# How To: Overclock Your AMD / ATi GPU



## coffeejunky

*









*Before we begin, it is important that you understand the risks associated with overclocking your graphics card. Overclocking, overvolting or modifying your card may invalidate your warranty, so be sure to check the warranty terms before you begin. Neither I, nor overclock.net are responsible for any damage caused by following this guide.*

Now that's out of the way, there are many benefits to overclocking your GPU, you basically get a 'free' boost in FPS in games, which is always handy. GPU clocking can also help you get those vital extra benchmarking points in order to give your epeen that much needed extension.

Overclocking your GPU is simple and relatively trouble-free provided you do things right, this guide will help you to put you on the right path. This guide will use GPUTool to test for stability and MSI Afterburner to overclock, however there are many different programs available that do a similar job. Some alternatives are AMD GPU Clock Tool, Rivatuner and ATi Tray Tools.

*If you have a Dual GPU card (such as a 5970) or are running a Crossfire configuration, see the note at the end of this post before you begin.**

*Step 1:* Make sure your CPU and Memory overclocks are fully stable by running some passes of Prime 95. If you have any doubts put everything back to stock. Also make sure you are on the latest version of the ATi drivers, if you aren't, you can download the latest here. If you are using a 2xMolex to PCI-e power adaptor or are near the limits of the power output of your current PSU overclocking may not be recommended, as you overclock power draw _can_ increase dramatically.

*Step 2:* Download GPUTool to an accessible folder and run it. Download MSI Afterburner (even if you already have Afterburner on your PC make sure you have it updated to the latest version). Navigate to the folder you installed it to (usually C:\\Program Files (x86)\\MSI Afterburner) and open the MSIAfterburner.cfg file using Wordpad. Find the following setting:

Code:



Code:


UnofficialOverclockingEULA
UnofficialOverclockingMode

and change (or add) it to:

Code:



Code:


UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 1

This will allow us to bypass the limitation that stops you from passing the limits of ATi Overdrive (This tip was found on HWBot news). A BIOS flash is not necessary to do this, you just need to edit the file







. If you get an Access Denied or permissions error see the '*I Get An Error When Saving The Config File*' section at the bottom of this post.
Run MSI Afterburner.

*Step 3:* Put both programs side by side for ease of use. Firstly we will begin to increase the core frequency. The 'Core Clock (MHz)' slider is set at the default clock speed, to increase the core frequency, move the slider to the right. Be careful not to make quick jumps before testing for stability. I find it is best to increase the core frequency by 10MHz at a time. Once you have increased it click the 'Apply' button.










*Step 4:* Now switch to GPUTool and press the 'Test for Stability' button. You will see a screen like below. This will scan for artifacts, which could be a sign of an unstable overclock. Let the test run for between 30 seconds and 1 minute, you can let it run longer if you like. Make sure you keep an eye on temperatures, try to stay below 85*C, but you should be safe up to a maximum of 100*C, although this is not recommended.










*
Step 5:* Repeat steps 3 and 4, increasing the core frequency 10mhz at a time until you see artifacts on the screen, these will appear as yellow dots in the GPUTool stability testing window like below:










(Note that your card may not artifact but may show other signs of instability such as Driver VPU recovers or hard locks. This is often the case with cards from the HD 5xxx series, which may not show artifacts but may cause the screen to flash and the driver to restart.)

*Step 6:* Now that you have found the point at which the core is unstable I like to back the clocks down by 10mhz or so from the failure point and run GPUTool for 15 to 30 minutes to fully test for stability. Do not step away from the PC whilst doing this in case you notice any artifacts. If you see any back the clocks back a little further until you think it is stable. At this point you may want to run a pass of 3DMark 06 or a demanding game to check for gaming stability (artifact testing only shows you so much). If you notice an exceptionally low score or see missing textures your card may not be stable.

*Step 7:* We have now found the stable core clock for your card. Next we will find the maximum stable clock for the memory. First note down what core clock you had so you don't forget it later. Now put the core clock back to stock by pressing the 'Reset' button in afterburner. Follow the same method detailed in steps 3, 4, 5 and 6 except this time increase the 'Memory Clock' slider. Make sure you go in small 10MHz increments and scan for artifacts at the end.

*Step 8:* Now you have found the limits of both the core and memory, you want to increase the core clock to what you found was stable earlier. Note that occasionally having both the core and memory at their highest stable clocks may cause instability, when they were stable individually before. So to make sure your final clocks are stable run the GPUTool stability test once more for at least 15 minutes, if you notice artifacts decrease either the memory or core clock to see which one is at fault. This should be your final stable overclock, play some games to make sure it is stable.

*Step 9:* Once you are sure your overclock is totally stable, save it to an empty profile, to do this click 'Save' and then one of the empty quick profile slots.










You can also set the overclock to apply at startup by clicking the 'Apply overclocking at system startup' button towards the bottom of the Afterburner screen. If you are absolutely sure your overclock is stable you can also have it be applied at windows startup by clicking the 'Settings' button and tick the 'Start with Windows' and 'Start minimized' boxes.

*Step 10:* Check that your clocks have been applied by checking with GPU-z.

*Step 11 (Optional):* Submit your overclock or benchmark results to HWBot to see how your results compare to others and earn some points for yourself and OCN.

Congratulations you have now learnt how to overclock your GPU









*I Get An Error When Saving The Config File*
On some systems you may get an error when you try to save the MSIAfterburner.cfg file. First make sure Afterburner is fully closed, including the icon in the system tray. If this does not help, you need to take ownership of the file before editing it. The easiest way to do this is to follow this guide. Once you have done that, right click on MSIAfterburner.cfg and click 'Take Ownership' from the context menu. Then open up the file in wordpad follow the procedure in Step 2 and save it. If you still receive an error message, describe it in a reply to this thread.

*How to Increase the core voltage*
On some supported cards you can increase the voltage of the GPU core. This should help you to push your overclock further, however adding too much voltage could cause damage to your card. If this setting is grayed out for you, MSI Afterburner does not support voltage increases for your GPU. It is up to you to decide what you are comfortable with and whether the extra boost in core clock is worth the potential risk.

*Enabling Manual Fan Control*
Open up the 'Settings' screen and click the 'Fan' tab. Click the 'Enable user defined software automatic fan control' box, here you can set the thresholds for fan speed increases. Along the bottom is Temperature, and up the side is fan speed, you can manipulate the points of the graph to get the right balance of silence at idle and the best cooling under load. For further details on this feature, please see the guide made by Ethatron, which can be found here.

*How to restore 2D/3D dynamic clock changing (Powerplay)*
First make sure you have saved a profile with the clocks that you want at idle and a profile for what clocks you want at load. Then navigate to the 'Profiles' tab of the 'Settings' screen and choose the 2D and 3D profile under the 'Automatic Profiles Management' section.

*How to show FPS or other data in-game or on your G15 keyboard*
You can optionally monitor FPS and GPU temperature either as an overlay on games or on your G15 keyboard's screen. To do this Click the 'Monitoring' tab in the 'Settings' screen. Click on the fields you would like to monitor and choose either 'Show in On-Screen Display' or 'Show in Logitech Keyboard LCD Display'. If you want to see FPS, make sure you click the tick icon to the left of the 'Framerate' field and then click the 'Show in On-Screen Display' checkbox.

*Another user has the same card as me but mine won't overclock as far*
Please remember that not all GPUs are created equal, just because someone's overclocks to a certain level does not mean that yours will necessarily be capable of doing the same.
*
* What do I do if I have a Multi-GPU Setup?*
If you have a crossfire setup you must set the GPUTool Stress test to run in full screen mode. To do this tick the 'Renderer uses Fullscreen' box. Before you begin make sure 'Synchronise settings for similar graphics processors' is ticked in the 'Settings' screen of MSI Afterburner. If you want to adjust the clocks individually for each GPU of your multi-GPU setup you can untick that option and use the drop-down list to choose which GPU to overclock. Once you have done one, use the drop-down list to switch to the next GPU.










I hope this guide has been helpful, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them below.


----------



## a(TM) a(TM) Spadea(TM) a(TM) 

nice now ill give it a shot ty op


----------



## skunksmash

Great work mate.....









maybe you could add a little section about configuring the ''custom fan curve'', IMO one of this apps best features...


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skunksmash* 
Great work mate.....









maybe you could add a little section about configuring the ''custom fan curve'', IMO one of this apps best features...









I had thought about it, it's kind of hard to describe how to manipulate it though. Theres alot more in the works (Soon there should be a Q&A section for really common questions stickied)


----------



## IdPlease

Great guide.. It will help alot of people to get the most out of their cards


----------



## theo.gr

Nice one dude!Congrats!
Looked into adding +rep but u editors dont have that button!!!


----------



## 1keith1

Quote:

How to restore 2D/3D dynamic clock changing (Powerplay)
First make sure you have saved a profile with the clocks that you want at idle and a profile for what clocks you want at load. Then navigate to the 'Profiles' tab of the 'Settings' screen and choose the 2D and 3D profile under the 'Automatic Profiles Management' section.
I do not understand this. I though this could help me escape from my 5850 dropping to 157/300 but i set a profile to 573/1000 for 2d and 754/1000 for 3d.

It caused me to go to my idle clocks at 157/300 which tends to happen whenever i overclock, it switches between the idle clocks and the 2d clocks i set in msi.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *1keith1* 
I do not understand this. I though this could help me escape from my 5850 dropping to 157/300 but i set a profile to 573/1000 for 2d and 754/1000 for 3d.

It caused me to go to my idle clocks at 157/300 which tends to happen whenever i overclock, it switches between the idle clocks and the 2d clocks i set in msi.

Something weird is going on with your card, possibly driver or BIOS related. Did you check the post I made in your other thread for a possible solution?


----------



## meticadpa

I'd REP you, but you'll have to settle for BREP.










Nice guide.


----------



## freedumb

i think you have to run gputool in fullscreen for it to stress both cards in crossfire


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *freedumb* 
i think you have to run gputool in fullscreen for it to stress both cards in crossfire

If you can confirm that is the case I shall amend the Guide


----------



## Wishmaker

CFX works only in FULL Screen. It does not support window mode so the point is valid.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Wishmaker* 
CFX works only in FULL Screen. It does not support window mode so the point is valid.

Good point, that slipped my mind


----------



## hokk

Nice guide.


----------



## lockhead

what's the max vrm temps of 4890?

EDIT: nice guide btw.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lockhead* 
what's the max vrm temps of 4890?

EDIT: nice guide btw.

The specifications say up to 120*C
However, For 24/7 use I would keep them below 90*C if possible.


----------



## SilverPotato

Great guide but I got a crappy 4890, won't even go above 900MHz Core without artifacts. Voltage isn't going to help either. No 1GHz for me, let alone 900+


----------



## Wishmaker

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coffeejunky* 
Good point, that slipped my mind










No worries mate. Your guide is amazing. I wish you wrote it in sooner. I am trying to break the 23000 mark with my CFX HD4890XXX cards and I spent quite some time modding the BIOS, configuring GPU TOOL when Afterburner, already installed on my system, needed a simple tweak. Voltage in Aferburner seems to have a limit. For example, to run 1050/1200 on my ATI cards I need 1.43V and Afterburner does not allow that. Would give rep but you don't have the button.

Regarding max temp, 120 is for the VRMs not for the GPU. The GPU will start dying at 100 degrees.


----------



## lockhead

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Wishmaker* 
Regarding max temp, 120 is for the VRMs not for the GPU. The GPU will start dying at 100 degrees.









he answered me correctly. i asked vrm temp not gpu temp


----------



## Wishmaker

My bad







. Blame the eggnog







.


----------



## gtsteviiee

Very nice guide!!! It helped me get a fully stable clock for my 5750 thank youu ;D


----------



## daldal

I modded my 4850 visiontek bios and rewrite but although the card function ok in games I can't adjust anything in ccc. it not default at gpu 700mhz and 1100mhz memory. I have a accelero twin turbo so there are no heat problem. I would really like to flashed it back to the original specs but no go, winflash said it has a bad bios.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *daldal* 
I modded my 4850 visiontek bios and rewrite but although the card function ok in games I can't adjust anything in ccc. it not default at gpu 700mhz and 1100mhz memory. I have a accelero twin turbo so there are no heat problem. I would really like to flashed it back to the original specs but no go, winflash said it has a bad bios.

CCC doesn't seem to like BIOS that has been edited anymore.
Your stock BIOS can be downloaded here -
http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/1...12.080523.html
Worth giving it a go (make sure you have a 512mb card).

Also, don't forget to fill out your system specs in the UserCP


----------



## Ethatron

Fan-Curve guide:

First, in thinking about fan-curves you may intuitively assume that a simple linear relation-ship between heat and fan-speed (like in the following picture) perfectly protects your processor from any ill-effects:










This is not completely right. There are several side-factors which affect quantity of heat-production and quantity of heat-transportation over time. I'm only going to explain two of them in laymens words:

1) heat-production: while overclocking the processor you linearly raise voltage and/or clocks, but the relationship between heat and voltage and heat and clocks is exponential, which means aproportional, untill a (theoretic) point where very very tiny amounts of clock or voltage will result in a huge amount of additional heat produced. This effect has it's own name: "law of diminishing returns" and is rooted in the way how electrons move through a conductor - you can not change this relationship. You have the possibility to exactly measure your own personal curve by noting the Amperes your processor is consuming at various frequencies and voltages while at 100% utilization. Your fan-curve will be very similar to that one.

2) heat-transportation: this is a relative slow process, it's not an immediate effect, and the smaller the heat-difference between the heat-transporting material and the heat-source, the longer it takes. It means the bigger the difference in temperature (like 100Â° C) the faster heat will be taken away. With a fan-cooling the difference between the temperature of the heat-source (the metal-body on the processor) and the heat-"consumer" (the air) is relative small, this produces a considerable delay in heat-transfer. Additionally air does also move relative slow and can't be moved away instantaneously from the heat-source.

So there is a exponential raise in temperature and an exponential delay of heat-transfer, if both come together strong in the wrong moment you can cook your processor in the timespan the action-reaction-chain need to speedup the fan after the temperature-sensor started to see too much heat.

That's why you should make a fan-profile which takes preceding/anticipating steps to work against the delaying factors. Namely an exponential curve a step ahead of the heat-curve.

In the fan-profile editor you can add additional points to the line we had in the picture above by clicking on the line:










Then you grab the point with the mouse and move it around. The point will stay active (you see the highlighted box around it, the other points stay grey). To delete points, active it by clicking the point and pressing the delete key.

Now you add as much points as you need to make a rough exponential curve:










Now there are two additional things to have in mind to adjust this curve:

1) size of the fan or speed of the fan, in general the capacity of the fan to transport heat away
2) quality of the fan and it's bearings

The first point is related to the horizontal range of the curve. You see in the picture that at 84Â° the fan runs at 59%, if the fan is big it can be enough to compensate a 10Â° raise in a the next second, if the fan is small it may need too long and the processor jumps to 94Â° without any counteraction. So depending on the fan you got you may want to move the entire curve to le left, making the fan be a bit ahead of what may happen.

The second point is related to the vertical range of the curve. You maybe see that at 0Â° the fan is stopped. and then very slowly starts to raise it'S speed. The problem is than fans have a real difficult time to work at very low speeds like 10 cps or a 100. Not only is it electrically difficult, it's also very stressfull to the bearings. Mechanical resistance is a relative big factor with low speeds, but starting to disappear with higher speeds. So in this case you want the fan to rotate at a constant initial speed while being silent, efficient and reduces the stress on the bearings. You want to move the entire curve up, establishing a lower limit for the fan-speed:










I have a 5870 with cooler v1, and I conducted several experiments about how fast can the fan transport heat away and how low do I want to have the temperatures. I tested with various loads and kept in mind that the heat may be produced faster than transported away for a little timespan. Once I was happy with the regular behaviour of my curve (staying below Â°80) I started slowly overclocking the processor and in each step of raising voltage and frequency adjusting the curve as well, it goes like this:

a) have 100% load
b) raise core-frequency, search artifact
c) raise core-voltage, if there are artifacts
d) raise fan-speed at the specific temperature the core is actually at until at 80Â°
e) repeat

This is my final curve after overclocking to 1000MHz/1.3V/~82A:










The processor stays firmly below 80Â° for anything regular (non-FurMarks) and most of the time below 45% fan-speed. Even with FurMarks I have difficulties to really hear the fan. But keep in mind that is just because of how in *my* card all of the mentioned factors play together (quality of the processor and the fan as well as temperature difference to ambient). I am lucky that I don't hear my fan.

Here is the final behaviour of my fan-profile in a real-world situation (STALKER CoP), approaching 65A:










If I'd play longer the temperature would converge slightly below 80Â° at approx. 44/45% fan-speed. My ambient temperature is 90Â°F+/32Â°C+ as I'm living near the equator.










Keep in mind your uttmost care is for not having a hot processor, and not for having a silent fan! If your overclock results in a loud fan which annoys you while being at 80Â° you should accept a lower overclock.

Please also keep in mind that you need to find out which is the maximum acceptable temperature of your processor (without trottling), care about the lifetime and subtract 20% and substitute that temperature with the 80Â° in this guide.
It's always better to be overly cautious when it comes to overclocking.









---------------
Okay, maybe you proof-read it or edit it. It can contain errors, that's because I don't know better, or maybe because I try to make an aspect overly simplistic. Keep in mind I also want to prevent that people burn up their chips, trying to give cautious suggestions.

Marry Christmas BTW

Edit: added real world measures.
Edit: added ambient temperatures


----------



## xdanisx

Nice post. I'd +Rep you but I can't.


----------



## Waterox

I can't run GPUtool for some reason. as soon as I try to run it, a message saying: "an unrecoverable error has occurred...send txt to developer."

Any other programs to test?

thanks.


----------



## calebchosen

Great guide!
damn my hd4850.. canÂ´t get past 715mhz (original 665) :S


----------



## Wishmaker

The Fan curve is a nice addition to the guide. It applies very well for the 5 series cards but for the 4 series you need a more aggressive approach. For example, my 4890s idle between 44-51 @ 65% Fan speed. This is in an antec 902 with very good cable management. The high idle heat arises due to the poor layout on the UD3R mobo. One of the cards can barely breathe so it gives off heat to the second. Consequently, higher fan speeds are required. At 65 degrees I am already using 85 % fan speed. Anything higher than 70 degrees and the fans go to 100 %.

My 5870 Vapor-X card, idles at 28 degrees with a 40 % fan speed settings. That is improvement over the 4890s!!







. My XFX 5870 XXX cards idle between 32-35 degrees celsius. Yet again, improvement over the 4 series cards.


----------



## xquisit

thanks for the easy to follow guide


----------



## coffeejunky

Etharon, Thanks very much for the effort you put into that fan guide, I'll frop you a PM about it when I get chance









Quote:


Originally Posted by *Waterox* 
I can't run GPUtool for some reason. as soon as I try to run it, a message saying: "an unrecoverable error has occurred...send txt to developer."

Any other programs to test?

thanks.

ATi Tray tools (link in OP) has a decent artifact scanner built in. As does ATi Tool (Different from tray-tools and doesn't stress the cards quite so hard)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *calebchosen* 
Great guide!
damn my hd4850.. canÂ´t get past 715mhz (original 665) :S

Mine is a bit of a golden chip. I am on stock voltage too. Game stable at 730. It's just an early reference design Sapphire.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Wishmaker* 
The Fan curve is a nice addition to the guide. It applies very well for the 5 series cards but for the 4 series you need a more aggressive approach. For example, my 4890s idle between 44-51 @ 65% Fan speed. This is in an antec 902 with very good cable management. The high idle heat arises due to the poor layout on the UD3R mobo. One of the cards can barely breathe so it gives off heat to the second. Consequently, higher fan speeds are required. At 65 degrees I am already using 85 % fan speed. Anything higher than 70 degrees and the fans go to 100 %.

My 5870 Vapor-X card, idles at 28 degrees with a 40 % fan speed settings. That is improvement over the 4890s!!







. My XFX 5870 XXX cards idle between 32-35 degrees celsius. Yet again, improvement over the 4 series cards.

I'd reccomend some trial and error to get where you are comfortable with the balance between noise and temps. Every card is different after all


----------



## Ethatron

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coffeejunky* 
Etharon, Thanks very much for the effort you put into that fan guide, I'll frop you a PM about it when I get chance









Yeah, sure. As I only have experience overclocking a 9600, a X1950XTX and this 5870 baby feel free to edit it, correct it and adjust it for other cards. I don't expect it to be perfectly right with any other card, but I think it's indicating how not to reaching boiling temperature by accident while overclocking.
One eye on artifacts, the other on temperature, and a third on power.
That's actually something additionally that should be added. It's easy to make the card consume 50% more energy, and if the power supply is too weak it may go off. Also a card may already be designed so much near maximum cable-capacity that an overclock will maybe not grill your PSU but will make your cables melt away. In the past the cards weren't that power-hungry but today with a 5970 I expect it is a real possibility.

Saludos

Edit: Please don't take my statement about burning the processor literaly, of course we got a lot of security countermeasures in hardware nowadays which prevents the processor from simply bursting out in flames - but a little bit of healthy paranoia is necessary to keep enjoying your hardware for a long time. Try always to approach (any kind of) limit from below, not from above. With every new hardware new unexpected issues arise.


----------



## skunksmash

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ethatron* 
Fan-Curve guide:

nice
















here's my ''custom curve'', ive found these settings work best with my ambients...... this curve keeps the fan speed @ 30-33% while idle & then has quite a steep increase once i start stressing the card










the steep increase actually results in a lower load temp with lower fan speed.....









what a great feature....


----------



## Wishmaker

Was it really necessary to quote the whole post???







.


----------



## skunksmash

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Wishmaker* 
Was it really necessary to quote the whole post???







.

lol....no, it weren't

i do feel like abusing you for that post, but its Christmas so you can have that dig for free.


----------



## Wishmaker

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skunksmash* 
lol....no, it weren't

i do feel like abusing you for that post, but its Christmas so you can have that dig for free.










Feel free, don't hold that anger







. I was scrolling and scrolling and it never ended







. That was my point ... it was no axe or chainsaw or anything


----------



## skunksmash

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Wishmaker* 
Feel free, don't hold that anger







. I was scrolling and scrolling and it never ended







. That was my point ... it was no axe or chainsaw or anything

















........

luckily ''coffejunky'' edited it so i never had the misfortune of scrolling through the ''fan curve'' guide twice


----------



## Ethatron

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skunksmash* 
here's my ''custom curve'', ive found these settings work best with my ambients...... this curve keeps the fan speed @ 30-33% while idle & then has quite a steep increase once i start stressing the card
the steep increase actually results in a lower load temp with lower fan speed.....









Yes, that's exactly with what you should end up. Steep at the end to protect from the accelerated heat-production, combined with the effect of quickly cooling down the processor when the heat-bump goes away again. The exponential curve helps you to have a quick (and loud) fan for shorter periods of time.

I'm happy with you about your satisfying results!


----------



## jonathankru

Thanks for posting this guide. When ever i oced my GPU the 2d clock would never back down to a reasonable level. But now after using this guide i have my 5870 overclocked in games but when in 2d mode it is back to standard clocks and under volt ed. Thanks

Cheers to the poster


----------



## Quantum Reality

Question about GPUTool in Win7. Will installing the DX9 runtimes mess stuff up? It needs a dx9 DLL to run the artifact tester.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Quantum Reality* 
Question about GPUTool in Win7. Will installing the DX9 runtimes mess stuff up? It needs a dx9 DLL to run the artifact tester.

DirectX 9 should not be needed as a newer version is already installed. I don't think you can mess anything up by doing what it asks though


----------



## Waterox

I'm still waiting on how I can run GPUTool with Windows 7 Ultimate 64x.

Any thing I can install to make this thing run? I tried changing the properties to run under windows Vista, XP, 2000, etc... and still it doesn't work.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Waterox* 
I'm still waiting on how I can run GPUTool with Windows 7 Ultimate 64x.

Any thing I can install to make this thing run? I tried changing the properties to run under windows Vista, XP, 2000, etc... and still it doesn't work.

It works fine for me on Windows 7 x64, so I don't really know what to suggest. You can use Ati Tray Tools to scan for artifacts, it doesn't stress the card as much as GPUTool but should install fine.


----------



## Quantum Reality

Oh yea, the DX9 August Runtimes installed as slick as a goose and the artifact tester worked juuuuuuuust fine.


----------



## Scottery

So MSI afterburner works better than ati overdrive for overclocking?
Can I use MSI afterburner with a non MSI card?
If I use afterburner does it always have to be running for the overclocks to apply?


----------



## savagebunny

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Scottery* 
So MSI afterburner works better than ati overdrive for overclocking?
Can I use MSI afterburner with a non MSI card?

I use MSI Afterburner because its a nicer layout and your able to modify the voltage unlike ATi CCC.

You can use MSI Afterburner on any card


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Scottery* 
So MSI afterburner works better than ati overdrive for overclocking?
Can I use MSI afterburner with a non MSI card?
If I use afterburner does it always have to be running for the overclocks to apply?

See bunny's response for 1 and 2 as he is spot on. As for 3, yes, it needs to be set to run at startup and run minimised (it will start in the systray)


----------



## RXFOX

This is pretty cool I always used Riva Tuner and rthdribl to oc my old card and it worked great. I OC'd that 3650 so hard I was was playin Devil my Cry 4 on highest settings.


----------



## Aznboy1993

thanks for the guide! very informative and helpful. kudos to you sir!


----------



## nuniksais

how come the sliders move back to when i press apply? did i miss anything?


----------



## mxthunder

^^ Im also having difficulties. I changed the .cfg file to enableunofficial overclocking, saved as > all files > save. Still goes back to 850 when I aim for 1000 and hit apply. Same thing happened with my 4890.


----------



## Lord Xeb

I just put this guide in my link. Very nicely done my friend.


----------



## coffeejunky

Don't forget to Take ownership of afterburner.cfg if you are not on an administrative account. See here for how to -
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windo...menu-in-vista/
I will update the guide when I'm not insanely busy with uni as I am now


----------



## Stevinchy

I thought i should add that i followed your guide and clocks that were stable in gpu tool crashed instantly in furmark, i had to step the clocks back quite far to be stable in furmark so maybe gputool isn't the best thing to use. I've found that you can run both at once, would this be a good idea, furmark to stress and gputool to highlight artifacts?


----------



## xShishy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Stevinchy* 
I thought i should add that i followed your guide and clocks that were stable in gpu tool crashed instantly in furmark, i had to step the clocks back quite far to be stable in furmark so maybe gputool isn't the best thing to use. I've found that you can run both at once, would this be a good idea, furmark to stress and gputool to highlight artifacts?

No, do one at a time.
Furmark in my opinion is a better measure of stability in your overclock, and you can also find artifacts in furmark (They can be anything weird when it's rendering), whereas in gputool all you get are yellow dots. Furmark can scan both (Do the stability test not benchmark, with Xtreme Burning). Running it for a good 15 to 30 minutes would mean it's a stable overclock.

And yeah, I followed the guide for MSI Afterburner as well since I just switched from my 8800gt to a 5770. Great guide OP!


----------



## KoukiFC3S

Using MSI Afterburner; one of my GPU doesn't go back to 2D speeds. Anyone getting the same issue?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KoukiFC3S* 
Using MSI Afterburner; one of my GPU doesn't go back to 2D speeds. Anyone getting the same issue?

You need to set the 2d clocks manually -

Quote:

How to restore 2D/3D dynamic clock changing (Powerplay)
First make sure you have saved a profile with the clocks that you want at idle and a profile for what clocks you want at load. Then navigate to the 'Profiles' tab of the 'Settings' screen and choose the 2D and 3D profile under the 'Automatic Profiles Management' section.


----------



## PathOfTheRighteousMan

Right, Ive hit a wall with the HD4670 Ultimate. No vmods or anything, stock card. I cant get the core past 865. Which is annoying, because in Xfire im getting 4870 performance at lower res.

Any tips for the 512Mb Sapphire Ultimate 4670?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PathOfTheRighteousMan* 
Right, Ive hit a wall with the HD4670 Ultimate. No vmods or anything, stock card. I cant get the core past 865. Which is annoying, because in Xfire im getting 4870 performance at lower res.

Any tips for the 512Mb Sapphire Ultimate 4670?

Well, you could vMod your card to increase the voltage, this could be risky and isn't really for beginners. If you want help finding one for your card, you can ask for help here. Be prepared to have to use a multimeter precisely and have alot of patience. Hope this helps









Anyway, guide has been updated with additional steps for those who have problems due to the administrative setup on their computer and receive an _Access Denied_ message when saving the config file.


----------



## Ckaz

whenever i try and do anything whether its OC'ing, or just running a stress test on my GPU, on anything that isn't ATI overdrive, my fan just stops, and I have to shut down my computer, then turn it back on for the fan to come back on.

What could this be?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Ckaz*


whenever i try and do anything whether its OC'ing, or just running a stress test on my GPU, on anything that isn't ATI overdrive, my fan just stops, and I have to shut down my computer, then turn it back on for the fan to come back on.

What could this be?


Thats very strange. Could very well be driver related. Have you tried reinstalling drivers totally?

Download Driver Sweeper and the latest ATi drivers (non beta)
Uninstall ATi drivers.
Reboot into safe mode (keep tapping F8 at boot)
Run driver sweeper and remove all ATi and nVidia entries.
Reboot into normal mode and install the latest drivers.
See if that helps it


----------



## Ckaz

thanks and will do.


----------



## PathOfTheRighteousMan

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coffeejunky* 
Well, you could vMod your card to increase the voltage, this could be risky and isn't really for beginners. If you want help finding one for your card, you can ask for help here. Be prepared to have to use a multimeter precisely and have alot of patience. Hope this helps









Anyway, guide has been updated with additional steps for those who have problems due to the administrative setup on their computer and receive an _Access Denied_ message when saving the config file.

Okay thanks, I'll look into that.


----------



## Ckaz

wow. Thanks you SO much. I did as you said (uninstalled ati stuff, went into safe mode, did driver sweeper, re-downloaded latest driver), and it worked! I can change settings in 3rd party oc'ers, run stability tests, and ATI Overdrive and GPUtool show my actual GPU settings when they are changed.

Now, every time I change a setting in MSI Afterburner, my fan speed goes down to 27%. It doesn't clonk out, and it allows me to change it back. This is only an inconvenience as I am always able to change the fan speed back to what it was, but do you have any idea as to what could still be the issue?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ckaz* 
wow. Thanks you SO much. I did as you said (uninstalled ati stuff, went into safe mode, did driver sweeper, re-downloaded latest driver), and it worked! I can change settings in 3rd party oc'ers, run stability tests, and ATI Overdrive and GPUtool show my actual GPU settings when they are changed.

Now, every time I change a setting in MSI Afterburner, my fan speed goes down to 27%. It doesn't clonk out, and it allows me to change it back. This is only an inconvenience as I am always able to change the fan speed back to what it was, but do you have any idea as to what could still be the issue?

Try forcing a manual fan speed profile in afterburner.
It could potentially be a strange driver issue that only affects your particular setup. It may possibly be a GPU BIOS issue. Either way I've never heard of it before


----------



## lazed

About half way through my final 15-30 min stability test, an ominous ozone-esque smell started coming from somewhere. I have a terrible sense of smell so I could just be paranoid, but I stopped the test and everything seems to still be working. Oh and during the testing my temps never went above 75 C. Should I be worried?

EDIT: Me and my terrible cable management. I opened up the case and looked around and found a slightly singed rubber fan wire that was in contact with the gpu. Reworked the wires so nothing is touching the gpu and it appears to be OK now, although I really wont know until all this plastic-burning smell vents out of my room and I can test again.


----------



## Jeffro422

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mxthunder*


^^ Im also having difficulties. I changed the .cfg file to enableunofficial overclocking, saved as > all files > save. Still goes back to 850 when I aim for 1000 and hit apply. Same thing happened with my 4890.


Same problem....


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jeffro422*


Same problem....


This should fix it -

Quote:



On some systems you may get an error when you try to save the MSIAfterburner.cfg file. First make sure Afterburner is fully closed, including the icon in the system tray. If this does not help, you need to take ownership of the file before editing it. The easiest way to do this is to follow this guide. Once you have done that, right click on MSIAfterburner.cfg and click 'Take Ownership' from the context menu. Then open up the file in wordpad follow the procedure in Step 2 and save it. If you still receive an error message, describe it in a reply to this thread.


----------



## Jeffro422

Quote:



Originally Posted by *coffeejunky*


This should fix it -


Got everything correct but my problem now isn't even pushing the clocks back, when I set the value to 1 and save, open afterburner and I can change the voltage but if I overclock/underclock even 1mhz my computer freezes....Any ideas?


----------



## BADFASTBUSA

Nice guide man, wish you had a rep button!


----------



## chewbert

Hmm ok so i read a thread saying afterburner wouldn't work with a particular card because the card did not have a voltage controller. How do i determine if my card has a controller or not. I have a sapphire 1gb HD 4850(ver. 2.0).

Maybe I am just overloading my brain with too much info while i wait for the ups guy, but i thought msi afterburner would still work regardless but the voltage controller would allow yo more OC headroom as, of coarse, you can adjust the voltage levels. Have I completely failed to understand this process?









BTW thanks for the guide, already printed out in case everything on my rig does work out.


----------



## Ckaz

Everything was working well for me, then I changed a setting through GPU Tool and now I've sort of got the same problem again.

Now, whenever I start my comp from being shutdown, my GPU fan starts at like 27%. Before, it would start at stock fifty%, but now I think it is assigning a fan speed on the basis of my temps.
Also, my OC'd settings reset when I boot up, but then when I open CCC, all of a sudden my fan speed is back where I had set it to, and my OC settings are back where I set it to, not just in CCC but in GPUTool as well.

Any recommendations?

EDIT: Nevermind, I guess I'm just extremely stupid. Only now did I notice the option to "apply overclocking settings at startup". So I saved a profile, and checked off that box, and now I'm good!


----------



## Jeffro422

When I saw this thread I was so happy because finally I could surpass the stock clocks, unfortunately for me no matter what I did enabling unofficial overclocking cause my system to freeze.

This seems like a great idea for most anyone trying to overclock beyond stock limits but for me I had to flash to the asus bios, which fortunately went well so my woes are over.

Thanks for the help though


----------



## H-man

GPU tool says Volt control isn't changeable on my XFX 4850, Is there a way for me to over volt it without a soldering iron?


----------



## Markisa

Using this MSI afterburner screwed my system up so bad. I'd advise everyone to stay away from this. . had to go into safemode and disable CCC as a startup item because the second I started up I instacrashed. HT flood error. My CCC is still screwed bad, I think I am going to have to reinstall drivers. Reinstalling my drivers means redoing my entire setup... this really set me back : /

Going to try to just reinstall CCC itself and not my display drivers.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *chewbert* 
Hmm ok so i read a thread saying afterburner wouldn't work with a particular card because the card did not have a voltage controller. How do i determine if my card has a controller or not. I have a sapphire 1gb HD 4850(ver. 2.0).

Maybe I am just overloading my brain with too much info while i wait for the ups guy, but i thought msi afterburner would still work regardless but the voltage controller would allow yo more OC headroom as, of coarse, you can adjust the voltage levels. Have I completely failed to understand this process?









BTW thanks for the guide, already printed out in case everything on my rig does work out.

As far as I know the 4850 does not have the correct VRM setup to allow voltage adjustment (you will be able to tell because the slider will be grayed out). You could try looking into a pencil mod for your card, but you need to be proficient with a multimeter and as yours looks to be non-reference you may have a hard time finding one.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jeffro422* 
When I saw this thread I was so happy because finally I could surpass the stock clocks, unfortunately for me no matter what I did enabling unofficial overclocking cause my system to freeze.

This seems like a great idea for most anyone trying to overclock beyond stock limits but for me I had to flash to the asus bios, which fortunately went well so my woes are over.

Thanks for the help though

Hrm...Sorry you had issues with it, but glad you could get it sorted out afterall.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Idiot* 
GPU tool says Volt control isn't changeable on my XFX 4850, Is there a way for me to over volt it without a soldering iron?

Well, you could try a pencil mod, as above you will need to know how to use a multimeter and it's easier with a reference card. If your card is non-reference, these guys may help you find a pencil mod for it.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Markisa* 
Using this MSI afterburner screwed my system up so bad. I'd advise everyone to stay away from this. . had to go into safemode and disable CCC as a startup item because the second I started up I instacrashed. HT flood error. My CCC is still screwed bad, I think I am going to have to reinstall drivers. Reinstalling my drivers means redoing my entire setup... this really set me back : /

Going to try to just reinstall CCC itself and not my display drivers.

Sorry to hear that, I'm surprised that happened, as Afterburner is just a pretty skin for Rivatuner, a pretty stable tool. There could have been some kind of underlying driver issue there beforehand.


----------



## [CyGnus]

What is the max voltage and temperature to run in a 5870? i am now at 975core 1.26v and 63ÂºC in folding is this too much?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *[CyGnus]* 
What is the max voltage and temperature to run in a 5870? i am now at 975core 1.26v and 63ÂºC in folding is this too much?

Temperatures, you can go up to 100*C but try your best to keep it below 80*C. As for voltage 1.275v is the most I would recommend for 24/7 folding, but 1.3v should be safe (ASUS cover this voltage under warranty).


----------



## [CyGnus]

Thanks for the info


----------



## Ves

Thank you for creating this thread. Very good stuff to save up for later. A definite help in understanding OCing better.


----------



## H-man

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coffeejunky* 

Well, you could try a pencil mod, as above you will need to know how to use a multimeter and it's easier with a reference card. If your card is non-reference, these guys may help you find a pencil mod for it.

Will I be able to RMA it with XFX if I fry it? (With my luck I would Manage to make it teleport into a Puddle)
I have A DMM that has Ohm, Volt, Amp, and thermometer capibility and a mecanical Pencil, are these acceptable for a pencil mod?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Idiot* 
Will I be able to RMA it with XFX if I fry it? (With my luck I would Manage to make it teleport into a Puddle)
I have A DMM that has Ohm, Volt, Amp, and thermometer capibility and a mecanical Pencil, are these acceptable for a pencil mod?

Should be good, normal pencil is preferred, preferably 2B although good old HB should be fine








You just need a steady hand and patience added to that list.
XFX don't mind volt-mods, provided you restore the card back to the original condition (erase the pencil







)


----------



## IamWedge

Nice write up I started playing around with my card last night.


----------



## H-man

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coffeejunky* 
Should be good, normal pencil is preferred, preferably 2B although good old HB should be fine








You just need a steady hand and patience added to that list.
XFX don't mind volt-mods, provided you restore the card back to the original condition (erase the pencil







)

Good, Did XFX sell any Reference cards? http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/2...24.080908.html
That is the Bios I want to Cross flash it to.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Idiot* 
Good, Did XFX sell any Reference cards?

Hrm...not sure. I'm pretty sure they didn't, as I never saw a cruddy single slot version 4850 by XFX.


----------



## H-man

Dam, I guess I can't cross flash?


----------



## __Pat__

I have a question.
To what degree is the stability of each of the two clocks related?
For example if I can run my card at 900/1300 gpu/vram. If I push the gpu clock to 1000 and see it's unstable, will down-clocking my vram to 1100 for example help with the stability? Or is the stability of each one not that dependent on the other?

(Edited question)


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *__Pat__* 
I have a question.
To what degree is the stability of each of the two clocks related?
For example if I can run my card at 900/1300 gpu/vram. If I push the gpu clock to 1000 and see it's unstable, will down-clocking my vram to 1100 for example help with the stability? Or is the stability of each one not that dependent on the other?

(Edited question)

They are largely independent of each other. Only time you may possibly notice a difference is if your VRM circuitry is near its limits, even then I would doubt it.


----------



## __Pat__

I see. Thank you.


----------



## telamascope

GPUTool seems really buggy to me... It's telling me that my clocks are -1 and -1.

Any idea why this would happen?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *telamascope* 
GPUTool seems really buggy to me... It's telling me that my clocks are -1 and -1.

Any idea why this would happen?

Could be unsupported drivers. Are you on the latest 10.1's. Either way, all it has to do is scan for artifacts, so as long as that portion works it should be fine (if that doesn't just test with some games and look out for messed up textures).


----------



## z4520ft

how to know the volt limit for a card?

and if i flash the bios to MSI, does it make my card fully support volt control or there's still hardware limitation such as voltage controller, etc?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *z4520ft*


how to know the volt limit for a card?

and if i flash the bios to MSI, does it make my card fully support volt control or there's still hardware limitation such as voltage controller, etc?


Well, I wouldn't go any higher than 1.3v 24/7. It's hard to say to you exactly what will damage your card, as we don't have time on our side. However ASUS uses this as the limitation on their warranty.
If you cannnot adjust the voltage on your card currently, it's either a BIOS limitation or you don't have the right PWM setup on that specific card. I know the MSI 5670 supports voltage control, but I would be a little uneasy recommending a BIOS flash to MSI unless you are very proficient with the flashing process. If the card differs from your card quite drastically it could brick the card.


----------



## kora04

afterburner wont go past 700mhz!
its the same limit as CCC!

HELP!


----------



## HothBase

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kora04* 
afterburner wont go past 700mhz!
its the same limit as CCC!

HELP!

Have you read step 2?

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coffeejunky* 
Navigate to the folder you installed it to (usually C:\\Program Files (x86)\\MSI Afterburner) and open the MSIAfterburner.cfg file using Wordpad. Find the following setting:

Code:



Code:


EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 0

and change it to:

Code:



Code:


EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 1

This will allow us to bypass the limitation that stops you from passing the limits of ATi Overdrive (This tip was found on HWBot news).


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HothBase*


Have you read step 2?










What this man said. As an addition to that, some users may have to do the following -

Quote:



On some systems you may get an error when you try to save the MSIAfterburner.cfg file. First make sure Afterburner is fully closed, including the icon in the system tray. If this does not help, you need to take ownership of the file before editing it. The easiest way to do this is to follow this guide. Once you have done that, right click on MSIAfterburner.cfg and click 'Take Ownership' from the context menu. Then open up the file in wordpad follow the procedure in Step 2 and save it. If you still receive an error message, describe it in a reply to this thread.


----------



## z4520ft

Quote:



Originally Posted by *coffeejunky*


I know the MSI 5670 supports voltage control, but I would be a little uneasy recommending a BIOS flash to MSI unless you are very proficient with the flashing process. If the card *differs* from your card quite drastically it could brick the card.


i know that msi uses custom layout for the pcb so there might be some hardware changes from reference card. is this what you mean by 'differs'? or it's something to do in the card's bios like clocks or volts


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *z4520ft*


i know that msi uses custom layout for the pcb so there might be some hardware changes from reference card. is this what you mean by 'differs'? or it's something to do in the card's bios like clocks or volts










Yeah I meant hardware differences, such as using different RAM or VRMs. If they are different the flash will fail. As far as different clocks that shouldn't matter as long as the card to be flashed is stable at those clocks (if it isn't and it doesn't insta-crash you can always underclock it using software or RBE)


----------



## z4520ft

oh, i get it now. thx


----------



## bhstr99

Hey I got a ATI Radeon HD 3200 intergated graphics card
at the moment this is what the clocks and memory thing shows


















What do you guys think the max Core Clock and Memory clock can go to? because I'm scared to overclock and its my first attempt









My current temps for my GPU are like 45 degrees when I'm gaming.

Thanks for your time!


----------



## jonesyy

When I try to run MSI Afterburner I get the following error

"Failed to initialize display driver wrapper" Then it doesnt run

Anyone have any ideas?


----------



## bobbavet

Thankyou heaps for this thread from an exNvidia fan. Joined the red tide at least til Fermi 2. lol


----------



## monographix

i am new to ATI, with a nice cool Sapphire 5850. I really like to avoid the hassle of having to use two-three applications to O/C and struggle to keep powerplay. Some are suggesting me to flash to ASUS 5850 or even better 5870 (.... scary) Maybe the 1.5 AB does it all without the use of AMD GPUTool ?

Also , what are the suggested voltages per clocks ? eg what voltage for 850, 900, 1000

Thanks


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *monographix* 
i am new to ATI, with a nice cool Sapphire 5850. I really like to avoid the hassle of having to use two-three applications to O/C and struggle to keep powerplay. Some are suggesting me to flash to ASUS 5850 or even better 5870 (.... scary) Maybe the 1.5 AB does it all without the use of AMD GPUTool ?

Also , what are the suggested voltages per clocks ? eg what voltage for 850, 900, 1000

Thanks

Really there is no easy fix. Every card will vary quite dramatically, so it's difficult to say what clocks your should be stable at at what voltages. Really it's not that difficult or time consuming, and it really is the best way of doing it. In my opinion flashing BIOS is far more effort than using afterburner with GPUTool.
I believe evga are working on a new program that should integrate stress testing, artifact scanning and overclocking, but this is nowhere near ready (not even in beta) and theres no concrete guarantee it will work with ATi.
I know it's probably not what you want to hear, but thats my


----------



## monographix

i just tried AB 1.5 and it seems to be doing everything-in-one.

1. Successfully unlocked voltage
2. Powerplay retained through auto profile switching 2D/3D (nice)
3. Auto fan control curve works great
4. It seems to retain the O/C settings 
5. Incorporates Kombustor for O/C stress test and artifact scanning (if i got it right as it looks identical to GPUTool)

Now, i OC right away at 900/1200 with 1.25V. I read somewhere that 5850 go to 1000/1200 with 1.35, so i thought 1.25 is safe (is it?) and since i read also that it runs stable at 850 with 1.162. Kombustor and rthdl seem fine, no issues so far. What you think?

And to what settings should i leave CCC OverDrive at ? disable OD ? or it doesnt matter what i have in the CCC OD panel ?


----------



## greggtr316

anyone know why i do not see anything in gpu tool? i do not see any clock speeds etc. all i see is the 5800 series thing at the top and i can run the test for stability


----------



## drummerstix11

I just used ATI Tool to Overclock an old laptop's x1300 Mobile. Core went from 200MHz to 499MHz (That's a 60% overclock), I can touch 550, but I get a few artifacts and Way more heat. I also used RivaTuner to take my XFX 4650 from 500MHz Core to 750MHz and my memory (1 GB DDR2) from 450MHz to 625MHz Stable, no artifacts can probably go further.

Loving my ATI cards vs. my old nVidia 9500GT and 9800GS. With my 9500GT I couldnt clock it more than 75MHz over stock, I get +250 on core and +175 on my Radeon. Sweet.


----------



## Freija

I was just playing around and I somehow ended up with a 150% overclock...

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/vrz8n/

Yeah, that ain't right is it?
It states my default clock is 400 MHz when it -should- be 725 MHz.


----------



## Dream Killer

I have a great trick that I stumbled on (I don't think it's in any of the guides).

Sometimes you can't stop the card from freaking out if you overshoot too high - even if you back down the clocks to stock. Normally people would reboot and everything will be fine. All you need to really do is reboot the video card.

What you do is turn on "Repost Video on S3 resume" in your BIOS. Most mobos have this, even low end ones. When you fail an OC and can't recover when you go back to stock, just hit sleep on your OS. Make sure you wait until the PC goes into full sleep mode, then turn your PC back on. Your video card will go reboot itself and all will be well again.










Saves a lot of time for me and this works with any make video card.


----------



## Rpg2

How do you guys check for when you've hit max oc for 5800 series memory? I ask since the 5800 series has error detection on the RAM so I don't think I'll see any artifacts due to this feature.


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Rpg2*


How do you guys check for when you've hit max oc for 5800 series memory? I ask since the 5800 series has error detection on the RAM so I don't think I'll see any artifacts due to this feature.


Well, FPS starts to drop instead of increase past a certain memory frequency on my 5770.


----------



## telamascope

Quote:


Originally Posted by *greggtr316* 
anyone know why i do not see anything in gpu tool? i do not see any clock speeds etc. all i see is the 5800 series thing at the top and i can run the test for stability

It doesn't recognize 5xxx series properly yet... It won't report clocks, but you can still use the stability test like you said.


----------



## Rpg2

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HothBase* 
Well, FPS starts to drop instead of increase past a certain memory frequency on my 5770.

Thanks, +Rep. May I ask what you used to test this/figure this out? GPU Too,l or something else?

Also, going from 1000Mhz on the memory, for me, dropped my FPS in GPU Tool by ~8 frames, but after that it would slowly increase by ~1-2 every 10Mhz until 1160Mhz on the memory, Which caused artifacts from the core.

At that point, I had to drop the core from 985 to 970 to keep stability. Pushed the memory up to 1250Mhz (1253 in Afterburner, but 1250 as reported by monitoring tools), GPU Tool seems to increase in avg FPS consistently throughout, but it drops 1-2 FPS every once in a while during artifact scans. Ex: normally 249.5 to 250.3 as frame ticker jumps, but there will be the occasional 245-247 frame reading for a second before it goes back up. Same for Call of Pripyat, I go from 46-47 FPS standing still to about 43-44 or so. If at stock mem clocks, It hovers at a much more consistent 40-41.

Can anyone comment on this?


----------



## HothBase

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Rpg2* 
Thanks, +Rep. May I ask what you used to test this/figure this out? GPU Too,l or something else?

Yup, GPU Tool








Performance starts going downhill past 1375 so I run 1365 to be safe.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Rpg2* 
Ex: normally 249.5 to 250.3 as frame ticker jumps, but there will be the occasional 245-247 frame reading for a second before it goes back up.

My card does the same, even at stock.


----------



## Gib007

Hello all, just found this thread and am going for it. My card is an XFX ATI Radeon 5870 XXX 1GB card. The stock clock speeds for this card are 875/1300. Up to now I've got 940MHz GPU pretty stable. 950MHz eventually leads to a few artifacts. Still haven't tried upping the memory though - will do this after.

My question is, has anyone tried upping the voltage with MSI Afterburner?
My GPU temperature doesn't go above 44Â°C and my VDDC temperatures don't go above 65Â°C (this is at 940MHz, stability testing with GPUTool). This is my cooling setup though:


































I have four 120mm fans (each 77.7 CFM) blowing in air from the side, just over the graphics card. There's also a 230mm fan blowing in air from the front. As exhaust I have an 140mm fan in the rear (63 CFM) and three 120mm fans (each 77.7 CFM) on the top. My GPU cooling is a Thermalright HR-03-GT GPU cooler with an Asetek High-Performance (67 CFM) 92mm fan. The GPU cooler is mounted on the GPU with IC Diamond 7 Carat thermal compound and all chips on the card have heatsinks.


----------



## Rpg2

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HothBase*


Yup, GPU Tool








Performance starts going downhill past 1375 so I run 1365 to be safe.

My card does the same, even at stock.


Good to know it's normal for frames to jump a little bit! Do you happen to get any microstuttering in games? I seem to get a bit more stuttering/quick freezes for Call of Pripyat at 1250Mhz compared to 1000Mhz. More of those split second frame dips.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Gib007*


Hello all, just found this thread and am going for it. My card is an XFX ATI Radeon 5870 XXX 1GB card. The stock clock speeds for this card are 875/1300. Up to now I've got 940MHz GPU pretty stable. 950MHz eventually leads to a few artifacts. Still haven't tried upping the memory though - will do this after.

My question is, has anyone tried upping the voltage with MSI Afterburner?
My GPU temperature doesn't go above 44Â°C and my VDDC temperatures don't go above 65Â°C (this is at 940MHz, stability testing with GPUTool). This is my cooling setup though:


Everyone here uses overvolts through Afterburner.









The cards can take up to 1.3V in Afterburner. Keep the Core temp under 75C and VRMs under 85C-ish or so. The components can really take a beating with max temperature limit at around 100-110C for all components, iirc.

VRM temps jump quite a bit as you increase the voltage compared to the core. Just keep an eye on those with GPU-Z.


----------



## Maris

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gib007* 









.

nazi pc?







*lol @ coolers*

anyway nice rig but dont try to up memory higher ot it will artifact hard

i say try up 1ghz core and leave the memory at 1300 stock


----------



## Gib007

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Maris* 
nazi pc?







*lol @ coolers*

anyway nice rig but dont try to up memory higher ot it will artifact hard

i say try up 1ghz core and leave the memory at 1300 stock

Hahahaha I went overboard with fans, I know.. LOL
I can now happily sit beside my PC for a nice breeze of air coming out the top and from beneath my table, hahaha.

Fair enough about the memory. Perhaps this is why I couldn't seem to get any overclock working in DiRT 2 when I was testing. All my overclocks involved faster memory. I will do that - keep the memory at 1300MHz and just up the GPU. 980MHz seemed stable in GPUTool so I'll go for that first and if it works I'll work up from there. My stock voltage is 1.162V but I've got reports that it can take up to 1.35V or so safely so I might just up mine a bit noting that 1.30V should be more or less where to stop.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Rpg2* 
Everyone here uses overvolts through Afterburner.









The cards can take up to 1.3V in Afterburner. Keep the Core temp under 75C and VRMs under 85C-ish or so. The components can really take a beating with max temperature limit at around 100-110C for all components, iirc.

VRM temps jump quite a bit as you increase the voltage compared to the core. Just keep an eye on those with GPU-Z.

Fair do's, thank you, I will do that. 1.30V will be my absolute personal limit but I'll try to keep it under in accordance to temperatures. Someone in a thread I created pointed out that my VRMs were not covered with heatsinks and that I had a heatsink somewhere useless (on top of a plastic case with a sticker). How dumb of me! hahaha
So now it's ok. I've got all the VRMs covered up nicely!


----------



## HomeTeam

Great OC guide, much thanks for providing this info. I'd never OCed a video card before. Followed this guide with my new ASUS 5870 (stock 850 core 1000 memory), and got it to 1000 Core @ 1.267v 1300 memory. The stock fan maintains 65c a 67%.

Running the stess test in GPU Tool I do notice a considerable variance in frame rate from one session to another. I have averaged as high as 250 FPS and as low as 226 FPS. Can't make sense outa that...

Also, after using MSI Afterburner to get thru the OC process yesterday, played some BFBC2 for several hours. Now today, BFBC2 won't startup with Afterburner running. Anythoughts on this? Is there potential for Afterburner to conflict with CCC or ASUSes SmartDoctor????


----------



## Zen00

I'm currently OCing my 5770 to about 900/1300 with 1.149v. I hit 76C while running GPU-Tool stability testing. No artifacts after 20 minutes so I think I'm stable. This is with the fan running at about 50%. I was wondering if needing to up the voltage to hit this point is normal, and should I up the fan speed to reduce temperatures a bit?


----------



## thisispatrick

I have just started OC'ing my 5870 as well and I have a quick question. On the GPU tool render, I see like the errors which goes away pretty quick maybe ranging from 1-8 pixel/mega pixel (didn't see it, it flashed away really quick), but I don't see any artifacting on the thing itself (as in the yellow dots), can I still push higher?

I'm currently at 980/1200(Doing mem in a few) at 1.162v


----------



## eternal7trance

If you get a couple errors in the beginning and then it's ok for a while like 5-10 minutes then yea you're ok. Mine will sometimes error in the beginning and keep going fine after for 30+ minutes. I can play games just fine as well with my OC on the 5850.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *thisispatrick*


I have just started OC'ing my 5870 as well and I have a quick question. On the GPU tool render, I see like the errors which goes away pretty quick maybe ranging from 1-8 pixel/mega pixel (didn't see it, it flashed away really quick), but I don't see any artifacting on the thing itself (as in the yellow dots), can I still push higher?

I'm currently at 980/1200(Doing mem in a few) at 1.162v


If you don't see any yellow dots you should be good. As always the real test of stability will be gaming, if you notice a massive FPS drop while overclocked or games crash or artifact that is a sure sign that its not stable. The GPUTool just helps you narrow it down a bit more.


----------



## firstchoicett

thanks great review and guide.


----------



## Special Ed

I have a 5970 I will overclock as soon as I know my i7 920 OC is stable. I would like to bump my core voltage to something a little higher. I have a air cooling - any suggested reasonably safe voltage numbers for the 5970?


----------



## Le_Loup

I know i'm posting here and in my own question thread, but is these temps right? I'm using a mega laptop custom fan cooler, but.. really?


----------



## Dnic41

Excellent guide. Was able to OC my XFX 5850 to 950/1200 1.2v no problem.


----------



## Special Ed

Well no voltage suggestions for the 5970







How about cooling suggestions? When I bump up the speed to the card and push it the tiny fan sounds like a tornado. Are you guys using any special 59** cooling set up. I don't think there is any 3rd party stuff out there yet.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Special Ed*


Well no voltage suggestions for the 5970







How about cooling suggestions? When I bump up the speed to the card and push it the tiny fan sounds like a tornado. Are you guys using any special 59** cooling set up. I don't think there is any 3rd party stuff out there yet.


I'd keep it below 1.3v but temps may limit you before that. As for after market air cooling there isn't anything out yet AFAIK...Arctic Cooling have one planned soon though.


----------



## Dark

I've got a problem...

I close MSI AB, setup the .cfg to enable additional overclocking, and save it.

As soon as I open MSI AB my system freezes.

I reboot, shortly after I log in I get the BSOD. I reboot in to safemode, change the .cfg back to 0, reboot, and all is well.

Any ideas? MSI AB works perfectly fine without the modified cfg.

Video cards: 2x XFX HD5770 (CF, w/ bridge)
MB: Asus P5E
PSU: Corsair 750w
O/S: Windows 7 Ult x64


----------



## Special Ed

Quote:



Originally Posted by *coffeejunky*


I'd keep it below 1.3v but temps may limit you before that. As for after market air cooling there isn't anything out yet AFAIK...Arctic Cooling have one planned soon though.


Thanks, I see the Arctic Cooler fan(s) will be available in May for the 5970. They look pretty cool also, I hope they don't mess up the form factor making a crossfire set up difficult down the road. Since heat spikes up so much with small overclocks and these cards are not that cheap. I think I'll run at stock for a few months.


----------



## Sast

Hi,

First of all I'd like to say what an awesome guide, massive thumbs up for all the time and effort you have put in.

Now to my question, I'm building up a new gaming rig, and with everything added I'll be spending in the region of Â£1500, now i've never done any OCing before so I'm scared to death of screwing up and ruining the whole rig, is this guide totally safe as long as I follow the steps carefully and only change settings in tiny (10mhz) amounts?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Sast*


Hi,

First of all I'd like to say what an awesome guide, massive thumbs up for all the time and effort you have put in.

Now to my question, I'm building up a new gaming rig, and with everything added I'll be spending in the region of Â£1500, now i've never done any OCing before so I'm scared to death of screwing up and ruining the whole rig, is this guide totally safe as long as I follow the steps carefully and only change settings in tiny (10mhz) amounts?


The guide is safe provided you do not increase the voltage and keep the temperatures below 90*C or so. 
Increasing voltage will likely decrease the overall lifespan of the component...Not that that's really an issue for most of us who don't need our PCs to last >10 yrs but its a matter of balancing the risk vs reward. If you are happy to take the small risk, increase the voltage by all means (provided you keep below a safe figure of 1.25-1.3v you shouldn't kill anything). Don;t let that put you off, but it's the standard warning. If overclocking at stock volts does kill a component its likely it was faulty/weak in some way anyway, the only thing is that saying you have overclocked when RMAing will likely void your warranty, so its up to you whether you mention it.


----------



## amir90

Thanks for the guide m8, I however have a few questions.

Just a little bit history first.
I got my computer a year ago, at idle the GPU was at 75C, which was according to the company I bought it from totally normal, as it was a dual GPU, but only recently did I change the fan speed via CCC from 27% default to 40%, the result was amazing, dropping from 70-75C to around 43C.
I however discovered at the very beginning another increase in fan speed should be required in games, therefore I have it on 60% while gaming, which keeps the temp at less then 80 under 100% GPU usage, which is around 20 less then before.

My first attempt to OC my GPU was via Ati Overdrive, I pushed it to max (after using similliar techniques by adding 10 mhz and check temp).
And the result was very good while playing Crysis warhead, the temp just about never reached 82C at 100% usage, after that I got quite happy about the result, however, as GPU heavy as Crysis is, I couldn't really tell if there was any noticably difference.
Though a less heavy game might be easier to spot.

As how big of an improvement can one expect after increasing both with 100Mhz?

anyways, after trying your method, I had arteficts after just increasing 50Mhz, which was weird as while playing I received none, both at 50Mhz and 100Mhz.

What does this mean?
Any tips?








(yes I have done everything correctly regarding multi gpu issues.)

also, i noticed from rivatuner hardware monitor that increasing Mhz in Afterburner would increase the GPU usage before the stability test, is this normal?

Because when I increased in ati overdrive, it would only go as high, if required, and not on idle as afterburner did.

thanks for the guide, I hope you will respond!


----------



## freddy-b

i cant go higher than 921mhz on my 5870...

and iam new to Ati OCing dose anyone have a guide with voltages...? how much voltage i increase every 10mhz...?

thanks for the guide!


----------



## buffalofloyd

I curious about a lot of this as well. Nice guide by the way! I have downloaded the GPU tool and used it to stress test my GPU. I have also downloaded Furmark 1.8.0 and had some mixed results.

I have a XFX 5870 and have a nice stable overclock (it seems so far) at 1.187v 975/1275. It gets stable results in the GPU tool and Furmark and my games don't seem to crash. Is this a decent overclock for this card? I see others that have them clocked quite a bit higher but I can't seem to get it stable. I am afraid to up the voltage any higher than 1.200 as I am not sure what is really safe.

At which point might you want to start increasing the voltage relative to increasing the core and memory clocks? I know every card is different but a general guide must be lurking... possibly?

Another thing I wanted to mention is about the testing with GPU tool and Furmark. Furmark seems to really test your GPU more than the GPU tool does. I can significantly raise my clocks and pass a stress test in GPU tool but fail within the first few seconds of using Furmark. Is Furmark really that good of a tool to use for stress testing or does it possibly over stress? Or, the same goes for GPU tool... is it possible GPU tool doesn't stress enough?


----------



## SuperMagus

Quote:


Originally Posted by *buffalofloyd* 
I curious about a lot of this as well. Nice guide by the way! I have downloaded the GPU tool and used it to stress test my GPU. I have also downloaded Furmark 1.8.0 and had some mixed results.

I have a XFX 5870 and have a nice stable overclock (it seems so far) at 1.187v 975/1275. It gets stable results in the GPU tool and Furmark and my games don't seem to crash. Is this a decent overclock for this card? I see others that have them clocked quite a bit higher but I can't seem to get it stable. I am afraid to up the voltage any higher than 1.200 as I am not sure what is really safe.

At which point might you want to start increasing the voltage relative to increasing the core and memory clocks? I know every card is different but a general guide must be lurking... possibly?

Another thing I wanted to mention is about the testing with GPU tool and Furmark. Furmark seems to really test your GPU more than the GPU tool does. I can significantly raise my clocks and pass a stress test in GPU tool but fail within the first few seconds of using Furmark. Is Furmark really that good of a tool to use for stress testing or does it possibly over stress? Or, the same goes for GPU tool... is it possible GPU tool doesn't stress enough?

I don't see how you could increase the voltage because i have a xfx hd 5870 and i can't adjust the voltage with afterburner. I have already unlocked voltage control.


----------



## buffalofloyd

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SuperMagus* 
I don't see how you could increase the voltage because i have a xfx hd 5870 and i can't adjust the voltage with afterburner. I have already unlocked voltage control.

I can adjust the voltage in MSI Afterburner... that's what I'm using as well. Great little program btw. Did you set the "EnableUnofficialOverclocking" to 1 from 0 in the MSIAfterburner.cfg file? In order to open and edit the file you will have to right click on it and open it in notepad, which is what I did. Lemme know...


----------



## overcooked

I have really got to get a better graphics card .. My x1300 wont do spit....


----------



## Special Ed

Apparently the 5970 was built for 850 by 1200 mhz like the 5870 but they scaled it back for those with lesser power supplies.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...70,2474-3.html

I can get my card to 850 by 1200 stable but I have to up the voltage and am getting furmark temps of 90c.

Anyone else have a 5970 overclocked to 850x1200, if so, what voltage do you have?


----------



## Newbie2009

I don't seem to be able to unlock the unofficial overclocking(MSI AFTERBURNER). I opened the file as stated but I dont see it in there, help.


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Newbie2009*


I don't seem to be able to unlock the unofficial overclocking(MSI AFTERBURNER). I opened the file as stated but I dont see it in there, help.


That's odd, are you sure? I have the latest version and it's under right under [ATIADLHAL].
If you still can't find it, post your .cfg and let us see.








You could also try reinstalling the application ofc.


----------



## Newbie2009

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HothBase*


That's odd, are you sure? I have the latest version and it's under right under [ATIADLHAL].
If you still can't find it, post your .cfg and let us see.








You could also try reinstalling the application ofc.


Thanks man, downloaded the old version first for some dumb reason.


----------



## Addictedtokaos

Great tut. Just a suggestion - I find those little spinning donuts to push the newer GPUZ/VRAM enough for a true stability test.

I found if you want to be 3d FPS game stable you need to run the stability test found in OCCT.


----------



## rhiridflaidd

Genius guide. I've just finished installing my 5870 with a waterblock and it's hitting 36 degrees on furmark - but it just crashed after a while on a 980 core speed - so I need some volts.

So - what's the consneus on safe volts??

edit on 1.25 and it seems happy with 990. I'll let it run a while


----------



## rhiridflaidd

I sem to be soft crashing at 1275v and 1070hz, so dropping down to 1050 - which is not bad at all and far better than I was lead to expect.

We'll see how the stability testing goes. But I'm certainly stable at 1ghz.

Bah I was using furmark. GPU tool is far far better, and was shouwing instabilities far quicker.

But 1030 seems sound.

Easiest overclock ever. Thanks a lot for the guide


----------



## Tatakai All

Thank you very much CoffeeJunky!!! I would always get the denied error when saving the value in wordpad, but now it's all changed and I'm ready to oc my 5870. I'd give you +rep but there isn't an option for it. Regardless, thank you again!


----------



## rhiridflaidd

Ok this is insane.

I was thinking that my system was tunning a bit quiet - it turns out that no wonder I was crashing after 2h bfbc2 - I had dislodged my radiator's fan connection when I installed my 5870.

So now I furmark at 40 - with the vddc's also at 40 at stock. the vddci hits 47.

Right- so now let's see what I can do.....!


----------



## zalittle

No matter how I use any of the oc programs you have suggested, I follow the instructions to the T and still my pc crashes on reboot. I have the most updated drivers and bios for my XFX 5850 card. My clocks now are 775/1125. They are quite decent, but every time I try to use all the different programs to go beyond the clocks in ATI overdrive I get a blue screen or lockups. I did everything you said and still no luck.


----------



## Syfoon

I'm having some issues









I've got a PowerColor 5670 1GB, but I'm using Eyefinity for 2 displays, so it uses 400mhz in 2D mode instead of the usual 157mhz.

Whenever I up the clocks from stock in either CCC or Afterburner, the card seems to forget it needs 400mhz to run both displays which makes both monitors flicker oddly.

Any help anyone? I'm new to all this


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Syfoon*


I'm having some issues









I've got a PowerColor 5670 1GB, but I'm using Eyefinity for 2 displays, so it uses 400mhz in 2D mode instead of the usual 157mhz.

Whenever I up the clocks from stock in either CCC or Afterburner, the card seems to forget it needs 400mhz to run both displays which makes both monitors flicker oddly.

Any help anyone? I'm new to all this










IIRC, this is a fairly common problem. Have you tried the latest drivers? If that doesn't fix the issue then I think you're simply gonna have to wait for ATi to fix it.

Edit: Or you could always force the card to run higher clocks 24/7.
Edit2: http://www.overclock.net/8581175-post14.html
That's how you do that with CCC. Note that the values in that post are for a 5770, but I think you get the idea.


----------



## Syfoon

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HothBase*


IIRC, this is a fairly common problem. Have you tried the latest drivers? If that doesn't fix the issue then I think you're simply gonna have to wait for ATi to fix it.

Edit: Or you could always force the card to run higher clocks 24/7.
Edit2: http://www.overclock.net/8581175-post14.html
That's how you do that with MSI Afterburner. Note that the values in that post are for a 5770, but I think you get the idea.


Superb, I was just looking inside a CCC profile, but didn't have a clue what was what









Still getting the odd bit of flickering though. I'll see if I can have a fiddle to try and get it a bit nicer.

Thanks!


----------



## DDin0

I'm sorry if this question was asked already. I browsed through the first 6 pages and I couldn't find anything about it.

Quote:



If you are using a 2xMolex to PCI-e power adaptor or are near the limits of the power output of your current PSU overclocking may not be recommended, as you overclock power draw can increase dramatically.


So if I have 2 cards in Crossfire on Corsair 650W TX which has 2 PCI-e connectors I shouldn't overclock 2nd card since I used both PCI-e connectors on 1st card and 2nd card is working on Molex to PCI-e adapter?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DDin0*


I'm sorry if this question was asked already. I browsed through the first 6 pages and I couldn't find anything about it.

So if I have 2 cards in Crossfire on Corsair 650W TX which has 2 PCI-e connectors I shouldn't overclock 2nd card since I used both PCI-e connectors on 1st card and 2nd card is working on Molex to PCI-e adapter?


It may be better if you could use one pci-e 6xpin in each card and one molex adaptor in each card. Provided the PSU is well within the reccomended spec for a crossfire setup if it is single rail it doesn't really matter too much, but of course a proper connector is always preferred.


----------



## DDin0

Quote:



Originally Posted by *coffeejunky*


It may be better if you could use one pci-e 6xpin in each card and one molex adaptor in each card. Provided the PSU is well within the reccomended spec for a crossfire setup if it is single rail it doesn't really matter too much, but of course a proper connector is always preferred.


Card is HD 5850.









Any advice where I should plug PCI-e connector, left or right looking at this picture?


----------



## buffalofloyd

Maybe someone here has advice for me regarding overclocking my x-fire setup with MSI Afterburner. I didn't have any problems with using one card and overclocking but now I am having some issues. To start, I have "enable unofficial overclocking" set to 1 in the .cfg file as I did before. I am also using a G15 keyboard with the monitoring enabled in the LCD display so I can see my temps, voltages, clocks and such.

My 1st GPU when idle is running at .949v 157/300MHz...
My 2nd GPU is running idle at .949v 850/1200MHz...

Any particular reason my 2nd GPU while idle is not running at 157/300MHz as well? This is the same whether I have synchronization enable or not. My top card seems to run about 8 degrees hotter than the lower card which I am sure is to be expected, no?

If I try to adjust the voltage manually on either card or increase the core or memory and then try to apply it, my computer freezes and I have to manually reboot and I get a notice of a BSOD after rebooting. Sometimes it will just go to a BSOD sayaing "MACHINE_CHECK_EXEMPTION" or something similar. Again, this is the same with synchronization enabled or disabled.

Both my video cards are identical makes and models. I have a feeling overclocking both card at the same time is difficult and they probably need to be adjusted individually but I can seem to do either in Afterburner. I just wonder if anyone out there has had a similar experience or a solution.

Thanks


----------



## bloads

so, when pushing the GPU, should we only look for particles, or also for errors in the bottom left?

i had a couple errors at 950 but i didn't see any particles so i backed it down to 940


----------



## MooMoo

How do I know which point to stop? I tried once to oc my card and ended it up with just artifacts. I didnt have artifacts on the test softwares but when gamed css there came problems, got lower points on furmark tests too. Also what is good balance/how much mhz for memory and the gpu?
*Also should I even try to oc my graphic card when my cpu ocing fails with this mobo?*

The guy at up me: you can fill your specs here http://www.overclock.net/specs.php?do=addsystem


----------



## Mariusz803

Fantastic guide, i'll ahve a go at OC'ing my 5970.

My only question is what would you guys recommend for tuning gpu voltages? The guide did not specify any preferred ones.

Thanks again.


----------



## yianni

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mariusz803*


Fantastic guide, i'll ahve a go at OC'ing my 5970.

My only question is what would you guys recommend for tuning gpu voltages? The guide did not specify any preferred ones.

Thanks again.


Msi afterburner


----------



## Mariusz803

Quote:


Originally Posted by *yianni* 
Msi afterburner

Okay sorry, I thought msi only tweaked your core and memory speeds.

Can I ask you if I need to have msi open in my task bar (constantly running) after I have overclocked? Or do you setup a profile with your core speeds and voltages that does not require msi to always be open?

Thanks again.


----------



## Squirrel

Hmm, I just installed my new 5850, it's a reference design card, but when starting Afterburner, I can't adjust the voltage...I thought that as long as it's a ref design card, it's possible to adjust the voltage?!









Edit: Never mind, looked through the settings and simply had to checkmark "Unlock voltage control"


----------



## MooMoo

I got my card running at 700/1125MHz without BIOS mods







I could try to BIOS mod my card because my temps are only max at 48c!







and that 48c is memory


----------



## digital_steve

I just wish it was possible to keep the memory voltage level set... i have to fire up XFX overvolt to turn it up to 1.15 on startup


----------



## Bamby

guys even after enabling voltage control, the AB doesn't record the voltage even if the slider was open, so how I raise my voltage? just hit the value I want in the box next to the slider and hit enter??????


----------



## MooMoo

you can try that, if it doesnt work with software you could also try bios modding.


----------



## Bamby

Thank you, working after enabling "enable voltage monitoring" as well


----------



## Owhat

Great guide! THANKS!

So... you NEVER want to mess with the voltages? Is that correct?


----------



## digital_steve

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Owhat* 
Great guide! THANKS!

So... you NEVER want to mess with the voltages? Is that correct?

You'll need too to clock it... from my reckoning anyway.


----------



## Owhat

Quote:


Originally Posted by *digital_steve* 
You'll need too to clock it... from my reckoning anyway.

I don't understand.


----------



## digital_steve

Me either
You need to change your voltages to overclock the card (past a certain point).


----------



## MooMoo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Owhat*


Great guide! THANKS!

So... you NEVER want to mess with the voltages? Is that correct?


Not correct, overclock to the max!


----------



## shrapner

ok quick question or two

following the guide, first thing i find is i don't have that option in my cfg file, is it safe to add it in?

also, my 5750 i find max core to be 810 w/o artifacts
but my frequency i can take up to 1430, anything higher than that it goes back to 1430, but even with it set that high i don't have any artifacts

so to get an estimate of what max's i could have on my card, what are some other peoples settings for this card?


----------



## XxDannyxX

this happens when i change the cfg file to 1 for the overclock thing..

when i go in afterburner after that and click apply to change ANYTHING including fan speed... BOOM instant computer freeze + blue screen. ***?


----------



## Davidsen

It could be your overclocked it too much?

If the new clocks were too high, it would surely crash. How high did you overclock it?


----------



## XxDannyxX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Davidsen* 
It could be your overclocked it too much?

If the new clocks were too high, it would surely crash. How high did you overclock it?

by 1.
even if i change fan speed it crashes. lol clicking apply BOOm instant bsod.. until i change back to 0


----------



## civilian_pr0ject

thanks for this, its not common knowledge that you can break the peaks on the limited BIOS cards! im in the process of overclocking now, like a charm.

started at my max of 775/1125. currently sitting at 865/1000 without a single artifact. i cant adjust voltage so im gonna stop at 900 and hope all is well before i go to the memory. been runing a test in gpu tool for 10 minutes and havent passed 63C love this card!









single most useful guide i have yet found

edit with results: i used unigine's heaven benchmark as my stability test going backward from my best achieved numbers. my final stable setting, at the moment, is 830/1245, versus 725/1000 and CCC's peak of 775/1125.

benchmark results from unigine heaven bench:
*stock* file:///C:/Users/Tim/Desktop/Tools/u...0610_1716.html
*830/1245* file:///C:/Users/Tim/Desktop/Tools/u...0610_1707.html

this is roughly a 16.5% performance increase!


----------



## function4

first post-
thanks for the info everyone.
question: is it possible to go higher than the 1300 MHz Memory Clock Max? I get no artifacts at 1300 with the new ATI Firepro v5800 ddr5

stock for ATI firepro v5800
Core: 690
Mem: 1000

maxed: 780
Mem: 1300 (max allowed in program)
[~70 C]

-function4


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *function4*


first post- 
thanks for the info everyone.
question: is it possible to go higher than the 1300 MHz Memory Clock Max? I get no artifacts at 1300 with the new ATI Firepro v5800 ddr5

stock for ATI firepro v5800
Core: 690
Mem: 1000

maxed: 780
Mem: 1300 (max allowed in program)
[~70 C]

-function4


Are you testing with 3DMark? The trouble with the 5 series is that it has ECC memory, so if you clock the memory too high it may not artifact, but will instead lose performance. So make sure you do some benchmark tests with 3DMark, if your score plummets then the memory clock is not stable.


----------



## MooMoo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *civilian_pr0ject*


benchmark results from unigine heaven bench:
*stock file:///C:/Users/Tim/Desktop/Tools/u...0610_1716.html
830/1245 file:///C:/Users/Tim/Desktop/Tools/u...0610_1707.html*


you are doing it wrong


----------



## Davidsen

Quote:


Originally Posted by *XxDannyxX* 
by 1.
even if i change fan speed it crashes. lol clicking apply BOOm instant bsod.. until i change back to 0

Have you tried re-installing MSI AB? And which version is it?


----------



## ocdocdocd

Since GPUTool doesn't work on my PC (Windows 7 incompatibility apparently) I'm going to try using OCCT instead since that seems pretty highly recommended across forums. What settings should I use in it for a 5970 though? I tried default shader values (0) and fullscreen 1920x1080 and that only got my utilization up to 99% on both cores. I would knock the shader value right up to the maximum of 8 and call it a day but the program says higher values aren't necessarily better. Another issue is that the program can't detect my GPU temps so if I use fullscreen I have no idea what my temps are until the test is over. You guys know of a way to fix the problem, or would it be possible to not use fullscreen but still get 100% utilization?

Also, is it safe to leave a program like OCCT running for 30 minutes? I know that furmark can literally kill a card if left running for too long, so do I run the same risk with OCCT?

Finally, as far as artifacting in games goes, how difficult is it to spot? Is it usually glaringly obvious where you can't possibly miss it, or can it be something like a very quick flash of a few black pixels where you have to stop and wonder if that's really an artifact or just a benign graphics glitch that's normal for the game?


----------



## civilian_pr0ject

Quote:



Originally Posted by *MooMoo*


you are doing it wrong










damnit, how did i miss that?

here we go


----------



## sundeath

Hi all. I'm a total noob when it comes to OC. I'm thinking of buying either a non-ref ASUS 5850 CuDirect or the Sapphire Vapor-X 5850 for my new rig.

As long as i follow the steps in the 1st post, the OC should go smoothly?

And how many increments should i up the voltage by each time? How will i know if the voltage i set is too high?

Do i set the clock and core speeds 1st or the voltage 1st?

If anything goes wrong somewhere in between the OC process, what should i do?

Thank you in advance!


----------



## thebigrobbyrob

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sundeath*


Hi all. I'm a total noob when it comes to OC. I'm thinking of buying either a non-ref ASUS 5850 CuDirect or the Sapphire Vapor-X 5850 for my new rig.

As long as i follow the steps in the 1st post, the OC should go smoothly?* It should*

And how many increments should i up the voltage by each time? How will i know if the voltage i set is too high?* See below.... also, i would over shoot the voltage (maybe 1.2 V depending on the clocks you want to get) then, once you find a stable OC, back down the voltage slowly until you get artifacts.*

Do i set the clock and core speeds 1st or the voltage 1st? *doesnt matter, however its recommended that you up the clocks till you get artifacts, then bump the voltage until you gain stablility*

If anything goes wrong somewhere in between the OC process, what should i do? *depends, if you freeze, just restart the comp. If you dont freeze, either back down the clock or up the voltage and try stability testing again.*

Thank you in advance!


One thing to consider if you want to OC considerably is that non-ref cards do not have voltage control. so my suggestion to you would be to seek out a reference card if you desire voltage control and, therefore, higher clocks. If you cant find a ref card (or flat out dont want a ref card), no worries, the guide still works for you (minus voltage control). Plus, some people can get 900/1200 on stock volts (not common, but happens).


----------



## sundeath

hey robbyrob, thanks alot. think i'll get a non ref card in case i do not want to OC. Most prob the powercolor PCS+ or the sapphire vapor-X. Which do u recommend, taking in account that i might not be OC it?


----------



## donk165

Thanks for the guide! I reached my goal so Im happy.

I still dont know what card I have







I looked at some reviews of Toxic 4890 and I have the PCB of a toxic with an 8 pin, but a stock 4890 OC cooler, and the clock speeds of OC. Flashed it to Toxic BIOS and its fine. Ive asked around, everyone elses OC models have 2 6 pins? :S



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


----------



## djsporting

Gonna try it out...


----------



## sundeath

hey d00ds, what would be a safe OC range for my Sapphire 5850 Toxic Edition? I'm not looking into extreme OC action. Just a mild OC will do for the moment


----------



## timf808

thx, nice guide! got my 5770 to 970/1380 on stock volts.. is that decent??

anyways i have a questions. so after OCing with afterburner, i click the apply at system startup, but it doesnt apply it? when i check my cpu-z it still have stock speeds.. why is this?


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *timf808*


thx, nice guide! got my 5770 to 970/1380 on stock volts.. is that decent??

anyways i have a questions. so after OCing with afterburner, i click the apply at system startup, but it doesnt apply it? when i check my cpu-z it still have stock speeds.. why is this?


Make sure that Afterburner is set to Start with Windows in Settings.
Also, try running an application that stresses the GPU and see if your clocks change, it could just be that your card downclocks to stock when there isn't much load.
By the way, GPU-Z is better than CPU-Z for this purpose.


----------



## digital_steve

Quote:



Originally Posted by *timf808*


thx, nice guide! got my 5770 to 970/1380 on stock volts.. is that decent??

anyways i have a questions. so after OCing with afterburner, i click the apply at system startup, but it doesnt apply it? when i check my cpu-z it still have stock speeds.. why is this?


Mine does that too... i find i have to click on the saved OC profile and click apply and all is good to go again.
Bit of a pain, but it works.


----------



## firepants

Maybe I'm missing something. I just downloaded MSI Afterburner and there is no .cfg file anywhere inside the folder. I'll just ignore the step for modding it and press on.

Just FYI.


----------



## Luass Hole

OP I love you soooo much!!!! I have the HIS reference 5870. It can't oc past 900 mhz. Thanks to you I can clock at 1001 / 1.237v makes a noticble difference in Crysis 1920/1080 . Thank you!!


----------



## Luass Hole

Quote:



Originally Posted by *firepants*


Maybe I'm missing something. I just downloaded MSI Afterburner and there is no .cfg file anywhere inside the folder. I'll just ignore the step for modding it and press on.

Just FYI.


FYI try turning on Hidden files and folders. Or look a little harder because it is most definitely there!!


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *firepants*


Maybe I'm missing something. I just downloaded MSI Afterburner and there is no .cfg file anywhere inside the folder. I'll just ignore the step for modding it and press on.

Just FYI.


It's the new Afterburner 1.6, it doesn't seem to have a MSIAfterburner.cfg file like the old versions do, and unofficial overclocking is enabled by default.


----------



## firepants

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Luass Hole*


FYI try turning on Hidden files and folders. Or look a little harder because it is most definitely there!!


I did, and it's not. Also, I have v 1.8.2. I don't see the adjustment sliders like OP has on the screenshot. I understand that I'm quite noobish at this, but the apps I have don't match anything in the guide.

i r quite confuz-ed.









Here's what I see on my screen. Nary a slider in sight. What is a helpless, ignernt newb to do?


----------



## HothBase

That's FurMark, not Afterburner. You either downloaded wrong or just launched the wrong app.

http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm


----------



## firepants

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HothBase* 
That's FurMark, not Afterburner. You either downloaded wrong or just launched the wrong app.

http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

Ok.I followed your link and selected "Download MSI Afterburner", which I did. I see the screen shots on their website. My app says Kombustor and looks nothing like them. Still confused.









----------
Update: I'm officially an idiot now. I totally overlooked the the OTHER file in the zipped folder. Yknow, the one that says "afterburner" in the name. geesh.


----------



## digital_steve

Unofficial overclocking on by default?
****... when i enable that in my current version of MSI AB it crashes the program!
Grr!


----------



## firepants

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Luass Hole* 
FYI try turning on Hidden files and folders. Or look a little harder because it is most definitely there!!

Mea culpa. I guess I need a newb guide to reading newb guides. See my last post.


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *digital_steve*


Unofficial overclocking on by default?
****... when i enable that in my current version of MSI AB it crashes the program!
Grr!


Then uninstall your version of Afterburner, delete the install folder and install the latest version.










Check it out, no .cfg and I'm still able to set clocks much higher than CCC's limits. I didn't even have unofficial oveclocking enabled with my previous version (I'm running my cards at stock) so it isn't the old config affecting the new install.


----------



## coffeejunky

I should probably check that out and update the guide


----------



## sundeath

hey all, can i use the auto tune function on my CCC? I'm using a sapphire 5850 toxic. how dooes the autotune on the CCC work?


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sundeath*


hey all, can i use the auto tune function on my CCC? I'm using a sapphire 5850 toxic. how dooes the autotune on the CCC work?


CCC's auto tune isn't very reliable. It's supposed to increase your clocks by a small amount and then test them for stability until it finds your card's limits and backs down a few MHz, but most of the time it just stops at much lower clocks than the card is capable of and sometimes it goes too far...

I'd just ignore it and use this guide instead if you want to overclock.


----------



## digital_steve

Does the shader clock become usable for anyone else running a 5970?
It's always been unusable for me


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *digital_steve*


Does the shader clock become usable for anyone else running a 5970?
It's always been unusable for me


There is no individual shader clock on ATi cards. That feature is only for nVidia owners.


----------



## digital_steve

That clears that up then! Nice one, thanks!


----------



## PuTanG

Should i be worried about getting 1 missplaced pixel every 30 or so seconds? I am OC'ing my xfx 5770 HD. I get the error when i place my core clock at 925mhz.


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *PuTanG*


Should i be worried about getting 1 missplaced pixel every 30 or so seconds? I am OC'ing my xfx 5770 HD. I get the error when i place my core clock at 925mhz.


Yes, you don't want any anomalies, it means the OC is unstable. Lower it or try raising the voltage a notch.


----------



## tiramoko

after i OC my ati 5850 to 820/1175 from 765/1125 last, my monitor turns black right now then after it return to normal again,there's a pop up says ati has recover some problem(forgot what really it says)


----------



## digital_steve

Is anyone running their 5970 above 850/1200 on the stock cooler?


----------



## ytsejam

How reliable are stability tests and benchmarks for gpus? Is it common have your gpu oc stable on stability tests / benchmarks and unstable when playing games?

My 5770 crossfire oc is stable on Kombustor stability test (15 minutes) and I can run 3d Mark Vantage benchmark with no problems whatsoever, but my system is freezing when playing games. I know is related to the gpu oc because I don't have this issue when I disable the overclock. I really don't know what to do.


----------



## klaxian

Hello. I am new here and I hope this is the correct place to post this question. I have searched and read as many related posts as I could find, but I could not find a clear solution to my problem.

I recently purchased an HIS Radeon HD 5850 with their iCooler V. The card runs great and stays very cool (60 degrees at max load / 50% fan). However, I would like to overclock it for more speed. The VGA BIOS appears to be limited to 775/1125 (core/memory) and the card is perfectly stable when overclocking to those speeds.

By using MSI AfterBurner 1.6 and enabling unofficial overclocking, I was able to get the card stable at 830/1300 at stock voltage. However (and here is my problem), the driver now crashes whenever playing flash videos (ie. 2D acceleration). In addition, ATI's PowerPlay technology for reducing power and speed when the card is not in use no longer functions correctly. The card will slow itself down often during active game play. These symptoms go away when staying under the 775/1125 limit even though it is above stock speeds.

Does anyone know how I can solve these problems? Do I need to flash my BIOS to something more flexible? If so, what would that be and how do I go about it? Or am I just stuck at 775/1125?

Thanks!


----------



## vicm1010

I have two cards at home. One is a ATI HD4650 and the other one is a Nvidia 8400gs. Both are 512mb. Now, stock, the ati card packs a core clock of 600 Mhz and a memory clock of 400 Mhz. The Nvidia card has a 567 Mhz core clock and has a 400 Mhz memory clock. Ati has a 128bit interface while the Nvidia has a 64bit interface only. According to riviatuner, I can overclock the ati card to 750 mhz core clock and the memory clock to 500 mhz while the nvidia card can be overclocked to a 850 mhz core clock and a 600 mhz memory clock. I currently have the ati oc with ati ccc at 705 mhz core and 540 mhz memory. Several guys in different forums and a guy at frys have stated that they were able to overclock the Nvidia card safely to a core clock of 800 mhz and its memory clock to 500 mhz. My question is, with this clock possibilities, which one is better? The ati card which has a 128 bit interface with lower oc numbers or the nvidia which has a 64 bit interface only but can be oc to higher clock settings then the ati card. Everybody I've asked, thinks the best one is the ati card stock. I haven't asked with the oc possibilities. The main question here is 128 interface with lower oc settings vs the 64 interface with higher oc settings. I know this cards are not high end gaming cards but given there limits, with the overclocking, they output good numbers.


----------



## vicm1010

Note: I'm well aware that these are ati hd5970 and possibly nvidia 480gtx quality numbers but, they are limited to ddr2 which make them quite slower than the above mentioned. These numbers are also stock for and well overclocked by nvidia gt9000 series or ati x1000 series cards also in ddr2 and now ddr3. If anything sounds incorrect, please correct me as believe I can never stop learning.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *vicm1010* 
I have two cards at home. One is a ATI HD4650 and the other one is a Nvidia 8400gs. Both are 512mb. Now, stock, the ati card packs a core clock of 600 Mhz and a memory clock of 400 Mhz. The Nvidia card has a 567 Mhz core clock and has a 400 Mhz memory clock. Ati has a 128bit interface while the Nvidia has a 64bit interface only. According to riviatuner, I can overclock the ati card to 750 mhz core clock and the memory clock to 500 mhz while the nvidia card can be overclocked to a 850 mhz core clock and a 600 mhz memory clock. I currently have the ati oc with ati ccc at 705 mhz core and 540 mhz memory. Several guys in different forums and a guy at frys have stated that they were able to overclock the Nvidia card safely to a core clock of 800 mhz and its memory clock to 500 mhz. My question is, with this clock possibilities, which one is better? The ati card which has a 128 bit interface with lower oc numbers or the nvidia which has a 64 bit interface only but can be oc to higher clock settings then the ati card. Everybody I've asked, thinks the best one is the ati card stock. I haven't asked with the oc possibilities. The main question here is 128 interface with lower oc settings vs the 64 interface with higher oc settings. I know this cards are not high end gaming cards but given there limits, with the overclocking, they output good numbers.

I'd take the HD4650 any day over the GS. The 8400GS line is older and considerably slower than the 4650. The 4650 is about on par with an 8600GTS at worst, and can perform close to a 8800GS. Core and memory clock are not everything, the number of shaders, texture fill rates and overall arcitecture efficiency can have a big effect on performance.
Hope this helps


----------



## vicm1010

Thanks for your answer. I'm still not clear on what makes the ati faster? Is it the 128bit interface? Because as far as clock and shader speeds go, the nvidia can oc higher.
CPU
AMD Phenom 9650 quad core @ 2.3 ghz

Hdd
WD 640gb @ 7200rpm

sound card
diamond extreme 7.1 dolby digital live


----------



## vicm1010

I'm just going to keep the Ati HD4600. I just wanted to squeeze the most out of the Nvidia 8400gs unless someone else can explain why I should choose other wise. As far as my system goes, I got a Amd phenom quad core 9650 @ 2.3ghz. 640gb hdd. Diamond Extreme 7.1 dolby digital live. 7gb ddr2 ram. 600w power supply. Windows vista 64bit. XFX HD4650 512mb oc to 705mhz core clock/ 540mhz memory clock. LG w2361vg 1080p. I know the graphics card can do better but as far as the system goes, is this a good gaming configuration on a 1 to 10 scale?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *vicm1010* 
Thanks for your answer. I'm still not clear on what makes the ati faster? Is it the 128bit interface? Because as far as clock and shader speeds go, the nvidia can oc higher.
CPU
AMD Phenom 9650 quad core @ 2.3 ghz

Hdd
WD 640gb @ 7200rpm

sound card
diamond extreme 7.1 dolby digital live

The bus width does play into it to some extent. But that is only one of many factors as I said, The 4650 is a generation ahead of the 8400GS and so is better optimised (besides it is impossible to draw any direct comparisons clock for clock between ATi and nVidia as they are different beasts).
The GPU-z screenshots below demonstrate that the 4650 is ahead, you can see that the pixel fillrate and texture fillrate are double that of the 8400GS (of course this only shows us so much, if you look up some benchmarks for each card you will see that the 4650 is much better)



















If you really want to see the difference you could always test both out in your PC and run some benchmarks and games (be warned that you may have driver issues switching from ATi to nVidia and back again so I wouldn't really recommend it)

EDIT: As far as your second post goes, it's a nice setup apart from the GPU. It's fine if your main aim is not gaming, but the 4650 will struggle in some games. Depending on what resolution you play on you would see a large gain in games buy buying a more high-end GPU (the HD5770 and up would be a good choice for ATi and the GTX260 and up would be good for nVidia).


----------



## vicm1010

Thanks for the help. This really breaks it down. I am considering the upgrade although not anytime soon. I just bought these two cards back around january. Before them, all I had was a nvidia 6600gs 256mb on a xp 32bit intel pentium D. I didn't care to much for gaming at that time but now as I have been an occasional gamer, I don't really use any of my consoles and I rather just go with a computer because you can get most of the games that consoles offer with better results. Right now I'm playing fear at its maximum settings and I'm averaging about 22 to 41 fps maximum @ 1400x1050x32 which is the highest resolution the game supports for my monitor. I've owned this game since it came out but never got around to passing it. The results aren't that convincing because according to canyourunit.com, my system can run this game at it's maximum settings like a breeze but I've seen people in other forums state that for any new games running @ 60fps+ is a great frame rate (Don't know if that's true or not) and this game is very old. According to canyourunit I can also run crysis at maximum settings. Where the card starts showing it's lack of potential is with arma 2 and gta IV therefore convincing me of the much needed upgrade. What game do you consider to be the most demanding graphic intensive of all right now?


----------



## Caulnian

I cant for the love of god overclock my 2 5850 cards beyond 773/1124 in MSI Afterburner. I running version 1.6.1. and I enable unofficial overclocking by using this guide, when after that any OC that I try fails instantly to a BSOD or just black screen. It anything beoynd standard clocks 725/1000 crashes my pc instantly.

Also I cant tweak my core voltages - nothing happens when I check the boxes in settings, I cant change anything.

Any tips? Would I need to flash my cardÂ´s bios?


----------



## Timid

So I decided to test stock settings before attempting an OC and this is what I get. Please tell me I did something wrong with the settings and that I don't have to RMA my card.


----------



## klaxian

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Timid* 
So I decided to test stock settings before attempting an OC and this is what I get. Please tell me I did something wrong with the settings and that I don't have to RMA my card.










What card do you have? If it's the 5850 then it looks like it's already overclocked mildly.

Do you have enough power for the card?


----------



## blazed_1

First, thanks for the great guide. I have 2 4850's in crossfire both Visiontek 512mb. I purchased both at different times and ended up with what I think is a reference and a non-reference, I didn't know better to check these things before I bought the second card







. Everything works fine if I have EnableUnofficialOverclocking set to 0 but if I change it to 1 and set the core and memory clocks when I hit apply the reset back to 0 even if it's not overclocked. Any ideas?

Edit:
Issue resolved. Flashed the bios of both cards so they now have matching upper limits of 800 core and 1300 mem. Since neither card will go that high I can just leave EnableUnofficialOverclocking at 0.


----------



## damric

Hey dudes. I enabled unofficial overclocking to breach the 870 cap, but I am still capped at 925. Is there a way to get more out of AB or do I need to do a bios flash?


----------



## Faraz

Is running Afterburner supposed to reset clocks back to default? I have an OC going but everytime I run Afterburner it resets the settings. I'm not even rebooting the computer, just running Afterburner again.


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *faraz1729*


Is running Afterburner supposed to reset clocks back to default? I have an OC going but everytime I run Afterburner it resets the settings. I'm not even rebooting the computer, just running Afterburner again.


No it shouldn't, unless you have enabled "Apply overclocking at system startup" with stock clocks selected.


----------



## Faraz

I have "Apply overclocking at system startup" with my OC settings selected. And it maintains my OC on system reboot. But if I ever run Afterburner, it resets it back to the default clocks. GPU-Z shows it as having been reset too. Is anyone else experiencing this?


----------



## Faraz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Timid*


So I decided to test stock settings before attempting an OC and this is what I get. Please tell me I did something wrong with the settings and that I don't have to RMA my card.

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/5725/testkh.png



Is that an overclock you have going there at 765/1125 or is that the DirectCU default? You shouldn't be artifacting if that's the default.

Duh, read your post again (pardon me, it's Friday). It looks like you have ample power too. How long into GPUTool did you get those? Did you try Furmark?


----------



## edo101

But when i set the cfg to 1, my system keeps bsoding at startup.

I have an OEM 5970. is it possible for me to flash it


----------



## Sil3ntSnip3a

I have been working on my XFX 5770 tonight. I got it to 900/1210 on stock 1.12v. In AB I can't seem to adjust my voltage; even with the boxes checked in settings for manual Voltage control. Maybe I need a BIOS mod/ Vmod to get better numbers.

-I'm looking at hwbot.org right now and I see people have gotten their 5770's to 1ghz/1300 on stock. I don't know the mods involved, but I can do whatever I need to to get a noice ranking on the bot. I got all the supplies for Voltage modding....


----------



## mercedessss

Try to flash with asus bios.

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/i...E&memSize=1024


----------



## InFe_eD

Hi guys, nice to see ya fellow overclockers. I Need some help here.









I'm a casual overclocker and already happy with the mild OC of my 5770 (Core 960mhz/Mem 1400mhz). I done this with the ATI OVerdrive buildin in the CCC. And it went down as low as it should be (core 157mhz/Mem 300mhz) when I'm Fb-ing or idling.

Perfect.









Until Catalyst 10.6 that's it.







Now the idle clock speed of my graphic card is stuck at 40mhz core and 1200mhz memory whenever I overclock, even an OC of 10mhz will mess it up!








I had try googling everywhere and can't seem to find the solution.









So now I would like to ask is there any overclocking tools for gpu that can help me?
I had try MSI AB but I still can't get the low idling clock speed I want. 
Did I miss anything? Please HELP!









(ps: Sorry for my broken English, it's not my first language







)


----------



## mercedessss

Just set in 2D profile default clocks, in your case it would be 850 1200, and in 3D your overclocking results.


----------



## InFe_eD

Ya, but I want my 2d clock to be 157/300, is it possible?


----------



## mercedessss

Well, i dont now what isue you have with drivers but every drivers i used had on default clocks 157/300 in 2D and 850/1200 in 3D. Only you have to do is to save your default profiile in MSI Afterburner.


----------



## Sil3ntSnip3a

After Burner max vGPU is 1350v. If I got the cooling power to go more voltage on my chip, what method would you guys recommend me going down? RivaTuner doesn't work on my XFX 5770.

I have managed to hit 1000/1200 - on 1.34v. If I can pump some more juice into the card I can see a possible 1040/1200!!


----------



## edo101

I can't even push my 5970 past 930 core ***?


----------



## Burnthis

Just had similar problem. Disable ATI overdrive and use Afterburner exclusively. For me, overdrive would reset to card default after system reboot even with afterburner profile loading at startup. I disabled overdrive and it fixed the problem.


----------



## A.T.I

Very nice sticky!


----------



## Mariusz803

Quote:



Originally Posted by *edo101*


I can't even push my 5970 past 930 core ***?


I am in the same boat though i gave up trying to overclock my Sapphire 5970. Even a 10MHz increase in the GPU clock causes my games to crash without having the need to increase voltages. I'm sitting on 725 GPU and 1000MHz MEM on all stock voltages etc. If anybody has found a tutorial on how to properly OC and ATI GPU with voltage adjustments please let me know.

Cheers guys.


----------



## Skancke

Hi, i got an XFX 5850 BLACK EDITION graphics card, 765 core and 1125 memory at stock speeds. I got 2 issues im gonna explain for you now.

- First of all, I just can't adjust the voltage at all. Not in Afterburner, GPU Clock Tool or Riva Tuner. I've tried everything; I've checked the boxes, configured the .cfg in all possible ways. I've even tried configure the .cfg in the \\profiles folder, but without luck. Could the reason be that i got a BLACK EDITION card, and that it got another ID or something like that?

-Well, I tried OC my card as high as I could at stock voltage (1.088v), and my core clock went past 870mhz, and my memory reached about 1200mhz. It ran stable and i couldn't see any artifact when i ran both GPU tool and Furmark for stability test.
But, when i watch a youtube video, My GPU recovers or i get a BSOD. I couldn't even clock my core past 775mhz before it crashed during a youtube movie, and my memoryclock couldn't get past 1150mhz. WHY?

I really hope any of you guys could help me out on both or either of my issues









THANKS


----------



## thebigrobbyrob

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Skancke* 
Hi, i got an XFX 5850 BLACK EDITION graphics card, 765 core and 1125 memory at stock speeds. I got 2 issues im gonna explain for you now.

- First of all, I just can't adjust the voltage at all. Not in Afterburner, GPU Clock Tool or Riva Tuner. I've tried everything; I've checked the boxes, configured the .cfg in all possible ways. I've even tried configure the .cfg in the \\profiles folder, but without luck. Could the reason be that i got a BLACK EDITION card, and that it got another ID or something like that?

-Well, I tried OC my card as high as I could at stock voltage (1.088v), and my core clock went past 870mhz, and my memory reached about 1200mhz. It ran stable and i couldn't see any artifact when i ran both GPU tool and Furmark for stability test.
But, when i watch a youtube video, My GPU recovers or i get a BSOD. I couldn't even clock my core past 775mhz before it crashed during a youtube movie, and my memoryclock couldn't get past 1150mhz. WHY?

I really hope any of you guys could help me out on both or either of my issues









THANKS









for your voltage control... do you have a reference card? this link will help you figure out if you do or not.

how to tell if you 5xxx card is reference

if its not a reference card, then you wont have voltage control (at least not on the XFX BE)...

For your second issue you should be aware that passing stress test is not always a guarantee of stability. Passing stress tests is a great start, but if your experiencing failures elsewhere, then you OC is not stable.... I would suggest backing your mem clock down first (since in my exp, its what usually causes BSOD) and testing. your GPU clock will give you the greatest gains so hold off on backing that one off until you have exhausted the memclock.

Hope this helps...let us know how it goes.


----------



## sundeath

I only managed to get 785 / 1175 on my 5850 Toxic card.


----------



## Phobos223

I just got a Asus 5870 V2 1GB card, and it hits 1000mhz on the core stable on stock volts... I played about 4 hours of crysis on it and let it crunch GPU work units from [email protected] home over night at this speed and had 0 problems... Wonder what it could do with a voltage bump? I am new to ATI GPUs but seemed like 1Ghz on stock voltage was pretty good?


----------



## Tatakai All

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Phobos223*


I just got a Asus 5870 V2 1GB card, and it hits 1000mhz on the core stable on stock volts... I played about 4 hours of crysis on it and let it crunch GPU work units from [email protected] home over night at this speed and had 0 problems... Wonder what it could do with a voltage bump? I am new to ATI GPUs but seemed like 1Ghz on stock voltage was pretty good?


Wow, impressive. I've only heard bad things about that specific card, but it seems you have a really nice one.

As for my XFX reference card, I can go far as 960/1300 also on stock voltage. But as soon as I go higher and add any kind of voltage, it just crashes. Go figure eh.


----------



## Bal3Wolf

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tatakai All*


Wow, impressive. I've only heard bad things about that specific card, but it seems you have a really nice one.

As for my XFX reference card, I can go far as 960/1300 also on stock voltage. But as soon as I go higher and add any kind of voltage, it just crashes. Go figure eh.










Sounds like my asus 5870 ref i can go as high as 948 on 1.174 but any higher and it crashes the driver no matter how much volts i send.


----------



## Tatakai All

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bal3Wolf*


Sounds like my asus 5870 ref i can go as high as 948 on 1.174 but any higher and it crashes the driver no matter how much volts i send.


Same deal too, ouch. I've exhausted myself and whole weekends trying to figure out the problem, with no luck whatsoever. At this point I've just given up and excepted that 960/1300 is as high as I'm gonna get. It's actually not bad, it's just that when I first oc'd it I thought it'd go pretty high since I got that far with stock volts. Oh well.


----------



## Phobos223

Yea man this card is a good one for sure... I play BFBC2 last night fully maxed out for about 5 hours with no issues @ 1000 core on stock volts. Frame rates were so high I had to put on vsync because the tearing was so bad!! Runs amazing! I am waitng for my EK block so I will post the final OC of this card once I get it underwater and do some voltage tweaking.. I really don't see the card having a problem hitting 1100 or so but you never know!


----------



## Phobos223

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Tatakai All* 
Wow, impressive. I've only heard bad things about that specific card, but it seems you have a really nice one.

Yea I heard the same things.. but gambled on this one. I actually got it from a guy here on OCN in trade. This particular card he got after RMAing a couple times... It seems like to me that ASUS felt bad for giving him bad cards so they gave him one from the good pile this last time


----------



## sundeath

I overclocked my 5850 TOXIC to 785 / 1175. Everything is fine when i'm playing games, but when i wanna watch stuff on flash player, e.g. youtube, my com hangs and i get the BOSD. When i reset the settings back to stock, it's fine.

My processor and rams are stock. i5-750, 4GB, 500W power supply

anyone can help?


----------



## klaxian

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sundeath* 
I overclocked my 5850 TOXIC to 785 / 1175. Everything is fine when i'm playing games, but when i wanna watch stuff on flash player, e.g. youtube, my com hangs and i get the BOSD. When i reset the settings back to stock, it's fine.

The latest flash player 10.1 has built-in hardware acceleration. This uses the 3D clock speeds, not 2D, for some reason so Afterburner profiles won't help. There is a bug in the ATI drivers that will cause crashes when overclocking some 5850 cards past 775/1125 and playing flash videos with this new hardware acceleration.

The solution is to either keep your clocks at 775/1125 or disable the flash hardware acceleration by right clicking on a flash movie and going to Settings.


----------



## Tatakai All

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Phobos223* 
Yea I heard the same things.. but gambled on this one. I actually got it from a guy here on OCN in trade. This particular card he got after RMAing a couple times... It seems like to me that ASUS felt bad for giving him bad cards so they gave him one from the good pile this last time









It's gotta be my luck cause whenever I take a gamble on something I either, 1) get banished to the couch for a night or two, 2) lose a lot of money or 3) lose couch due to prior money loss and end up banished to the living room floor.


----------



## Phobos223

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tatakai All*


It's gotta be my luck cause whenever I take a gamble on something I either, 1) get banished to the couch for a night or two, 2) lose a lot of money or 3) lose couch due to prior money loss and end up banished to the living room floor.










LMAO due I hear ya on that! At least the floor is nice and cold in the summer


----------



## sundeath

Quote:


Originally Posted by *klaxian* 
The latest flash player 10.1 has built-in hardware acceleration. This uses the 3D clock speeds, not 2D, for some reason so Afterburner profiles won't help. There is a bug in the ATI drivers that will cause crashes when overclocking some 5850 cards past 775/1125 and playing flash videos with this new hardware acceleration.

The solution is to either keep your clocks at 775/1125 or disable the flash hardware acceleration by right clicking on a flash movie and going to Settings.

thanks dude. Whats the hardware acceleration for anyway?


----------



## klaxian

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sundeath* 
thanks dude. Whats the hardware acceleration for anyway?

Flash hardware acceleration uses your GPU to decode video faster and take load off your processor. It's good in theory, but this driver bug is a pain for us overclockers.

However, with a decent computer and with the types of flash videos that you are likely to play, it doesn't hurt much to disable the acceleration. Adobe is gearing up for a big overhaul with Flash 11 which should incorporate better, more uniform hardware acceleration for more things on more operating systems. It's too bad for them that HTML5 is making Flash obsolete


----------



## jmrios82

Hi Guys, I need some advice about WC for my video card, Do you think that a single 140mm Radiator could keep my temps in a safe range? How about a Crossfire with that radiator?
Thanks!


----------



## Phobos223

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jmrios82*


Hi Guys, I need some advice about WC for my video card, Do you think that a single 140mm Radiator could keep my temps in a safe range? How about a Crossfire with that radiator?
Thanks!


For sure you will be good to go with 1 card. I am actually gonna put my 5870 under a 120mm single rad here as soon as the block comes in (probably early next week) I will post temps in my build log after the install, so if you are curious check it out, might help you in your decision


----------



## jmrios82

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Phobos223* 
For sure you will be good to go with 1 card. I am actually gonna put my 5870 under a 120mm single rad here as soon as the block comes in (probably early next week) I will post temps in my build log after the install, so if you are curious check it out, might help you in your decision

Thanks for the answer, I'm just researching/learning about WC because I OC'ed my card yesterday, btw this tutorial is awesome, my temps are "fine" (60ÂºC), but to keep that temp my stock cooler is spinning at 4000 Rpm under load (sound's like a hairdryer







) , so I finally decided to go for WC.


----------



## Phobos223

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jmrios82* 
Thanks for the answer, I'm just researching/learning about WC because I OC'ed my card yesterday, btw this tutorial is awesome, my temps are "fine" (60ÂºC), but to keep that temp my stock cooler is spinning at 4000 Rpm under load (sound's like a hairdryer







) , so I finally decided to go for WC.









Yea dude my card is crazy loud to







And under 100% load @ 1Ghz core it goes up to around 80C at stock volts...

Expecting to load around 50C or less with my BI GTX 120mm... hopefully in the 40s but we'll see...

I tested that 120mm rad with my 1055T OC'ed to 4.1ish adn with WB on my NB OC >3Ghz in the same loop and under full prime load that little rad was able to keep the CPU around 62C or something... cant remember (all this documented in build log)... so I would think that it would do very well with a single GPU... I mean 6 cores @ 4.1 full blast and a HOT NB I would think would put off way more heat than a single hot CPU but I dunno... we'll see next week!


----------



## sundeath

If i did not see any artifacts on the screen, but the bottom of the GPU Tool states that there as an error, does that count??


----------



## Davidsen

Quote:



Originally Posted by *sundeath*


If i did not see any artifacts on the screen, but the bottom of the GPU Tool states that there as an error, does that count??


If you can play a game, for instance Call of Duty 4/5/6, at highest settings, for atleast 15-30 mins or w/o crashing, with the OC'd clocks, then its stable.


----------



## unseen0

Very nice guide.
I'm experiencing problems at the start already tho. I can't seem to override the option that allows me to go beyond ATI's CCC limitations.
If i up the core clock above 775mhz on my 5850, it will slide back automaticly when pressing apply. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance


----------



## Davidsen

Quote:


Originally Posted by *unseen0* 
Very nice guide.
I'm experiencing problems at the start already tho. I can't seem to override the option that allows me to go beyond ATI's CCC limitations.
If i up the core clock above 775mhz on my 5850, it will slide back automaticly when pressing apply. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance









If you're using Afterburner, you just need to change the setting in MSIafterburner.cfg file, "EnableUnofficialoverclocking = 0" change the number to 1, which was also said in the OP.


----------



## Refreshment

This might have been answered, but the thread is 27 pages and i've only read 3. So apologize in advance.

1- I have CCC installed. Will it conflict with AfterBurner? I dont have it running at startup. So can i just install afterburner also, run it with the clock settings i want and play the games?

2- If OverClocking with CCC, i think it goes to a 775 MHZ core. Does it raises the voltage of the Core? Any benchmarks around that show the results with CCC overclocking?

Cheers!


----------



## Gunderman456

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Refreshment*


This might have been answered, but the thread is 27 pages and i've only read 3. So apologize in advance.

1- I have CCC installed. Will it conflict with AfterBurner? I dont have it running at startup. So can i just install afterburner also, run it with the clock settings i want and play the games?

2- If OverClocking with CCC, i think it goes to a 775 MHZ core. Does it raises the voltage of the Core? Any benchmarks around that show the results with CCC overclocking?

Cheers!


They don't conflict wih each other and use Afterburner to OC and it also regulates voltages.


----------



## Phobos223

My waterblock finally comes today... can't wait to see what this card can do! I have high hopes as have been running 1Ghz core/1300 memory with stock volts for 2 weeks now with no issues!

Will post results when I get it installed!


----------



## Refreshment

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Gunderman456*


They don't conflict wih each other and use Afterburner to OC and it also regulates voltages.


Thanks for the info man. No crazy site with benchmarks of CCC overclocking?

Any recomended vga coolers for a 5850? Heard the Zalman one is really good, but saw comments of people bricking their cards when installing the cooler.


----------



## crunkazcanbe

Hey everyone my 5870 is driving me crazy when trying to overclock it. I can never hit 
1Ghz not even with 1.35v, but what is funny is I am 100% stable @ 975mhz with 1.3V.
Do I really need more the 1.35v to get to 1Ghz from 975Mhz @ 1.3V ? Please i would think anybody who could help me. Ps i dont know if i should change anything in my bios like pci voltage or any thing. I changed it befor up just 2 clicks in bios and my gpu voltage was jumping all the way to 1.6 volts why is that.


----------



## Phobos223

Quote:



Originally Posted by *crunkazcanbe*


Hey everyone my 5870 is driving me crazy when trying to overclock it. I can never hit 
1Ghz not even with 1.35v, but what is funny is I am 100% stable @ 975mhz with 1.3V.
Do I really need more the 1.35v to get to 1Ghz from 975Mhz @ 1.3V ? Please i would think anybody who could help me. Ps i dont know if i should change anything in my bios like pci voltage or any thing. I changed it befor up just 2 clicks in bios and my gpu voltage was jumping all the way to 1.6 volts why is that.


unfortunatly might just be the limit of your card man. I know 1Ghz is sweet on paper but not gonna tell difference between 975 and 1Ghz... Dont wanna push it to hard and ruin it!


----------



## northernhorn

Hey guys, I'm running a stock-cooled Sapphire 5850 at 930/1220 at 1.2v through Afterburner. I can't seem to get the GPU stable at any higher than this. What's the safe voltage limit that I can try? I'm presuming that 80-85C is the hottest safe temp for prolonged use?

Any advice would be welcome - thanks in advance!


----------



## battleaxe231

gputool isnt detecting my hd5570


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *battleaxe231*


gputool isnt detecting my hd5570


In what way? IF you are on an x64 OS you won't be able to adjust core or memory speeds, but you should still be able to scan for artifacts.


----------



## PureDorian

ok, i just made a overclock to my hd 5970 to 5870 clocks with 1.62v voltage on 2 gpu's, however, when i am using furmark my system locks up and driver re-enabling, what's wrong?
my temperatures are 53 in idle(gpu1 vrm - 50, gpu2 - 40), in game - 70-85
But, when i am testing my clocks at catalyst contol center(overdrive tab), it's fine, i am passed test and temps very good.
upd: i ran crysis now, even at Crytek logo movie i had artefacts, in windowed mode everything is ok, if my temps fine, why then i have artefacts?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PureDorian* 
ok, i just made a overclock to my hd 5970 to 5870 clocks with 1.62v voltage on 2 gpu's, however, when i am using furmark my system locks up and driver re-enabling, what's wrong?
my temperatures are 53 in idle(gpu1 vrm - 50, gpu2 - 40), in game - 70-85
But, when i am testing my clocks at catalyst contol center(overdrive tab), it's fine, i am passed test and temps very good.
upd: i ran crysis now, even at Crytek logo movie i had artefacts, in windowed mode everything is ok, if my temps fine, why then i have artefacts?

It's not stable, just because you see no artifacts in GPUTool doesn't mean to say that it is stable, hence why I said to check with games/furmark. Also that voltage is really high, I personally wouldn't never run that 24/7, that is getting towards suicide run voltage.


----------



## PureDorian

What voltage should i try then for 5970? I ran 850mhz core and 1100mhz crysis without any problem with that high voltages.
I thought, that this GPU's can go even further 1ghz core, only thing that you need to worry about is the temperatures(which is fine).


----------



## MAKATTACK

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mariusz803*


I am in the same boat though i gave up trying to overclock my Sapphire 5970. Even a 10MHz increase in the GPU clock causes my games to crash without having the need to increase voltages. I'm sitting on 725 GPU and 1000MHz MEM on all stock voltages etc. If anybody has found a tutorial on how to properly OC and ATI GPU with voltage adjustments please let me know.

Cheers guys.


I would love to know this too. I have a sapphire radeon hd 5770 that gets to 950 and 1395 and is stable in Kumbustor. But when I play BFBC2 it freezes after 45 minutes. I think i need to up my voltage but I don't know how much to at a time. Anyone have any ideas how much at a time to up my voltage and more importantly whether or not this will help stabilize my card and keep my screen from freezing during gameplay?


----------



## mercedessss

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PureDorian* 
ok, i just made a overclock to my hd 5970 to 5870 clocks with 1.62v voltage on 2 gpu's, however, when i am using furmark my system locks up and driver re-enabling, what's wrong?
my temperatures are 53 in idle(gpu1 vrm - 50, gpu2 - 40), in game - 70-85
But, when i am testing my clocks at catalyst contol center(overdrive tab), it's fine, i am passed test and temps very good.
upd: i ran crysis now, even at Crytek logo movie i had artefacts, in windowed mode everything is ok, if my temps fine, why then i have artefacts?

How the heck you can set 1,62 V on GPU.


----------



## sundeath

I tried overclocking using this guide as reference. I'm on a sapphire 5850 toxic with 765 as default. once i go over 785, i'll get artifacts in the GPUTool. i'm using a 500W andyson PS and i5-750. i'm using CM coolermaster advanced 2 casing.

any help?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mercedessss* 
How the heck you can set 1,62 V on GPU.









Quite easily actually -
http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.ph...97&postcount=2
Only do that if you know the risks.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sundeath* 
I tried overclocking using this guide as reference. I'm on a sapphire 5850 toxic with 765 as default. once i go over 785, i'll get artifacts in the GPUTool. i'm using a 500W andyson PS and i5-750. i'm using CM coolermaster advanced 2 casing.

any help?

Do you see artifacts/driver restarts in games at that speed? If not it might just be GPUTool acting weird. If you see instability in games then that might just be the limit of your card at stock volts. Have you tried over-volting the card? I would suggest 1.35v as the max _I_ would run 24/7.


----------



## sundeath

Once i saw artifacts on GPUtool, i gave up after a few tries. LOL

Maybe i should play a round of BFBC2 and see how that goes.

Should i also uninstall my GPUtool and reinstall it again or should i use FURMARK to check for artifacts?

And i dont intend to mess with my voltages. i''m a tech noob!


----------



## Gunderman456

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PureDorian* 
ok, i just made a overclock to my hd 5970 to 5870 clocks with 1.62v voltage on 2 gpu's, however, when i am using furmark my system locks up and driver re-enabling, what's wrong?
my temperatures are 53 in idle(gpu1 vrm - 50, gpu2 - 40), in game - 70-85
But, when i am testing my clocks at catalyst contol center(overdrive tab), it's fine, i am passed test and temps very good.
upd: i ran crysis now, even at Crytek logo movie i had artefacts, in windowed mode everything is ok, if my temps fine, why then i have artefacts?

I have mine overclocked to over stock clocks of the 5870 and at 1.162v with 935/1225. You don't need that much volts.


----------



## CayG

I tried using MSI afterburner but everytime I applied my new setting (10mhz increase) it freezes my system







anyone have this problem ... im having to restart my computer after it locks up

I uninstalled ccc and installed just the 10.8 driver but still same problem. Am I goin to be stuck with using ccc for oc?


----------



## Franzken

amazing i just got bored and tried it and so fat i got mine to 850mhz/1200mem @ stock voltage.. idles @ 51-52c... load @ 61-62c.... never reaches 70


----------



## NCspecV81

bump for thread name change to AMD


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CayG* 
I tried using MSI afterburner but everytime I applied my new setting (10mhz increase) it freezes my system







anyone have this problem ... im having to restart my computer after it locks up

I uninstalled ccc and installed just the 10.8 driver but still same problem. Am I goin to be stuck with using ccc for oc?









Other people have had issues like this, all I can suggest is to try a different overclocking program (but use the same procedure). I would suggest ATiTraytools -
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=320467
It's more of a steep learning curve but it has many more advanced features.
If you still get freezes with that program then your card may just not clock well at all.

NC: Hrm....while it's the ATi forum it'll stay as ATi, besides I think most people refer to it as ATi still rather than AMD Game, so as far as search engine optimization goes I would probably just change it to How To: Overclock Your ATi/AMD GPU. Besides you won't see the AMD branding on GPUs until 2011, I believe then it would be appropriate for a name change.


----------



## yourtoilet

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Gunderman456* 
I have mine overclocked to over stock clocks of the 5870 and at 1.162v with 935/1225. You don't need that much volts.

I can only be rock stable at 875mhz...
Stock volt is 1.125.
stock idle volt is 0.95.

I dislike 3rd part software like afterburner and RBE doesn't apply voltage and fan speed properly with 5870-.-


----------



## CayG

Quote:


Originally Posted by *coffeejunky* 
Other people have had issues like this, all I can suggest is to try a different overclocking program (but use the same procedure). I would suggest ATiTraytools -
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=320467
It's more of a steep learning curve but it has many more advanced features.
If you still get freezes with that program then your card may just not clock well at all.

I figured out the problem ... in you guide it said to change 'EnableUnofficialOverclocking' from 0 to 1. Well after I changed it back to 0 afterburner ran find w/o any problems. Maybe add a note for those who have this probem?

I achieved 975/1250 @ 1.162 v









Want to hit 1000 but can't w/o increase the voltage more ... anyone gone above 1.162?


----------



## Phobos223

^^^ I have gone up to 1.349 on my 5870, I would imagine you could rock that on a 5970 as well, but not sure how much more you will gain. You would be safe @ 1.2~1.25 though. That would get you 1Ghz I would imagine


----------



## CayG

I'll give it a try, just wanted to make sure other have tried w/o problems ... I noticed afterburner does not have voltage adjustment for memory, or does it?


----------



## Gunderman456

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CayG* 
I'll give it a try, just wanted to make sure other have tried w/o problems ... I noticed afterburner does not have voltage adjustment for memory, or does it?

It does not.


----------



## ocman

Quote:


Originally Posted by *NCspecV81* 
bump for thread name change to AMD

ATi Forever!!!









Screw AMD's recent move to change name based on their "internal research" finding... isn't customers are the ones they should be concerned with?


----------



## yarduatssss

i took cantrol of the cfg file and edited and saved
but still i can use the voltage control.

ati 5770 sapphire


----------



## UltimateGamerXFX

guys.. umm.... i think i win.


----------



## PureDorian

*UltimateGamerXFX*, LOLWUT?!


----------



## UltimateGamerXFX

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PureDorian* 
*UltimateGamerXFX*, LOLWUT?!

Killer OC, eh?


----------



## Alex132

I tried 930/1250 @ 1.275v on both my cards, about 8 mins into furmark I get this:








Temps were: (GPU1) 90'c ~ (GPU2) 88'c

What does this mean?
How can I solve/fix this for OC?


----------



## Gunderman456

Quote:



Originally Posted by *thealex132*


I tried 930/1250 @ 1.275v on both my cards, about 8 mins into furmark I get this:








Temps were: (GPU1) 90'c ~ (GPU2) 88'c

What does this mean?
How can I solve/fix this for OC?


OC is not stable, temps are kind of high. You don't need that much volts. Try 1.1.62 volts at those overclocks. If stable, then try incremental lower volts. If not stable, try to increse volts a little bit at a time from 1.1.62v to keep temps down. Also you may want to ramp up the GPU fan speed to keep card cooler.

Good luck!


----------



## Alex132

The temp isn't the problem. (90'c is about 15'c off of max temp)
Doesn't the hyper transport link have to do with the NB?


----------



## Gunderman456

If it does, not sure, then your volts in relation to the NB in Bios is not stable.


----------



## Cykososhull

So I have my XFX 5870 core stable at 930 using gpu tool and playing hours of Metro 2033. When I go to find a good oc for my memory I'll raise it 10 every minute or so and I've got up to 1360 with no errors or hard locks on stock voltage, but I'm wondering if I should keep raising it until I get errors or not? Even if it was stable at 1360 or higher on stock volts, is it worth it to have memory so high over core?


----------



## Alex132

Personally I leave the memory at or under 1250, because that's what its rated for and overclocking the memory sees little to no fps gain.


----------



## Cykososhull

Quote:


Originally Posted by *thealex132* 
Personally I leave the memory at or under 1250, because that's what its rated for and overclocking the memory sees little to no fps gain.

I'll give a shot and just up the core with more voltage then. Thanks


----------



## eno439

this has probley been asked a few times but i cant find it, but is it safe to overclock a 5770 card with the stock fan.


----------



## Gunderman456

Quote:


Originally Posted by *eno439* 
this has probley been asked a few times but i cant find it, but is it safe to overclock a 5770 card with the stock fan.

Yes, just make the card stays relatively cool.


----------



## eno439

right now it idles at 50 degrees how high should i take it and also the fan is only at 50 percent. should i see what it does with it running 100 percent?


----------



## Gunderman456

What's important is the load temps. Stress your card and see what the temps are. Anything above 90C+ should be avoided.


----------



## Sean W.

jeez nice guide! MSI after burner just got a lot awesomer!


----------



## Hy3RiD

My OC was stable up untill 10 mins in OCCT, what's a good voltage for reference 5870 for 1GHZ?


----------



## ecaftermath

I tried to use GPUTool, but it doesn't really work. It doesn't show the GPU clock and the memory clock like on the first page..

Some reason, the GPU doesn't increase in temp when I press test for stability..

And my FPS is SO LOW!!


----------



## HarbingerOfLive

With the current version of Afterburn, there already comes a stability test called Kombustor, this one I like better in and out of itself, it comes with a timer, (REALLY HELPED) and it has a help interface. Is this one though safe to use?


----------



## Volvo

Kombuster is like FurMark... Probably similar to the GPUTool one.
Yes, it's safe.

I also have a question.

I managed to overclock my HD4550 to 666/865 all fine.

I raised the clocks to 675/865, and I start the GPUTool test.
It tells me that there has been a pixel mismatch in the first second of the test, but right after that nothing is wrong. Is there anything I should be concerned about here?

EDIT: Got it to 675/875, re-opened GPUTool, no artifacts.
Closed the tester, opened it again and bam; artifacts right at the very start.

But it happens for just that 1 second.
After that, the test ran for 20 minutes with no artifacts at all.

Now trying 700/890. Only pixel mismatch on the very first moment still.


----------



## 2danimm

thanks! overclock my 5970 to 825 1150


----------



## jgarcia

Thanks OC my 5770 to 900/1200.


----------



## Bal3Wolf

Lol for some reason even with my low volt asus 5870 ref i cant get 1000 it runs 935 with 1.125 and 955 with 1.165 but didnt like 1000 at 1.20 where i stoped.


----------



## Sean W.

hey,

ive had to re install windows a number of times over the last month because something keeps corrupting it, and i think its because of this step in the over clocking guide: has anyone else experienced this from this step? for those of you who dont know, when you click on " this guide " it shows you a program that changes a line in the operating system taht will allow you to take owner ship of a file so you can edit it....

I Get An Error When Saving The Config File
On some systems you may get an error when you try to save the MSIAfterburner.cfg file. First make sure Afterburner is fully closed, including the icon in the system tray. If this does not help, you need to take ownership of the file before editing it. The easiest way to do this is to follow this guide. Once you have done that, right click on MSIAfterburner.cfg and click 'Take Ownership' from the context menu. Then open up the file in wordpad follow the procedure in Step 2 and save it. If you still receive an error message, describe it in a reply to this thread.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Sean W.*


hey,

ive had to re install windows a number of times over the last month because something keeps corrupting it, and i think its because of this step in the over clocking guide: has anyone else experienced this from this step? for those of you who dont know, when you click on " this guide " it shows you a program that changes a line in the operating system taht will allow you to take owner ship of a file so you can edit it....

I Get An Error When Saving The Config File
On some systems you may get an error when you try to save the MSIAfterburner.cfg file. First make sure Afterburner is fully closed, including the icon in the system tray. If this does not help, you need to take ownership of the file before editing it. The easiest way to do this is to follow this guide. Once you have done that, right click on MSIAfterburner.cfg and click 'Take Ownership' from the context menu. Then open up the file in wordpad follow the procedure in Step 2 and save it. If you still receive an error message, describe it in a reply to this thread.


It's just a simple registry edit, just enabling something that is already there in windows. You can do it manually yourself by right clicking on the cfg file and choosing properties, security tab, then Advanced permissions, Owner tab, then edit owner so you are included also. You may also not have to take ownership of the file, try it without doing that and see if it lets you save it.
Hope this helps








I presume you've checked the SMART details of the HDD to make sure it hasn't got any problems.


----------



## Sean W.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *coffeejunky*


It's just a simple registry edit, just enabling something that is already there in windows. You can do it manually yourself by right clicking on the cfg file and choosing properties, security tab, then Advanced permissions, Owner tab, then edit owner so you are included also. You may also not have to take ownership of the file, try it without doing that and see if it lets you save it.
Hope this helps









*I presume you've checked the SMART details of the HDD to make sure it hasn't got any problems.*


no i havnt, to be brutally honest, i dont know what that means, or how to do that.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Sean W.* 
no i havnt, to be brutally honest, i dont know what that means, or how to do that.

The easiest way is to download speedfan, go to the S.M.A.R.T tab, and click 'perform in-depth online analysis' it will be obvious if something is wrong, but if you aren't sure post a screenshot up here and I'll take a look for you. It's probably fine as BIOS usually warns you when a SMART figure is out of range.


----------



## Sean W.

awe nice man, thanks, i was able to edit the .cfg file without doing that step. thanks


----------



## ecaftermath

Do you guys think there is something wrong here with my GPU? It's awfully low in FPS..the choppiness of videos in HD doesn't help either..

Here's a screenshot


----------



## k0rnh0li0

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ecaftermath* 
Do you guys think there is something wrong here with my GPU? It's awfully low in FPS..the choppiness of videos in HD doesn't help either..

Here's a screenshot

whats drivers are you using?


----------



## ecaftermath

Quote:



Originally Posted by *k0rnh0li0*


whats drivers are you using?


the latest one which is 10.9


----------



## CoolHandz

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ecaftermath*


Do you guys think there is something wrong here with my GPU? It's awfully low in FPS..the choppiness of videos in HD doesn't help either..

Here's a screenshot


Is there a bios update for your video card? Flashing it to the newest bios might fix that up.


----------



## ecaftermath

Quote:



Originally Posted by *CoolHandz*


Is there a bios update for your video card? Flashing it to the newest bios might fix that up.


I just tried it and it doesn't seem to work..

I followed the steps and I used the MSI BIOS..

Quote:



The Steps

Note: Make a backup of your original BIOS using GP-Z
Plug in the USB drive that you want to use.
Install and run HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool.
Select the USB Drive. In the "File system" drop down box, pick FAT32. Tick "Quick Format". Tick "Create a DOS startup disk, using DOS system files located at and click the "..." and direct it to the BOOTFILES folder you made.
Click start.
Once that's done, copy the ATI Flash and ASUS BIOS into the USB drive.
Restart your PC and boot from the USB Flash drive.
Once it's booted in type
atiflash -f -p 0 asus.rom (If you're not using crossfire)

I used the MSI one so I went: atiflash -f -p 0 MSI_R5850_unlock.A11


Is it supposed to be like this in DOS? In DOS it says..

Quote:



Starting Windows 98...

Microsoft9R) Windows 98
(C)Copyright Micrsoft Corp 1981-1999.

A :\\>


Hmm, well it says "ROM not erased" and listed a lot of other stuff...


----------



## JL421

Um, I ran out of overclocking room on my memory...I pushed it from 400mhz to 520mhz with no errors, and every time I pushed it more the fps went up, without an increase in the gpu clock. Even when I applied the max clock to the gpu there was no difference in the fps rating...So is there any way to get the MSI afterburner utility to push the memory further?

And yes, I already applied the EnableUnofficialOverclocking tweek.

Edit:
Ok...for some reason, restarting afterburner a few times unlocked the extra memory overclock...wierd

Edit again:
And now it disappeared again...wth?

Last Edit (Hopefully):
I believe I solved the problem. I had to apply my max memory clock, close afterburner, reopen then set my clocks again. Now the new problem is that my memory clocks don't get set upon startup. They stay at the stock 400 because my set 555 is outside the slider's range. Does anyone know of a fix for this other than me manually opening the program and applying my workaround every time I startup?


----------



## nil405

Sat down last night and slowly pushed my 5870 to 950/1300. Then played Grid, Darksiders, and MW2 for about a hour each with no problems and temps at 60c... Any idea how much more i can push it with Afterburner before i have to start messing with voltages?

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/2wqzw/


----------



## Gunderman456

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nil405* 
Sat down last night and slowly pushed my 5870 to 950/1300. Then played Grid, Darksiders, and MW2 for about a hour each with no problems and temps at 60c... Any idea how much more i can push it with Afterburner before i have to start messing with voltages?

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/2wqzw/

Every card is different, once it starts becoming unstable, slowly increase volts while keeping eye on temps.


----------



## rouse_dustin

this one page is the reason why i decided to join the site. not just because i'm interested in overclocking, but because i followed this step by step and managed to overclock my gpu by roughly 25%. thanks!


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *rouse_dustin*


this one page is the reason why i decided to join the site. not just because i'm interested in overclocking, but because i followed this step by step and managed to overclock my gpu by roughly 25%. thanks!


Haha...fantastic to see, thanks for signing up an commenting








Don't forget to stay around, there's plenty of useful content round these parts even if you aren't an extreme overclocker


----------



## croSSeduP

I don't get this. Why do you need to run both programs? Seems to me GPUTool is enough. It has an option called "find max." Just click that and let it run.

I also don't get this: I'm right now doing what I said above. I'm trying to find the GPU clock max. My CrossfireX'd 3870's are stock at 756. Right now the "find max" program is running all the way up to 1600+ MHz! Is that right? It shows no signs of stopping either, with no signs of artifacts, and the GPU core running at a nice, cool 69 deg. cel. and has been running there the whole way through the test. Been running over 30 minutes. Doesn't make sense.

TG


----------



## sid0972

it happens wid gputool, but its artifacting test is good
find max option, well, leaves some room for more OC
use atitool, or furmark is the best


----------



## croSSeduP

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sid0972* 
it happens wid gputool, but its artifacting test is good
find max option, well, leaves some room for more OC
use atitool, or furmark is the best

I tried furmark. It made my computer crash. Tried redownloading, reinstalling, etc. Some weird graphics garbage can be seen on the top of my desktop going weird when I had furmark open. That whole program got jettisoned. I tried ATITool. It had some strange, frustrating issue, too. Don't remember what it was, but I nuked that program too. Gotta find SOMETHING that works for me!

TG


----------



## skwannabe

hmm... tried to overclock the core clock. I increased it by 10mhz and ran the stability test. I was able to get to 950 from 850, which is the max. I didn't get any artifact, so I tried running furmark because I don't have any demand game (Css or L4D2). Ran it for 10 mins and then failed. The temp was going too high. I'm starting to doubt the gpu tool stability test.....

Whats wrong here? Is the gpu tool actually working or what?

Also how long should I leave furmak on after increasing the core clock 10 mhz?

Thanks


----------



## sid0972

Quote:



Originally Posted by *croSSeduP*


I tried furmark. It made my computer crash. Tried redownloading, reinstalling, etc. Some weird graphics garbage can be seen on the top of my desktop going weird when I had furmark open. That whole program got jettisoned. I tried ATITool. It had some strange, frustrating issue, too. Don't remember what it was, but I nuked that program too. Gotta find SOMETHING that works for me!

TG


since u have 3870, y dont u try series 8 drivers for once?
also, run furmark in extreme burning mode and tell us if u get artifacts at stock clocks
and, are u able to run vantage properly?

Quote:



Originally Posted by *skwannabe*


hmm... tried to overclock the core clock. I increased it by 10mhz and ran the stability test. I was able to get to 950 from 850, which is the max. I didn't get any artifact, so I tried running furmark because I don't have any demand game (Css or L4D2). Ran it for 10 mins and then failed. The temp was going too high. I'm starting to doubt the gpu tool stability test.....

Whats wrong here? Is the gpu tool actually working or what?

Also how long should I leave furmak on after increasing the core clock 10 mhz?

Thanks


how high are the temps? 
u have OC'd, so if its 75-80, then no need to fret, ur not killing ur card
but it shud be reduced


----------



## croSSeduP

_since u have 3870, y dont u try series 8 drivers for once?
also, run furmark in extreme burning mode and tell us if u get artifacts at stock clocks
and, are u able to run vantage properly?_

What are series 8 drivers?
I did run in extreme burn mode... Didn't see any artifacts.
What is vantage?
Thanks!

TG


----------



## sid0972

well brother, ur are using driver version 10 i believe
try driver version 8, (old ones, might be on the disc that came with it)
just for a trial , might be stable

and, vantage is a benchmark
3dmark 06, vantage,all these are benchmarks

link


----------



## tjbridge

why is the guide only telling how to OC the core and memory clock? How about for the shader clock? When do I OC it? Should i link it with the core clock?


----------



## Mariusz803

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tjbridge*


why is the guide only telling how to OC the core and memory clock? How about for the shader clock? When do I OC it? Should i link it with the core clock?


... because if i'm not mistaken shader clocks are for nVidia gpu only.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mariusz803*


... because if i'm not mistaken shader clocks are for nVidia gpu only.


You are not mistaken. That being said you may use this guide equally well with an nVidia card, the procedure for overclocking shaders is not different to overclocking the core. You just find that lowering or raising shaders will allow different results on the core generally.


----------



## gonX

Guide worked for me - I actually had no clue what to use since it's been so long and I've been with nVidia since forever. Nice job Coffee.
You may want to mention the beta versions of MSI Afterburner as well, considering they have unlocked a couple of features for the new HD 6800 series - most notably changing voltage.


----------



## jaapS80

hi everyone i have an hp pavilion dv7 with an ati radeon mobility 4530 .
but i want to overclock it and i see that it can`t go more then 500 core clock
and 667 memory clock what i need to do.

p.s. i want overclock an amd athlon 64 x2 4400+ 2.3 ghz to 2,8 or 2,9 or 3 ghz
each core. .

please give answers


----------



## Hatakescreams

Very usefull guide thanks will be using this info when i oc my 5770 tonight XD


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Guide worked for me - I actually had no clue what to use since it's been so long and I've been with nVidia since forever. Nice job Coffee.
You may want to mention the beta versions of MSI Afterburner as well, considering they have unlocked a couple of features for the new HD 6800 series - most notably changing voltage.


Good point, I'll add that in in a mo.


----------



## SpykeZ

[edit]nvm, google gave me V1.10 or something, not 2.0, stupid google.


----------



## skwannabe

Thanks for the guide!

-NEVER MIND-


----------



## Sirius

Anyone having trouble with TRIXX? It freezes whenever I hit apply to overclock :/


----------



## skwannabe

Furmark vs GPU tool? Which one do you guys prefer to test for stability? The reason why I ask is because I'm stable at with furmark with no artifcats but with GPU tool's test I get artifcats or missed pixels every few seconds.


----------



## gonX

GPU tool finds the artifacts easier I find. You should probably try MSI Kombustor - I hear it's pretty good.


----------



## sid0972

furmark lets u find the max temp ur card will ever reach under the heaviest load, unlike games

gputool is good, make sure ur running it fullscreen


----------



## tw33k

I'm new to OC'ing GPUs. Would the fact that my pci-e slot is only running @ x8 affect the speed of the GPU? I have 2 slots but both are in use and will only run @ x8 not x16


----------



## ColdRush

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tw33k*


I'm new to OC'ing GPUs. Would the fact that my pci-e slot is only running @ x8 affect the speed of the GPU? I have 2 slots but both are in use and will only run @ x8 not x16


No, most mid range gpus do not make full use of the pcie slot. You should be fine, the performance difference would be negligible.


----------



## tw33k

Thanks.
Strange. I know the WEI score doesn't mean much but a guy I know reckons he gets 6.8/6.8. Mine only gets 5.6/6.6 same card. I've asked him for proof but haven't heard back yet


----------



## ColdRush

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tw33k*


Thanks.
Strange. I know the WEI score doesn't mean much but a guy I know reckons he gets 6.8/6.8. Mine only gets 5.6/6.6 same card. I've asked him for proof but haven't heard back yet


Disabling aero and all other unnecessary background applications could help that score.


----------



## tw33k

Yeah..I don't wanna do that..lol
Anyway, it won't be long til I get a 6850. Just OC'd my current card and got a bit of a boost (was 5.0/6.4). That'll do in the meantime.


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


GPU tool finds the artifacts easier I find. You should probably try MSI Kombustor - I hear it's pretty good.


OCCT works really well for finding artifacts also.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


----------



## skwannabe

I have yet to find any artifacts on furmark but on GPU tool with the same settings, it finds pixel distortion or w/e its called.

I don't know which stability test to trust. I've been playing sc2 for awhile and haven't experienced any crashed and I ran furmark for 20 minutes and didn't crash either.


----------



## tw33k

Real world experiences are the best tests IMO. If everything's OK while gaming then I'd say don't worry about it


----------



## jasgar

Thank you for the detailed step by step. Just what I was looking for.


----------



## sanityvoid

Same as another poster, the GPU tool don't seem to grab any info. I have installed all the necessary background files and such.

Using Catalyst 10.6 but still no love for the info showing up?

Any ideas? I did read around 20 pages looking for the answer but I gave up cuz I'm getting tired of reading.

Any help would be great!

Thanks!


----------



## rinocom18

Can overclock with ati mobility radeon HD5470?


----------



## SohcSTI

I just changed the value in wordpad from 0 to 1, saved fine, and got an instant bsod. When I go to reboot it gets about 20 seconds in to windows and bsod again. Had to reboot into safe mode to change it back. Any suggestions?


----------



## Strat79

I have an 2x XFX 5770's in my i7 system, no idea if they are the v1 or v2 boards. I don't know if they are just golden chips or is this typical of these cards to hit what I have. I have had them for a long time, but just recently started OC'ing them, just to see what they will do. I am up to 955/1405 on default voltages(1.125) and seems to be rock solid stable so far. Have been playing BFBC2 for hours and Furmark'ed them for about 30 minutes. Max temps are like 64/72 core/mem.

Think I should just leave them as is and don't push my luck on voltages or keep pushing just to see? I'm thinking memory is probably close to topped out, but 1000+ core is probably going to be a cakewalk. But is the extra voltage/heat worth it for just the core speed increase? Memory bottlenecks seem to be the biggest think for 5770's, so figured it may not be worth pushing the core if it requires extra voltage. Any thoughts?


----------



## Keyyy

Great guide








here is my first gpu oc on sapphire 6850

stock(core 725 memory 1000)

overclocked(core 925 memory 1200) not max.


----------



## Volkswagen

Any reason why when I OC my 5850 and run FuraMark which runs fine and then all of a sudden my clocks drop down to stock for no reason? Using Afterburner 2.0


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Strat79*


I have an 2x XFX 5770's in my i7 system, no idea if they are the v1 or v2 boards. I don't know if they are just golden chips or is this typical of these cards to hit what I have. I have had them for a long time, but just recently started OC'ing them, just to see what they will do. I am up to 955/1405 on default voltages(1.125) and seems to be rock solid stable so far. Have been playing BFBC2 for hours and Furmark'ed them for about 30 minutes. Max temps are like 64/72 core/mem.

Think I should just leave them as is and don't push my luck on voltages or keep pushing just to see? I'm thinking memory is probably close to topped out, but 1000+ core is probably going to be a cakewalk. But is the extra voltage/heat worth it for just the core speed increase? Memory bottlenecks seem to be the biggest think for 5770's, so figured it may not be worth pushing the core if it requires extra voltage. Any thoughts?


Have you checked your OC in OCCT with Error Detection enabled?


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Volkswagen*


Any reason why when I OC my 5850 and run FuraMark which runs fine and then all of a sudden my clocks drop down to stock for no reason? Using Afterburner 2.0


What drivers are you using?
and do they drop to stock with FurMark running?


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Keyyy*


Great guide








here is my first gpu oc on sapphire 6850

stock(core 725 memory 1000)

overclocked(core 925 memory 1200) not max.











Nice! that's just over a thousand pts less than what BOTH of my 4850's score in CrossfireX lol


----------



## Keyyy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *clark_b;11672576*
> Nice! that's just over a thousand pts less than what BOTH of my 4850's score in CrossfireX lol











how? -.-

edit: probably there's something wrong with my card :/
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6850/24.html


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Keyyy*










how? -.-

edit: probably there's something wrong with my card :/
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/H...D_6850/24.html


I doubt it. Your performance should get better as the driver's for the 6850's improve.
and you have to keep in mind the fact that you scored that with a single card and I'm using two cards that are both OC'd.
Yours is a 1GB right?


----------



## Keyyy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *clark_b;11681786*
> I doubt it. Your performance should get better as the driver's for the 6850's improve.
> and you have to keep in mind the fact that you scored that with a single card and I'm using two cards that are both OC'd.
> Yours is a 1GB right?


Yeah,but how it shows way to much scores on techpower?


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Keyyy;11683887*
> Yeah,but how it shows way to much scores on techpower?


I'm not sure. Can you post a link?


----------



## Volkswagen

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *clark_b;11672518*
> What drivers are you using?
> and do they drop to stock with FurMark running?


10.4's I believe and while running Furmark the OC will hold and like 5 minutes into the stability test it seems to drop down to stock speeds.


----------



## Snake Pliskin

excellent post , isn't OCCT good for testing stability also ? It's what ive been using .


----------



## Keyyy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *clark_b;11683945*
> I'm not sure. Can you post a link?


http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6850/24.html


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Volkswagen;11684763*
> 10.4's I believe and while running Furmark the OC will hold and like 5 minutes into the stability test it seems to drop down to stock speeds.


Try updating your drivers to 10.7-10.8 and lets see if anything changes.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Keyyy;11689744*
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6850/24.html


Ahh. Well they used 3dmark 06, whereas you and I both used Vantage.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


----------



## Parish_Rane

So, I use afterburner and took my 5850 to 850/1200 on stock voltage. Furmark runs just fine no problems. However, when I boot certain games, Titan Quest, Evil Genius, or the OCCT GPU test they just crash when they hit the main menu. Any suggestions? I've tried upping the voltage.

They all load and run fine the minute afterburner is closed, but with it running they crash.

EDIT: I am using profile switching in afterburner as well. Without profile switching OCCT and the games run fine.


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Snake Pliskin;11688379*
> excellent post , isn't OCCT good for testing stability also ? It's what ive been using .


Yes it is. Are you talking about system stability or graphics stability?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Parish_Rane;11727656*
> So, I use afterburner and took my 5850 to 850/1200 on stock voltage. Furmark runs just fine no problems. However, when I boot certain games, Titan Quest, Evil Genius, or the OCCT GPU test they just crash when they hit the main menu. Any suggestions? I've tried upping the voltage.
> 
> They all load and run fine the minute afterburner is closed, but with it running they crash.
> 
> EDIT: I am using profile switching in afterburner as well. Without profile switching OCCT and the games run fine.


Try it with all profiles set to the same Memory speed and see what happens.


----------



## Parish_Rane

Well, looks like you are correct. Furmark, CoDBO, run just fine with the profile switching setup for 2d= stock and 3d = 850/1200. OCCT, Titan Quest, Evil Genius, crash when the mem speed is changing.

Any workaround suggested or just manually apply overclock on games where it matters before I play? Thanks to AB that is a two click process so I don't mind, but would prefer automatic.


----------



## clark_b

I'm not sure that there is one other than modding the BIOS so that the memory speed is always overclocked by default.
Have you tried just using ATI Overdrive in catalyst on the newest drivers? They're supposed to drop to 2d clocks better than previous drivers.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Parish_Rane*


Well, looks like you are correct. Furmark, CoDBO, run just fine with the profile switching setup for 2d= stock and 3d = 850/1200. OCCT, Titan Quest, Evil Genius, crash when the mem speed is changing.

Any workaround suggested or just manually apply overclock on games where it matters before I play? Thanks to AB that is a two click process so I don't mind, but would prefer automatic.


What drivers are you using by the way?

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


----------



## christoph

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Parish_Rane;11727656*
> So, I use afterburner and took my 5850 to 850/1200 on stock voltage. Furmark runs just fine no problems. However, when I boot certain games, Titan Quest, Evil Genius, or the OCCT GPU test they just crash when they hit the main menu. Any suggestions? I've tried upping the voltage.
> 
> They all load and run fine the minute afterburner is closed, but with it running they crash.
> 
> EDIT: I am using profile switching in afterburner as well. Without profile switching OCCT and the games run fine.


hmmm

changing Vram clocks up and down can be a pain in the butt, that's why I modded the bios for my HD4890...

are you using Afterburner and some other program like Everest/Aida64 or GPU-Z at the same time?

cuz afterburner and those programs don't get along, they cause the video card to crash.

BTW, keep an eye on the VRM's video card when using OCCT for the stress test program, this in particular will almost or even burn the video card

I rather use Furmark for stress testing, this one gives you more accurate stress test like when in games


----------



## elysion

nice mate, will try that soon on my water cooled 5970 thanks


----------



## flopper

6850 crossfire
watercooled.


----------



## qbical

Quote:



Originally Posted by *flopper*


6850 crossfire
watercooled.










how did you enable the V bar for your 6850? mine wont let me no matter what setting i pick.


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *qbical*


how did you enable the V bar for your 6850? mine wont let me no matter what setting i pick.


You need the latest Afterburner beta.


----------



## Oleh

I went to the max on the clock core (845 MHz) with my Radeon HD 5570 and it's fine, should this be happening?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Oleh*


I went to the max on the clock core (845 MHz) with my Radeon HD 5570 and it's fine, should this be happening?


Have you tested for stability with games or Furmark or OCCT?
If its stable (no artifacts or low fps) in those tools and games then it appears to be stable.


----------



## Oleh

Quote:



Originally Posted by *coffeejunky*


Have you tested for stability with games or Furmark or OCCT?
If its stable (no artifacts or low fps) in those tools and games then it appears to be stable.


Nvm, forgot to update that post, started having glitches when I raised the memory clock, put down both just bellow the max and its fine, tested it with my games.


----------



## jerg

Hi,

I have been trying to set up 2D/3D clocks for the ATi 5650 in MSI Afterburner.

I've used AMD GPU Clock Tool to push the clocks , and used Furmark plus games (Crysis / SC2) to test the stability for overclocking, and have found out that the ballpark is ~750 MHz core / 1125 MHz memory (coming from 550 MHz / 800 MHz stock). The 5650 is *known* for being a little overclocking demon.

Now, with ATi there is a Powerplay function which automatically scales down the GPU clocks to 100/200 whenever there's no load, IF the clocks are at stock level. Using that in conjunction with MSI Afterburner (set 2D profile to stock clocks, 3D profile to OC clocks) would theoretically work well but...

It can't push past 715 / 1040 MHz without screwing that up.

I can certainly make it overclock past that (by setting OC clocks, then reopening MSI Afterburner), but then I lose the 550/800 2D profile.

Is there any way of doing this without getting hindered in overclocking? An unlocked MSI version maybe? Or another overclocking tool which also does 2D/3D profiling and doesn't have limited clock range?

Thanks for reading.


----------



## clark_b

Are you using the latest version of Afterburner?


----------



## DayzaStarr

This will be my first overclock on a GPU and was looking for a little more insight for Crossfire configs. It was stated in the guide that you can do each card individually and test each individually by not running the stress in full screen. To me, I think that would be best since no two cards are alike and each card should be tested seperately to obtain the best clockings, but would running two cards at two different clockings be a problem?


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DayzaStarr*


This will be my first overclock on a GPU and was looking for a little more insight for Crossfire configs. It was stated in the guide that you can do each card individually and test each individually by not running the stress in full screen. To me, I think that would be best since no two cards are alike and each card should be tested seperately to obtain the best clockings, but would running two cards at two different clockings be a problem?


Usually after you find the best clocks for each individual card you set them both to the lowest of the two.

For example:

Card 1 stable clocks = 850mhz GPU 1400mhz Memory
Card 2 stable clocks = 835mhz GPU 1408mhz Memory

In this case you would set both to 835mhz GPU 1400mhz Memory


----------



## DayzaStarr

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *clark_b;11971366*
> Usually after you find the best clocks for each individual card you set them both to the lowest of the two.
> 
> For example:
> 
> Card 1 stable clocks = 850mhz GPU 1400mhz Memory
> Card 2 stable clocks = 835mhz GPU 1408mhz Memory
> 
> In this case you would set both to 835mhz GPU 1400mhz Memory


I wanted to assume this, buuut you know what happens when you assume...so thanks for clearing it up for me


----------



## jerg

Quote:



Originally Posted by *clark_b*


Are you using the latest version of Afterburner?


Yes indeed. I think the problem is that with most people, the default range of OC (after unofficial overclocking has been unlocked in the setting file) is already wide enough for them not to be able to go over before their GPU crashes; in my case my GPU can easily pass that limit without destabilizing or heating up too much.

Is it possible to widen the default range of over/downclock, *while* the profiles are all saved?


----------



## clark_b

I'm not quite sure.
Hopefully someone who has more experience than I with these newer cards can chime in...


----------



## magehert

Very nice guide, thanks for that, but..

- GPU Tool did not work on W7 x64, but that's not your fold, so i had to use an other progs, was difficult to measure.

My question is: i have a HD4870 default 600 gpu core and 900 mem core.
But when i do a stress test with default settings my FAN speed comes around 90/91 Celsius.

So there is little margin for me to aprove, do you have any alternative tips?

Thanks in advance

Daniel


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *magehert*


Very nice guide, thanks for that, but..

- GPU Tool did not work on W7 x64, but that's not your fold, so i had to use an other progs, was difficult to measure.

My question is: i have a HD4870 default 600 gpu core and 900 mem core. 
But when i do a stress test with default settings my FAN speed comes around 90/91 Celsius.

So there is little margin for me to aprove, do you have any alternative tips?

Thanks in advance

Daniel


What brand, etc. is your card? Is it under warranty still? Have you changed the fan speed settings?


----------



## Ash_

this is the best!!


----------



## onslaught_

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *flopper;11846767*
> 6850 crossfire
> watercooled.


Nice man, are you planning to push it further?

I'm at 900/1175 on my Gigabyte HD6850 (775/1000 stock)


----------



## onslaught_

went from 900/1075 to 950/1110.
I did stability tests with furmark, kombuster, and gpuid..no artifacts detected.

is it common for you guys to use stock core/mem when you aren't gaming and just switch it to your OC settings when you're gaming?

if I do that in-game will that cause any problems?

FYI: My highest temps on load is 58C. I idle at 39C on my OC temps


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *onslaught_*


went from 900/1075 to 950/1110.
I did stability tests with furmark, kombuster, and gpuid..no artifacts detected.

is it common for you guys to use stock core/mem when you aren't gaming and just switch it to your OC settings when you're gaming?

if I do that in-game will that cause any problems?


If i'm not mistaken the new drivers do that automatically, don't they?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



I Get An Error When Saving The Config File
On some systems you may get an error when you try to save the MSIAfterburner.cfg file. First make sure Afterburner is fully closed, including the icon in the system tray. If this does not help, you need to take ownership of the file before editing it. The easiest way to do this is to follow this guide. Once you have done that, right click on MSIAfterburner.cfg and click 'Take Ownership' from the context menu. Then open up the file in wordpad follow the procedure in Step 2 and save it. If you still receive an error message, describe it in a reply to this thread.


Maybe it's mentioned already but I did it without having to download the hack. Just simply make the User's group have full control of it by going to the security tab in properties. Unless the above is for WinXP then never mind.


----------



## pRenoM

Got my 6850 Stable at 1000/1150







..If you guys want to get pass the 950ish mark you have to increase the voltage for sure


----------



## onslaught_

Quote:



Originally Posted by *pRenoM*


Got my 6850 Stable at 1000/1150







..If you guys want to get pass the 950ish mark you have to increase the voltage for sure


What are your temps? Idle/Load-

I'm at 950/1200. Would love to get to 1000 but that maybe too much heat for my liking..


----------



## 77Pat

Results for my Asus 6850 so far (Smartdoc is set at 950/1134 and Afterburner is set at 950/1150..looks like Smartdoc overrides)


6850 Benchmark Overclock by 77Pat, on Flickr


----------



## pRenoM

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *onslaught_;12281243*
> What are your temps? Idle/Load-
> 
> I'm at 950/1200. Would love to get to 1000 but that maybe too much heat for my liking..


Think I hit a max of around 82c while on load and while in Idle it stayed in the 40's...Was just a test run I put it back to 950/1150..I dont need the 1000


----------



## Idra

I OCed my HD 5850 by 30 MHz. What kind of performance boost is this?


----------



## gonX

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Idra*


I OCed my HD 5850 by 30 MHz. What kind of performance boost is this?


Idra? As in the SC2 gamer IdrA?

But 30 MHz on that card isn't that great.


----------



## Idra

Quote:



Originally Posted by *gonX*


Idra? As in the SC2 gamer IdrA?

But 30 MHz on that card isn't that great.


Should I OC more? I'm using a stock cooler though. I'm not sure which aftermarket cooler to get for my 5850.

And yes, named after SC2 Idra, but I'm not him.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Idra;12435697*
> Should I OC more? I'm using a stock cooler though. I'm not sure which aftermarket cooler to get for my 5850.
> 
> And yes, named after SC2 Idra, but I'm not him.


To put in perspective, I OC'd mine with stock cooler and stock voltage from 775 to 925 and the temperature has only gone up a little bit. Only reason I had to stop is because at 950 it started to artifacts and I'm too chicken to go higher with my voltage. I brought it back down to satisfy the 6 hour stress test.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Idra;12435697*
> Should I OC more? I'm using a stock cooler though. I'm not sure which aftermarket cooler to get for my 5850.
> 
> And yes, named after SC2 Idra, but I'm not him.


Just keep temps in check. They don't increase that much when you just increase the core clock.


----------



## Blindsay

nice guide, thanks


----------



## clark_b

Afterburner 2.1.0 Final is out guys. There's the link


----------



## dmo

I have a phen.II 6 [email protected] 2.8Ghz, 6870 ATI Radeon , I have 2--`120m case fans, plus extreme liquid cooling for pc. and 8gb ram.. I want to OC my Graph card. my catalyst control dosn't have auto tune or auto test. I went ahead and set the clock speed from 900Mhz to 940Mhz and my memclock speed from 1050mzh to 1140mzh. is this going to work or is there a beter combo that i can set for my Card? I am totally new at this so any suggestions would be appreciated. I am running everything on this manually Please let me know.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dmo;12546462*
> I have a phen.II 6 [email protected] 2.8Ghz, 6870 ATI Radeon , I have 2--`120m case fans, plus extreme liquid cooling for pc. and 8gb ram.. I want to OC my Graph card. my catalyst control dosn't have auto tune or auto test. I went ahead and set the clock speed from 900Mhz to 940Mhz and my memclock speed from 1050mzh to 1140mzh. is this going to work or is there a beter combo that i can set for my Card? I am totally new at this so any suggestions would be appreciated. I am running everything on this manually Please let me know.


Every card and chip is different so we can't just say yes it'll work. Follow the guide and you'll find your best settings in one night.


----------



## Antsu

I flashed my HD 6950 from a HIS BIOS to a Sapphire BIOS, just for the TRIXX, and now when I try to change the voltage it doesnt do anything and I am using TRIXX 3.0.4, and Catalyst 11.2

If someone could make me a Sapphire HD 6950 BIOS with unlocked shaders it would be awesome! Thanks!


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Antsu;12558295*
> I flashed my HD 6950 from a HIS BIOS to a Sapphire BIOS, just for the TRIXX, and now when I try to change the voltage it doesnt do anything and I am using TRIXX 3.0.4, and Catalyst 11.2
> 
> If someone could make me a Sapphire HD 6950 BIOS with unlocked shaders it would be awesome! Thanks!


did you not try using Afterburner or TRIXX before flashing?


----------



## latouffe

Hmmm i unlocked the msi afterburner but im unable to set a higher core clock than 775... The slider just dont go further...
How to get 810?
i have a His 5850


----------



## EarlGrey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *latouffe;12619151*
> Hmmm i unlocked the msi afterburner but im unable to set a higher core clock than 775... The slider just dont go further...
> How to get 810?
> i have a His 5850


I have the same problem, using an MSI 6870 hawk. Can't move the slider beyond 1000mhz
Also "EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 0" no longer appears in the .cfg file.
It now seems to be "UnofficialOverclockingMode= 0" but switching that on didn't do a thing.


----------



## dmo

using the after burner can be tricky, to get more than 775/1000 you have to increase your voltage too, be carefull and move it slowly by 5 to 10 at the most then apply the voltage on your msi try to get 1154-1174(Voltage). then do the furbench that comes with aft burner, watch your temp. if its stable then go to ati radeon and down load catalys control center when you open it it will have a higher GPU setting and Memory setting. also theres alot on youtube you can watch to have a better Idea. And make sure you run your Fans at 100% manual setting until you know a temp on your gpu.


----------



## GrimSage

Hey guys, im trying to OC my 5850. its a diamond, and im 90+% sure its a reference design bc i got it like 3 weeks after release and its got the AMD logo on the back of the PCB. I get 1000core 1300(5200) mem at 1.3v with MSI afterburner and most of the time it runs stable, stable through heaven at max everything, stable through 3dmark11 at max everything, but in furmark it crashes HARD after like 1 min or less, its never broken 75C, AMD GPU tool wont run and give me an error that says no compatible device is found.

afterburners unofficial overclocking is enabled as is voltage control in both the CFG file and the settings.

any thoughts?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dmo;12638485*
> using the after burner can be tricky, to get more than 775/1000 you have to increase your voltage too, be carefull and move it slowly by 5 to 10 at the most then apply the voltage on your msi try to get 1154-1174(Voltage). then do the furbench that comes with aft burner, watch your temp. if its stable then go to ati radeon and down load catalys control center when you open it it will have a higher GPU setting and Memory setting. also theres alot on youtube you can watch to have a better Idea. And make sure you run your Fans at 100% manual setting until you know a temp on your gpu.


IRC on my 6850, I didn't need to increase voltage till about 920/1150.


----------



## dmo

I think i'm going to crossfire my ati 6870---any suggestions????? I never crossfired?


----------



## GrimSage

Quote:



Originally Posted by *EarlGrey*


I have the same problem, using an MSI 6870 hawk. Can't move the slider beyond 1000mhz 
Also "EnableUnofficialOverclocking= 0" no longer appears in the .cfg file.
It now seems to be "UnofficialOverclockingMode= 0" but switching that on didn't do a thing.


you now have to type in a sentence, which you can find here

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Afterbur...load-2604.html


----------



## dmo

thank you for the help guys.


----------



## CCast88

Everytime I increase frequency, my screen blinks 1 time... is that normal??? the stability test seems fine...


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CCast88;12828140*
> Everytime I increase frequency, my screen blinks 1 time... is that normal??? the stability test seems fine...


I don't recall it doing that to me.


----------



## CCast88

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;12828514*
> I don't recall it doing that to me.


it only happens when I click "Apply" when i change frequencies...
right now, im at 855/1125 at stock volts. Ran furmark for 10min and seemed fine... does that sound about right??


----------



## Krusher33

Every card is different. Keep going until it doesn't pass that short test. Back off a bit and take a long test. Just watch the temps. If don't know max for your card, research. 6850 is the first ATI/AMD card I've owned in ages so I couldn't tell you what it is for 5850's.

As for the blinking thing... I dunno. Maybe someone else will chime in? I'm on a SSD so maybe it's so quick for me that I don't notice it.


----------



## gonX

The blinking can happen with some sensitive monitors.


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *CCast88*


Everytime I increase frequency, my screen blinks 1 time... is that normal??? the stability test seems fine...


It's normal. Look at the Release Notes for the drivers and I believe it's mentioned in known issues.


----------



## ezveedub

Quote:



Originally Posted by *dmo*


I think i'm going to crossfire my ati 6870---any suggestions????? I never crossfired?


If you add another 6870, make sure you run Furmark for benching and use full screen mode, otherwise it will not activate the second card. Same for games, full screen mode for Crossfire. Other than that, they work great. Double FPS in most cases.


----------



## Bal3Wolf

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ezveedub*


If you add another 6870, make sure you run Furmark for benching and use full screen mode, otherwise it will not activate the second card. Same for games, full screen mode for Crossfire. Other than that, they work great. Double FPS in most cases.


lol funny i cant even get furmark to work in my tri fire but everything else works fine.


----------



## superhead91

Anyone know how to reattach the hardware monitor to afterburner?


----------



## colaxs

Hello guys.

I've ordered a gigabyte radeon 6950 which is on the way. I'm going to try my luck at unlocking the shaders and see how things go.

the other thing i want to try is to see if my card can run at stock 6970 clocks. Now, I've read a lot about MSI Afterburner and Sapphire Trixxx. Even the CCC limit reg editor.

I have a bit of a n00b question about OCing. If I adjust the 6950 clocks to 6970 levels using Afterburner, would the card run at 880/1375 permanently?

What I mean is, does OCing with Afterburner affect the card's ability to downclock when it's idle? If it does, is there a solution to ensure that the card only runs at 880/1375 while gaming, and goes into power saving mode when idle?


----------



## Bal3Wolf

you can set your clock and it will still downclock when idle.


----------



## Gunderman456

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *colaxs;13005200*
> Hello guys.
> 
> I've ordered a gigabyte radeon 6950 which is on the way. I'm going to try my luck at unlocking the shaders and see how things go.
> 
> the other thing i want to try is to see if my card can run at stock 6970 clocks. Now, I've read a lot about MSI Afterburner and Sapphire Trixxx. Even the CCC limit reg editor.
> 
> I have a bit of a n00b question about OCing. If I adjust the 6950 clocks to 6970 levels using Afterburner, would the card run at 880/1375 permanently?
> 
> What I mean is, does OCing with Afterburner affect the card's ability to downclock when it's idle? If it does, is there a solution to ensure that the card only runs at 880/1375 while gaming, and goes into power saving mode when idle?


I use Afterburner. I have saved two profiles. One profile is for Idle Clocks and the second profile is for the overclock. It's set on idle clocks upon system boot. If I'm about to game, then I'll click on the overclock setting and load my game.


----------



## paradoxum

quick question here, can overclocking my HD5870 damage it in any way? No voltage modding, just changing the clock speeds in the CCC and such, can putting them too high damage it or something?


----------



## Krusher33

Every card is different but in general, it's hard to damage your card without changing the voltage. You just need to be stress testing your overclock and watch the temperatures. And the reason I say it's hard to damage your card without changing the voltage is because generally you need to increase the voltage to get higher clocks and it increases the temperatures.


----------



## colaxs

hi everyone

wasn't sure if my problem warranted a new thread, so i figured i could post here instead.

I got my Gigabyte Radeon 6950 2GB card last week. After debating for ages, i decided to take a risk and unlocked my shaders fine with the stock bios, using RBE.

I then decided to try my luck to see if i could reach the 6970 stock clocks of 880/1375. So i enabled powertune to +20% in CCC, enabled unofficialoverclocking in Afterburner with the disclaimer text etc.

I ran afterburner and found that i could set the clocks to 880/1375 on stock volts. However, running the Kmark normal benchmark on MSI Kombustor would crash the driver and then the driver would recover.

I was able to get vantage, unigine, 3d mark 11, crysis, AVP running without any problems.

But something weird happened. On vantage, on stock clocks (800/1250), my gpu score was around 20800. But when I OCd it to 880/1375, my gpu scores dropped down to 20300.

should i raise my volts to 1.175 to see if this helps? Or is something else going on?

I have a custom fan profile set to run at 60% on load. My card idles at 40 Degrees Celcius and under load, it hovers around 66 Degrees, which isn't too hot I think..

Any tips would be much appreciated.

For now, I have reverted back to the 800/1250 configuration.

Thanks y'all


----------



## TexasRho83

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *colaxs;13079837*
> hi everyone
> 
> wasn't sure if my problem warranted a new thread, so i figured i could post here instead.
> 
> I got my Gigabyte Radeon 6950 2GB card last week. After debating for ages, i decided to take a risk and unlocked my shaders fine with the stock bios, using RBE.
> 
> I then decided to try my luck to see if i could reach the 6970 stock clocks of 880/1375. So i enabled powertune to +20% in CCC, enabled unofficialoverclocking in Afterburner with the disclaimer text etc.
> 
> I ran afterburner and found that i could set the clocks to 880/1375 on stock volts. However, running the Kmark normal benchmark on MSI Kombustor would crash the driver and then the driver would recover.
> 
> I was able to get vantage, unigine, 3d mark 11, crysis, AVP running without any problems.
> 
> But something weird happened. On vantage, on stock clocks (800/1250), my gpu score was around 20800. But when I OCd it to 880/1375, my gpu scores dropped down to 20300.
> 
> should i raise my volts to 1.175 to see if this helps? Or is something else going on?
> 
> I have a custom fan profile set to run at 60% on load. My card idles at 40 Degrees Celcius and under load, it hovers around 66 Degrees, which isn't too hot I think..
> 
> Any tips would be much appreciated.
> 
> For now, I have reverted back to the 800/1250 configuration.
> 
> Thanks y'all


I have the same card and have downloaded both MSI AB and Kom and haven't messed with Kom yet. I think you need Kom to use AB but not necessary to use it. (Correct me if I'm wrong, someone)

Also, I don't see why you would care so much about an outdated benchmark program. If the other benchies are consistent why even worry about Vantage?


----------



## hajabooja

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *TexasRho83;13082767*
> I have the same card and have downloaded both MSI AB and Kom and haven't messed with Kom yet. I think you need Kom to use AB but not necessary to use it. (Correct me if I'm wrong, someone)
> 
> Also, I don't see why you would care so much about an outdated benchmark program. If the other benchies are consistent why even worry about Vantage?


You don't have to have Kombuster installed. AFAIK Kombuster is just for testing stability.


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hajabooja;13089823*
> You don't have to have Kombuster installed. AFAIK Kombuster is just for testing stability.


I second this. Afterburner works for me without Kombuster. Unless they installed it in the background and I didn't realize it.


----------



## VettePilot

Seems like from this and other threads, overclocking the 6950 or flashing the bios is not worth it. really doesnt increase performance and you have a real risk of killing th card with artifacts that wont go away. I am kind of pissed right now because the guy who build my PC at Frys said this was easy and worked well and to save the 80 bucks on the 6970. the 70 dollars means little to me really and I regret not getting it. Now I may get another 6950 in a couple of month for crossfire so that could hold me for some time, and even run BF3 just fine when it comes out.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *colaxs;13079837*
> hi everyone
> 
> wasn't sure if my problem warranted a new thread, so i figured i could post here instead.
> 
> I got my Gigabyte Radeon 6950 2GB card last week. After debating for ages, i decided to take a risk and unlocked my shaders fine with the stock bios, using RBE.
> 
> I then decided to try my luck to see if i could reach the 6970 stock clocks of 880/1375. So i enabled powertune to +20% in CCC, enabled unofficialoverclocking in Afterburner with the disclaimer text etc.
> 
> I ran afterburner and found that i could set the clocks to 880/1375 on stock volts. However, running the Kmark normal benchmark on MSI Kombustor would crash the driver and then the driver would recover.
> 
> I was able to get vantage, unigine, 3d mark 11, crysis, AVP running without any problems.
> 
> But something weird happened. On vantage, on stock clocks (800/1250), my gpu score was around 20800. But when I OCd it to 880/1375, my gpu scores dropped down to 20300.
> 
> should i raise my volts to 1.175 to see if this helps? Or is something else going on?
> 
> I have a custom fan profile set to run at 60% on load. My card idles at 40 Degrees Celcius and under load, it hovers around 66 Degrees, which isn't too hot I think..
> 
> Any tips would be much appreciated.
> 
> For now, I have reverted back to the 800/1250 configuration.
> 
> Thanks y'all


----------



## manny123

Can anyone tell me what Shader Complexity I should be using when using OCCT to test? At the moment I left it to default settings 0.


----------



## kromar

i was doing some tests with overclocking the card but i can only use occt for artifact scanning, the gpu-tool doesnt work:/

so the core seems to behave normal but when i started increasing the memory clocks it never gave artifacts and i am wondering if it doesnt artifact with to high memclocks or if i just have some golden ram or so...

the stock mem value is 1150 and i increased it to 1250 and it still didnt artifact. i didnt go further and went back to stock because im not sure if it will hurt the card. so is it normal that the mem goes that high? and should occt gpu test give artifacts when the mem clock is to high or how does that show up?

edit: oh forgot to ask if anyone knows what all these temperatures are:


----------



## manny123

With OCCT are you running with error check enabled?

I'm still in the overclocking process and as of yet just finished getting my stable core clock. Whats happened is I had no artifacting with OCCT but when I found my final overclock limit I got errors after the first few minutes. I dropped down the clocks then ran again for longer now since I found my limits. This time everything was good until the 40 minute mark which it then found errors again. So after dropping down again I was finally good with no errors.

This was with error check test. I had no artifacts whatsoever.

I've just got started with my memory so I can't comment but you should also look for stabilty in fps so if your seeing a unusual drop in frames than before that can be a sign.

Furthermore you probably do this anyway but I recommend you do more than just a stress test. I do OCCT, Kombustor, run benchmarks like 3dmark, unigine & play my favourite/demanding games to be sure & comfortable.

If you download Everest Ultimate or Aida64(same stuff) they seem to give a name to the different temps. For my 5750 comparing it to gpuz readings the gpu temp #1 seems to be the core labeled as "dispI0". GPU temp#2 the memory and GPU temp #3 is the shader.


----------



## kromar

turns out that if the mem is unstable i get display distortion after some time:O i usially test with crysis after the occt artifact testing to see if i get any problems there. with a 1000mhz core and 1240mhz mem i got about 5fps more in the crysis bench. (stock 970/1150)


----------



## Redwoodz

I was gonna say your score was low with that 1375 mem run because the memory was clocked too much.If you go too high it slows performance.


----------



## nachielous

Seems nothing ever goes smoothly for me...Im trying to tweak my 6950 to about 860 and I cant seem to find the cmd in MSI Afterburner that unlocks it. I remember finding the command when I OCed my previous GPU but I dunno...


----------



## Shrofff

thanks for that man i now feel confident to do it, as that is such a thorough guide


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nachielous*


Seems nothing ever goes smoothly for me...Im trying to tweak my 6950 to about 860 and I cant seem to find the cmd in MSI Afterburner that unlocks it. I remember finding the command when I OCed my previous GPU but I dunno...


It has changed just recently (last 2 months or so).

You now need to set:
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 1

*AND*

UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it

It should be in the MSIAfterburner.cfg file.


----------



## nachielous

Thank you another questions what a decent clock for a 6950? I know I could flash it to a 6970 but honestly Ive heard mixed reviews so id rather not.. Im going to ask in the owner club thread as well :]


----------



## Krusher33

What I do is go to the threads for the clubs and skim through the posts to see what people have clocked them at. For you, the 69XX owners club: http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/892...ners-club.html

I also go to the HWBot.org "Search Database" page at http://hwbot.org/init.results.search.do and do a search for a similar set up or with the card. For me I'm on air so I look for what scores people have posted that said they're on air. And then I look at what clocks they set at or their screenshots helps as well.


----------



## Adasen

I can't get this to work at all. I'm running a 4870x2 and I've followed the guide to the letter. When I up the core speed and apply I go to test stability in GPUTool and the card just sits at 2D mode clocks reguardless of what I try. I've even ticked Renderer uses fullscreen to no effect.

Any help chaps?


----------



## HothBase

Try another GPU test, maybe the one in OCCT?


----------



## Adasen

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HothBase*


Try another GPU test, maybe the one in OCCT?










Cheers I'll give another GPU test ago. Do I need to uninstall CCC as well?


----------



## HothBase

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Adasen*


Cheers I'll give another GPU test ago. Do I need to uninstall CCC as well?


No, you shouldn't have to.


----------



## Grath

Well, MSI Afterburner won't work with my my GPU for some reason, I use ATITool...


----------



## Qiko

Hey Guys,

I have an EAH5850 TOP Asus. My entire rig is air cooled.

I was able to reach 950/1250 @1.255v(Smart Doctor) with max Temps at
65c. Volts lower than this at this speed caused artifacts.

Stock speed is 765/1125 @ 1.118v.

My goal was 975 core but even with 1.349v it kept causing artifacts.

So is there any big difference between 950 core vs 975 core?
If I decide to go water cooling, will I be able to use lower volts? or will it allow me to use higher volts safely?

Or should I RMA the card?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Qiko*


Hey Guys,

I have an EAH5850 TOP Asus. My entire rig is air cooled.

I was able to reach 950/1250 @1.255v(Smart Doctor) with max Temps at
65c. Volts lower than this at this speed caused artifacts.

Stock speed is 765/1125 @ 1.118v.

My goal was 975 core but even with 1.349v it kept causing artifacts.

So is there any big difference between 950 core vs 975 core?
If I decide to go water cooling, will I be able to use lower volts? or will it allow me to use higher volts safely?

Or should I RMA the card?


Using submissions on HWBot:
Heaven benchmarks shows about 60 pts difference: http://hwbot.org/searchResults.do?di...peId=&offset=0
3DMark11 benchmarks shows about 1100 pts difference: http://hwbot.org/searchResults.do?di...peId=&offset=0

Depending on how good the watercooling set up is, it just helps to bring down the temps a lot more so that you can OC more without overheating the card. As for safe voltages, I'm unsure but HWBot do show people OC'ing to about 1075 on H2O: http://hwbot.org/hardware/videocard/radeon_hd_5850


----------



## WhosIsThis

looks good, ive been meaning to oc my 5850 now i have an excuse to







thanks!


----------



## Booger

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Krusher33*


It has changed just recently (last 2 months or so).

You now need to set:
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 1

*AND*

UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it

It should be in the MSIAfterburner.cfg file.


I did this, and every time I try to overclock it crashes. What am I doing wrong? I'm trying to overclock 2 6970's


----------



## Krusher33

What crashes? Just Afterburner or what? If Afterburner, I'd try uninstalling and reinstalling again. Then re-do drivers as well.


----------



## Booger

Sorry, I should have been more specific. My computer crashes and restarts. It happens if I try to change anything over the stock values (even voltage). Now if I change the unofficialoverclock back to 0 I can max it out in catalyst control center and Msi Afterburner to 950/1450 with no increase in voltage.

I'm also using AMD 11.4 drivers. I'll try reinstalling both the drivers and Afterburner


----------



## Booger

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;13417639*
> What crashes? Just Afterburner or what? If Afterburner, I'd try uninstalling and reinstalling again. Then re-do drivers as well.


It didn't work but +1 to you anyway


----------



## Qiko

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33;13352598*
> Depending on how good the watercooling set up is, it just helps to bring down the temps a lot more so that you can OC more without overheating the card. As for safe voltages, I'm unsure but HWBot do show people OC'ing to about 1075 on H2O: http://hwbot.org/hardware/videocard/radeon_hd_5850


Thanks Krusher, I did more bench testing with GPU OCCT and discovered my error free clock settings were lower. So now my speeds are 922/1200 @ +125mV(1.243v).


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Booger;13424184*
> Sorry, I should have been more specific. My computer crashes and restarts. It happens if I try to change anything over the stock values (even voltage). Now if I change the unofficialoverclock back to 0 I can max it out in catalyst control center and Msi Afterburner to 950/1450 with no increase in voltage.
> 
> I'm also using AMD 11.4 drivers. I'll try reinstalling both the drivers and Afterburner


That has me confused, lol
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Qiko;13427714*
> Thanks Krusher, I did more bench testing with GPU OCCT and discovered my error free clock settings were lower. So now my speeds are 922/1200 @ +125mV(1.243v).


Good to hear it was something simple!


----------



## Booger

That has me confused, lol

Welcome to the club


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Thermaltake*


Well, MSI Afterburner won't work with my my GPU for some reason, I use ATITool...


Yeah I don't think it supports "legacy" cards.


----------



## EmptyBarrel

Hi, i`m running 5850 CF, one Asus card and one club3d. The problem is that the club3d is limited to 775\\1125 (asus is 1200\\1400) in CCC and in MSI afterburner. I have tried to edit the file as described in step 2 in the first post, but nothing changes. Does anyone have a tips ?


----------



## EmptyBarrel

ignore last post, did a flash


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EmptyBarrel;13500242*
> Hi, i`m running 5850 CF, one Asus card and one club3d. The problem is that the club3d is limited to 775\1125 (asus is 1200\1400) in CCC and in MSI afterburner. I have tried to edit the file as described in step 2 in the first post, but nothing changes. Does anyone have a tips ?


Step 2 is no longer correct. There's a disclaimer to type in instead.


----------



## superhead91

So if my GPU is crapping out on me playing BC2 after overclocking which is more likely the culprit, core clock or memory clock?


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *superhead91*


So if my GPU is crapping out on me playing BC2 after overclocking which is more likely the culprit, core clock or memory clock?


What do you mean when you say "crapping out"?


----------



## superhead91

Freezing up. The screen turns dark grey with a bunch of darker grey vertical lines, and I have to restart my computer. I can still hear sound though.


----------



## clark_b

Sounds like vram if your gpu temps are reasonable

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


----------



## superhead91

Quote:



Originally Posted by *clark_b*


Sounds like vram if your gpu temps are reasonable

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


Yeah, I lowered the core and the memory clocks and haven't had any issues yet.. I may bring the core clocks back up a bit and see if the problem comes back.


----------



## grassh0ppa

gpuTool wont show the error detection on the bottom left side after the first test i do. Not sure what the deal is


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *grassh0ppa;13580867*
> gpuTool wont show the error detection on the bottom left side after the first test i do. Not sure what the deal is


honestly i'd just use OCCT


----------



## Mikehunt47

THANK YOU SO MUCH! i have been wondering how to OC my gpu over 960mhz man id say i love you but we just met xD


----------



## GlCustard

When I start increasing voltage do I need to go through steps 3-6 again for each the core clock and memory clock for every increase of voltage? If that makes since.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GlCustard;13713892*
> When I start increasing voltage do I need to go through steps 3-6 again for each the core clock and memory clock for every increase of voltage? If that makes since.


Ideally, yes, but you don't need to. It's a good idea to graph the maximum stable frequency to the voltage you're at, so you can see where diminishing returns apply.


----------



## GlCustard

ok... I'm really new at this, so I'm not sure what you mean by "...to graph the maximum stable frequency..."

I am running hd 6970, with the default voltage at 1175 mV, Core 880, Mem 1375 (at least this what MSI Afterburner has)
Using the guide I found it to be stable with a core clock at 960 and mem clock at 1510

I thought I would see if upping the voltage would help.

If I'm going to take my time, should I start with my stable OC or should I drop to stock and go from scratch?

Also, are those numbers ok or is my CPU hurting them?
I's I drop to stock and just up the voltage what should I look for to see when it goes to high?
Should I start with overclocking my CPU before I OC my GPU.

I should say that I've water cooled my CPU and the full Video card. OC with the numbers above, I was maxing out GPU 62c... I don't know what my cpu was...


----------



## IcyPimpHand

Hi, I OC'd my 3850 to 701Mhz core, and I know it's stable, but I have one question. Whenever I turn my computer on, after it's been off, it goes back down to stock core. How do I make it stay?


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *IcyPimpHand;13715315*
> Hi, I OC'd my 3850 to 701Mhz core, and I know it's stable, but I have one question. Whenever I turn my computer on, after it's been off, it goes back down to stock core. How do I make it stay?


you have to set AfterBurner to turn on and apply the profile at boot. or mod the bios of the card.


----------



## IcyPimpHand

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *clark_b;13738340*
> you have to set AfterBurner to turn on and apply the profile at boot. or mod the bios of the card.


How do you do that?


----------



## GlCustard

Your using MSI Afterburner right?

If so, go to settings; under the "General" tab, make sure that you have "Start with Windows" checked.
Click ok to close the window.
Look under the "Profile: 1 2 3 4 5 save" area at the bottom of the main window.
You'll see "Apply overclocking at system startup".
Click on that and a red light will light up to the far left.
The settings that are active at shutdown will now be active at your next boot up.

MSI Afterburner will start minimized in your Notifications section so don't worry when you don't see it up.

I hope this helps.


----------



## IcyPimpHand

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GlCustard;13763712*
> Your using MSI Afterburner right?
> 
> If so, go to settings; under the "General" tab, make sure that you have "Start with Windows" checked.
> Click ok to close the window.
> Look under the "Profile: 1 2 3 4 5 save" area at the bottom of the main window.
> You'll see "Apply overclocking at system startup".
> Click on that and a red light will light up to the far left.
> The settings that are active at shutdown will now be active at your next boot up.
> 
> MSI Afterburner will start minimized in your Notifications section so don't worry when you don't see it up.
> 
> I hope this helps.


Thanks it does!


----------



## salzalada

I recently installed a Club3D HD5850 together with my HIS HD5870. The 5870 overclocks fine in MSI Afterburner, but when I change to the HD5850 it just says "0" in both mem and core clock. In the graph to the right it shows the default clocks though.

When I try to to change the clocks they just reset to 0 when I click apply. How do I fix this?!

(I'm not running them in CF, they're for bitcoin mining.)


----------



## NineteenEleven

so i been able to push my core clock to 885 (725 stock) so far, with no problems. but as soon as i touch the memory clock i get a flickering every 30 seconds or so or when i drag a window, or use a web browser, ect.

any suggestions?

5850 in 3way eyefinity 5760 X 1080


----------



## Slesher

Hey, i'm htinking about overclocking my GPU, but I run some tests using the GPUTool and the temperature is quite high on the stock settings.



What might be the problem or should I try to OC at all if the temp is like this on the stock settings??


----------



## jeffdamann

When running gputool on stock settings the two rings turn into mismatched pixels and disappear, the gui reports 33000 mismatched pixels. What do I do?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *jeffdamann*


When running gputool on stock settings the two rings turn into mismatched pixels and disappear, the gui reports 33000 mismatched pixels. What do I do?


Do you get artifacting in games. Take any GPUTool results with a pinch of salt, it's artifact scanner isn't really designed for modern cards. You could also test stability with Furmark, but I find that a bit overkill.


----------



## crucifix85

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Slesher*


Hey, i'm htinking about overclocking my GPU, but I run some tests using the GPUTool and the temperature is quite high on the stock settings.



What might be the problem or should I try to OC at all if the temp is like this on the stock settings??


you need to adjust your fan settings in Afterburner. I like to keep a buffer. For example,when the gpu temp is at 60c my fan speed is at 70%. My set up is like this



ImageShack.us


----------



## ani4may

awesome thread !

a few questions

1. the GPU tool displays no values for me but the stability test works

2. when do you run the risk of killing your card ?

3. please update the guide by incorporating the ULPS registry fix for multi gpu users ( the BSOD on reboot left me sleepless )

4. is the fan curve behavior only for those who want to cut noise ? i like keeping those on auto 
thank you again


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ani4may*


awesome thread !

a few questions

1. the GPU tool displays no values for me but the stability test works

2. when do you run the risk of killing your card ?

3. please update the guide by incorporating the ULPS registry fix for multi gpu users ( the BSOD on reboot left me sleepless )

4. is the fan curve behavior only for those who want to cut noise ? i like keeping those on auto 
thank you again


1. Yeah that is normal behaviour on x64 operating systems. The stability test is still quite valuable, though it doesn't fully max out newer cards.

2. Up towards high voltages and high temps. Though saying that GTX590's seem to run the risk of going pop by just overclocking a little. Research the card and it's power circuitry before pushing a card high 24/7. A high voltage, high clock run should be perfectly safe for some benchmark suicide runs no matter the card. A modest overclock should be fine, if it's within the range of the manufacturers factory overclocked editions then even more so.

3. ULPS is a strange one. I run with ULPS enabled and have had no issues, though I know some people do. The energy saving is quite significant, particularly with older cards with high 2D clocks. I am working on a GPU troubleshooting guide at the moment, which will cover it, I may also add it in to this guide.

4. Fan curve is for people who want more control over the fan. Auto is usually a little conservative and you can get much better temps by setting it higher manually. If auto is fine for you then there is no need to bother









Hope this helps


----------



## ani4may

thanks for replying

what about BSOD during the overclocking process , that's something i encountered today

I'll buy you coffee if i get rid of it


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ani4may;14149128*
> thanks for replying
> 
> what about BSOD during the overclocking process , that's something i encountered today
> 
> I'll buy you coffee if i get rid of it


Make sure your CPU and memory overclocks are set to stock.
BSoDs can be caused by unstable GPU overclocks rarely, usually when you go too high too fast and the display driver cannot recover. If that isn't the cause I'm not too sure, it could be a driver issue, or a software issue with afterburner or GPUTool. Or it could be something completely different


----------



## sid0972

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ani4may*


thanks for replying

what about BSOD during the overclocking process , that's something i encountered today

I'll buy you coffee if i get rid of it











maybe ur ram is causing BSOD


----------



## ani4may

i'm running my 890fxa ud5 on 2x 4gb xms3 1600mhz , which is apparently similar to the dominator kit . my cpu's living on the edge

edit: dominator was listed as bad memory for this board


----------



## blue.dot

Ive added core clock, clicked on Apply, but when I look on sensors it still runs (or shows) my default core clock (750MHz)

/Woah, doing nothing (idle) and suddenly, AMD video driver error -> successfully restored, ***?


----------



## clark_b

Quote:



Originally Posted by *blue.dot*


Ive added core clock, clicked on Apply, but when I look on sensors it still runs (or shows) my default core clock (750MHz)

/Woah, doing nothing (idle) and suddenly, AMD video driver error -> successfully restored, ***?


You'd be better off just using OverDrive in Catalyst if you're not raising it too much.


----------



## blue.dot

I dont use Catalyst.
I want raise it more than Catalyst offers


----------



## *Jacob*

Thanks, I was able to overclock my relatively low end card from 775mhz to 876mhz GPU clock and from 950mhz to 985mhz


----------



## ilikepancakez

edit-nvrmind


----------



## ilikepancakez

after i was done with everything and saved it as a profile in afterburner it went back to stock settings after i quit afterburner. is there a reason why it's not saving?


----------



## *Jacob*

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ilikepancakez*


after i was done with everything and saved it as a profile in afterburner it went back to stock settings after i quit afterburner. is there a reason why it's not saving?


Make sure you hit APPLY at the bottom of the screen, then save by hitting the save button and then a number


----------



## blabla21

There are no pictures


----------



## dcmo

Definitely need some help here. I'm getting ready to get a new card so I figured I would play around with the one I have (4850) so I will be prepared to overclock the new one.

I downloaded MSI Afterburner and GPU Tool with both of them being on the desktop.

What I've been doing is making 10mhz adjustments in MSI (GPU being closed at that point), and then opening up GPU (this way the adjustments would show up in GPU) and using the test screen.

The 4850 has a memory frequency of 993mhz which I got up to 1233 without any blocking or errors. At this time I'm thinking to myself this is ridiculous because what I've seen on line isn't anywhere near this.

So I clicked on find max on GPU (don't know if this was really a good idea as it really locked things up).

After I got it settled down I shut down and restarted. At this point I started using the apply button on GPU as well as the one on MSI. What I noticed is that was stable with MSI alone became unstable if I also clicked on GPU's apply button. For instance 1103 was stable thru MSI alone, but if I clicked on GPU's apply button then the test screen would come back as unstable. Even 1043 was showing unstable and that's only 50mhz over. At the same time though 1233 should never be stable on this card, but that's what MSI apply button alone was showing.

I guess what my real question is should I be clicking GPU's apply button also?

Okay, I don't know if it matters if you click both apply buttons, so now the real question is why were the two programs letting me overclock the memory to 1233 when my final settings (or roughly) are 755/1038. I'm not doing anything different compared to earlier.

Thanks for the help.


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *blabla21;14598533*
> There are no pictures


Gah, image host decided to delete them. I will try my hardest to get it rectified ASAP.

EDIT: Images back up!


----------



## Qubits

Still can't adjust voltage on my 6870 despite doing what the OP mentions in the first post.


----------



## Overclocker.Monster

I get with my 6950 without any voltage increase following the guide to reach:

"stable" with the stability test of the GPUtool

Core: 910
Memory: 1420

I went through without any problem after 30 mins of stability test. When I started the game it crashes freezing the game and changing the color of the screen to blue, or to gray. temperatures during the STABILITY test were 68ºC stable at 98% usage of the GPU. Is it damage?







I'm scared...


----------



## LivinShadyLife

Great Tut Man Big 5 Star:cheers:Here Stats


----------



## Akusho

Is 15-30 min enough for stability testing?
I can get mine stable at 860/1450 on stock voltage. The temps concern me though. MSI AB shows a temp of 86, which is +- normal, but GPU-Z shows another 2 temps (GPU Temp 2 and 3) that are 96 and 93







What are those?


----------



## bonah

Hey everyone,

My name is Matt, this is my first post. I am new to EVERYTHING. Just bought myself what i think is a good gaming desktop. I have an HIS iceQ 6950 and wanted to see what I can get as far as overclocking. I saw the original post but don't know if that is outdated. I really dont know ANYTHING and thats why I am on here to learn.

Anywho, can I start with the overdrive in catalyst? or should I download afterburner and start there?

Actually, i dont even know what to ask or where to start. Can anyone get me moving?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bonah;14795797*
> Hey everyone,
> 
> My name is Matt, this is my first post. I am new to EVERYTHING. Just bought myself what i think is a good gaming desktop. I have an HIS iceQ 6950 and wanted to see what I can get as far as overclocking. I saw the original post but don't know if that is outdated. I really dont know ANYTHING and thats why I am on here to learn.
> 
> Anywho, can I start with the overdrive in catalyst? or should I download afterburner and start there?
> 
> Actually, i dont even know what to ask or where to start. Can anyone get me moving?


The guide is still relevant, little has change in Afterburner since it was made. You can use CCC at first if you prefer. The guide should pretty much cover most things, the stability test mentioned in the OP is probably not going to actually stress your card so you may have to play some games to test for stability, if you get hard locks, game crashes, artifacts or driver recoveries then its not stable.
Hope this helps


----------



## bonah

If i wanted to use CCC at first to crank up the settings and test it out with a game, should I set the voltage to the +20% option or leave it at stock and up the core clock and memory clock? Is there a program I can use to monitor the temperature?


----------



## bonah

well after reading a bit more i found out what the power +20% means, but I will lose that option if i use msi ab?


----------



## unseen0

725>825 GPU
1000>1230 Memory

So far..

1 thing i don't get. Why do you have to look at the screen all the time. Whenever you do get an error, GPU tool will notify it in the bottom left corner anyway?


----------



## Heartl3ss

Guys can i get some help here? I tried to overclock my 6870 and reached:
-970 Mhz on Core
-1150 Mhz on Memory
then i saved the settings and ran GPUTool for 5 whole hours without any sign of artifacts or errors..then i closed the stress testing and played one, two not too stressing games and when i checked my timings they are back to normal again. This happens all the time, the clock keeps going back to default even i that i dont get any errors on stressing which means its stable as hell. Also i tried to increase the voltage cause i thought this may be the culprit but the slider is grayed out so i checked the "Unclock Voltage Control" on the Afterburner, restarted the Afterburner and the slider is still disabled. I don't think that you cant actually change the voltage on the Sapphire 6870 so maybe im doing something wrong?


----------



## unseen0

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Heartl3ss*


Guys can i get some help here? I tried to overclock my 6870 and reached:
-970 Mhz on Core
-1150 Mhz on Memory
then i saved the settings and ran GPUTool for 5 whole hours without any sign of artifacts or errors..then i closed the stress testing and played one, two not too stressing games and when i checked my timings they are back to normal again. This happens all the time, the clock keeps going back to default even i that i dont get any errors on stressing which means its stable as hell. Also i tried to increase the voltage cause i thought this may be the culprit but the slider is grayed out so i checked the "Unclock Voltage Control" on the Afterburner, restarted the Afterburner and the slider is still disabled. I don't think that you cant actually change the voltage on the Sapphire 6870 so maybe im doing something wrong?



You say you saved the settings. Did you save it to a profile?
After you click save, the numbers 1 to 6 light up in green, u have to press one to actually save it. Not sure if u did this, check it


----------



## Heartl3ss

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *unseen0;14873497*
> You say you saved the settings. Did you save it to a profile?
> After you click save, the numbers 1 to 6 light up in green, u have to press one to actually save it. Not sure if u did this, check it


i followed the guide of this topic step by step....so yes..


----------



## Zerogamer22

overclocked my 955 be c3 on 3.8 stable. havent oc memory but i did overclock my 6870. its all reliable. weird huh?


----------



## ZealotKi11er

A lot of people are asking how to OC HD 6950 and HD6970 pass default setting given by CCC. AB will also not OC further. If you enable Unofficial Overcloking then the GPU or GPUs conflict with CCC most of the time and lose Power saving features resulting in high idle temps. These to files have been posted many times in the forum and recommended by many over the Internet but it would be nice to be included in the How To:, What these files do is increase CCC OC limit. For HD 6970 its 950/1450. With this you can OC beyond 1000Mhz+ and 1600Mhz+ .


----------



## darksandz93

Hey guys, brand new noob in overclocking here but I just purchased a toxic 6950 and unlocked the shaders. I downloaded trixx and bumped up the core clock from stock 880mhz to 890mhz and proceeded to play BF2. It crashed and restarted my computer 10 minutes into gameplay...am i doing something wrong? I went into CCC and put the power control settings to 50% as well. Even on stock values I get errors on the GPU test in the OP


----------



## Doba

^^ read this dude.. it should help you.. read procedure #2 simple .. try it and see what happens

http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/996...mpany-2-a.html


----------



## Canusticle

Hey thanks for all this info everyone. With this I was able to get this:

Sapphire Radeon HD6950
Modded Bios - Unlocked Shaders only

Core Voltage: 1.28v
Core Clock: 1000
Mem Clock: 1455
48 Degrees under water

Validation: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/g42wp/


----------



## DChat

Great guide! It helped me alot.


----------



## autior

Hello guys, I just flashed my MSI Twin Frozr III with the official MSI's shaders unlocked BIOS. Now I'm trying to overclock the card with AB 2.2.0 Beta 8, but it seems that I can't set the voltage over 1.149V (actually, I can set it to an higher value, but in the monitor I continue to see 1.149V...). I modded the .cfg file in the Afterburner's folder... what can I do to unlock the voltage "for real"?









EDIT: NVM, I just read the 2nd post.


----------



## Vita

So I just got my second VGA Cooler and I'm ready to OC my 2 6870s but I have one question. Obviously all GPUs are not the same even if they are the same model so my question is for multi-GPU setup where it says "Before you begin make sure 'Synchronise settings for similar graphics processors' is ticked in the 'Settings' screen of MSI Afterburner." If no 2 cards are alike then why should some one with multi-GPU do this since one clock might work for one of my cards but might cause artifacts on another. Or am I missing something? And if it is the case that I have to clock them seperatly does that mean that I'm going to have to be un hooking them in the back and inside and what not to do one at a time? And if so should I do them sepperatly or does it compensate for them both being in crossfire?

Also when a safe Overclock is found doesent it stay overclocked always? Meaning you dont have to turn it on or anything when the computer loads up it should already be OC'd right?


----------



## xutnubu

Guys, I have an XFX 6850, the basic one. Stock Core Clock 775MHZ / Mem Clock 1000MHz.

I tried the method in this tutorial. After several hours of testing, I found Core Clock 900MHz / Mem Clock 1150MHz was the best stable config I could get. Stock voltage. Max temp 75C with GPUTool bench and auto fan mode. And 70C while gaming (Crysis 2) manual fan set to 100%.
But I'm wondering if this seems stable to you?

I've tested Crysis 2, High settings, DX11 enabled, Hi-res text enabled:
Stock : 66fps average.
OC'd: 78fps average.

That's a difference of 12 frames. I was impressed.

Though, with ultra settings, the difference was of just 3 frames.


----------



## Infrantic

After having stabilized my CPU overclock I tried messing with my ASUS 6970 using this guide.
But I could only get my core clock up to 920MHz before I started running into issues. Could it really be that my max is only 920MHz?


----------



## Morit

Ok, anybody can please explain what is going on here?
I have done a couple of test, everytime the results were similar.



















Sorry for the second pic being cut, I mailed them to my laptop to write this topic later and didnt noticed it before.
But you get the idea


----------



## MooMoo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Morit*


Ok, anybody can please explain what is going on here?
I have done a couple of test, everytime the results were similar.



















Sorry for the second pic being cut, I mailed them to my laptop to write this topic later and didnt noticed it before.
But you get the idea










Core clock 440 to 880? It's just too much. Seems that it's unstable.


----------



## Morit

Noo.. The first one is underclocked. And I have better performance with it.
The second is pure stock.

And both are stable of course


----------



## Reactions

Is GPU Tool still good enough to stresstest? I OC'd my 5970 a bit and while running GPUTool the usage on both cards only was about 90%. Shouldn't it be at 100% since its a stresstest?


----------



## LuiKangBakinPie

just watch out for EDC when OC'ing the ram


----------



## jason387

Hey i have the msi 6770 and when i open the gputool no clocks recognize and neither can i increase the clocks with the sliders. I have tried using msi afterburner for increasing voltage and when i do increase it to whatever voltage other software still recognizes the voltage at stock which is 1. 125 which totally sucks. Can anyone please help me..


----------



## smilee45

Hi everybody.
I have *GIGABYTE GV-R685OC* and i can't edit bios at all.
If i edit something after flashing card crash when windows 7 loading with error: ATIKMDAG.SYS.....
---
And anybody know any way to overvolt that gigabyte card?
Thanks


----------



## spacestation

Overclocking a Radeon HD 6950. Follow the instructions in the original post and increased the core clock from 830MHz to 930MHz, in which I began to see artifacts so I decreased it and tested for 15 mins.

Then went to over clock Memory Clock from 1300MHz and increased it by 10MHz, tested and repeated until I hit 1600MHz then my screen went blue.

1600 seemed a little high I supposed, but no artifacts were showing up. Card still works fine. Any thoughts?


----------



## pdash

I have my HIS non-reference 6970 oc'ed to 970 core and 1385 memory, I can go higher but need to take the time to test ect. However I can't increase voltage, I was wondering if it would be possible at some point in the future for afterburner to support voltage increases on my card. ty


----------



## Jayjr1105

So I have 2 reference 5770's that work pretty well and I decided it was time to overclock them being that I just purchased BF3 and want to get some extra oomph out of them. I read all over that this card overclocks well but I can't seem to get them over 900 clock without a driver failure (while playing a game). When I run the GPU Tool I see ZERO artifacts but I get a "30 seconds since the last error" message on the bottom left of the screen. I caught what the error was and it said something like "pixel mismatch error" or something like that. I am on the latest drivers and use MSI afterburner to Overclock. I even have a slight voltage bump to 1.175v but that hasn't helped. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance


----------



## truestorybro545

Thank god for this guide. Nice to have a guide like this.


----------



## WesleyGuijt

What a great guide! Thank you for posting. I have done my best to overclock my GPU (Club3D radeon HD 6790 Coolstream edition) as far as I could. I managed with the GPU tool test to get from 840MHz Core clock tot 1010MHz in which I started to see artifacts. I managed to get the Memory clock from 1050MHz tot 1250MHz as my screen went blue at that point. I stepped back 10MHz with both clocks and ran a 15 minute test. All went fine.

Though, when I started a game, the screen turned immediately red. After a few tests and many MHz's lower, it still gave me red screens (read: 980MHz by 1200MHz). I got fed up and put both clocks way lower (960MHz by 1100MHz). Now it runs smoothly without any problems, but i'm sure i'm able to increase the cores a bit higher. Does anyone know why I keep getting red screens after I have decreased the cores considerably from the points the card seemed unstable according to GPU tool?

Anyway, i'm happy with the overclock for now.

3Dmark06 test with 840MHz/1050MHz = 16236
3Dmark06 test with 960MHz/1100MHz = 17707


----------



## Krusher33

How were the temperatures when all that was happening?


----------



## WesleyGuijt

Temperatures were actually not that high, around 65-70°C, and no significant changes during the test.


----------



## Krusher33

What I've noticed from other people with the 6000 series card is that GPUTool will notice errors around those temps. Bring down the temps and they will go away.

I will be testing this tomorrow possibly. I just finished installing a Kuhler 620 and it brought down my load temp from 57 down to 43 on 980/1100 clocks. Previously, errors were detected at 1000/1100 when temp was above 65c. We'll see if there's improvements tomorrow hopefully.


----------



## grassh0ppa

When I run kombustor, I get vertical lines during the combined test...I unlocked my 6950 so it has 1536 shaders, and a 810 base clock and 1250 memory, pretty basic unlock right? I've read about other people getting these vertical lines as well on slight overclocks.. Are these artifacts? Maybe I should try a different program?


----------



## Krusher33

Did you increase the voltage some to see if it corrects the issue? How's the temperature?


----------



## majnu

Thanks for the brilliant guide OP. I never would have managed it if it wasn't for your clear and precise guide.









Anyway here are my results:

4870X2 2Gb
E8600 Dual Core
4 Gig RAM

*Stock:*

Core Clock - 750
Memory Clock - 900
Core Voltage - Didn't Mess With

*Overclocked:*

Core Clock - 770
Memory Clock - 950
Core Voltage - Didn't Mess With

EDIT - GPUZ does not show the new clock speeds, even after a reboot. I have ensured that the profiles have been saved. Any advice?


----------



## Krusher33

You did click the "apply" button?


----------



## majnu

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> You did click the "apply" button?


yes i exactly followed the instructions. when I click on apply through msi afterburner all the sttings go back to 0 and it says "profile 1 applied". I downloaded all the latest applications and none of the beta ones. When I run the stres test it detects my new settings, but GOUZ doesn't show them.


----------



## Krusher33

The stress test detects the settings but GPUz doesn't? It's the latest version of GPUz?


----------



## majnu

yes mate I did a fresh install of all the apps mentioned on the first page and got the latest one. WHat is odd is that I've just played BF3 and MSi afterburner put the clock back to 375mhz. Is there another user friendly programme to use other than that, because there must be some bug with it to do that.


----------



## MooMoo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *majnu*
> 
> yes mate I did a fresh install of all the apps mentioned on the first page and got the latest one. WHat is odd is that I've just played BF3 and MSi afterburner put the clock back to 375mhz. Is there another user friendly programme to use other than that, because there must be some bug with it to do that.


I use GPU Tool myself, its nice one with stability test. http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1383/GPUTool_Community_Technology_Preview_1.html Give it a try!









For testing stability I use that gpu tool test + ATI tools test


----------



## 4514kaiser

Hey I can't get Kombustor to stress test my second 7970, When I run a stress test my first gpu is under full load but my second 7970 is only under 10% load. Any tips on how to fix this issue?


----------



## ryan w

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *4514kaiser*
> 
> Hey I can't get Kombustor to stress test my second 7970, When I run a stress test my first gpu is under full load but my second 7970 is only under 10% load. Any tips on how to fix this issue?


happens to me all the time, I just have to maximize the kombustor window as mine opens in full screen but minimized


----------



## RagingLoon

Make sure it's running in full screen for CrossFireX.


----------



## xtreme-one

Mass edit, nvm..


----------



## 4514kaiser

hmmm tried all those thing none seem to work nm all other test seem to work fine ecept mark 11 phisics test (programe just crashers) may just be my ATI drivers getting bsod 116 & 24 (current no oc) I believe these are commonly VGA driver related bsod... been having some driver issue on this new build after updating my RE4 bios and my second 7970 was not even recognized in bios or windows had to switch back to the first bios







i'll just do half uninstall the drivers and see if that works before i go to the effort of a proper uninstall.


----------



## buffalofloyd

I've been using MSI Afterburner and my dual ATI 5870's together for a couple years now. I also have G15 keyboard I use to display the current core clock, memory clock, fan speed... etc. Previously when not using the computer or anything that stressed the video cards I could get the core clock to downclock to 157 MHz and the memory clock to 300 MHz. No issues and everything was perfect.

I just did a fresh reinstall of Windows 7 and now I can't get my 2nd GPU to downclock under 400 MHz and 1200 MHz when idle. I am using the latest stable version of Afterburner and have the latest CCC software, which I had before. I am at my wits end tryiing to figure this out. Any help would be extremely appreciated.


----------



## Malachi

A late reply might be better than no reply at all...

I have the same problem as you (on my overclocked 5970). The solution for me is to open GPU-Z.

That's it. Afterburner acts really strangely. Sometimes GPU0 will be beelining at 725/1000 while at the same time GPU1 is at 0/0 or 157/300. And no XF either.

But as soon as I start up GPU-Z, everything switches back to as it should. Strange. Yes. But it works for me.


----------



## buffalofloyd

Thanks for the reply. I have found somewhat of a workaround or semi-fix which is annoying but it does work. After I restart Windows both my video cards read like this, I am running Crossfire too btw...

GPU 1: 157MHz/300MHz
GPU 2: 400MHz/1200Mhz

The only thing that will allow my GPU 2 to downclock when idle to 157MHz/300MHz is if I run a benchmark or stress test on the GPU's. If I run Furmark for 20 secs and exit out of it both cards will sync together and downclock appropriately, same thing if I run the Unigine Heaven bench.


----------



## salmanshah

I am facing a strange problem,
even without OC my GPU, when I run 3DMark 11, CPUz or Vantage my pc freezes and shows weird colors of screen (smtimes white or blue). This became even worse after reinstalling my windows. I could run 3DMark Vantage before reinstalling windows 7.
But I can play Battlefield 3, other games, heavenware benchmark and aqua benchmark fine. Any kind of help us appreciated.


----------



## Disturbed117

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *salmanshah*
> 
> I am facing a strange problem,
> even without OC my GPU, when I run 3DMark 11, CPUz or Vantage my pc freezes and shows weird colors of screen (smtimes white or blue). This became even worse after reinstalling my windows. I could run 3DMark Vantage before reinstalling windows 7.
> But I can play Battlefield 3, other games, heavenware benchmark and aqua benchmark fine. Any kind of help us appreciated.


Are you running stock clocks on CPU as well?

Maybe try bumping the voltage on your GPU a small amount?


----------



## salmanshah

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *disturbed117*
> 
> Are you running stock clocks on CPU as well?
> Maybe try bumping the voltage on your GPU a small amount?


Its at stock clock.


----------



## CodofMC

Hi guys. I'm trying to overclock my 6950, but when I test for stability with GPUTool the activity in Afterburner only goes up to 35%. Shouldn't it be putting more stress on the graphics card to properly test it or is it running fine?


----------



## ipv89

I have finally after a very long day of trial and error (a lot of error) I have managed to get my first ever stable overclock ( its the first time i have overclocked a video card).

Its a ASUS HD 7770 cu stock clocks are Core clock = 1020 Mhz
Mem Clock = 1150 mhz

I thought the card would get a little more but this is what i could get stable Core clock = 1110
Mem clock = 1400

I think i can go higher on the memory clock but the core clock was the one i had the most trouble getting stable. Has anyone else with this card tried to overclock it? if so what did you get?


----------



## Le_Loup

I now have the Ati 6870 Sapphire 1gb, and would like to know, if anyone would recommend clock speeds/mem speeds for it for optimum performance? I typically have the fan run native at 80-100%, knowing eventually i'll have to replace the fan if it dies (non issue, can do).

Will gladly take suggestions,

- Le_Loup


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CodofMC*
> 
> Hi guys. I'm trying to overclock my 6950, but when I test for stability with GPUTool the activity in Afterburner only goes up to 35%. Shouldn't it be putting more stress on the graphics card to properly test it or is it running fine?


Should go to 100%. Mine does. Something's wrong.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ipv89*
> 
> I have finally after a very long day of trial and error (a lot of error) I have managed to get my first ever stable overclock ( its the first time i have overclocked a video card).
> Its a ASUS HD 7770 cu stock clocks are Core clock = 1020 Mhz
> Mem Clock = 1150 mhz
> I thought the card would get a little more but this is what i could get stable Core clock = 1110
> Mem clock = 1400
> I think i can go higher on the memory clock but the core clock was the one i had the most trouble getting stable. Has anyone else with this card tried to overclock it? if so what did you get?


I've manged to get my 7750 to 1150/1400. It did pass GPUTool for an hour at 1175 and 1200 but those won't work when benching so I brought it down some. Mine also had issues above 1400 memory clock. Besides... on AMD cards, the core clock tends to do better at lower memory clocks.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Le_Loup*
> 
> I now have the Ati 6870 Sapphire 1gb, and would like to know, if anyone would recommend clock speeds/mem speeds for it for optimum performance? I typically have the fan run native at 80-100%, knowing eventually i'll have to replace the fan if it dies (non issue, can do).
> Will gladly take suggestions,
> - Le_Loup


We can help at the 6800's club: http://www.overclock.net/t/850691/official-amd-radeon-hd-6850-6870-owners-thread/0_50

For now I'll say I think most 6800's have gotten to about 950/1150 or somewhere about there. And it's really all about the temps getting that high too. Like on mine, I could only get to 950/1150 if I kept my card below 60 degrees. Slapped a Kuhler 620 on it and now I can game at 1000/1200 or fold at 1030/1250.


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Le_Loup*
> 
> I now have the Ati 6870 Sapphire 1gb, and would like to know, if anyone would recommend clock speeds/mem speeds for it for optimum performance? I typically have the fan run native at 80-100%, knowing eventually i'll have to replace the fan if it dies (non issue, can do).
> Will gladly take suggestions,
> - Le_Loup


put the memory at 1200 and try 950 on the core.
I have mine at 975/1200, but it came factory OC at 940/1150.
-edit-
as long as the temps are below 90C you should be pretty stable


----------



## DizzlePro

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Le_Loup*
> 
> I now have the Ati 6870 Sapphire 1gb, and would like to know, if anyone would recommend clock speeds/mem speeds for it for optimum performance? I typically have the fan run native at 80-100%, knowing eventually i'll have to replace the fan if it dies (non issue, can do).
> Will gladly take suggestions,
> - Le_Loup


When i had my reference 6870 I overclocked it to 1040/1250 and my max temps in furmark were about 86C with fans @100%


----------



## ahnafakeef

Has anyone tried to overclock a 6790 using this guide?

I have a Sapphire 6790 and tried to overclock it for the first time yesterday (first time overclocking a GPU). It ended in utter failure. After a few times of trial and error, I decided to restart the PC and the then there would be no display. I took it out of my motherboard and reconnected it and then it worked fine. Any idea why this happened?

For other 6790 owners : what are the highest clocks that you have achieved with this card?

Any other guide/advice to help me to learn how to overclock successfully will be very helpful.

Thanks a lot!









EDIT : It started artifacting even at very minor overclocking and also at higher clocks too. But whats weird is that it artifacted even when I reset the clocks from AB. I have no clue as to why this happened. Can someone please shed some light on this?


----------



## Krusher33

How high were you able to go to before getting the errors?


----------



## ahnafakeef

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> How high were you able to go to before getting the errors?


I didnt note it down (I know I should have) but if iirc ~ 950/1100.

I think it should be noted that I increased the core and memory together i.e., when I increased 25MHz, I did it on both the clocks

Also, the GPUTools test didnt show any kind of artifacting at all, it was when the windows desktop started artifacting that I understood that there was some kind of problem. Since I didnt notice any artifacting in GPUTools, the highest clocks I tried were 1000/1250 and the driver restarted at those speeds. After this, I started to clock both core and memory down and even when I came down to stock levels, the desktop artifacted. The speeds that worked fine when clocking up also artifacted when clocking down.

Thanks!









P.S Is there any chance that I could kill/break my GPU in the process of trying to overclock? Of course without voltage increase, that is.

EDIT : Could it be that my PSU is not enough for overclocking my GPU? I'm using a Thermaltake Litepower 500W to run a stock 1090T+6790 system.


----------



## Krusher33

There's always a chance and that's why you gotta take small steps once you get into higher clocks.

I think there's a setting in GPUTool for error reporting. (I could be mistaken for another program) You're using stability check and not the benchmark one right?

And if you look on hwbot.org... the common overclocks are 935-1000 on core and 1150-1250 on memory. ( I only quickly peeked at the Vantage rankings)


----------



## ahnafakeef

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> There's always a chance and that's why you gotta take small steps once you get into higher clocks.
> I think there's a setting in GPUTool for error reporting. (I could be mistaken for another program) You're using stability check and not the benchmark one right?
> And if you look on hwbot.org... the common overclocks are 935-1000 on core and 1150-1250 on memory. ( I only quickly peeked at the Vantage rankings)


The GPUTool window has a Test for Stability button at startup, I used that.

I couldnt find error check option in GPUTools, but I've found it in OCCT 4.3.1. Is OCCT going to cut it or is it absolutely necessary that I use GPUTools?

Thanks for looking up the clocks! I will try within that range next time.

If OCCT is okay, then what are the recommended settings for testing stability?

Thanks a lot!


----------



## Krusher33

You can use OCCT or Furmark. They're all fine and each overclocker have their personal preferences. I haven't used OCCT in some time so I don't remember much about it. Hopefully someone will chime in.


----------



## ahnafakeef

When and if I start to get errors in error checking in OCCT, does it necessarily mean that I won't be able to go past that speed by any means?

I tried +40 (impatient, I know) on the core i.e., 880 and with memory at stock and started getting errors in OCCT after ~5 minutes.

Do I need to clock down? That'd be disappointing.


----------



## Krusher33

What the temperature? Lately a lot of AMD cards tend to not like getting 60+ degrees and start producing errors even though physically they can handle it.

And can you unlock voltage control?


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> You can use OCCT or Furmark. They're all fine and each overclocker have their personal preferences. I haven't used OCCT in some time so I don't remember much about it. Hopefully someone will chime in.


OCCT is by far the best to use checking for stability and artifacts.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ahnafakeef*
> 
> When and if I start to get errors in error checking in OCCT, does it necessarily mean that I won't be able to go past that speed by any means?
> I tried +40 (impatient, I know) on the core i.e., 880 and with memory at stock and started getting errors in OCCT after ~5 minutes.
> Do I need to clock down? That'd be disappointing.


Not necessarily. It could be your temps getting too high, or not enough voltage.


----------



## Krusher33

Thank you for chiming in.


----------



## ahnafakeef

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> What the temperature? Lately a lot of AMD cards tend to not like getting 60+ degrees and start producing errors even though physically they can handle it.
> And can you unlock voltage control?


MSI AB is showing temps of 70+ range with just the +40 on the core.

I have checked both the unlock voltage control and monitoring in AB settings but the core voltage and power limit sliders are still grayed out i.e., I cannot move them. I guess that means I cant unlock voltage control.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *clark_b*
> 
> OCCT is by far the best to use checking for stability and artifacts.
> Not necessarily. It could be your temps getting too high, or not enough voltage.


Is a temperature of 70 too high?

Also, what is the recommended settings for OCCT stability testing?

Another thing. Whenever I minimize the test window, the FPS drops to 20 whereas when its not minimized its showing 50+ FPS. Is it necessary that I dont minimize the window?

I have very bad cooling. Ambient temps are as high as 30 and my small casing has very bad airflow due to bad cable management. Also my room does not have air conditioning.

Thanks a lot!


----------



## Krusher33

Yes, that's hot.


----------



## ahnafakeef

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> Yes, that's hot.


Okay, so other than the temps turning my room into a oven, I have run 2 20 min tests in OCCT with no errors! Yay! (touches wood)

One was at 880/1100 and the other at 920/1150. The second set of clocks are giving me ~85c temps. What can I do right now to bring this down? I can buy better cooling equipment later if that helps, but as of right now I'll have to make do with whatever I've got.

Will it be too risky too go for the 1GHz mark, if I can pass the 950 mark that is?

Thanks a lot!









EDIT : Although unfortunately I havent seen any improvements FPS-wise in FIFA 12 (only game I'm playing right now).
Without and without the OC it gives the same in-game FPS (~148) with vSync off.

One more thing. The OCCT test window, when re-sized starts giving errors out of nowhere. Any idea why this is happening?


----------



## Krusher33

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ahnafakeef*
> 
> Okay, so other than the temps turning my room into a oven, I have run 2 20 min tests in OCCT with no errors! Yay! (touches wood)
> One was at 880/1100 and the other at 920/1150. The second set of clocks are giving me ~85c temps. What can I do right now to bring this down? I can buy better cooling equipment later if that helps, but as of right now I'll have to make do with whatever I've got.
> Will it be too risky too go for the 1GHz mark, if I can pass the 950 mark that is?
> Thanks a lot!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EDIT : Although unfortunately I havent seen any improvements FPS-wise in FIFA 12 (only game I'm playing right now).
> Without and without the OC it gives the same in-game FPS (~148) with vSync off.
> One more thing. The OCCT test window, when re-sized starts giving errors out of nowhere. Any idea why this is happening?


There are a lot of after market coolers. Most common one is an Accellero. You can also put a sealed water cooler on it like a Kuhler 620: http://www.overclock.net/t/1203636/official-amd-ati-gpu-mod-club-aka-the-red-mod/0_50


----------



## ahnafakeef

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Krusher33*
> 
> There are a lot of after market coolers. Most common one is an Accellero. You can also put a sealed water cooler on it like a Kuhler 620: http://www.overclock.net/t/1203636/official-amd-ati-gpu-mod-club-aka-the-red-mod/0_50


I was thinking about improving my case cooling somehow.

I'm stable at 920/1150 now. Tried a big jump of 950/1250, which maxed out my AB sliders, but it wasnt anywhere near stable. Monitor started doing weird stuff. I'll leave it at 920/1150 for now.

Anyway, this was just a tutorial for me. I'm going to get a new GPU soon. I just wanted to be prepared so that I can OC that one when I get it.

Can you tell me why I;m not getting any FPS boosts in FIFA 12? I should be getting something extra for a +80/+100 OC right?

Thanks a lot!


----------



## Krusher33

What's the rest of your system's specs again? It would help if you use the rigbuilder and put it in your sig.


----------



## ahnafakeef

I'm using a 1090T at stock and 8GB RAM.

Here's the result of my first ever Heaven 3.0 run : 

EDIT : The rig isnt showing in my sig. What do I have to do so that it'll appear in my sig?
EDIT : Okay I found it now!


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ahnafakeef*
> 
> EDIT : Although unfortunately I havent seen any improvements FPS-wise in FIFA 12 (only game I'm playing right now).
> Without and without the OC it gives the same in-game FPS (~148) with vSync off.
> One more thing. The OCCT test window, when re-sized starts giving errors out of nowhere. Any idea why this is happening?


Try turning up the graphics setting in FIFA and compare. But with 148fps it's not like you need any improvement.
For OCCT, how about just not resizing it lol


----------



## TheLooord

i did like wat u said in step 2 and i cant change anything in MSIAfterburner.


----------



## ahnafakeef

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *clark_b*
> 
> Try turning up the graphics setting in FIFA and compare. But with 148fps it's not like you need any improvement.
> For OCCT, how about just not resizing it lol


148 FPS is WITH the graphics settings maxed out lol. Are there any mods for FIFA 12 like Skyrim that will help improve the graphics? I can dispense a lot of FPS right now considering the fact that I am using a monitor which is only 60Hz.

I know I don't need any improvements over 148FPS. What I am worried about is that the overclock isnt producing any improvements. Or maybe the minimum/average FPS has actually increased but I didnt notice it. 148FPS is maximum FPS. I am now at 950/1150 btw.

About OCCT : I stopped trying to re-size it once I found that the tests ran error-free if I didnt.

Thanks a lot!


----------



## rubixcube101

I need some help! When i insert the code in to unlock afterburner and turn it back on everything is locked except voltage control??? I tried reinstalling and this didnt work.

Could it have something to do with AB telling me it cant detect default settings and it needs to reboot everytime the program opens?


----------



## Krusher33

Which driver are you using?


----------



## rubixcube101

Was using the 12.8 driver... and AB 2.2.3. Sapphire triix worked like a charm though so its all good. Would still be nice to get AB working although i dont have the time to play around with it to much.


----------



## jason387

Here is my score with the 6770 overclocked.

Does heaven take into consideration your cpu or only your gpu?


----------



## cam51037

I'm following this guide as we speak.

OCing my 7850 core clock right now, got it stable at 910 MHz, going for 1 GHz! Temps aren't going above 59C, yet. 

EDIT: 1 GHz core clock! Have to push it MOAR!!!

EDIT 2: Looks stable at 1.02 GHz, could push it more but don't really want to. Running the 15 minute test, then going to work on the memory clock.

Oh yeah, and max temps aren't above 61C.











EDIT 3: Unstability at 1.02 GHz, going to try 1 GHz now.


----------



## Krusher33

You certainly got a beauty. Be sure to watch the VRM temps in the GPUz. Watching how high that gets helps as well.


----------



## el gordo

Is GPUTool still the best tool for stability testing?


----------



## Goffender

Could we please close this old ass thread and start a new one. Does anyone monitor this site?


----------



## coffeejunky

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Goffender*
> 
> Could we please close this old ass thread and start a new one. Does anyone monitor this site?


Just because it is old doesn't mean it is not relevant or useful.
That being said if you would offer some suggestions about what should be changed, feel free to mention them. Or should you want to create your own guide to replace this I will consider stickying it if it is of high enough quality.


----------



## RubaPowa

Alternative to Gputool? Doesnt recognize my 7950 card :/


----------



## Nonehxc

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RubaPowa*
> 
> Alternative to Gputool? Doesnt recognize my 7950 card :/


Trixx is the succesor to GPUTool. Trixx 4.4.0bMOD or MSI AB it's what's more used with Radeons nowadays.

Use current games like Metro 2033, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3 to test your overclock, also 3dMark11, 3dmark13, Heaven 4.0 and Valley 1.0 benchmarks(more Heaven than Valley for OC testing). Avoid Furmark, it's useless for anything other than frying your card if you're not careful









http://www.overclock.net/t/1265543/the-amd-how-to-thread

For your overclocking needs on 7xxx series, this thread is all you need. If you don't understand anything, get in touch with OP Tsm106, he's very experienced and hepful.


----------



## TheGrayDon10

I ram gputool a stock 4870 and it artifacting as soo as it begins. thing is, it doesn't artifact or jump guring games even when i was overclocked before. any ideas why gputool makes it artifact while nothing else does?

Edit: The artifacting seems to get worse as i'm downclocking it. i used the "find max" button on the gpu clock.


----------



## .:hybrid:.

Hey guys, I have a question.

If I don't mess around with voltage and try to OC my card as high as possible on stock, it won't exceed its listed TDP right? I don't want to strain my PSU.


----------



## ryan w

All I would add is make sure power tune is not set to increase TDP

PSU calc says you have room with no OC on CPU/GPU



With OC of CPU/GPU you are right there (40% on cpu, GPU 20% powertune, GPU overvolted/overclocked


----------



## fateswarm

I noticed a hilarious behavior of some laptops with this. Since their chips are basically chips that on desktops are clocked higher, if it happens and their cooling is higher than normal, e.g. the laptop chassis raised up and getting extra air, they easily go to +50% without even being 'good' chips.

Then again, they hold an extra risk. If they die they aren't usually replaceable


----------



## fateswarm

I'm getting so interested in this that I'm seriously considering actively cooling a laptop GPU. I mean physically adding a big ass fan on there


----------



## CynicalUnicorn

How much voltage can a 7850 handle? I got an XFX Core edition with a single (boo!) fan on the cooling shroud. I overclocked its core from 860 MHz to 950 MHz and its RAM from 1200 MHz to 1335 MHz and left it running at just over 1.2 volts, which I assume is fairly close to stock. I went elsewhere, came back, and it had basically shut down. Speedfan showed a temperature of -999 degrees Celsius, which can't be right since that's more than 700 degrees below absolute zero. I rebooted and it's fine now. Temperature shouldn't be an issue since it peaks at barely over 60 degrees, even running [email protected] on full. I've lowered the core clock to 925 MHz and RAM to 1250 MHz and it runs under a decent load, but I'm not sure for how long.


----------



## SyncX

I'll check it out. Thanks!


----------



## Lionheart1980

GpuTool isn't working for my HIS Radeon 7970 GHz edition...


----------



## meloj17

I'm trying to get my 7950 Xfire working for BF4, I've heard of people getting great frames with Xfire. But for some reason mine isnt working out too well. I downloaded the latest 13.10v2 drives. I'm not sure if the Xfire CAP profile are included?

I've actually had prior difficulty with BF3 as well, never could get Xfire to give me desirable frames, yet other games and Unigen Heaven give me almost double the frames. Any help would be appreciated.

I'm just hoping to God it isnt some issue with my Mobo or cards (I've tested each individual card and they are fine)


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *meloj17*
> 
> I'm trying to get my 7950 Xfire working for BF4, I've heard of people getting great frames with Xfire. But for some reason mine isnt working out too well. I downloaded the latest 13.10v2 drives. I'm not sure if the Xfire CAP profile are included?
> 
> I've actually had prior difficulty with BF3 as well, never could get Xfire to give me desirable frames, yet other games and Unigen Heaven give me almost double the frames. Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> I'm just hoping to God it isnt some issue with my Mobo or cards (I've tested each individual card and they are fine)


CAP profiles are included, sometimes they will release new CAP profiles between driver releases which generally won't be implemented before the next version of the drivers (new CAP profiles also work with older drivers, if you for example still use an unsupported card)

Crossfire works differently with different games. From what I know, the Battlefield series has always been pretty CPU intensive - at least it was in BF2 and I'm also pretty sure it was in BF3.

Your profile doesn't say you've overclocked your CPU, so take a look at overclocking and you'd almost definitely see an FPS boost.


----------



## meloj17

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX*
> 
> CAP profiles are included, sometimes they will release new CAP profiles between driver releases which generally won't be implemented before the next version of the drivers (new CAP profiles also work with older drivers, if you for example still use an unsupported card)
> 
> Crossfire works differently with different games. From what I know, the Battlefield series has always been pretty CPU intensive - at least it was in BF2 and I'm also pretty sure it was in BF3.
> 
> Your profile doesn't say you've overclocked your CPU, so take a look at overclocking and you'd almost definitely see an FPS boost.


I have my 2500k @4.5. I get worse frames with 2 cards than 1.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *meloj17*
> 
> I have my 2500k @4.5. I get worse frames with 2 cards than 1.


Okay, I can't explain that, but I do know that there are a few applications that don't work very well with multi-GPU.


----------



## Warl0rdPT

Is GpuTool still the best way to test for artifacts on OC?


----------



## clark_b

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Warl0rdPT*
> 
> Is GpuTool still the best way to test for artifacts on OC?


Try OCCT


----------



## metalhead400

what if there is error of 1 or 2 pixel.
Is it stable then cause i dont see yelow dots but gpu tool says last error 1 second ago.


----------



## Warl0rdPT

Its up to you if you can live with it









try backing up a few MHz until it goes away


----------



## Special Ed

Wow, this thread started in 2009. I have been running this card a long time. During the past 3 or 4 years there must have been some cheaper, faster, smaller, cooler running cards out there that I can use in my next PC build.

I won't go with a monster like this thing again. Runs so hot that I can't sit in my home office in the summer unless I have the air cranked in the house and fans blowing on me. The one thing I do love about it - I never did play any games using it after all the overclocking pain - is the ability to run 3 monitors. I have my email open to the left, main browser in the middle, and IM, time, weather and other misc stuff on the left monitor.

Now when I go on a business trip and need to use a laptop I feel so unproductive!


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *metalhead400*
> 
> what if there is error of 1 or 2 pixel.
> Is it stable then cause i dont see yelow dots but gpu tool says last error 1 second ago.


Errors can hinder performance. I've personally experienced that if my GPU OC is too high, my benchmark scores will drop dramatically and I will have noticeable frame skips during gaming. Even if temperatures are in check..


----------



## incog

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *metalhead400*
> 
> what if there is error of 1 or 2 pixel.
> Is it stable then cause i dont see yelow dots but gpu tool says last error 1 second ago.
> 
> 
> 
> Errors can hinder performance. I've personally experienced that if my GPU OC is too high, my benchmark scores will drop dramatically and I will have noticeable frame skips during gaming. Even if temperatures are in check..
Click to expand...

What kind of cooling do you have and is your voltage high?

Not that I know anything









just curious


----------



## Lionheart1980

What is the reasonable voltage to use without degrading the gpus once overclocked??
Hmm.. my gpus are underwater btw.. so i just like to overclock it and set it.. so i can overcome anything i throw at.. but i don't want to kill it as well..

HIS 7970Ghz Edition, Stock - 1050 mhz / 1500 mem
I know that i had it overclocked at 1100 mhz at stock volt no problem... i'm trying to get stable at 1200mhz.. the volt has been climbing up toward1.35 so far.. not stable..still testing.. i just want to be safe without bricking the cards.


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lionheart1980*
> 
> What is the reasonable voltage to use without degrading the gpus once overclocked??
> Hmm.. my gpus are underwater btw.. so i just like to overclock it and set it.. so i can overcome anything i throw at.. but i don't want to kill it as well..
> 
> HIS 7970Ghz Edition, Stock - 1050 mhz / 1500 mem
> I know that i had it overclocked at 1100 mhz at stock volt no problem... i'm trying to get stable at 1200mhz.. the volt has been climbing up toward1.35 so far.. not stable..still testing.. i just want to be safe without bricking the cards.


Totally subjective here, but last time I heard overvolting suggestions were generally always within 10% of stock voltage. Under water I would push it a bit more, but I'd never push more than 20% more into the core unless you're planning to kill the card - although, more voltage quickly ramps up power usage.


----------



## Lionheart1980

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX*
> 
> Totally subjective here, but last time I heard overvolting suggestions were generally always within 10% of stock voltage. Under water I would push it a bit more, but I'd never push more than 20% more into the core unless you're planning to kill the card - although, more voltage quickly ramps up power usage.


Okay, what is 20% then... give me an idea


----------



## Lionheart1980

Hey, i just forgot that i had iTurbo from HIS that does the same as Trixx.. even memory volt and core volt mod as well! Check it out.. Great for HIS owners thumb.gif

Download link here: http://www.hisdigital.com/un/download.shtml


----------



## Tigerboy

that unnoficial eula bypass/override will be handy, i have the sliders all the way over on my 7950 right now. lets see what i can get


----------



## NoobOCerz

hello

i cant save the code that needs to be changed I even installed that ownership thing but still i cant edit the code..

Any help s much appreciated..XD


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *NoobOCerz*
> 
> hello
> 
> i cant save the code that needs to be changed I even installed that ownership thing but still i cant edit the code..
> 
> Any help s much appreciated..XD


Are you running the program you're editing the file with as administrator?


----------



## NoobOCerz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gonX*
> 
> Are you running the program you're editing the file with as administrator?


i already solved the problem. LOL

And also, when hen i tried to overclock my r9 280x toxic to 1170 my screen flickers and i even ramped up my voltage to 1220. Is this normal because i read in forums that they can achieve 1230-1250 coreclock..


----------



## Artenuis

How much can I expect to overclock a GPU? Also, is there a way to monitor power consumption? I don't want the card to overload the PSU. Lastly, is GPUTool supposed to automatically detect the card's stats? Because mine looks like this:


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Artenuis*
> 
> How much can I expect to overclock a GPU? Also, is there a way to monitor power consumption? I don't want the card to overload the PSU. Lastly, is GPUTool supposed to automatically detect the card's stats? Because mine looks like this:


This thread is ANCIENT. You use GPUTool to test for stability, not to overclock with.

Use MSI Afterburner:
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm


----------



## Artenuis

I know. I do use MSI Afterburner, but shouldn't GPUTool still show the stats?


----------



## gonX

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Artenuis*
> 
> I know. I do use MSI Afterburner, but shouldn't GPUTool still show the stats?


GPUTool is over 5 years old. Probing information about graphics cards have most likely changed then, since you can't see the stats. You can see the stats in MSI Afterburner.


----------



## incog

Wasn't sure whether to ask in this thread or the 7970 thread.

Basically I'm trying to get my card stable at 1170 MHz. I set the core voltage to 1230 mV (I'm ramping it up slowly, I won't go to 1.3V to get my overclock) and I notice that the core voltage (in afterburner) remains at only 1200 mV. In GPU-Z, VDDC remains under 1200 mv under load.

Basically the voltage isn't being fed to the card? I don't understand. I did the EULA thing in the afterburner config file.


----------



## tsm106

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *incog*
> 
> Wasn't sure whether to ask in this thread or the 7970 thread.
> 
> Basically I'm trying to get my card stable at 1170 MHz. I set the core voltage to 1230 mV (I'm ramping it up slowly, I won't go to 1.3V to get my overclock) and I notice that the core voltage (in afterburner) remains at only 1200 mV. In GPU-Z, VDDC remains under 1200 mv under load.
> 
> Basically the voltage isn't being fed to the card? I don't understand. I did the EULA thing in the afterburner config file.


This thread is dead and very out of date. Most of the steps have all been incorporated into Afterburner 4.0 so there is no need to do any editing. The Tahiti lineup does not display real voltage only "input" voltage. First step is to "make" display load voltage. You can do that with the steps in this link below. List out your gpu brand/model etc, what bios you are on stock, modded, other etc. Need to know your model first...

http://www.overclock.net/t/1265543/the-amd-how-to-thread/0_40


----------



## LiquidShot

I have a question, i have AMD HD 6670 GDDR5 and GPU Tool cant recongize my hardware, why is this hapening? Also, am trying to find a way how to change Graphics VDDC since MSI Afterburner wont allow me


----------



## AidanofVT

Okay, I've been trying this technique, and I have a few problems. (note: I've been using the utility supplied by my GPU's manufacturer rather than MSI Afterburner; I thought that might be better) I was able to get some fantastically high numbers, but when I try to actually run a game it's totally unstable! The stable point given by GPUtool is so far off that it's not even useful as a starting point.

Thoughts?


----------



## dundemado

i still have no access to change the config file im an adminisator and i downloaded the program and used it still i have no acces


----------



## s3000s

ok best good


----------



## bustermoon

bro give me the link of the GPU tool the techforum is not working plzzz


----------



## rafsun

CAN I OVERCLOCK MY AMD RADEON 7400M??
I have this laptop with i3 processor. I love playing COD promod (yes cuz thats probably the only cool featured game that my pc can support pretty nicely). If you've heard of strafing and bounces,then you know how important FPS is...if you dont know,then let me tell you that you need to hit a stead fps of 125/250/333 to perform such actions (and the mod ain't graphic intensive much)
My fps fluctuates between 50-125...but never stead...most of the time below 90....so i need a good stable 125 fps to do the job and as im a teen,my parents wont just buy me a gaming pc..so the only option i have is overclocking..i am not a hardware geek or something so i have no idea on what to do..i downloaded the msi afterburner..and confused about what to do next...and also i dont want that super boost...i guess a bit increase should do the trick...so can anyone help.also note that i JUST DONT WANT MY LAPTOP TO OVERHEAT...afterall..its not pretty new..niether old (iguess)

another problem...in default..the last to sliders are set to max in default...is there something wrong? TIA


----------



## SpykeZ

You can't OC laptop gpus unless you have one that they specifically allow it which are usually high end Sagers and the likes.


----------



## rafsun

how do i know if they allow it or not?


----------



## SpykeZ

Well generally, I'd it's a laptop, assume you can't overclock,, is rather rate anyone allows it.


----------

