really slow.

Too bad we cannot change our mobile GPUs, eh?

[canismagnus]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Hello canismagnus,

Your Go5200's memory clock speed was only 200MHz (400MHz DDR)?? That's really slow.

Too bad we cannot change our mobile GPUs, eh?

I got the memory clock speed and core speed backward on my previous posting, sorry . According to the 3dMark03 Demo program I've been using lists the GPU's memory speed at 405 mhz and the core speed at 199.1, also the Nvidia driver is version 4.4.8.9. It was the core speed I pushed up instead of the memory, whoops, I didn't have your article in front of me! I did get the increase I reported in my previous posting, but, in the end, I reverted to the default settings. Coincidentally, I had a problem with another program which led me to believe my experiments in overclocking had messed up my laptop somehow. I haven't had the courage to begin experimenting again. I think I know just enough about my Toshiba to mess it up real bad. I had better read your article(s) a few more times and download Rivatuner, instead of Powerstrip, before I tinker with the settings again.

In the end, the computer seems to run games fine, albeit at medium resolutions, and performs pretty much as I expected. It is a laptop after all. Also, your salient observation that the Go5200 is 100% DirectX 9 compliant and will run current and future games made me feel better about getting it. Thanks.

Not to get off topic too much, but I also just recently read your review of the Toshiba M-30 you purchased. Once again, great job! You really offered the consumer's perspective and I appreciate the highly detailed account of your purchase. I was expecting a mere one page write-up, but you shared the entire experience as well as providing very specific technical information. Awesome stuff! Thanks .

If there is anything ya'll would like to know about a Satellite P15-S479, or my experience as a recent laptop consumer, please don't hesitate to ask. I feel like I owe you one.

CanisMagnus

[Adrian Wong]

Hello CanisMagnus,

Sounds like Toshiba is using the core speed of 199MHz and memory speed of 405MHz for all their Go5200-equipped notebooks.

Reclocking it should not cause any problems if you do it step-by-step. Reclock the GPU and the memory separately and keep testing the system stability.

It takes time but eventually, you will know what are your Go5200's maximum stable clock speeds. I will usually keep the GPU downclocked a little from those stable settings for a little margin of safety.

But once you have the GPU clocked at those stable settings, you should not encounter any stability issues due to your reclocking.

While the Go5200 is certainly DirectX9-compliant, the lack of power is certainly worrisome. Highly recommended that you reclock it.

[canismagnus]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Hello CanisMagnus,

Sounds like Toshiba is using the core speed of 199MHz and memory speed of 405MHz for all their Go5200-equipped notebooks.

Reclocking it should not cause any problems if you do it step-by-step. Reclock the GPU and the memory separately and keep testing the system stability.

It takes time but eventually, you will know what are your Go5200's maximum stable clock speeds. I will usually keep the GPU downclocked a little from those stable settings for a little margin of safety.

But once you have the GPU clocked at those stable settings, you should not encounter any stability issues due to your reclocking.

While the Go5200 is certainly DirectX9-compliant, the lack of power is certainly worrisome. Highly recommended that you reclock it.

Thanks for the encouragement. I used RivaTuner to overclock the GPU to 220 core/ 460 memory and everything seems stable. I was able to run the 3dMark03 demo at higher clock speeds, but the computer tended to lock-up when playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RTCW)-that's probably the most graphically intense game I own.

In the end, I was able to acheive about a 10% increase in the 3DMark03 demo scores. Prior to overclocking I'd average around 950, after overclocking, it averages 1070. While tweaking, I was able to get it to run the 3DMark03 demo at 240 core/ 500 memory and was able to break the 1200 point mark once. Unfortunately, that amount of overclocking tended to make RTCW crash upon start-up .

While browsing other 3DMark03 demo scores on-line, I was horrified to see how poorly the desktop version, the Geforce FX 5200 128mb GPU, performed. I not sure if they had other system problems or what, but the majority of desktop systems with those GPU's scored lower than my laptop! Shocking! Those consumers should demand their money back.

What does Nvidia use to test their hardware? They must know that consumers would be benchmarking their GPU's. Is it an actual hardware issue that makes them perform so poorly, or is it a software/driver issue? They perform so much worse than their ATI counterparts at these benchmarks that it seems like a marketing disaster for them (and a performance disaster for us!). The other reviews I've seen regarding the Geforce FX family, mobile chipset or otherwise, have almost always been less than flattering.

Anyway, thanks again for the advice! An extra 10% in GPU performance sounds pretty good to me

Canis

[Max_87]

How about the power consumption? increased a lot?

[Adrian Wong]

Well, they are not particularly estatic about the results in my review but what can I say? The Go5200 really performs like that. Reclocking or overclocking is a must.

If one is lucky, the Go5200 and its memory may be particularly overclockable. Unfortunately, I'm stuck at 243MHz core and 513MHz memory.

I'm not sure about the power consumption, Max_87. But since my Go5200 never reached its rated clock speeds, I guess its power consumption should be lower than what NVIDIA claims.

[endy]

Hi,

I've reclocked the card and scored 1282 3DMarks (but not tested in games). At this moment don't have the values for core and memory, I'll post them as soon as possible.

In the NVIDIA control panel my card is detected as Nvidia Fx Go5200 32/64MB but in the driver properties is written clearly that is has 64MB of video memory.

So my question is: It is a 64MB card or a 32MB card?

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by endy

Hi,

I've reclocked the card and scored 1282 3DMarks (but not tested in games). At this moment don't have the values for core and memory, I'll post them as soon as possible.

In the NVIDIA control panel my card is detected as Nvidia Fx Go5200 32/64MB but in the driver properties is written clearly that is has 64MB of video memory.

So my question is: It is a 64MB card or a 32MB card?

Hello endy,

From what I can see, your Go5200 has 64MB of RAM.

[johnwestbrook]

I have a Dell 5150. Is it safe to reclock it as described in your review?

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by johnwestbrook

I have a Dell 5150. Is it safe to reclock it as described in your review?

I'm not sure if the Go5200 in your Dell 5150 is underclocked. You can try using Rivatuner to check the clock speed that it's running at.

The Go5200 is rated to run at 300MHz. But like in my case, it can't even reach that rated speed. Your mileage will vary so you will need to experiment to find out.

Reclocking has its risks. You should be aware of them if you have read the guide. But if you do things methodically, the risks should be minimal.